Aug
Using The Correct Motor Oil Weight in your Acura and Honda Automobiles
Everyone knows that lubrication is critical in all internal combustion engines. Because of this, motor oil companies spend millions of advertising dollars each year to convince you that their products are superior to their competitors brands. Regardless of whether you prefer to buy your oil in a yellow container, a white container, or a gray container; regardless of your thoughts about conventional oils vs. partial or full synthetics; the most critical thing is the weight of the engine oil.
Honda and Acura engines are machined at very tight tolerances.This is one of the reasons they are known for their longevity and are legendary for their ability to accumulate high mileage over the vehicle’s lifetime. It is extremey important to always have adequate lubrication. If you have a Honda or Acura that calls for 5w20, then only use 5w20 motor oil. It doesn’t matter what your hot-rodder buddy says about 5w20 being too thin. He isn’t a Honda Engineer. If you choose to use 5w30, 10w30, 10w40, or 20w50 “racing oil”, in a Honda or Acura that calls for 5w20, you will literally starve the internal engine parts of adequate lubrication.
The engineers at American Honda Motor Company know what they are doing. For maximum fuel efficiency, maximum engine life and dependability, always adhere to the recommended weight of motor oil. This information can always be found in the owners manual and usually on the oil filler cap of many Honda and Acura automobiles.
Here at Accurate Automotive, every member of our Service Department’s technical staff has been previously employed as a technician at various franchised Honda and Acura dealerships in and around Nashville, Tennessee. Because of their dedication and passion involving the care and maintenance of our service customer’s Honda and Acura automobiles, our technical staff is adamant about the use of the proper fluids. This includes the correct application of engine oils, automatic transmission fluid, power steering fluid, and engine coolant.
We often tell folks to come in and see why we are the best place in Middle Tennessee to purchase and service your Honda and Acura automobiles. We personally invite you to come in and view our inventory of Honda and Acura automobiles. While you are here, ask us to show you around the Service Area as well. We seriously believe that after you see the quality of our inventory cars, our drive-thru (write-up) Service Bay, and the 8 bay Service Department; you will agree that Accurate is the best place to purchase and service your Honda and Acura automobiles.
Below is a list of engine oil weight applications:
Honda Accord (both V6 and 4 cyl.) 5W30 (’92 thru ‘97) 5w20 (’98 thru present)
Honda Civic Hybrid 0w20
Honda Civic Si 5w30 (’99 & ‘00) 5w20 (’02 thru present)
Honda Civic (all others) 5w30 (’92 thru ‘95) 5w20 (’96 thru present)
Honda CRV 5w30 (’97 thru ‘01) 5w20 (’02 thru present)
Honda Del Sol (DOHC VTEC) 10w30 (’94 thru ‘97)
Honda Del Sol (all others) 5w30 (’93 thru ‘97)
Honda Element 5w20 (’03 thru present)
Honda Insight 0w20 (’00 to present)
Honda Odyssey 5w30 (’95 thru ‘01) 5W20 (’02 thru present)
Honda Pilot 5w20 (’03 to present)
Honda Prelude (DOHC VTEC) 10w30 (’93 thru ‘96) 5w30 (’97 thru ‘01)
Honda Prelude (All Others) 5w30 (’92 thru ‘01)
Honda S2000 10w30 (’00 to present)
Acura CL (V6 and 4 cyl.) 5w30 (’97 thru ‘99)
Acura 3.2 CL 5w30 (2001 only) 5w20 (2002 and 2003)
Acura Integra (includes GSR) 5w30 (1992 thru 2001)
Acura Legend 5w30 (1992 thru 1995)
Acura MDX 5w30 (2001 and 2002) 5w20 (2003 thru Present)
Acura RDX 5w30 (specifically calls for “Mobil 1 or equivalent”)
Acura NSX 10w30 (1992 thru 2005)
Acura 3.5 RL 5w30 (1996 thru 2004)
Acura RL 5w20 (2005 thru Present)
Acura RSX (Type S) 5w30 (2002 thru 2006 Type S only)
Acura RSX (except Type S) 5w20 (2002 thru 2006)
Acura 2.5 TL 5w30 (1996 thru 1999)
Acura 3.2 TL 5w30 (1995 thru 2001) 5w20 (2002 and 2003, includes Type S)
Acura TL 5w20 (2004 thru Present)
Acura TSX 5w30 (2004 thru Present)
Acura Vigor 5w30 (1992 thru 1994)
My local Honda only repair shop has on all my many receipts for oil changes that they have used 10W30 oil. “Jiffy Lube” has on all their reciepts that they use 5W20. I have an ‘02 Odyssey with 123,000 miles on it. The engine seems in perfect condition and runs great. I thought I could easily get 300,000 miles or more on this vehicle, but now I wonder about the Honda only repair folks. Have they shortened the life of my Odyssey engine? Be honest, please don’t protect them, because I am sure they must feel very strongly about their decision to use the thicker oil. Thanks for your comments and professional help. I love your comments above about Honda engineers design and specifications. We should always check with the folks who created the engines, not from old Uncle Charley.
