Kengh

Anyone know what comes in the 2008 civic SI from the factory? synthetic or non-syn? Also, I just bought one of these and I was wondering if anyone has any tips on breaking the engine in. I was told to do an oil change at 1,000 to get the metal shavings out, but I am not sure how accurate this is. Any advice is appreciated!

dirtySOHC's

read your manual

Kengh

I am in the process of doing that. I just think that there may be some useful information out there that isn't all in the manual.

dirtySOHC's

none more useful than whats in the manual....as far as engine break in goes.

opticnerv

I'm not even kidding when I say this, I have read that taking it to high rpms for the first 20 or so miles breaks in the motor rather well.

IT GUY

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by opticnerv &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm not even kidding when I say this, I have read that taking it to high rpms for the first 20 or so miles breaks in the motor rather well. </TD></TR></TABLE>

yup, read this. http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

SIVIC 3

5w-30 non-synthetic. just good ol' honda motor oil.

user 72830283

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IT GUY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

yup, read this. http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm </TD></TR></TABLE>

damn..you beat me to it..but yea i tried hitting vtec every time i shifted when i was driving back from the dealer..i even had my parents in the car with me!

Bulli Kid

well in my honest opinion break in has very little to do with how much the engine will consume on oil.
Its either build right with tight clearances or build bad with loose clearances.

I have known people that broke in the car"pedal to the metal" right of the lot, and i know that my dad broke it in very slowly for the first 5k miles ( civic lx)
As far as i am concerned both engines do not burn any oil. Another friend of mine had a 03 si and drove it very slowly during break in and had no oil consumption. My uncle had a ford ranger and beat the **** out of it and it doesnt burn any oil.


So yah you either get a nicely built engine or you dont.

Bror Jace

I've never had an oil burner for a car ... even my '06 Civic with it's thin 5W-20 oil goes 5,000 miles without me having to add a drop. So, I'd say this car ... and the handful I owned before it ... were broken in correctly. Even the Nissan 2.5L Spec-V I had a handful of years ago ... a known oil guzzler ... never used a drop of oil in the 3+ years I owned it. Most other owners I talked to went through half a quart of more.

So, what do I do? I change the oil frequently. As far as I know, Honda no longer specifies a set number of miles with their factory oil. However, the factory oil DOES contain a special oil/additive ... it's very high in molybdenum: 600ppm - 900ppm.

I usually change the oil and filter once before 2,000 miles ... then every 3,000 until the 2nd or 3rd oil change. Conventional oil is preferred as synthetic is just a waste of money at this point with the short durations (except in winter for sub-zero starts).

I also use a top-oil additive like MMO, Lucas UCL, Schaeffer Neutra and others to lube the rings so they seat very gradually. I use this stuff at least once every other tankful to add lubrication to the cylinders.

Driving style during this time? I vary the RPMs a lot. I also try not to go above 2/3 RPMs (contrary to the link above). That's about it.

2008fijibluesi

You talk about wasting money, and then you recommend putting oil-additives in a brand new car? DURRRR

Bror Jace

I rarely suggest putting additives in the oil. In this case, your owners' manual is correct and they are a waste of money.

But in the fuel? Sure. Different additives in different doses for different applications.


NOT at all the same thing. Maybe I should have been more clear ... those additives I listed above are for use in fuel.

2008fijibluesi

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bror Jace &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I rarely suggest putting additives in the oil. In this case, your owners' manual is correct and they are a waste of money.

But in the fuel? Sure. Different additives in different doses for different applications.


NOT at all the same thing. Maybe I should have been more clear ... those additives I listed above are for use in fuel.</TD></TR></TABLE>

In oil or in fuel, they are still a waste of money.

Bror Jace

"In oil or in fuel, they are still a waste of money."

This statement is based on ???

Some of the upper cylinder lubes can increase fuel economy ... at least a few percent. I know because I track my mileage meticulously. I also use them for break-in .... and if you want a tight motor that doesn't burn oil, it's hard to do better than I have with my last 4 vehicles (combined have not used a quart of oil in hundreds of thousands of miles). I get similar results with outdoor power equipment.

