What engine oil??

[ManosEK9]

Thank God, yesterday I just saved the engine from the worst!!
It seems that the problem has been gradually progressing the last couple of months were I was convinced to change my engine oil from fully synthetic, which I used to replace only with car service (around 10000 kms) to Castrol non-synthetic(around 3000 kms) supposedly a good oil for high revving vtec engines
I felt the car find it difficult to accelerate just like when you wanna write something fast but with frozen fingers LOL. I almost never buckle my belt on that territory so the red light of the belt indicator is always on, so I might missed the oil indicator. When I checked the oil level, there was no sign of oil at all
I'm sure this is not an engine problem cuz it never drinked a gram of oil before(I always used synthetic). I thought its always good to have a clean, fresh oil that's why I shifted from synthetic to this
I hope pistons, springs etc are not damaged....
Anyway, I would like to know what are the best engine oil(s) in terms of both quality and duration for the EK9. Also, if its better to have new oil every 3000 kms or a semi/full synthetic

 

[Neo]

the vtec engines love to drink oil mate, keep an eye on the level always

one delsol i had drank so much oil i was topping it up two or three times a week, yet when i had the engine etc checked it was fine

have a look at your cam seal also incase its weaping oil out, common problem

Also mate always wear your belt! we dont wanna see a manos in hospital post one day

 

[iceman]

contrary to beleif they will burn little oil if pushed hard but shouldnt burn too much BUT with age and wear it simply increases, finding the cause is nightmare as can be lots of things piston rings, bores becoming egg shaped due to excess heat, stem seals, worn seals gaskets and the list goes on and on

anyway simply put ester based oils are best (motul, silkolene, redline, millers and even mugen sells it but very hard to get hold of but no better than the other brands mentioned), they do from mineral to semi to fully syn ester based), ester based brake down much more slowly than conventional oils, withdtad higher temps and dont need changing as regular due to this, the really high end oils like motul 300v is expensive but amazing and last longer so dont need changing as often BUT in reality its overkill unless you have race car or very expensive exotic car but doesnt stop many honda owners using it including myself in the past

as for grade honda recommends 10/40 which is most commonly used but every engine is different and like different oils, 5/40 and even 0/40 is used by lot of honda owners, you just need to experiement and find what burns the least but majority and i personally would just use 10/40 or 5/40 fully syn

you need to consider temps in your country as well as some of the numbers relate to cold start up, ie if you live somewhere very cold (-10 degrees most mornings) then somthing like 0-40 would better to protect engine from damage when staring up form cold or if you in middle easr somwhere and you getup and its 30 degree + then 10/40 is fine ( i think ive got that right way round but double check yourself)

as for change intervals honda says 6000 miles but just about every honda nut i know changes at 2-3k, i do mine every 3k but if running something like ester oil fully syn id probably change at every 5k as at 5k it will probably in better comdition than lesser brand at 2k


this guy is very knowledgable and sells great oils at good prices in u.k, read his excellent info, he's done lots of great write up's on many forums and where ive learned most my stuff about oils

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/

 

[JayH]

Ive read that Type-R B engines with their different pistons and molybdenum coating consumes oil when cold, even brand new ones. Apparantly this is caused by some piston ring/sleeve bore clearance issues which disappears when the engine is properly warmed up and metals properly expanded. So if youre in a cold country its probably normal for the engine to consume oil, I live in a constant 25-30+ deg climate and have never noticed any significant oil consumption.

Im using Motul fully-syn 10/30W, but am thinking of trying out Castrol Magnatec 10/40W the next change...

 

[ManosEK9]

Thanks guys. So it would be better if I use fully synthetic again and change it sooner than 10000 kms I used to do. Here, the temp ranges from 0 to 45 Celsius every year throughout the whole year. Yesterday was 43!! There is no way to drive the car from 11:00 AM to 16:00 PM in these temps without the aircon on. And also the car becomes much slower because of the extreme heat
What are the maximum temps you have there in UK during the "summer"? Ive been watching Wimbledon these days from TV and the weather there is cold and rainy and the matches were postponed
Do you know Markos Baghdatis???

 

[jugbugz]

ManosEK9: I've heard that semi synthetic is better for engines that have not had fully synthetic from the very first time of it's life and after. Something got to do with the minerals in the non synthetic oils that have already been absorbed into the metals. I heard that in some cases it would decrease performance.

However, I don't ever have problems with my oil going down. I've over filled mine slightly where it suggests on the dip stick 4000 kms ago and still has the same amount of oil.

I know I shouldn't be using 100% synthetic but I'm using the new Top line Castrol EDGE series because of the viscoisity it offers. I'm using 5W-30 and will be trying out 0W-40 on the next change.

hope nothing blows... haha joking

 

[jspecb18c]

The current engine oil I use is Castrol GTX Magnatec 10W-40. Oil change every 5.000km

 

[Neo]

I get mine done every 2-3k miles also, not sure what oil its the stuff Honda give me

 

[vtecroadhog]

Current engine oil Castrol GTX Magnatec 10W-40...

change oil + oil filter every 10,000kms...