Oklahoma, U.S.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:56 pmHello Mr. Osborn,
Your local repair shop is wrong. They are using the incorrect oil weight in your 2002 Honda Odyssey if they are putting 5w30 in it.
I do not have a 2002 Honda Odyssey owners manual but I do have a 2004 Honda Odyssey owners manual and that manual clearly states, “always use a premium grade 5w20 detergent oil displaying the API Certification Seal”.
There is also a chart in this owners manual, next to the quote above that illustrates that 5w20 is the proper weight of oil in ambient temperatures (below -20 deg.F thru well over 100 deg.F)
Again, I do not have the 2002 owners manual but this information is on page 211 in an ‘04 Honda Odyssey owners manual.
Honda began recommending 5w20 in the Honda Odyssey in 2002.
As for engine damage, I have no idea. I can find no information in the manuals that indicates that the use of 5w30 is acceptable in any engines that Honda has specified the use of 5w20, but if I were you, I would not immediately go out thinking that I’ve got to get rid of my 2002 Honda Odyssey. I would go out and get some 5w20 oil and a Honda filter and perform that service….today.
If you continue to use this particular shop, I would highly recommend supplying your own oil. That should ensure the correct weight of oil is being used for future oil changes. Incidently, there is a noticable difference in fuel efficiencey between the use of 5w20 and the use of 5w30…. in some cases 1 to 2 MPG.
Thanks for your comments and I hope this helps.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:51 amOk,
As a new Honda CRV Owner you have convinved me that 5W20 is definitely the best weigh oil to use. But now what is the best 5W20 to use ?? Castrol, Penzoil, Quaker State, Amzoil etc. What brand of Oil do you use ??
September 20th, 2008 at 7:11 pmHello Mark,
I will be writing a separate blog post on this subject but I’ll give you a preview. The brand of oil that you wish to use in your CRV is really your preference. However. once you pick an oil, try to stick with that brand because using different brands of oil may have adverse chemical reactions, due to the various additives that can be in the different brands of oil.
Today’s motor oils are rated by the American Petroleum Institute (API). In the rating of the oils, the API uses a grading system on an “S” scale (for spark, gasoline engines) and “C” scale (Compression, diesel engines). On the back of the container of all major oil brands, there will be something that looks similar to “API Service SM,SL, SJ,SH”. Again, you may also see a C rating in there as well. As I said earlier, the “S” rating is for gasoline engines and the further down the alphabet the second letter is, the better the oil is. For example, SF oil would be considered an inferior motor oil in todays standards. Currently, most major brands (including conventional, partial synthetic, and fully synthetic motor oils) will be SM / SL and that is the important thing. Thanks for looking at our blog posts.
Ed
September 22nd, 2008 at 5:16 pmWhat exactly do you mean by “adverse chemical reactions” when changing brands? I’d like to know because I bought a 2002 TL-S last month but I don’t know what type of oil the previous owner was using. What’s going to happen after my next oil change? What’s the worst case scenario? Thick black smoke coming out the exhaust pipe? Engine melting? Car exploding?
October 1st, 2008 at 2:17 pmThe “adverse chemical reactions” that can occur with using different brands of motor oil basically cause the foundations for sludge.
Regardless of what brand or brands were put in the engine prior to your ownership, if you do not know the previous brands, simply use your choice of a major brand that you will be using through-out your ownership.
Most brands use very similar chemical additives for detergents, and anti-friction properties. The problem arises when a car owner changes brands constantly and bases the brand choice on “what’s on sale”.
Don’t do that….Stick with one brand and you will be fine.
