keichan82

Hi. Im getting my first oil change tomorrow and I know nothing.
Im at 6000 miles.
Im going with Mobil One .. is there any specific one I need to get?
I know I need to replace my filter as well.. Where and which one should I get?

Sorry for the newbie questions.
Thanks.

Dan Martin

Get the filter from your dealer and use any 5w30 oil. Synthetic is probably a good idea.

Howard911s

i use Mobile 1 ,. 5W30, fully synthetic. at first 2 days. car felt kinda strange. probably adjusting to it. but after 3 days. the car feel smooth as hell... u will love it. synthetic is the way to go. I read up on articles. and studied for a long time before using synthetic...
u can just use whatever filter mobile gas station use or honda factory one. no need for special filter

leftride

iTrader: (1)

honda oil filter; 5w30 Mobile 1 Supersyn (i think thats what its called)

Jack Slate

Don't forget the drain plug washer. It's most likely stuck to the drain bolt with black paint. Use a screwdriver to pry it off.

iTimmy

I can't believe how hyperanal some of you guys are about your oil. Sure tests may show that synthetic oil may be beneficial in extreme situations. But lets face it, chances of a TSX seeing anything remote to extreme is a joke. I have been in the automobile repair business for almost 15 years and surrounded by cars my entire life and I have NEVER seen an engine failure that could be directly linked to oil(well a lack of oil, but not the type/brand of oil). Sure it makes sense to get a name brand oil so in the event something bad happens, there's a company big enough to take care of the problem. But this BS about "your car running better after a few days" is upsurd. PLEASE explain to me HOW this is possible. Today, with engine technology being as advanced as it is, the little things from 20 years ago mean little to nothing. Further with cars today, they typically will run longer then the car will be on the road- i.e. the body will rot, and or it will need repairs so expensive it wouldn't be worth fixing- but yet the engines are fine.

Yes do your oil changes at the scheduled intervals, yes replace the filter(and crush washer) at every service and use a name brand oil. But don't kid yourself into believe your getting better performance(assuming you use the correct grade of oil) or significantly longer engine life because of super special oil that is $5/qt. Its a marketing gimmick and it preys on the enthusiast market, and it seems to be working.

keichan82

I know its not going to give me a better performance but I want the best for my TSX. If people say Mobil One, and many suggest it, then Mobil One it is.

Oh yeah, I know nothing about cars.. Heres an experience that you all might have a little laugh at..
I went to get my oil change today, bought Mobil One 530W.. then brought the car in and left it there.. he called me back in like 20 min and told me I needed more oil!! I thought 1 quart was enough

So I paid like $8 a quart for additional 4 quarts at the dealership instead of $5 at Kragen.

Dan Martin

Well at least your heart is in the right place.

matelot

well put !
the obsession in some of these "oil" discussions are really incredible

Howard911s

hm.. that was a good input and mechanical review or oil and engine. I just have one comment...do what you have to do. if you desire. and u have the means. (money) and time. do what makes u (me in this case) feel good.

TSXTuner

There's a lot of misinformation and it is mostly from the industry.
There's a lot of people just say, I run this and you should too, no data.

Like Jiffy Lube still claiming every 3 months and 3k miles. My oil
is still amber color to 4 k miles.

Any oil will do for 95% of the people they're all going to do the minimum
requirements. But there may be differences,
once an oil test I read found only 3 brands that actually met
viscosity in aged oil.

It makes a difference. I've been running Mobil syn blend and confirmed
with an oil analysis that it is working very well in my engine by wear metals.

This means that if I wanted to follow frequent drain intervals, this is
a $2 alternative to Mobil 1. These things can make a difference to know.

What if an oil is better gas mileage?
I'm doing alot of work on oil right now. If I find an $8 oil that saves
10% fuel then I am making money and it may be better for my car.

Right now I'm running Redline for first time and there is clearly a
difference in the engine feel but I don't know about it's longevity. Im going to do an oil analysis on RL and then I'm going to run Amsoil. Whatever is
best mpg and best oil anlysis will get my business particularly if it
saves 10%mpg and pays for itself, and particularly if I feel it in performance.

When done I'm going to have $60 in oil analysis.

With the information I have right now I recommend Mobil syn blend if
following frequent drain interval like 3.5-4k miles. Mobil 1 if $ is no object,
Mobil 1 if following 10k drain intervals.
If Redline or Amsoil prove out for mpg and oil analysis then I'll add those
to the list but this unknown at present.

SodaLuvr

TSXTuner,

We discussed this. I told you that you shouldn't have high hopes for “low wear metals” from Redline, instead on your first run, you'll see very high wear appear on the oil analysis report.

