Is there anything wrong with running full synthetic oil in a stock 1999 Honda I-4 engine (in an EX model)?

Dealer mech says the valves are mechanical and the valves will make lots of noise with full synthetic oil. It's 20 below here in the winter and not running synthetic has big disadvantages in the cold. However, I ran it once (in the summer) and the valves were louder/noisy.

Does anyone else have similar experience?

Thanks
-Pete

 

being synthetic does not make oil better in the winter. Viscosity of the oil is what makes the difference. Whether or not you use synthetic is all up to you, some people like it, some people don't. do some research on here, or on google or something like that and get a little more info about the oil you plan on using, that will aid you in making your decision.

 

i'm running Syntec in my 01 accord ex and 96 civic dx. the valvetrains are similar on these two motors although the accord has roller rockers. they both run fine. i push them hard.. they run fine.

so long as you put the recommeded weight in for your climate according to your manual, you should be fine. the only difference i have noticed between conventional and synthetic is the life-span. i get a little more life out of the sythetic.

more important than what type of oil you use is keeping it fresh. this is the best way to keep deposits out of your engine and keep your head under the hood regularly (to keep an eye on any other problems)

 

OK--thanks for the info.

I change synthetic oil ever 6K. I have found, in the other honda's I've ran (RSX, Odyssey, various Civics,) that the valvetrain noise isn't as prominent as in the 99 Accord I-4 motor.

All I know is when I ran full synthetic, the valve train got MUCH more noisy. I changed back to a standard oil and the noise went away (used Castrol 5W-30 Syntec and 5W-30 GTX).

Sounds like I should just get the valves adjusted and try synthetic again--maybe something wasn't right to begin with when I ran synthetic the first time.

Again, thanks for sharing your experience.

 

That might very well be true.

From my experience, however, I've found my cars have always started and warmed up faster using synthetic in the winder vs. non-synthetic. Even in recent Honda motors where I run 5W-20--which seems pretty thin to me--the synthetic always seems to flow faster and warm up faster when its cold out.

 

This previous posting was in response to the comments about synthetic oil not having any differences in the winter than conventional oil...FYI.

 

i see, good point. i doesn't get real cold where i am, and when it does get cold it doesn't last long so i don't notice that as much.

 

Yes full synthetic is good for you to use in your motor, nothing wrong it in fact. I highly recommend it.

 

Mechanical valves just means you have adjustable lifters vs. hydraulic (aka automatic or zero-clearance lifters), the latter use oil to maintain a constant valve to lifter clearance. I'm running a "synthetic blend" 5W-30 in my car and it's been below freezing quite often around here, and I'd venture to say my engine is actually quieter on this stuff than it was on my pure dino oil that I had in there after I did my valve adjustments a few weeks ago. Give it a try - if it's noisy, just drain and refill. No harm done. (The whole DON'T GO BACK TO DINO AFTER SYNTHETIC and whatnot is no longer true with current oils)

 

The main advantage of synthetics in cold start situations is that they have a much lower temp pour point, meaning that they will flow better than a dino oil at startup, minimizing wear on internals.

BTW Im talking true PAO synthetics such as Mobil 1, Redline, Royal Purple, etc.

You will pay extra $$ for this advantage, and recently non-true synthetics (hydro-cracked dino oils marketed as full synthetics) and even semi-synthetics have become much better and offer most of the performance of a full synthetic at a reduced price.

Will it even matter on a Honda? Does it really make the valve train louder? I haven't seen any definitive evidence... Use what you can afford, and most importantly use the correct WEIGHT of oil.

SOHC

go to bobistheoilguy.com for more info...

 

I've been running mobile 1 since my car had around 60k miles on it now im a 199k and some change. If its not broke don't fixed it.