October 4th, 2008 at 11:35 amI have a 95 Acura Interga LS with about 140,000 miles. Can’t recall the brand or weight of synthetic oil my regular mechanic installed. One day, however, I noticed that all the oil was gone, with no detectable leak to speak of. This had never happened before. What gives? I mean the thing was absolutely dry. A couple of questions: Does synthetic oil, which my mechanic recommends, any better or worse for performance and engine longevity? Since replacing the regular oil with the synthetic, the car seems to run more effortlessly. Still, could be that the mechanic is out to make another buck? Anyway, went to the local franchise auto supply store. They were adamant that I needed a 10w 40 synthetic, because of high mileage. Can this be true? That is, should I use synthetic at all? And, if so, what is the proper weight. Would the weight be the same as regular oil, and, if not, why not? I hope I asked intelligent questions. Thanks! Jon
P.S. A couple of other questions on fluids. With an automatic what can be expected when the transmission oil/fluid is changed in a manual. How often should the fluid/oil be changed? The same two questions apply to the break fluid. The mechanic wants me to change both. Since it’s a used car, I don’t really have any way to determine when the the transmission fluid was changed. Is there any tale-tale to look out for. Thanks again.
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:13 amHey Jon,
You have asked some good questions.
First of all, American Honda has never recommended the use of 10W40 weight motor oil in your engine, so that is some bad advice you are getting from your auto parts supplier. Your vehicle takes 5W30 all year around, Honda does allow the use of 10W30 during the summer, if you live in an area where temps rise daily above 100 degrees F and you simply want to use the 10w30…However, Honda still says that even in high temps, your engine is still protected with the 5w30.
As far as synthetic goes, it won’t make a big difference. We have found that Honda Civics, Honda Preludes, and Acura Integras, which are all geared low for good acceleration, are also very high RPM engines. Over time, this operation at higher rpms does wear on the top of the cylinder walls. This extra clearance sends some of the compression produced in the combustion chamber, into the crankcase. This results in pressure that must bleed off through the PCV (positive crankcase valve). This pressure is released into the intake, to enable the engine and CAT to burn any hydrocarbons out before sending it into the air….This constant pressure release takes some oil with it. The reason you do not see smoke coming out of your tail pipe is because the CAT cleans it up first….But you probably have some residue (a dry black dust on the rear bumper above the tailpipe), where the exhaust has blown some of it back on the car. Your engine is using some oil and with synthetic being more expensive, I would simply use a good conventional 5w30 during the winter…..And check it every fuel tank fill up to get a idea of the rate of oil consumption. DO NOT use a thicker oil to prevent oil consumption…Remember that the first job of oil is to lubricate and the camshafts are critical because they are the furthest from the oil pump. If you use thicker oil, you will have wear on the cylinder head, where the camshafts are spinning. Simply check and top-off the oil when you fill the gas tank. But I still recommend that you change the oil every 3000 to 3750 miles…That is 3000 miles if you do mostly short trip driving and 3750 if the majority of your daily driving includes 25% to 50% highway driving, or where you drive long enough to get the engine to operating temp for longer than 30 minutes.
On your other questions, you were not clear on the transmission that is in your car, but here you go….The automatic transmission fluid should be changed every year, or every 15,000 miles (whichever comes first) and you should only use the Genuine Honda Fluid. This is very important. Do not use a generic Dextron fluid. Use the Genuine ATF fluid (part # 08200-9001). If you have a manual transmission, you can use 10w30 motor oil, 10w40 motor oil or the Honda manual transmission fluid…I recommend the Honda Manual Trans fluid (part# 08798-9031) because we have found a difference in shifting quality in cold temps when the Manual transmission fluid is used instead of just motor oil. The manual transmission fluid should be drained and filled every 30,000 miles in higher mileage cars. Whether you have a manual or automatic transmission, you will only need 3 quarts (and it won’t require all of the 3rd quart, regardless of transmission).
By experience, I can tell you that the 1995 Acura Integra already has a weak brake master cylinder, so maintaining brake fluid quality is important. The brake fluid should be changed every 30,000 miles as well and you should use DOT 3 or DOT 4. DO NOT USE DOT 5. Also, if you do not do this correctly, you will be replacing a brake master cylinder next summer when the outside temps rise because your brake pedal will be creeping to the floorboard, while you are sitting a traffic light. This would be the result of bleeding the system which can tear and / or nick the seals in the bore of the master cylinder, resulting in internal fluid leakage from chamber-to-chamber. The fluid does need to be changed every 30,000 miles, but DO NOT flush the brake system or bleed the system. Simply pull the old brake fluid out of the master cylinder reservoir, clean the screen, and put the new fluid in.
Hope this helps
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:28 am