poll - high mileage civics, what oil U burn ?

i switched from penzoil to castrol GTX to (mobil 1 + mobil 5000 blend)

now it seems to burn more oil or leak more (maybe not related) but wondering what oil you high mileage civic DIYrs are using ?

robb

Reply to
Rob B
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Synthetics will always find a place to leak if the seal system is old or weak.

Better to have stuck with the Castrol. Penzoil is crap.

JT

Reply to
Grumpy AuContraire

"Rob B" wrote in news:grZxf.7917$% snipped-for-privacy@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net:

yo d00d.

got A hi-mileage Teg, dig? yo

it g0t 257k mi on It

i always use castrol gtx 5W-30 from mile 1 (bot nu, yo)

oil consumPtion be 2k mi to the qt no leaks yo

dig?

Reply to
TeGGeR®

'88 Civic DX.

242,000 mi.

It burns gas not oil, no leaks either. I don't need to add any between 3K mi oil change intervals. Castrol GTX 10w/40 nearly all of it's life.

If your car insists on burning oil instead of gas, then you might need to check the PCV valve. Wait, do you have one of those high flow air filters? As discussed previously on this newsgroup, they lead to accelerated aging of your engine.

Reply to
Eric

i have 197k '93 civic no performance anything added, just stock car with only oem standard parts

maybe switch back to castrol gtx next oil change

thanks for info

Reply to
Rob B

Dear teggy, May this news post find you well. You seem a bit taxed, drawn or drunken. Ah yes, there is the information i had requested in the original posting to this news group. Castrol GTX 5w30 is the oil you wish to submit as your champion in the lubrication of honda automobiles engines. Castrol GTX is quite a fine choice in accordance with the many honda enthusiasts that frequent this remarkable newsgroup.

I would like to thank you for taking the time from your exhausting day to help an amateur car care person wrangle a few more miles out the beloved asphalt chariot.

Thanks again, robb

Reply to
Rob B

Thanks, i'll be switching back to castrol GTX, seems to be popular choice robb

Reply to
Rob B

and depletion of your wallet.

almost all the motorcycles ive had for the past 15 years have OEM foam filters. the one on my 400cc even has 2 layers with 2 different densities.

the outer layer is 1/3rd the thickness of the filter and uses a really porous foam, like some home air filtration systems use. the inner 2/3rds are more dense, like eggcrate foam.

take it out, clean in hot soapy water, gently wring and squeeze dry in a towel, then spray a light coat of foam filter oil on it.

if honda can design cars with 100k spark plugs and "lifetime" gas filters, why not have an OEM cleanable foam filter? would it require too big an airbox to get the proper flow rate between cleanings?

Reply to
SoCalMike

'92 EX 138k miles. Mobil 1. I think I haven't had any problems caused by the oil in any car or motorbike as long as it's changed on occasion.

Reply to
merlotbrougham

"Rob B" wrote in news:5A1yf.9204$M% snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net:

Yeah, you're right. I had six beers and made a dumb post. Sorry about that.

I was making fun of your poor capitalization, something exhibited by many youthful posters who think it's cool or avant garde, but which I find unimpressive.

The reason I originally started using Castrol GTX was because of a test of various oils done by Consumer Reports about about fifteen years ago. Castrol GTX was one of the top-rated oils in those tests.

Surely things have changed since then, as oil formulations now are rather different than they were in 1991. Engine metallurgy is not greatly changed from fifteen years ago, but engine lubricating oils are vastly improved overall with regard to performance in engines, even with the reductions in zinc and sulfur. However but I've found no compelling reason to switch to another brand of oil.

My personal suspicion is that the type of oil one uses is relatively unimportant compared to oil and filter change frequency.

Don't I sound more coherent this morning?

Reply to
TeGGeR®

I had a 1986 Subaru hatchback. Used 10-30, changed oil alway between 5,000 and 6,000 miles. Went 305,000 miles over 11 years before I sold it with NO engine problems. (kept it tuned up and otherwise maintained of course). I would have kept it longer just to see how long engine would last except it rusted out pretty bad.

This 3,000 mile oil change stuff is unecessary and wastefull and a lot of crap just to sell oil changes IMO. As for synthentic oil, dirt still gets in and churns around just like with ordinary oil so I believe it should be changed just as frequently so why pay more for it?