This will NOT be wear. It is simply Redline's reaction with the metals in your engine, causing the increased wear numbers. In addition, Redline will be cleaning out any loose or “soft” wear metals on the surface, thus, causing high wear to appear, when it really isn't occuring. Be prepared; the only person who knows how to properly interpret a Redline report is Terry Dyson.

In addition, M1 has relatively weak TBN retention. Its pretty hard to get that stuff to last 10K in a lot of applications. Even “doping” it with LC won't cut it sometimes. Just a little FYI, 7000 would be a more reasonable recommendation.

Michael

Alin10123

No need to pay $$ for amsoil or Mobil 1 oil analysis.
I've been reading this website since these guys started. They are putting both brands of oil into their engine for one year. Then doing an oil analysis every 3k while it's in there.
They post detailed results.

http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/s.../oil-life.html

TSXTuner

I hear you Michael. I'll see what the result of RL is first before deciding
next step. If the wear looks high I know what you said, but it may not.
I may get a TBN on RL but I'm not focusing on extended
drain yet.

Interesting Amsoil is not document head to head tests vs RL
like they are to the other Synthetics. Maybe RL is competitive, we'll see.
That's why I'm doing my own tests starting with mobil syn blend bogie.
Alot of all this depends on MPG.

The Neptune people are doing RL next but that will be two years because
they are doing a 2nd test on M1 now.

MrChad

Every domestic car my family has owned since forever, around 100k mi always would spring small oil leaks or start to burning some bit of oil. I had a '96 S10 as a winter beater, I just sold that truck with almost 100k on the clock. I got the truck used with 50k mi on it. It was a 4cyl and I would beat the living crap out of that dawg of an engine.

I ran semi-synthetic in the beater, it never leaked never lost a drop of oil ever. We are talking about a 70's style push rod iron 4cylinder engine. With a history of problems and recalls for quite some time.

It ran so well when I sold it no one believe it was the original engine, these engines in this S10 also had a ton of head gasket problems, mine had zip.

I have to assume the better oil played a roll in this, I've been running full synthetic in my Accord, our TSX is coming do and it may get semi-synthetic or full, but it will get one of them. I have to believe a tad bit of insurance couldn't hurt. I plan to have the TSX for quite some time.

I've noticed my company car "Ford" actually comes with Semi-synthetic in it. I have to believe more and more mfg. are going to switch to synthetics maybe for full mileage alone. I got a full 2mpg increase in full economy in my Accord when I switched to full synthetic, not a bad payoff if you ask me.

I'm using Castrol Syntec and yes I know it's not a "true 100%" synthetic like Mobil. But it hasn't hurt any of my stuff yet, and it's plentiful on many autopart store shelves, and it's clearly better then conventional oil.

iTimmy

TSXTuner- While I have respect to your dedication to oil, and perhaps you even have fun doing it(so I am not trying to convince you to change). I must point out that your testing is flawed, if your changing oils at every oil change your not really giving either oil a "fair" chance, due to atmospheric pressure changes, humidity and temperature changes, not to mention driving habits being inconsistant. Also the blend of gas available at pumps will change a bit from season to season- the only way to do the type of test your conducting would be at the same time and even then there are too many variables to draw any real conclusions. But at the end of the day if it makes you happy more power to you.


For the record I am one of those idiots that does oil/filter changes at 3-4k, it costs next to nothing and I am never pushing the oil(I only run conventional oil in my fleet) beyond its limits.

iTimmy

Please explain this to me with something other then one isolated case you experienced on one car?

I service the local trooper cars in my area and they put a lot of miles on cars quickly(so its a great chance to test theories in the real world, where the cars are being pushed all day every day). They run there cars from new till 130k on a clunky ford V8, they do oil changes every 5k and use the CHEAPEST oil I have ever seen. Guess what their engines never leak or burn oil, so I don't think you can attribute your semi-synthetic to your non-oil burning/leaking engine. It has more to do with doing frequent oil changes, there are additive packages(which comes in all oils) which prevent this sort of problem. Any oil with a high esther(sp?) package will slightly swell all seals over time and your car will never develop an oil leak. At the end of the day, it boils down to luck, it all depends what you get from the factory. Did the guy who developed a massive oil leak at 3000 miles on his new vehicle do something wrong to deserve this? Nope. But chances are he'll be chasing leaks for his ownership of the car.

As a side note, how many of us will be driving these cars long enough to see ANY benefits from this type of oil craziness? Are you going to keep your car over 200k miles? I don't see me keeping it longer then 50k miles. Is a claimed 1-2 mpg improvement(which would be difficult to prove being the oil) worth testing your oil every 3k miles and buying oil at $8/qt? If you enjoy doing this, great, but don't kid yourself into thinking your saving money with fuel economy. For the duration most of us are keeping these cars you could do an oil change a year and would probably be fine(not that I am recommending this, but rather using it as an example) and still run at 150k+ miles with no problems, if you ran a high mileage oil when changing it.