And, occasional use of good pour-in detergents keeps your fuel system clean and can lengthen the life of things like emissions components.

Bad gas and cylinder wear are real problems, not theoretical ones.

IT GUY

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IT GUY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

yup, read this. http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm </TD></TR></TABLE>

to add to that link:

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

http://www.ferrarichat.com/for...icles

Dr. Haas's articles and the bobistheoilguy forum have taught me quite a bit (about how much I didn't know). I'm not going to bother debating with you guys about oil. I will say if you really want to know how your oil is doing then send it to blackstone. If you want to know how well your rings seated during break-in, then do a leakdown test.

McBitchin

I plan on running royal purple 5w30 in my car, its been good so far, a little pricey but w.e

yuning83

You can't go wrong sticking with the factory motor oil. I didn't do my first oil change til the indicator said something like 20%. I think I had like 4k+ miles on it then.

2008fijibluesi

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bror Jace &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">"In oil or in fuel, they are still a waste of money."

This statement is based on ???

Some of the upper cylinder lubes can increase fuel economy ... at least a few percent. I know because I track my mileage meticulously. I also use them for break-in .... and if you want a tight motor that doesn't burn oil, it's hard to do better than I have with my last 4 vehicles (combined have not used a quart of oil in hundreds of thousands of miles). I get similar results with outdoor power equipment.

And, occasional use of good pour-in detergents keeps your fuel system clean and can lengthen the life of things like emissions components.

Bad gas and cylinder wear are real problems, not theoretical ones.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sure, occasional use of "good pour-in detergents" won't hurt anything, but when you talk about using it at least every other tank-ful, the improved gas efficiency is lost, because every $10+ you spend on those bottles of "miracle additive" is only saving like $3.

The <U>break-in oil </U> does what it is supposed to.

As long as you use a quality gasoline, using additives on a car with under 100k miles is pointless. I own a '94 Accord with 200k miles that has been in my family since it was brand new. My parents never added anything into the fuel or oil, and the thing has never leaked a drop. Gasolines sold by companies like Shell, Exxon, etc already have detergents in them.

EK FLY

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kengh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Anyone know what comes in the 2008 civic SI from the factory? synthetic or non-syn? Also, I just bought one of these and I was wondering if anyone has any tips on breaking the engine in. I was told to do an oil change at 1,000 to get the metal shavings out, but I am not sure how accurate this is. Any advice is appreciated!</TD></TR></TABLE>

you gotta thing about it who are you going to trust the kid at jifylube , some guy in honda tech , or the engineers at honda , leave that factory oil until you reach 15% oil life that oil has some special aditives that break in the engine , changing the oil at 1000 miles is going to be bad , just run your car like normal , up until you do your first oil change

Bror Jace

Guys, years ago Honda made a big deal about leaving their factory oil in for a certain amount of time (something like 5,000 miles) before the first change.

But when I bought my 2006, they (the dealership) didn't give me the same advice ... and I specifically asked about it. I then read through the manual and failed to see any mention of a special break-in oil or a preferred interval using it. Can anyone advocating leaving this stuff in until the OLM reaches 15% or less point to a source that states this implicitly??

I've seen UOAs analyzed by Blackstone Labs and one specifically mentioned a user trying to go too far on factory oil ... or oil added before break-in was complete. The result was accelerated wear ... and they had the lab tests (ppms of wear metals) to prove it.

As for the cost of additives, it isn't prohibitive. I got a 5% increase in fuel economy by using 2oz. of Marvel Mystery oil in each tankful ... that's a savings of $50+ in one year assuming about 10,000 miles traveled ... and you won't be using $50 worth of MMO in that time.

Other people use 2-stroke oil which is even cheaper at 150-200:1 mix ratios.

Besides, in this case I was merely talking about using this during break in ... just a few bucks during the first several thousand miles.

Of course these cars are Hondas. You need not baby them to the 99.999% degree to get long life from them ... but I still like to. My neighbor sent me a pic of my old 1995 Civic's speed ... she just turned over 200,000 miles in the lil' beast.