Q/A: Can you use 0W-20 oil in your Acura or Honda?
 

Yes!

In some engines, when used in milder conditions, you can take advantage of the fuel savings and added horsepower of 0-20W oil in accordance with these official Honda-published diagrams available at the following link.

http://www.heeltoeauto.com/pitboard/?p=803

You're welcome in advance ;)

0-20W in California? Thanx, but no thanx. :2cents:

sorry to be a noob, but whats the difference between the 2 oils?

I've used 0w-30 in a turbo application for years in Colorado. Never had any problems. Someone convinced me to try 20-50 in the same car and it moved my peak boost up by about 3 to 400 rpm. (Spool up) Not sure I explained that very well. What I mean is it slowed my spool up time. It ran much better with 0w-30.

I would not hesitate to use 0w-20 during winter months in the cls. I would go up to 5w-30 or 0w-30 for summer though.

Ill take the added safety of the 10W-30 over thinner oil.

Why does the diagram say the 01 CL cant run 0W-20 but the 02-03 can? And yet the TL in 02-03 cant run 0W-30. Last I checked, there isnt a difference between the motors in those vehicles.

Im sticking with 10W-30 in the summer and 5W-30 in the winter.

great questions civicdrivr....something I am sure some geeky honda engineer could explain by saying they haven't tested it yet.

well there are going to be positive's and negatives to either oil. the main difference is that there are no dino oil 0w weight (they all start as a synthetic).


well IIRC honda switched from 5w30 in 2001 to 5w20 in the 02-03 CL. they probably don't want to "retest" and thus, make 5w20 also available to 2001's. who knows why.




honestly i don't see a point to 0w weight in any climate that is never below 0C (32F).

the cold cranking viscosity of 0w is what makes it great for my climate, but even i run 5w in the summer. most 0w weight have a pour temp to -40C, vs -20C for 5w's. that's not gonna affect warmer climates at all

Mobil 1's 0W line is branded as "advanced fuel economy". That could be an advantage.

Thats possible for the CL, but what doesnt make sense is the 02-03 CL can use 0W-20 while the 02-03 TL cant. Same engines, same 5W-20 recommendation. It just doesnt make sense to me.

the graph says it's what they've tested. likely they haven't tested it, regardless of it being the same engine or not. and are just being lazy.


honestly, who cares? if you're gonna run 0w20 you're gonna run it, 5w20, 5w50 whatever. the car is so far out of warranty it doesn't even matter at this point (not like they can make a warranty case for engine weight anyway)

I used to to use 5w20 mobil full synthetic and i switched to castrol now 5w30 all year

Ok so Autozone had a deal for 5.28 quart jug valvoline syn or Pennzoil Platinum syn w/ a K&N filter. So I decided to try the Pennzoil. I ussually use the Valvaline or Mobil 1. When the Mobil 1 deal is onthey sell it with the Mobil 1 filter. When they sell the Valvoline deal they most of the time use the puralator one filter. @ Advanced auto.

Anyways when i got the oil home "Pennzoil Platinum"I took a look at the oil inside. I noticed that the oil is colored like any other oil. About ten years ago I worked for a shop that used the same oil and I could swear that it was a compleatly clear oil. Am I wrong or did something change? It also looks from the comercial that the Pennzoil Ultra is also colored.

Any thoughts?

Also i noticed that the K&N oil filter is pretty light. Whats up with that? Guess I'm going to have to go research that filter now.

Guess I'm going to have to go research that filter now.

It amazes me that people do this...

care to explain?

added drag from the heavier weight oil, caused the slower spool up
and going to 20-50 from 0-30 is a pretty big jump in weight :what:; if anything i would of done like a 10-40 or a 10-30

:nod: rather have a motor that lasts, and uses a little more fuel, then to be rebuilding the motor due to inadequate lubrication

especially with synthetics, it is normally just coloring/dye added after the fact (isn't royal purple- purple; or schaffer's which i use, is green)

Platnium is a very good oil and the K&N filter is very good as well (made by the same company as mobil 1 filters: Champion Labs). I would run that combo to 8-10k.