All I am saying is that on a mass production vehicle it has more to do with luck then superb maintance.

matelot

^^^ good analysis there and thanks for the sanity check

all these "best oil for my baby"..."hiiiiigh mileage"...."longivity" remarks are fine but
the reality in MOST cases, IMO, is that that "baby" will be someones shitass beater sooner than you can image or want to think of.

SodaLuvr

Nah, I'd have to disagree. TSXTuner's way of testing is actually quite accurate, though I would have to say that it has a few minor flaws.

I'm sure that he is keeping his driving conditions consistent throughout the testing periods. Fuel doesn't have that much to do with the oil testing, I'd have to say. In addition, much of this testing is accurate because it is taking place when the car has more than 30K on it, which means that it is well-broken in. When you do a test on a car with less than 30K for example, the engine would still be "breaking-in," thus the wear metals have not stabilize, and they will ALWAYS drop no matter what oil you use as time progresses.

The only oil that TSXTuner would NOT be giving a "chance" through his testing method would be Redline, which requires at least 3 short 5-6K intervals before you can receive the full benefits since the AW package will expand itself to clean-up the residues leftover from the previous oil.

Michael

calgary_tsx

im definately not a pro like some of the people on the site, but my two cents

I have seen an Acura Legend with 500,000 km on it, still original motor and tranny, only following dealers maintenance schedule. It sounds healthy and still packs good punch. I also previously read about another Legend that had over 600k on it (taxi cab) in which the key seemed to be frequent oil changes. For myself, I plan to keep my TSX for around 200,000 km, I do not see the advantage in switching to a full synthetic. As it is, Canadian model TSXs already follow a severe maintenance schedule (an extra oil change b/w servicings) or an oil change every 8000 km, i dont see the need to buy Mobil 1 for $35 plus filter when the dealer will service my car w/ new filter and wash it for 30.

To those who put a full synthetic in their cars, I hope if I buy a used car, its yours

JTso

iTrader: (2)

May I ask why? If you don't see the advantage in switching to full synthetic, it shouldn't really matter if a used car was treated with synthetic or not.

iamhomin

He probably believed synthetic was much more beneficial in terms of the cars life span.

matelot

"To those who put a full synthetic in their cars, I hope if I buy a used car, its yours"

I'd say the same thing too ....cause it means, in general, the care has been treated like a "baby"

Canyonball

I'm not too sure about saving gas with a certain oil or even gaining mpg being the reasoning behind using synthetic. I personally use it, because it has been proven that sythetics and/or add-in's like the Lucas Oil Additive free up horsepower.

Not only that, they've also been proven to have a higher viscosity than organics. Though you might not exactly "reap benefits" on the latter reason, unless you beat your car to shit, it's good to know that it's there if you need it...

If there weren't any real benefits to synthetics, race cars would still be using puree'd dinosaur bones...

MrChad

I switched to synthetic when a buddy of mine in college worked for Cummins Diesel. Long story short, he had done some testing at work and synthetic was the bomb. This guy was mr gearhead he loved the stuff and ran it in everything after that...good enough for me.

Plus a buddy of mine had a very high mileage '86 Thunderbird turbo on the OE turbo no rebuilds thanks to synthetic oil. Again, 80's era turbos usually needed a rebuild at some point, not definative proof but wow nice.

And as a matter of fact I do plan to own our TSX well past the warranty period of 7yrs, 100k mi.

I also I think hours on an engine are the killers-combined with milage and if the troopers put 5000mi on a car in 2mo. or less and you keep changing the oil I'd be surprised if it was bad too. Change the oil every 2 mo. or less in your TSX and the oil will look very good too, and you will have spent the equivalent of doing a syn. oil change every 6mo. or 5000mi.

TSXTuner

The redline oil continues to amaze. In short trip just in the community
over the weekend, I got 27 mpg.

Another test was 24.2 commuting.

I never got over 21 since my modifications, sometimes in the 19's

At this point, the redline pays for itself, every 2200 miles.
It only takes 2200 miles to recoup the additional cost of redline
over $3 Mobil synthetic blend.

If it ran extended 8000 miles the redline saves $81 over $3 oil changed
twice in that period.

I'm not promoting redline, I haven't conducted all tests or compared
with amsoil. Amsoil has similar mpg claims and is an established name.
I really notice the performance. A lot of torque, smoothness, quieter.

You know when the rpms drop too much and the car chugs and gets rough,
no more. There's an article in a tuner magazine about 2 months ago
with dyno tests on redline, it's true.

I can't believe all this performance at 24 mpg. This is the only car worth a damn in world, so it took $450 for CAI and header and $40 oil, not bad.

