What oil should I use? (Canada)

[imcharlescee]

1. What kind of vehicle you have
1994 Accord LX

3. Where you live
Canada

4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
Just a bit fast (I mean my car can't really go that fast. It's a stock)

5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?
15% City 85% Highway

6. Whether your car has any known problems
Only the spark plug wells being just a bit moist with oil. I have changed the Valve cover gasket and spark plug seals and whatever comes in the set. It still leaks a bit despite but very negligible. My mechanic kind of filled the oil too much last time which I feel makes my engine run a little louder... I'm not sure though.

Additional info:
F22B2 engine, 198800 KMs. Use conventional Pennzoil the last time I changed oil. (I have only done it once because I bought the car used.

Also, will adding seafoam in my crankcase cause leaks?

 

[Barkleymut]

Canada is a REALLY big country. Do you live in Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal, or St. John? I would think that any good 5w-30 (or 0-30 if you live in a really cold climate) would be just fine. Millions of Canadians know nothing about oil yet their cars start right up and run year after year. Just take it a bit easy the first 5 miles or so after a cold start and you should be fine since it seems your car is in good shape. And why would you keep a mechanic that can't even fill the crankcase correctly? Are we talking he put in .1 quart too much or a full quart too much?

IMHO adding seafoam will do nothing to help your engine. Good oils already have plenty of cleaning additives.

 

[Kuato]

Amsoil 0w30 year round, and with that much highway at least a 10k oil change interval (OCI) and maybe up to 15k km with UOA.

 

[Danno]

PYB 5W-30 on a 8,000 km OCI will work well for your car.

 

[imcharlescee]

Hey guys thanks for the reply. I'm from Toronto so yes it does get a little cold in here but we probably average around -5 C in winter so it isn't too bad. My mechanic probably put close to 0.5 quart

more than needed... He almost finished those large oil containers for my car.

 

[imcharlescee]

Also, is there benefits to using 0w 30 over 5w 30?

 

[901Memphis]

In sub zero temperature the benefits of a 0w30 will come with easier starts and the advantages widen the further you get in the temperature range. A 5w30 synthetic is more than appropriate for your climate though.

I wouldn't pay a lot more for a 0w30 over a 5w30 synthetic though. If the price is close go for the 0w

 

[imcharlescee]

If I use 5w 30 synthetic with Pennzoil, would this make my spark plug wells leak more?

 

[Rolla07]

Pennzoil HM? Or any HM oil.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Danno
PYB 5W-30 on a 8,000 km OCI will work well for your car.

Exctly; synthetic is not needed. Buy by price, and doing a couple OCIs with conventional won't hurt while you monitor leaks. Top ups with synthetics always made me cry.

 

[imcharlescee]

Alright I guess conventional 5w 30 OR 0w 30 is fine right?

 

[Danno]

Pennzoil Yellow Bottle 5W-30 every 8,000kms with quality filter - your engine will outlast the car. Walmart has sales where PYB can be had for $10.88 per 4.73L jug. Boxing Day is a good time to keep watch on oil sales.
In Toronto, 0W-30 is overkill IMO and not sure if 0W-30 is available in a dino (non-syn) oil.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Danno
Pennzoil Yellow Bottle 5W-30 every 8,000kms with quality filter - your engine will outlast the car. Walmart has sales where PYB can be had for $10.88 per 4.73L jug. Boxing Day is a good time to keep watch on oil sales.


Same goes for Canadian Tire/Parsource, they always have some sort of sale going on

Quote:
In Toronto, 0W-30 is overkill IMO and not sure if 0W-30 is available in a dino (non-syn) oil.


I wouldn't say it is overkill in general, but might be for a 1994-vintage car that leaks oil.

No, 0w-30 isn't available in conventional.

OP:

Another option is the excellent Petro-Canada 0w-30 synthetic, which can be had for about 1/2 the price of the "big name" synthetic oils, putting it close to the cost of a conventional. You have to get it from a PC distributor though.

 

[fdcg27]

The sixteen valve 2.2 takes 4 qts, while the VTEC version of same takes 4.5 qts, which may have been a source of confusion to your mech.
Leaky spark plug tubes are a common problem with this engine and the bottom o-rings, which aren't nearly as easy to replace as the top gaskets are the common cause.
Other than that, this is a typical Honda four cylinder that will lead a long life on any oil and filter changed at reasonable intervals.
Honda recommended 7500 miles or up to one year, whichever came first for OCIs in normal service.
The farthest I ever went was 7K on PP, but you could probably do 7-8K easily with mostly highway use.
The car isn't that fast?
While it may not have had mind-numbing acceleration, my '97 with the same engine would exceed 100 mph easily enough and could top out at more than 120 mph. You can reach 60 mph in second and 90 mph in third and the Honda doesn't mind the redline at all.
Plenty fast enough for me.

 

[imcharlescee]

Thanks guys!I guess it is settled that I'll stick with Pennzoil Yellow Bottle 5w 30. Guess my car is really that reliable and not so picky I hope honda still made these kind of cars.

 

[Papa Bear]

Any of the good conventional 5W-30's will suit that car nicely.

I had a 93 Accord EX-R for 14 yrs and the engine performed flawlessly on whatever dino was on sale.

Do a drain&fill of the automatic as well every so often while it's up in the air getting the oil changed.

 

[imcharlescee]

Hey guys! I just had my oil change at exactly 199,000 (around 100 KMs above scheduled oops!) but I used Pennzoil Yellow Bottle before and after it came out... oh man it was BLACK. I'm hoping that it's black since it did clean up all the gunk from this engine. I just put in new oil as well as ATF-DW1 on my accord

Runs really well!