So I made the mistake of getting my oil changed at Jiffy Lube today... Yea I know I'm dumb I was in a hurry...


So I get home and am looking at the window sticker and receipt and they replaced the oil with Conventional SAE 5w20 instead of 5w30. Can this cause any damage? I've only driven about 3 miles since I realized the mistake. Also, I see the manual calls for "Energy Saving Oil". My receipt just says Penzoil Conventional SAE 5w20. Is this another problem?


Any advice would be appreciated. The little punk that answered the phone when I called them to say they screwed up didn't even say sorry. Serves me right by going to Jiffy Lube

 

Morgan, dont sweat it.
you will be fine with 5w20.

in fact, Honda switched to 5w20 for all of its line up.

Honda switched due to CAFE reasons. which means they want to achieve a lower MPG from all of their fleet.
they can achieve this by switching to a lighter oil.

 

5w20 is thinner so i would recommend switching back to 5w30. If you put 5w30 where 5w20 is required then you would be okay.

 

Yeah, 5w20 is fine. I've run that weight oil in my 2003 TL-S for all of its life.

FIFY

 

thanks for correcting my typo!!

 

As everyone said... 5W20 is actually the OEM Oil.. Most of us switch to 5W30 because its almost available everywhere, 5W20 is a little bit more special.


If you are concerned about driving with Penzoil Conventional that is another story. I would not drive more than 7500miles with that oil though..

 

7500 is plenty for a oil change interval tho.

i think my car signals me to change about every 6000 miles.

 

I agree - 7500 miles is a long interval for dino oil. I change my oil every 7500-8000 miles, with Mobil 1 Extended Performance, with an M1 EP filter.

 

^ @Crabman: The oil reminder in the TL starts to blink at 7000K and Goes Live at 7500.
Live equal Change oil NAOW!


I use Mobil 1 EP for 15,000 miles aprox or 1 year in total (Change every December but I hardly do 11-12K Annually so). Blackstone labs says its ok FYI..

 

5W20 is fine. That's all I've used as it's spec'd for the 02TL. Pennzoil Yellow Bottle (PYB) is one of the best dino oils. But I would change it at, or preferably before, 7,500 miles.

More than you want to know on oil is here:

Used Oil Analysis - Bob is the Oil Guy - Bob is the Oil Guy

 

This is Bad info. ^

You will be just fine with what you have in there. No reason to worry. Honda actually switched to that weight oil to help meet/raise cafe standards.

 

(total guess of number) ,00038 of an mpg increase by going to a thinner = less friction oil X millions of Honda cars = how to pass -the now retired - CAFE fuel standards

honda went back to 5-30 on some later years then back to 5-20 as parts clearance reduced, in efforts to minimally increase mpg without really trying (all to meet govt standards and increased numbers every few years)

30some years ago (sitting back in rocking chair) at my first dealer tech factory school, the teacher said there were small engines with fuel injection, turbos or SC sitting on the shelf in Japan- all neatly wrapped in plastic, going nowhere for a few decades--- when they had to meet higher standards
Why not sell it then and give consumers better than 15mpg-20, of the time?
because its a conspiracy
notice how fast so many makers came out with 4cyl turbo 200+ hp mpg in 30s+
cars in the last 2 years, and hybrids!!
,,yeah, Im sure they JUST figured out how to do all that

 

I can say without a doubt after building my 3.7 with oem parts, If hondas tolerances got any tighter they would loose power and efficiency.
The accuracy and consistency of tolerances is amazing and where they are getting their efficiency, along with high tech coatings . There was less than a .0001 difference between all crank bearings and block.

 

Come one man, that's right up there with the "my dad/uncle/grandpa/etc designed a carburetor that gets 150 mpg but the government took it from him" that I heard from a dozen people I knew throughout the 80's.

 

As everyone has said... Don't worry, you'll be fine. I'm pretty sure that they look up the oil weight in their PC based on the model/type and as everyone mentioned in this thread, Acura switch the OEM oil to 5w20 hence why you got it

FWIW, I still use conventional oil and have been for all my vehicles. Instead of the recommended oil change interval the shops suggest (i.e., 3000 miles or 3 months), I do it on average every ~5000 miles regardless of months. As others mentioned, you can go up to 7,500 miles, but if you do, I'd recommend you go with synthetic blend

 

SuperGreg I am not talking amazing carb- or they would still be using carbs
Not talking about Uncle A and his amazing mpg generator,,I am talking about information from a person within the auto maker corp structure -their word I trust-
and had personally been to the Japanese factory of Mazzzzzzda, talking to the engineers and seeing the actual warehouse shelves of pretty close to whats being sold these days-
first they went FI a few decades ago- easy control of emissions with the advent of computers in cars,
Now its smaller displacement and number of cyls, and so many new cars coming stock with turbo! or twin turbos!!!! or stock supercharger, all on the grocery getter!!

Believe me or not- the truth hurts = the govt and car makers have been screwing you over for decades

 

This is truly tinfoil hat shit.

 

Hmmm.....yes I do remember the glory days of yesteryear quite well myself, the 70's oil embargo rationing with our old car's guzzling unquenchable thirst for gas.

This must be all truly factual based upon Ford's successful relationship with the Mazda engineering gurus turning them on to efficiency. Hell, they even turned down the government's free bail-out moneys.

 

raise your hand if you know what even- odd license plate days means?

Trash- Who told you about my special hat liner?!

 

The OEM recommendation is 7500 on regular dino oil and just fine to do (if engine is in good working condition). I run 12-15k on syn and have gone as high as 20k intervals and my driving is considered severe.

 

changing oil @ 3k is a waste of time and $$ i change @ 6-7k with conventional oil these engines are bulletproof.

