Anyone have favorable views on changing synthethic oil grades in a 2001 Civic w/55K on it?

Question

I want to change from 5W-20, to possibly 0W-20 Amsoil. I have also used 5W-30 for a year. Any problem with running thinner oil?

Answer 1

thinner oil will heat up quick and can "shake off the carbon" it gets tooo thin for the pumps and stops cooling the engine, when that happens ur in trouble. use a mid range viscosity oil like 5w-30 or 10w-30 if ur in a cold area use the 5 otherwise the 10 (the 5 is thinner and will work more readily in the cold vs the little thicker 10)

Answer 2

It depends a great deal on where you live and what kind of driving you do. The Synthetic Oil Companies are all promoting year round use of 5W-30 for the many varied climates around the U.S. If your Honda is used to Synthetic Oil and shows no signs of any leaks, you can probably get away with switching to 0W - 20. If you see the slightest sign of a few drops of oil leaking, you will want to change back to 5W-30 or 10W-30 Synthetic right away. Another feature of using Synthetic oil is the long intervals between oil changes, currently set at 15,000 miles. If you are driving very hard in open country or hot climates, you may want to switch to a heavier blend. If you are frequently driving in freezing winter conditions, you might want to try the 0W - 20 for better cold engine starts. I doubt you will see the benefit of better fuel economy with the use of 0W-20.

Answer 3

The, "don't use synthetic because it will wreck the seals is crap." I have used full synthetics that I changed from another car , in a 1972 Chevy Vega. this car had 105k miles and it stayed in that horribly leak prone piece of Chevy under engineered lump loosely called an engine. All it did was get better gas mileage. back in the 70's when synthetics started to sell because the engines got terrible mileage, they had a little seal problem, which was the oil was so slick it squirted out through seals and would turn into cottage cheese mixed with regular oil, but those problems were solved long ago.As an aside, the internal specs for clearances are the same for 5w30 engines and 5w20 engines, The 5w20's get better mileage.

Answer 4

I wouldn't put synthetic in a car that is 6 years old, it is not good for the seals to switch with that many miles on it. You could do a 50/50 but in that car I doubt it is really worth it; Just stick with the 5w-20 or 30; Take the money you will save and buy something like a cai or something that will get you a little more power. Good luck!!

Answer 5

i own a repair shop and there shouldn't be any problems from it,if its a high mileage vehicle though ,you might see it use a small amount of oil between changes,but i doubt it,but it wont hurt to change and go to a thinner oil ,just keep a watch out for leaks for a while ,that's usually the only draw back to doing this good luck with it,i hope this helps.

Answer 6

that would depend on where you live and how you drive. I would go with the factory recommended weight. Going too think in a hot weather environment with a high compression engine that produces lots of heat will thin out your oil too much and not provide protection between surfaces. This will lead to excessive wear, coking etc.