im switching to synthetic...what is the best brand that i can buy from a store and from what store can i find it..also..i need a good oil filter to go with it...what brand and size should i get?...and also i live in nj...its hot in summer and cold in winter...what weight oil should i get...

 

If you ask 100 people, you may get 100 different answers, but for the money, you can buy Mobil 1 in a 5 quart bottle for 18.88 at Walmart. There are better oils (Amsoil, Redline) and they cost more and are not readily available everywhere.
If you want to spend the bucks, Amsoil sounds like the way to go--you will get incredible longevity from the oil with just a periodic filter change + adding the difference for the loss of oil in the filter.
Everyone wants to put good oil in their cars, but many have ridden successfully in prior years with non-synthetic oil, so if you use a synthetic you're ahead of the game. Happy hunting (you can use a synthetic 5W20 or 5W30/10W30).

 

I am sure everyone has an opinion on this one, but the Owner's Manual talks about the break-in period on page 174 and states "Do not change the oil until the recommended time or mileage interval shown in the maintenance schedule." That schedule says 7,500 miles for the initial oil change.

 

I switched to Mobil 1 syn 5w30 at about 4000 miles. Used an Acura OEM filter, but after reading some info here, I think I'm going to switch to a Mobil 1 filter next time around. As mentioned above, Amsoil and Redline are great oils too, but isn't available by me, so I stuck with Mobil1.
And don't forget the drain plug washer if you're doing it yourself.

 

drain plug washer?

 

i switched to mobil 1 synthetic at 7000 miles interval. u can't go wrong with either 5w-30 or 5w-20. but in nj, u probably find 5w-20 for cheap & therefore i stuck with 5w-30 which u can get it cheap fm walmart, sam's club & sometimes walmart's 5 quart package.

 

I ran RedLine 5w20 Syn in my 2002 at 7500 mi intervals, and it killed me changing that often because the oil had barely shown any wear.

At $8/quart I dropped back to Mobil 1 Syn in my 2003 at 5000 mi intervals.

 

I have been using Mobil 1 5w30 synthetic from Walmart. For my filter, I just switched to the oversized Mobil 1 M-105 filter. Before that I was using M-104.

 

Yeah, the washer for the drain plug. When you pull it off with the plug, it looks fine, but I read you should replace 'em every oil change. I picked up 3 for under a buck at the dealer.

 

When I switched at 8k I used Mobil 1 syn and filter. I changed my oil twice with it and switched to Valvoline syn and Mobil 1 filter... I like Valvoline better....

 

Here's an excellent article about oil filters

http://minimopar.net/oilfilters.html

Say what you will about Chryslers but it's an excellent article and I had very good luck with all four of my Mopar products.

I'm still on my factory oil (3,300 short trip miles) but plan to change at 3,750 under the "Severe Conditions" maint. schedule. However, I did pick up five quarts of Royal Purple 5w20 froma a local speed shop that was all of three miles from my house!

 

Redline 5W-20, Moblie one oil filter M1-105, Online at Autochick.

 

You need to be careful with the 7,500 mile changes. Unless most of your miles are highway with little stop and go traffic you should be changing your oil at around the 3,000 mark.

You need to read the fine print to figure out if you really qualify for "normal" driving. Most people probably don't.

A 2 mile trip to the grocery store is not considered normal. You need to follow the extreme/harsh (whatever they call it) schedule.

 

It all depends on the oil. I would suggest getting oil checked by a third part lab if you want to do extended drains, like BlackStone (I think that's their name, could be wrong).

My redline 5w20 with 80% highway could have easily gone 10000 miles between changes. Whereas my mobil one can't even hold a light to that

 

With using sythetic, would every 5000 miles be good enough for an oil change interval?

 

I use Mobil 1 0w-30 or 5w-30. I believe the key to longer engine life is regular oil and filter changes. I change the oil and filter every 3,000 miles.

 

i still have the original drain plug and washer on my 2000. it now has 120,ooo miles and it doesnt leak a drop!

and i chang mine every 4000 to 8000 miles. i was running castrol 5w30 till around 110k now im running mobil 1 pure synthetic 5w30 and will probably still change it at the same intervals

 

I noticed that many of you are running 5w-30 for sythetic vs the 5w-20 that is recommended. Is it because the synthetic oil is thicker in density is why many of you are running the 30 vs the 20?

 

Not too many companies make a 5w20 in synthetic, that's why I bought some Royal Purple from a speed shop near my house. The 5w30 is a lot easier to find.

 

oh ok, there was a thread a couple months back and some people insisted that I change the washer. After pulling it off, it was just a plain flat washer. Anyway, good to know that it doesn't have to be changed.

 

just speaking generally now,5w 30 offers more protection aganst metalic friction during high stress conditions, ie; stop and go freeway traffic,high rpm driving,city driving,and if you do any or all of these in a hot climate then it even more important to have that extra protection.
there are several accurate sorces of info on WHY honda and ford are now recommending a thinner oil for there 02 and + models even though they're the same motors in many cases as the 01 models.

here is a link to amsoil, a co. that makes both 5w-20 and 5w-30
*http://www.performanceoiltechnology.com/ford5w20.htm