Reply to
Fred Fartalot

well i consider myself youthful (in spirit) but that is relative and i am certainly not cool i am just practical / lazy

i am a three finger typist, finding shift with pinky and then hunting for the letter causes 2 problems (1) too much time or (2) hitting caps lock , then backspace alot and start again which violates problem 1

also an unfortunate problem derived from my early carreer, a problem not unlike those old draftsmen engineers that write everything in CAPITAL BLOCK LETTERS

i was going by some recent oil study surveys showing propeties such as viscocity index, thermal break down (flash) and formulation additives viscocity improvers, ( Eg Mobil 1 and Amsoil uses no viscocity improver additives in the 5w30 and 10w30 oils)

high on list were... Amsoil, Red Line, Mobil 1, Castrol GTX

could not find Amsoil or Red Lne local but Mobil 1 can be found at wally world

yes, welcome back ;) I am thinking of kicking the synthetic habit , hope my asphalt chariot does not get withdrawl symptoms thanks for the info robb

Reply to
Rob B

'87 Civic Si... 240K miles... Mobil 1. Rocker cover leaked, but since repaired.

nb

Reply to
notbob

GTX changed every 5K is fine. I prefer dino oil for engines because the "crap" is manufactured during the combustion process and must be dealt with regardless of the type of oil used.

JT

Reply to
Grumpy AuContraire

After all's said and done, probably peace of mind. There's no doubt that synthetics and their additives are superior to dino oil, but I don't know anyone who's had problems due to the oil either as long as it's changed at relatively decent intervals. I start feeling guilty after 5k or so without a change. A few extra bucks are OK with me. Yep- Castrol would work just fine too.

Reply to
merlotbrougham

I think that is broadly true. I changed to synthetic primarily because I have a 1985 turbo Volvo. Those beasts from that era have an unusual pair of characteristics. First, they don't have a PCV valve, but instead have an oil/air separator (a plastic box with a baffle) on the top of the block. To make that work, the second oddity comes in - the ventilation is like a breather. The crankcase miasma, with a significant amount of oil mist remaining, is introduced just past the AMM. The oil mist coats the inside of the entire induction system from the turbo through the intercooler (which must be drained periodically) and the throttle body and idle air control valve. Dino oil gradually builds up hard deposits that resemble packed dust that has a trace of oil in it. When the deposits block any part of the system (and mine eventually blocked the 3/8 inch hose because I thought it was too big to plug up and didn't clean it) the engine will evacuate its oil rapidly. I lost 3 quarts out the dipstick tube before the next freeway exit came up.

Anyway, the maximum guru in the alt.autos.volvo forum reported that doesn't happen with synthetic, so I made the leap. I was so pleased with the results I changed our other cars to synthetic. The Volvo has not needed the yearly throttle body or idle air control valve cleanings with synthetic that it did with dinosaur oil.

Reading all this, you are probably asking, "What does this have to do with Hondas?" And you are right... as you say, most cars do fine with dino juice. Maybe synthetic will improve PCV valve operation and life, but since properly maintained Honda engines usually outlast the rest of the car I don't see that it is crucial. "Relatively unimportant" certainly describes it.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

I don't burn or leak any oil and neither does my car....

TL

Reply to
Tom Levigne

Reply to
ah1244

did toyota ever find out what was behind the "sludging" problem?

Reply to
SoCalMike

Car: 1991 Civic 4-Dr Sedan, 1.5L Miles: 173k

2005 Fuel Efficiency stats: Overall average and st. dev.= 41plus or minus 2.3 mpg (or +/- 6%) Warm months average = 42 mpg Cold months average = 40 mpg (so a decline of about 5% from summer to winter) Range = 38 mpg (Feb fillup) to 47 mpg (June fillup) Oil: Pennzoil 5W-30 for life of car, changed about every 5k miles or six months.

Seems to burn maybe one-half quart at most between oil changes, but I'm really not sure. In the last few years I always end up adding some at some point between oil changes.

I read a report on the net last year about using synthetic oil in cars. Some guy sampled data from people and wrote it up. Not a lot of data but enough to make it a worthwhile read, IIRC. Seems that, in older cars, seal failure simultaneous to switching to synthetic oil is very rare, but does occur. It wasn't entirely clear that the switch caused the seal failure.

Reply to
Elle

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