Safe to go from 5W30 to 5W20 in older 91 Civic?

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Originally Posted By: HangerHarley
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
I'd say a 20wt oil should be fine particularly in the cooler winter months.
Honda only ever spec'd a dino oil for the car and the typical 5W-30 oil of 20 years ago was anything but shear stable. So in reality you car has always been spec'd for a 20wt oil.


It still started out as a 30-wt. though!!!

Hondas run fine on 5W-30 year-round. This has been my experience. And i had one...

OP, you want a 20-wt. why?


You're missing the point.
A fundamental lubrication maxium is, "as light as possible, thick as necessary".
Even a 20wt oil is too viscous every time a car is started and remains so at least until normal high operating oil temp's are achieved.
So the OP is asking the correct question, is a 30wt oil necessary, and the answer is no.
 
For only 2 OCI I'd say go for it, wont' be a long term damage anyways if you are not going to run it really hard (racing or run in Las Vegas in traffic jam).
 
I had a 1990 Civic Si that I used in ST class autocross. It ate synthetic oil, and smoked a little at full throttle and high rpm when I first got it as it had only had conventional for 178,000 miles. So I ran Pennzoil high mileage 10w30 for a few thousand miles to see if it would help things out, and then went back to PYB 5w30. It was perfect, no consumption, no smoke, and that is what I would recommend for your car.
 
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
You're offering a possible remedy to a problem that doesn't exist.
The OP's car doesn't have an oil consumption problem.


Well if you read the entire thing, PYB was my suggestion.
 
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