HondaGuy6969

I have a 1994 Civic. With 110,000 miles! I'd like to switch to synthetic oil.

The recommended weight of ordinary oil is 10-30. What do you recommend for synthetic? Remember, this is a 1994.

Jimi Hondrix

Use recommend weight. No difference between conventional and synthetic as far as weight is concerned.

joey1320

I would trust Honda engineers more than random online members on a "not so technical" forum like this one. Therefore as posted above, stick to OEM recommendations.
If you really want to get into deep/technical oil conversations, go to http://bobistheoilguy.com/ and check the info/forum.

civic402lx

I use mobil 1 full synthetic oil because i can get it cheap at walmart. I have it on all 4 of my vehicles. Dont really need to stick with oem. Nearest dealership is over an hour drive vs 5mins from walmart. You can buy oem filter on ebay in bulk if u prefer oem filter. I use pureOne filter, local advance auto. My gsr with over 200k still running the same set up. 10w30.

Badcopyinc

i put 10/30 in my 94 civic d16z6

but if you still have the label on your airbox it recommends 5w-30 and 3.5 quarts of it.

joey1320

I didn't mean to only buy from the dealer, I meant to stick with the weight the engineers recommend.

TomCat39

The recommended weight is actually 5w30 and 10w30 can be used as an alternative, or for extreme driving conditions. (Extreme conditions also reduces change intervals so costs go up naturally)

If you car is not burning oil I would say definitely switch to synthetic, however, I would not suggest Mobile 1 as it has been shown to burn off faster than even conventional oil in our older cars. So it will cost more over the duration of the extended change intervals.

From the oil guru's the current best synthetic happens to be Penzoil Platinum Ultra.

I am using this (1 step down w/ Pennzoil Platinum) and I am running it for 20,000 kilometers with only changing the oil filter at 10,000 kilometers. Since my car doesn't consume large amounts of oil, I am able to go for 20,000 kilometers for around 100 dollars Canadian. 2 jugs (5L) of Pennzoil Platinum on sale for 45 bucks and 10 bucks in filters. I just recently broke into the 2nd jug and I have 7,000 kilometers to go.

Conventional cost me about 35 bucks and 5 bucks a filter, so over 20,000 I had 140 in oil and 20 in filters for a change interval of 5000 kilometers 4 times.

I will likely have enough oil left in my second jug to almost do a complete oil change for another 20,000 kilometer haul. So this cost break down will be 3 jugs at 45 dollars and 4 filters at 5 dollars for a total of 40,000 Kilometers equaling 155 dollars. About half of my conventional costs.

If your car consumes oil, the extended change interval is not worth the up front cost of the more expensive oil and quality filter.

civic402lx

My local walmart(small) doesn't carry the 5quarts jug in pennzoil platinum ultra nor platinum. Which is why i havent fully switch from mobil 1. Soon i will.

cokevanilla

Hello,
I am running a 1992 D15B2 and I have @ 100.000 miles on the odometer. I'm using 5w30 as recommended. No leaks so far. The brand is Ravenol, a german brand. I don't know if you have it in the States. Here is a link with the recommendation: http://www.ravenolromania.ro/oilfinder/. As far as filters I'm always using the ones from MANN. Over here is pretty solid company you can rely on.
Good luck.

autocraig

Castrol 5w30 is quite good as your base oil. Oil additives are also ideal in older cars as they have anti-wear and anti-friction properties. I'm using the Moly-Graphene based Everglide oil additive. The field tests and comparative results conducted with it are pretty impressive. First time that I have come across an additive with the moly-graphene formula so I am hopeful that it does its job. Made my car quieter. Running smoother now, and will update you guys soon of any remarkable improvements.

tony_2018

I think its like 10w40, I couldn't be right.

White_EG1

Been running Castrol gtx 5w-30 can't beat 26.99 with a filter

tykracing

I don't mean to beat a dead horse on this one, but penzoil uses paraffin wax in their oils which causes a premature build up of sludge. I have owned several Hondas, and after a lot of person experience, I now use Valvoline Full-Synthetic Maxlife oil in all of my vehicles. My 1995 Honda Civic EX with a B16A uses only Valvoline's best VR1 Race oil and gets changed every 500 miles. My 2000 Honda Civic with a B18C5 runs Valvoline's full-Synthetic Maxlife and gets changed every 4000. Valvoline also offers an engine guarantee for all vehicles running all of their oils as long as they change the oil every 4000 miles at most.

TomCat39

If my memory serves me, someone once told me almost all oils have paraffin in them. I don't recall the information source but it was interesting.

Using synthetic oil and only going 4000 miles is throwing your money away. Talk to any oil analyst and they will tell you the oil has tons more life to it being a synthetic. You might as well go back to conventional and change it every 3000 and save the dollars.

The whole point of synthetic is extended change intervals. The latest high end synthetics are 10,000 mile change intervals typically.

Synthetic oil analyzed after 10,000 miles has shown to have the same properties as brand new conventional off the shelf. So you are changing it once it drops to the level of clean conventional oil.

As for the warranty, as all "insurance/warranties" you have to meet very specific specifications to get the payout. Odds are, the company will find the loophole to not pay out. But hey, if it gets you to be loyal and shell out for reduced change intervals the image of warranty is doing it's job.

Ahhh here it is:

This thread talks about PAO aka Paraffin base and clarifies, it's not the same thing as paraffin wax (table candle).

There is a bit of misunderstanding and confusion on paraffin base that was misinterpreted to be wax in oil. Or it was a straight marketing ploy to sway the general populous from one oil to another. Marketing twists things all the time for a buck.