jwarren1904

So my mechanic noticed my car was leaking oil around the timing belt area. So he quickly ran and put some castrol gtx high mileage 20w 50 into my f22. IV only been putting 10w 30. He recommends I switch to the 20 weight . Do I need to kick his a**. All my research suggests 5w30 or 10w30, as well as my Chilton manual.

Sparksman

Chill out homie all is good in the hood lol. Ive seen man MANY people run a heavier weight oil in their cars. Think oil gets thinner as it gets hotter.

Example; many people after switching to a thin synthetic oil will notice seeping oil around the oil pan where there wasnt before. Common issue.

Same thing but reversed, he's suggesting runnign a hevier weight to slow the leak you apparently have and cant afford to properly fix.

You can run as heavy of a oil as you want, hell Ive ran diesel oil in a few of my previous vehicles for months at a time with no affects what so ever.

If your having issues with low oil pressure bumping up to a heavier weight is recommended.

jwarren1904

Thanks for the info. Dude wants to do a whole timing belt replacment along with that seals. Said the 4th gens had a recall on some seal in that area because that they leaked idk.

Sparksman

Ya crank seals are a common problem in pretty much every high mileage engine lol. You have to redo the timing after removing the belt. If you reuse the old belt your a fool lol.

How many miles in on your engine? You may just be do for a engine swap, seeing how its cheaper to swap in a jdm h22a with 30,XXX miles for less then what it would cost to fully from top to bottom rebuilt one using all oem parts.

If you do end up fixing and keeping your current engine, buy a kaizenspeed manual timing belt tensioner. The factory oem ones are jokes and are prone to failing, DONT reuse...

jwarren1904

its got 137000 miles on it. And yes! One day I will swap an h22a into it. Maybe use my tax return check lol

motoxxxman

woa woa woa. it only has 137k on it??

while I don't suggest smacking your mechanic for using 20w-50 to slow the leak, because he's not wrong, I also don't suggest using that heavy of an oil in your car for a long period of time. you can use it temporarily as a bandaid as long as you drive the car normally and do NOT rev it high or race it at all.

don't listen to sparksman's OK to use heavy weight oil in the way that he does..
20w-50 is obviously MUCH thicker than 10w-30. the leak will be slower due to it being thicker oil.
but thicker oil is rarely a good thing for the engine. it will drastically increase oil pressure at pressures lower than what the oil pump's bypass valve is rated for, and once it hits the bypass oil pressure, the relief valve will open and a large portion of the oil the pump is trying to push will just get spit back into the oil pan without ever being sent through the motor. this means that when using thicker oil compared to recommended oil, you get around 50% LESS volume of oil flowing through the motor, reducing lubrication but mostly reducing the cooling effects that the oil is actually designed to do on a large portion of the internals.

find out what is leaking, and fix the leak. replacing the oil pan gasket or the front main seal is really a low cost fix. I can do both in around 90-100 minutes total. and the cost for a new engine is obviously going to be quite a bit more than fixing the leak. because that's what it'll boil down to requiring if you keep using 20w-50 over a long period of time, especially if you beat on the car on occasion.

motoxxxman

why would he be a fool for using the old belt? you don't know what it has on it for mileage. belts can be removed and re-installed plenty of times, it does NOT affect their lifespan, as long as you don't set belt tension too tight. if the belt has low mileage on it, he'd be a fool for spending the money on a new belt and paying the extra labor cost to have it installed.

I agree, the kaizenspeed ones are good. manual tensioners also make it much easier the next time the belt has to come off and put back on again.

Sparksman

Because belts are cheap, and going through the hassle of removing it, its a might as well type of deal. If you just replaced then maybe reuse after close inspection, but if its been a while just replace. When people cheap out on the small stuff, is usually when things come back to bite them in the ***. was just my .02 cents

motoxxxman

I can agree with that, the labor to replace the belt isn't toooo much more when replacing the front main seal, maybe an extra 30-45 mins or so. belts are typically good for 80k miles on a street driven car, so I'd say if it has 40k at the time of front main seal replacement to go ahead and replace the belt. if it has less than 40k though, I wouldn't really see the point if cheapness is the goal

Sparksman

I never said it was "OK" to use for long periods of time or for regular use. He sounded pissed and mainly wanted to know if he car was going to blow up in his face... It wont...

He had a problem, and explained how the mechanic was applying the "band-aid" by suggesting high wt. oil. Why he suggested that high idk? Im not the mechanic.

If his car is leaks oil I had assumed he was smart enough not to be out there racing and bouncing off of the rev limiter... If he's that dumb maybe it would be best if he wasnt on the road to begin with....

I figured the guy just had to limp around in it tell pay-day or something. He will be fine doing that. Whats with all of your call outs on like every thread?... If I say something you disagree with ask me to elaborate, or just contribute what you consider to be helpful info and move on.

Acidcrakker

Everyone has different ways of doing things. If the OP is having mechanics work on his car, he obviously doesnt know anything. I know if someone came came to me and said to put 30/50 in my engine, Id tell them to go Eff themselves.

If you have a leak, get the leak fixed. I would never put a thicker oil in to fix a leak. And if I was paying someone and they wanted to put a band aid on my car, I would stay away from that shop for good.

Sparksman

30wt. is a bit thicker I wouldn't go that high, 20wt. is still thick. I would just keep adding oil if it were my car. We don't know if he did a 20wt. Oil change or just topped it off. Plus all the remaining 10wt inside I bet its more of a true 15wt.

Bottom line is it won't ruin your engine if you putt on it tell payday to properly fix. I think he only offered the bandaid as a last ditch effort to make some money once the OP opted out of having fixed the same day. He sold a few qrts of oil didn't he?

jwarren1904

Im kinda late but yeah, you really put it into perspective thanks. iv just got an oil change at 137xxx with the same 20w 50. 500 bucks for a t belt plus seal changes is a lot for me at the moment(probably always will be lol). So get the leak fixed and then ill switch. Btw sparksman's had some good info for me in the past!

integra_101

Preludes didnt have a recall for that.

http://www.automobilemag.com/auto_re...honda/prelude/

jwarren1904

Good

MAD_MIKE

The oil leak problem on the F22 seal is an F series issue, not a model problem. Just because a car does not have an active recall/extended warranty issued, does not mean there is not a problem. Odyssey automatics had issues in the 98-02 vans, yet only the 99-01s have the extended warranty.

Glanced at the oil discussion above and there is a critical point that is being missed.

The 'W' on 5W-;10W;-15W-;etc is for winter. This means COLD. When the oil is cold it flows like a 5; 10; 15; etc weight oil at normal temps.
If your car requires 5W-30 then when it is cold it needs an oil fluidity weight of 5 and when the oil warms up it has the viscosity of 30. This is for protection and lubrication.

Changing oil weight without knowing what actual operating oil temperature is a guess at best. Too high of an oil viscosity is just as bad as not enough oil volume in the sump or pressure at the pump.

Black R

Op, just go to bobistheoilguy.com and read up.
Then you'll understand why too thick an oil is bad.

Fix your seals and use the proper oil.

jwarren1904

Lol 2 months later...still using 20w50 and still leaking

holmesnmanny

Have you ever thought about actually changing the oil out and putting in some 10-30 high mileage ? That stuff really does reduce oil leaks on cars that need seal replacing.

jwarren1904

yeah im gonna do it thursday on payday. Its getting colder now and my car sounds like its struggling to start. 10w30 high mileage you say?! ill give it a go