What Oil to use..

[vteckiller]

So i currently run 10/30 castrol full synthetic in my car, but it seems to leak a lil. i was thinking of running 20/40 anyone have some thoughts on this?

[MessyHonda]

did it leak before you switched to full synthetic? sometimes the a20 does not like synthetic because it will find all the leaks. be ready to change out gaskets. I dont use synthetic but i use Valvoline premium conventional 5w-30 with Napa Wix gold filter in my GSR and it runs smooth and no leaks

[Vanilla Sky]

Sounds like you're cleaning out crud seals with the good oil. I recommend that you keep with the synthetic and change seals and gaskets out as needed to keep the oil in.

[vteckiller]

did it leak before you switched to full synthetic? sometimes the a20 does not like synthetic because it will find all the leaks. be ready to change out gaskets. I dont use synthetic but i use Valvoline premium conventional 5w-30 with Napa Wix gold filter in my GSR and it runs smooth and no leaks

pretty much as i switched from part synthetic to the full synthetic i noticed leaks, there not like terrible but it is leaking no doubt about that.. i was thinking of buying some of that black light stuff from napa to find out exactly where the leaks are at. thanks for the post/comments.

[Vanilla Sky]

The only magic goop I'd ever use is Engine Restore, and it's not really a sealant. It helps out in other ways, though. When we had our old 305 Camaro, it wouldn't even bark the tires. After treating it with a can of Restore, we could do smokey burnouts whenever we wanted.

[2oodoor]

Fix the leaks and skip the snake oils in a Honda. There are common leak points that are relatively easy fixes.
That Restore is cool stuff but not too effective for gravity leaks.

[Vanilla Sky]

That's kind of what I was getting at.

Also, watch out for oils that claim to stop leaks. They have a compound in them that softens the seals back up. The problem is that now you have a bunch of goopy soft seals that still don't keep oil where it needs to be.

[2oodoor]

What I've found on these A20 are the rubber gasket type seals get hard and brittle, and get cracks in them where the oil will leak.
This includes the common leaking oil filter base adapter, a round o ring type rubber seal but it isn't circular shaped. If you are smelling oil bad at traffic lights this is more than likely the culprit.
The oil pump seals, same material, there is one inner and one outer. These will leave a nice size oil spot on the driver side.
Distributor o ring, and valve cover gaskets, both rubber as well.. these will smoke up on top of the motor and smell worse right after you park. Still will be some while riding though.
Less common but possible leaking seals would be front and rear shaft seals. Another one I have had and read here about others having is a head that need retorqued because of oil leaking from the right front head.
Check the PVC system and all of the components of it.

Pull the valve cover off and see if there is lot of gunk laying on top of the head, if so then the valve cover will likely leak no matter if it has a new gasket or not.

There are probably more areas others have experienced oil leaks from, but this is what I have had with 3 3gens, a 4 gen, and a 5gen civic.
Oil pump seals..

[MessyHonda]

pretty much as i switched from part synthetic to the full synthetic i noticed leaks, there not like terrible but it is leaking no doubt about that.. i was thinking of buying some of that black light stuff from napa to find out exactly where the leaks are at. thanks for the post/comments.

it could be leaking from the top and it can come down and make it look like other leaks. the best thing to do is to buy engine degreaser and clean out the engine and figure out whats leaking. on my a20 my distributor would leak because i had a OBD1 one and it never sealed right so it make it look like the oil pan gasket was leaking.

[2oodoor]

I used to use Castrol GTX 20w50w and still would use it if I wasn't getting lazy.
It's good stuff and it cleans good too.
Now I use full synthetic, various brands, whatever is on sale...even Walmart Tech brand full synthetic.

Our commuting cars are getting 8-10k miles between changes, which I don't recommend. I took my 4.6 truck probably over 10k this last time, using Mobil one advanced. The oil was still VERY slick and held together amazingly well BUT it was dirty.

In my A20 I use 10w30w
B20 I use 5w30w

[DBMaster]

I routinely went 10K miles between oil changes with synthetics. Buy a better filter that, at least, claims high dirt holding capacity. My engine, like many others here, had slight leakage at the valve stem seals and/or valve guides. I found that Rotella T synthetic (5W-40) offered the lowest consumption - about a half quart every 1,500 miles or so. Pretty much any oil on the market is going to be fine for these cars as the API oil grades have ratcheted up numerous times in the past twenty years. It's more a matter of making sure you have enough in the crankcase and that your filter is still effective.

