Hello all...

ima new member, joined last night and have spent a lot of time reading alll the wealth of info on oil etc..

I have a 1994 EX VTEC with 165 000 miles, has AC and is 5 spd Manual gearbox.

i wanna change the oil myself and am thinking about going fully synth as i reckon i can get better mpg and engine life, especially in this hot south Florida climate ( Near fort Lauderdale)

my question is for you folks to please give me a reccomedation on what oil to go with and how often.

im new to Hondas, have done many, many oil changes and other mechanic work so not green to this work at all, i just respect the opinion of people that have run these cars for a long time.

i think that right now its running 10-40, im looking at going for 5/30 dino/standard oilOR 5/30 synth.

below, for some of you if interested, is a list of all the oil changes its had (the maint records on this car are unbelievable!!??) with some other helpful info:

many thanks and kind regards.....

Oil and filter changes [/b]
mileage Grade miles since last:[/b]
23 018 5/30(22 500 mile service)
30 660 ??? 7642
42 570 5/30 11910 (45 000 mile service)
56 140 5/30 13570 (60 000 mile service)
67 674 10/3011534
74 202 10/306546
96 878 ??? 22658 PCV valve also
101 153 ??? 4275
105 784 ??? 4631
110 608 ??? 4824
114 507 ??? 3899
117 626 ??? 3119
123 612 ??? 5986
129 099 10/30 5487
145 793 5/3016694 ??!! surely a missed oil change in the records?
149 336 10/303543
149 800 oil pump reseal ------
154 252 ??? 4916
159 113 ??? 4861
162 000 ??? 2887**
161 299 5/30 ** (PCV valve & ERG passage plate cleaned also)

Notes: there are words on the service receipts of the odometer being wrong around this time**

 

You're overdue for a timing belt change, if this is record of your maintenance.

Oil is oil IMO. I use Walmart oil and it works just fine. It meets very good API specifications. Synthetic is good stuff, but better than natural oil? Who knows. Anything better than adequate may yield no net benefit, so why spend the extra bucks. I've run a 90 Accord to 270K miles and currently operate a 94 Accord approaching 220K miles. My wife's Subaru has 175K miles, all on Walmart natural oil. It works for me.

You can read all about oil issues on bobistheoilguy.com.

Look at the valve train through the oil fill opening. If it looks black and you can see accumulations of dark, black rough coating, you could have some problems. Good condition is light, brown-tan translucent coat of oil varnish.

good luck

 

Ican assure you 100%, without a doubt; if you put in 5/30 synth you will find any and every possible place for a seal to leak oil.

 

ok, thanks for the advice guys, the timing belt has been done, the figures i put down are only to show oil changes...i have SO much more detail, reciepts and paperwork, im the third owner and third engineer to own this car...**** retentive springs to mind!!

so, i hear what you are saying about the fully synth hondadude but how about standard 5/30, would that still leak? is it just a myth that you should slightly change the oil spec as the miles climb?

 

I definately agree with hondadude. I think that if there were less miles on the vehicle to go for it but 165k is a bit much. I had a 94 mitsu 3000GT that I used mobil1 synthetic in and I was very pleased but one time when the oil was changed (not by me!) they didn't put a new crush washer in with the oil plug and I had a very steady drip.
Regular 5/30 is what I use in mine and it has 174k miles, no drips.

 

311K on dino oil here, still get 30mpg, no leaks, and the engine doesn't use oil.
We swapped synthetic into my friends Jeep transmission, tcase, and front and rear differentials, and within a week he had puddles under each of them. We emptied it back out, put in regular gear oil with lucas and the leaks stopped.

 

I've been using Valvoline Maxlife 10w30 in both of my Hondas for quite some time now. Since you are in a hot climate like I am (I'm in Mississippi) I think I would use 10w30 if I were you since it's thicker.
I just realized a few days ago that Maxlife is synthetic oil (yeah I'm a moron for not noticing - it's synthetic blend though, not full synthetic - whatever that means) so I'm gonna up my oil change intervals to 5k miles instead of 3k.
x2 on the crush washer for the oil drain plug. I just went and bought 20 of them from my local Honda dealer (they cost $0.50 each.) The plug WILL leak if you don't put the washer on there.
My 2000 LX does not leak a drop of oil.
My 95 V6 leaks a bit, but the C27V6 engine is notorious for leaks so I am not surprised, nor am I blaming it on the oil.
FYI: Maxlife costs $12 for a 5 quart jug at WalMart. WalMart is by FAR the cheapest for MaxLife - AutoZone and Advance charge around $16 for a 5 quart jug.
I use purolator filters because I have heard good things about them and they are pretty cheap.
MaxLife is great oil. It is spoken highly of on bobistheoilguy.com. It has additives that cause oil seals to swell so they won't leak (some may debate this, but the general consensus on bobistheoilguy is that the additives do in fact swell the seals and help.) I would definitely recommend it.

 

Wal Mart is great! I believe I paid 11 bucks for a 5 quart jug of pennzoil platinum and 2 bucks for super tech filter. Wal Mart = ftw. I can't believe how much cheaper they are than auto places.

I'm doing 5k oil change intervals like 00 and 10w 30

 

With the miles you have stick with dino oil.

 

Dude, are you talking about the oil just being synth causing (or finding) more leaks or the fact that he is going to change from 10-40 to 5-30? I am wanting to know if you are eluding to the oil weight or synth vs regular.

I am asking since this might help my oil leaks.... as I have been using 5-30