 

Its not as much as you might think. A good friend who used to work for ford (actually designed many crankshafts for them, including one for the powerstroke) who now works for Oshkosh truck helping to design the military trucks has said stuff very similar

 

Let me make sure I understand correctly - You're asserting that manufacturers cranked out a bunch of engines to sit on shelves, for use decades in the future?

What would be the point of manufacturing a whole bunch of engines, with the monetary cost of materials, factory time, and tooling, plus the cost of storage, considering the drawback of having everything be out of date "decades later" when you pull it off the shelf? ECU technology out of date, emissions systems out of date/not compliant, materials used inferior to what is being used on newly manufactured engines, etc. Not to mention, at the time, the technology would have been very expensive since it didn't really exist yet. Why not wait until it was cheaper to manufacture?

If you look at cars overseas, they have been getting turbos for decades. Many econoboxes we got here with a NA 4 banger FF were sold overseas in a turbo/AWD configuration. Just because they are just now getting more popular in the US doesn't mean they are new.

 

NO that's not what I said or even meant at all- was I that unclear
I would say the engines being described were prototypes and running test models
There were many years involved in development AND the results were worth it

Yes they do test and sell new cars overseas before we get them = Australia is Chevy's (Holden Corp in Australia) real Testing Grounds- if a vehicle can survive there it will be fine on any American road
I was there!! saw top of the line cars that didn't hit the states for 2-3 more years, and met 2 factory race team driver/tech developers in special versions of the cars in NZ,,
2 cars in tight formation made the serious racer pass on me into a blind corner, saw them later at the gas station and got to talking -what a sweet job they had!

 

Think the engine you see in the TLX is new??? That engine is for the most part 20 years old. Its your typical J series designed well before 1999. Sure there have been slight updates along the way as technology has come across newer materials but every thing you see now is many years old. 90% of that engine would swap over into our engines with little to no modifications

 

Well, obviously manufacturers create prototypes.

 

New products require many years of engineering, along with research and development that can take many different variations during testing before the "prototype" actually goes from experimental into real production. Sometimes it's a matter of costs, durability and efficiency.

 

First off, I just HAVE to bust Tom's balls periodically. I'm not sure if his reference to F.I. meant fuel injection, (50's technology) or forced induction (30's technology). No research, off the top of my head. If mazda had small displacement, high-power engines on the shelf; ford, gm, and chrysler had them on the road already. Plus my shirt-tail relative gm metallurgist beats your friend and Tom's trainer. The economy's so bad around here, you see laid off auto engineers with cardboard signs that say "I will divulge trade secrets for food."

 

The Wankel Rotary is going to be reincarnated !!!

 

the piston engine goes BOING BOING BOING while the Mazda goes HMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm
(actual mazda ad for the rx2)

street and raced the ol rx2 and rx7 = looking at trophy/flags from back in the day

In Japan (according to this same mazda teacher in 1980) the busses used a rotor motor with the Single Rotor being about 5 foot long on each side of its triangle shape! (car ones ~6 inches)
Engine just loafs around at 200-300 rpm with massive amounts of torque to easily move large city busses crammed full of passengers.
Smog parts lowered rotary mpg severely and sadly mazda stopped production- hopefully only for now- there are a few models I can imagine with a screamer in it
We now return to the thread topic, thank you for your patience of my reminiscing

FUEL Injection was my reference to ONE of the things being worked on back in the 70s-80s by many manufactures, yet until the us govt tightened emissions by actually starting to require serious testing ~ late 80-90-?? prior was visual for pcv system
Suddenly it was no more carbs- gone! all fuel injection computer controlled engines with ever increasing amounts of alleged smog controls- reducing your actual mileage in the name of having an atmosphere for your grandchildren
Hogwash I say! let them get their air from cans, I want MORE HORSEPOWER

 

^^ I would buy an RX-8 in a heartbeat any day of the year if I had the moneyzzz... Sadly I already bought a Cherokee HEMI

 

Just a little insider info, they are talking about a hellcat version

 

Hmmm, Fiat is juicing up it's toys. Now with SUV's 4WD. "WOW" !!!
Wasn't long ago that the SRT versions were totally awesome, but who can afford these toys ?
Perhaps Dr. Feelgoode.

HEMI "HELLCATS"...... rule the land of oz !!!

 

Great timing of this thread for me.
I've been on drugs due to a "procedure" and completely zoned out that i used 5w20.

Ahh what a relief.

 

its totally ok to use 5-20 or 5-30 all year in normal climates, stay off the 10-anything
and no additives- thickeners or slickeners etc to the TL

those in upcoming severe winter cold areas, your engines may like synthetic 0-20!

 

What is the danger in using heavier weight, I've hard of people putting in 10-40 by accident. I read that it causes problems with the VTEC system but would it cause engine damage as well?

 

vtec operate on oil pressure and changes to the pressure

the oil passages are small and may have crud lining them!

the weight measures are done at the extreme of temps, 32f and 180 or 220F iirc

 

There is no danger you can use heavier weight oils but MPG loss is imminent as heavier oil causes more drag in the powertrain, Some people run 10W in the high summer here in So Cal and Az but at least my Car has never seen 10W even when outside is 115°F.


Not like you can use Gear Oil or something that extreme too...

 

Agreed - remember the engine is water cooled, so oil temp is also moderated by the block temp. Oils are really good these days, so 5W20 or 5W30 will work and 5W30 in AZ during the summer may make sense. But most engine wear occurs at start-up so 5 (or even 0 with synthetic) is a good thing.

 

the oil numbers are such a scam - the 1st one is measured viscosity at 32F
How often does your oil get to or remain 32F after starting
for practical purposes its the initial flow viscosity on startup

Neither number is real- additives are put in a base weight oil to make it perform as if it were the stated number- at the stated temp