[vteckiller]

What I've found on these A20 are the rubber gasket type seals get hard and brittle, and get cracks in them where the oil will leak.
This includes the common leaking oil filter base adapter, a round o ring type rubber seal but it isn't circular shaped. If you are smelling oil bad at traffic lights this is more than likely the culprit.
The oil pump seals, same material, there is one inner and one outer. These will leave a nice size oil spot on the driver side.
Distributor o ring, and valve cover gaskets, both rubber as well.. these will smoke up on top of the motor and smell worse right after you park. Still will be some while riding though.
Less common but possible leaking seals would be front and rear shaft seals. Another one I have had and read here about others having is a head that need retorqued because of oil leaking from the right front head.
Check the PVC system and all of the components of it.

Pull the valve cover off and see if there is lot of gunk laying on top of the head, if so then the valve cover will likely leak no matter if it has a new gasket or not.

There are probably more areas others have experienced oil leaks from, but this is what I have had with 3 3gens, a 4 gen, and a 5gen civic.
Oil pump seals..

Yeah, i have already replaced my oil filter base mount because it had cracked, and the seal as well.. seal has to be special ordered from honda dealer, the valve cover is like new, no leaking spots what so ever, and the distributor seal is not leaking either, it seems to be coming from the timing belt side perhaps and maybe below in the area of the oil filter base mount.

[vteckiller]

So i did a little investigation and it seems that its falling down on the exhaust before the catalyst converter right where it bolts up with the 2 bolts. as stated i did replace my oil filter base mount along with that o-ring gasket inside of it. i checked that and it is not leaking, you think its coming from the oil pan gasket and falling down on the exhaust or is that probably not the case, they are pretty close in location, thanks for the feedback/comments.

[2oodoor]

Well since you did replace that oil filter base adapter deal, you know that there is also an oil pressure sensor (sender) right there that can leak, and also the black box oil separator to the right of it. The plumbing to them can leak as well as they can get full of oil due to malfunctioning pvc system. The pvc valve connects at the top of that plumbing too.

[jzdude]

I use Supertech High Mileage (Walmart) 10W-40 with a generic filter (Omni 5). I change the oil every 4000-5000 miles or 6 months. 10W (the W either means 'winter' or 'weight') is the viscosity when the engine is cold and 40 is when the engine is hot.

I use a thicker weight because I live in California (10W is good all year) and 40 because I think it lubricates older engines better.

In the manual, the motor oil to use is SF grade. That is an old standard and pretty much all motor oils exceed those specifications so it doesn't really matter the brand.

If you use synthetic might as spend the extra 4-8 bucks on a good filter when your gonna spend 30-40 bucks on the oil.

Yes, I am very cheap. But my engine is original with 250k+ miles.

[DBMaster]

See? Everybody's got an opinion of what oil to use and why. I would venture to say that, as far as engine wear goes, there may be no "wrong" oil. For fuel economy reasons I think the thinnest oil that works for you (doesn't leak or burn excessively) is the one to use. All modern oils, in just about any weight, will offer adequate protection. How often do you really hear about lubrication failure other than when some bozo lets the oil run too low? Yet, there is constant discussion and bickering about oil. There's a whole site devoted to it - "Bob is the Oil Guy." Also, if you are changing your oil too often you are not helping your engine. You're just costing yourself more money and generating more waste. 5,000 miles should be MINIMUM for conventional oil and 10,000 for synthetic.

See what I mean? I have opinions, too. My engine ran great and returned like new fuel economy figures even with 354,000 miles on it. I started using 10K mile OCI's twenty years ago and before that it was 7,500 mile OCI's. When my mechanic changed the oil pan gasket for me in 2003 he said my bottom end and oil pan were as clean as new.

[vteckiller]

Well since you did replace that oil filter base adapter deal, you know that there is also an oil pressure sensor (sender) right there that can leak, and also the black box oil separator to the right of it. The plumbing to them can leak as well as they can get full of oil due to malfunctioning pvc system. The pvc valve connects at the top of that plumbing too.