STC

iTrader: (1)

This is my experience w/ Synthetic oil - Do what you feel is best.

I for one has used only Mobile 5w30 when I had my ITR, I use Mobil 10w30 in my Evo, but for my TSX I just use whatever Acura puts in there. I could care less because it honesetly doesnt make a difference for the TSX.

TSXTuner

I've never noted a difference with Mobil 1 in any of my cars since 1982,
but what I am saying is redline is something else, a real difference, I expect
amsoil is good too but won't get a chance to test it for 3-4 months
after the redline.

Newplay1

I Just switched to Mobile 1 SuperSyn last night and oh man car feels soooo smooth and shifts like butter again. I have 9,300 miles and this was my 2nd oil change.

Local Autozone ran out of mobile 1 (retails $10)filters so I had to settle for "purelator" expensive!! $8.99.

JTso

iTrader: (2)

How does changing motor oil affects your shifting?

davo-cls

"Shifts like butter again" and you have only 9300 miles on your car???? How bad was it before? I'm with JTso on that one.

sauceman

Placebo.

Just like when I take the T for a drive after having washed it in and out. The car drives soo much better.

Newplay1

better throttle response when I shift... hey just wanted to share thats all.

scl23

I change my bedsheets once a week. Once a day would be nice but I don't have a maid it's pretty clean unless "something happens." My point? I'm sure 3 mo / 3000 miles rule is pushed by the oil change industry because they make money, not because you need it. The manual says to get it once 10,000 miles why get it more often? Why waste money?

Start an oil change fund and put in $25 in it every 3 months and use it to do your oil change every 10,000 and buy yourself some beer with the rest.

As for all the "different feel" posts, there is something called the placebo effect, and it's a real and powerful psychological phenemenon of changed perceptions. If you think it's different, it feels different to you. It's what we do to make ourselves not feel like an idiot. If we paid more money for a synthetic and then thought it didn't feel any different, then we feel stupid so even if it feels exactly the same, we nudge our mind into thinking that it's "slightly" different. Just my 2 cents.

Yui

TSX Tuner, you get a chance to test the Amsoil? How does it compare to RL? I was going to go with the Mobil1 at 10k miles but now I'm considering switching to Redline based off your experience, performance with high mpg matters to me

joerockt

I ran Redline for 5K miles and it did absolutely nothing to change my MPG.

TSXTuner

I liked amsoil better than redline. I'm still getting 25 mpg average
around town. I like the redline fine but amsoil was better mpg.
One concern about the 5-30 series 2000 is viscosity was reaching the
upper limit at 5750 miles. I may blend in some cheaper XL7500 0-20W
in the future since I don't intend to run more than 8 k miles.

I ran the cheaper 0-20W amsoil XL7500 this winter and had some lower mpg readings. This oil looked fine when I drained it early at 5k miles. The accord is amazing on the cheaper XL7500, oil is still transparent amber at 6k miles.
In my hondas that take 0-20 I'll still use the cheaper amsoil.

This was the test of 5-30 series 2000, at 5750 miles it was reaching the max viscosity range already and eventually would impact mpg. Compare to the test of mobil synthetic blend at 3k miles, amsoil is about 1/2 the wear.
Amsoil contains more molybendum.

SodaLuvr

The leftover Molybdenum is from RL. RL has over 400ppm, and there will always been some residual for the next several drains. Amsoil has 0 moly, though this may've changed with their newest formulation.

The wear is lower because of more miles on the engine; the engine was more worn-in at the time of the Amsoil test.

The viscosity is perfect on the Series 2000 0w-30 and is possibly being kept in grade due to the significant fuel dilution. This is possibly impacting your fuel economy during the XL 5w-20 drain during the winter. Fuel dilution should be <0.5 in any fuel-injected vehicle, period.

You need to isolate the fuel dilution problem as its hurting your fuel efficiency and reducing your oil life.

Are there any modifications to your engine that may alter the performance of the fuel system?

See www.dysonanalysis.com for help on resolving the fuel dilution problem.

Yui

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry, I posted on this thread before seeing your threads on Amsoil. I'm getting about 25 mpg right now but it's with very conservative driving. It's no fun driving the 6mt like a granny all the time! So I'm hoping that if I switch oils I can get better gas mileage while opening up the throttle a little more. I just want 25 mpg, honestly.

I noticed you have the 5AT btw. I redlined mine all the time when I had it, 20 mpg, oil changes all through the dealer at about 5k per visit. I've seen valvoline and Quaker state used on my car. I think one time it wasn't even 5w30, bleh.

TSXTuner

Michael I couldn't find anything specific about fuel dilution except short
trips cause it. What should I do or check?

My only engine mod is CAI with K&N filter and a voltage stabilizer
on the battery with ground wires.

I noticed fuel dilution in the oil catch can once.