Thanks. I did not know about the filters.

I go 6k on the pacifica. I would go 7 but it has 19 inch wheels AWD and weighs like 4700 lbs. so that 3.5 v6 gets worked.

Oh okay, I wasn't sure waht kind of vehicle you'd be using the oil on.

still a POS :rolleyes:, but one thing i will say about them though, is that it is a VERY clean oil change, in that everything does straight to the drain pan (and with the tilt of the filter, it all goes down on one side of it, vs covering every side of the filter in oil; basically you are not grabbing an oily filter), instead of getting all spread around and such (like our cars do, with the filter and draining onto the crossmember/cradle :ugh:)

Sorry I'm not getting this quite right, would this be better in colder or warmer weather?

lighter weight oil is normally better (there are always possible exceptions) in the winter, because it does not get as warm first of all, so it does not thin out as much (it also helps with cold starting with being a fluid and not like a gel)
where in the summer heavier weight oil is better, because the oil does thin out from the higher temps, but it still has about the same effective weight as the thinner oil during the winter; also cold starts are not as important either


but for the most part multi-grade oils have taken the equation of picking the right grade of oil out of the question for winter or summer (you can still use different weights for the seasons, but not as noticeable with modern oils, until you start getting into the extreme tempetures)(and normally the different weights are the same price, so that does not play a factor here really)



edit: btw nersh it might be more effective for you to run a lighter weight oil especially being that you live in Canada, and you see colder temps (i would say about 15 degrees F is the normal night time temp during the winter here, it does occasionally get colder but not often though)
and it kinda sounds like the weather here also, just colder http://www.livingin-canada.com/climate-calgary.html

Gives me much less problems then the CLS.:thumbsup: And a far better warranty. And the Chrysler dealers treat me much much better then the Acura dealers do.

Would I ever buy another Pacifica? NOPE!:thumbsup: I just don't like it, but my wifes does so... you know how that goes.

they know me at the Acura dealer :shrug:, so they are going to treat me good (all they got to do is ask the parts department, and the Subaru dealer service and parts division also (same building and dealer)(even the "performance" division knows me too) :tongue:

but yeah i wanted the wife to get a CTS-V; V-8 manual RWD :drool:, but the turbo AWD car works too :shrug:

Ok so I put this oil in today,( pennzoil platinum) and I noticed they is some brown powdery looking shit in the bottom of the jug! WTF. It almost looks like superfine brown sand. I have not cut the bottle open yet to feel it.

It really bothers me that there is something that I can only guess is comming out of suspension in oil. I've never had this problem with Valvoline SynPower or Mobil 1.

Anyone eles ever notice anything like this with any kind of oil?
I'm going to take a pic and write a letter to Pennzoil and see what they say.

Meanwhile I'm going to drain this oil and go back to Valvoline Syn.

wow that really sucks... but i never really pay attention.. i just pour it in..

thanks for the heads up..:thumbsup:

Well after a bit of reading on BITOG (google it) and other sources it appears to be part of thier additive package and not very uncommon to see. Either way I don't like it. That means this shit will not stay in suspension. So where is it going to rest in my engine? Sounds like it will turn to sludge! And if it is part of thier anti-wear package that I'm paying for, it certanly won't do me any good in the bottom of a damn bottle!

If it is turning into sludge in the bottom of the botlle, whats it going to do in my engine?

Back in the mids 90's I used dino pennzoil in my Honda dirt bike from day 1. I ended up cracking a valve guide a few years into it. So I took the engine apart and it was compleatly full of sludge and I mean FULL. I did not use the oil ever again until now. Well guess what? I wont make that mistake again.

Well if you also read on BITOG, they highly regard this oil. I've used it without problems and I have several gallons in the garage still.

I'm sure it works just fine but with my past experience and this one, I'm done with Pennzoil for good.

I have never seen anything like this with the other brands.

The way I see it, (Like I said before) if the addatives are clumping up in the bottom of a fresh jug (I even shook the jug before I used it) then what is it doing in my engine?
I can't overlook that. That's just me. No more Pennzoil.