Correct, the reason i replaced the oil filter base mount is from over tightening the oil sending unit and it cracked the oil filter base mount. but since then and using full synthetic i have notice i leak now, and smell of burning oil. the oil smell is of clean burning oil, i dont smoke, my engine is perfectly fine, no burnt valves, i just seem to have leaks now. and since most of you have done complete rebuilts on the entire car damn near i come to you for the advise cause you guys have seen it and know what is most commonly the issues in these A20s. thanks.

[DBMaster]

I never floated this topic before, but it is my understanding that original engines that have never had the head off - like mine was - develop leaks either in the valve guides, valve stem seals, or both. I used 10W30 synthetic for many years, but I noticed that some brands (Wal Mart Super Tech) would result in some blue smoke at initial startup and oil consumption of about a quart every 1,000 miles. I never had fouled spark plugs, but I knew it used a little oil. Switching to the 5W40 Rotella synthetic mostly resolved that - short of a valve job. Sooner or later I would have gotten around to replacing the stem seals, at least. Beyond that I replaced, over the life of the car, all of the following.

Oil pan gasket
Oil filter base gasket
Distributor o-ring
Oil pump
Front crank and cam seals
PCV plumbing
Valve cover gasket - many times, replaced every time valve lash was adjusted

Yes, a number of places for oil leaks, but these seals lasted in excess of fifteen years before leaking. How many cars can accomplish that?

[2geeSEi]

I just put Castrol Edge 5w-50 with a Mobil 1 filter in my 2g SEi.

[ecogabriel]

I use Supertech High Mileage (Walmart) 10W-40 with a generic filter (Omni 5).
Yes, I am very cheap. But my engine is original with 250k+ miles.

Walmart has started selling (at least in ATL) the regular Purolator oil filters - the white ones.
In my opinion, there is no reason to use a cheapo generic filter, or the infamous radioactive orange Fram filters when a Purolator is available. By the way, I have used the Pureone ones too and have had no problems with them.

[rocketman]

I've been using 20W50 since about 250,000 . . . now have over 550,000 . . . no engine problems . . . ever. Oil & filter change every 3k allows me to go over the rest of the car periodically, too. Still gets 25-30 mpg, the heavier oil slows the minor drips and leaks associated with my 550k mile engine. Nice and quiet, too. The synthetic is pricey (IMO) and I believe that I can do three changes with dino to one with synthetic. Regular oils are fine and normal applications don't (IMO) require synthetic. Good luck! Rocketman

[niles]

I ran 20/50 conventional for the longest time and switched to 15/50 full synthetic Mobil1 and filter, my car loves it! I did need to also replace my oil filter mount gasket because of it. The seal was rock hard and I had to scrape it off with a razor. The smell of burning oil on my exhaust pipe lasted for several weeks (not quite a daily driver).

vtechkiller - clean up the oil as best as you can, after some driving get under/over the car with a mirror and flashlight and look for leaks. It might even just be residual hot oil you smell. The synthetic oil (to me) seems to take a really long time to burn off when spilled.

[g.frost]

'Synthetic' these days can mean many things; Group III, IV, & V oils are all different. (used to be group 3 was not considered 'synthetic')

Many of the 'high mileage' oils will put a shot of group V synthetic(expensive) in as 'seal conditioner' though how much is a 'secret'.... These can work to soften and clean if the seals aren't already too far gone.

About 7 years and 30K miles ago I started to get the tell-tale puff of blue smoke on startup. I did some research on BITOG (bob is the oil guy) and decided to give the group V a try for the valve seals. I put a couple quarts of Redline 5w-30 (mostly group V base stock) in the oil along with M1. It really cleaned up the engine from all the years of crap oils these cars had to put up with( SF-SG, etc). Now I always add at least a quart of Redline (too expensive to run straight) along with whatever synthetic is on sale.... mostly a bunch of Penzoil platinum 5W-30 I stocked up on.

Still have the same valve seals and no more blue smoke on starts, doesn't use any oil, no drips in the driveway. .... but she's only got 160K miles for all those years.
Only seals replaced are valve cover (with valve adjust). A little seeping at the distributor but not enough to dig into and replace the O ring ...yet.

[import racer]

I used the Pennzoil cleaning stuff that claims to clean out 40% of the gunk in the first oil change.I drained my oil out after a couple thousand because I'm changing the engine and trans,and that oil was some dirty so I guess it works.