I just bought my Acura TL last Thursday. This is the 1st non-GM automobile I've owned in over 20 years, and I must say, Acura has GM beat - hands down! The quality of the Acura is far superior to any GM vehicle I've ever owned.

I do have a question regarding Acura's engine oil recommendations. Acura recommends 5w-20 weight oil for the 3.2. I am an avid user of Mobil 1, however, Mobil does not make
5w-20 synthetic oil. Does anyone know what problems, if any, are possible if I use Mobil 1 5w-30 oil?

Thanks,

 

this part of the forum is for technical questions regarding the forum itself...moved.

 

I use Mobil One green cap.

 

Mobil 1 10w-30 (green cap) is possibly the best brew made by Mobil 1.

I use 10w30 in the hot months & 5w30 in the cold months.

I've notice no mileage difference.

I change it at 7500 mile intervals. I use the oversized oil filter - i forget the number.

You'll here a lot about about Red Line, Amsoil, royal purple, but it truly ain't worth the $'s.

Read up on all the oil data you want here......http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi

These kooks are mostly engineers that have nothing better to do than study oil.

After combing thru that site you'll learn that royal purple is very crappy, red line & amsoil are worthy but WAY too expensive & Mobil1 is the best all around syn oil there is.

RB

 

Red Line 5-20 , and a Mobil one oil filter!

 

castrol 10w30 in summer and castrol 5w30 in winter

 

"After combing thru that site you'll learn that royal purple is very crappy, red line & amsoil are worthy but WAY too expensive & Mobil1 is the best all around syn oil there is. "

May I add my 2 cents? Amsoil costs about the same as Mobil 1 if you get it at their 'preferred' price (either become a preferred customer or go thru one - not hard to do) and Amsoil guarantees their oil for 25,000 miles (!) or one year. There was a recent article from an oil industry magazine on their website that says, bascially, Americans are getting a hosing when it comes to recommended oil change intervals compared to European consumers - 3,000 miles here compared to 10,000 in Europe.
I will try to post/link it when I get a chance.
Does anyone besides me remember when Mobil1 first came out - they said it was good for 25,000 miles. Do you think they sell more oil by no longer mentioning this?

BTW Acura recommends 5w-30 for my '01. I agree with Ranberndt - except for the absolute hottest months, you should be fine with 5w-30.

 

I go with Mobil 1 BLUE cap. 5W-30 Newer Vehicle Formula.

10W-30 Above 19 F
You can use Mobil 1 with SuperSyn 10W-30 with confidence. This viscosity is also available in Mobil Drive Clean Oil and Mobil Drive Clean Plus High Mileage formula.


5W-30 All temps
You can use Mobil 1 with SuperSyn 5W-30 with confidence. This viscosity is also available in Mobil Drive Clean Oil and Mobil Drive Clean Plus both the Newer Vehicle and High Mileage formulas.

 

Mobil 1 does produce a 0w-20 which they say will work for all vehicles that recommend 5w-20. Walmart carries it.
Walmart also carries the 5w-30 in gallon jugs which is handy, but they don't carry the 0w-20 in gal. size... yet.
I switched from 5w-30 Mobil 1 to the 0w-20 last oil change to see if there's any difference, and I swear my mileage went up a little. Probably is all in my head, I know. Want to see a difference, and of course you probably well. Who knows?
Does Europe recommend 10,000 mile oil changes for Dino oil?

 

Here is a summary of the article and at the end there is a link to the entire article. BTW- I used Mobil1 in my '89 Prelude on a 15,000 mile oil-change interval, adding fresh oil only when changing the filter. This article also mentions that frequent oil changes means frequent introduction of phosphorus into the engine, which wears down the catalytic converter. Now I know why my catalytic converter lasted for 155,000 miles. (My Prelude is still going strong at 187,000 miles)

http://syntheticwarehouse.com/article_of_the_month.htm

 

Hello All! I want to thank you for your information and the links you sent me. I will stay wilth Mobil 1 5w-30, as I don't see the harm. I just don't understand why Acura changed their spec to 5W-20.

Thanks again for your time and input.

Jack

 

i use mobile 1 5w30 in my TL..... the manual says use 5w30 in the 2001's..... what year does it say to use 5w20? and are there any differance? if so y?

 

why 5w-20?....because of CAFE. 5w-20 will give you a slight bump in mileage(which is why Ford calls for it , too), but the 5w-20 has not proven itself as a tough oil. So, if your going to us it, use a very high quality 5w20 & change it often.

Better yet, use the Mobil1 0w-30. It showing very good used oil analysis numbers. not as good as the M1 10w30, but good.

I'll put it this way....Our engines are not hard on motor oil - if your going to use a dino oil, change it every 5000 miles. if you use mobil1, change it every 7,500 to 10,000 miles. There are plenty of used oil analysis results to support those numbers.

RB