I like to change the oil myself as I have heard many horror stories of oil changes being done even by the dealers and they did not cover the damage that they caused, like using the wrong filter or not even tightnening them all together. I like to use synthetic oils, and have just recently started to use Royal Purple, as all of the articles I have read, highly recommend this oil. My return question is, if I put in 10w-30, will this do any internal damage and must I use the 5w-20, and why?

 

10w-30 shouldn't "hurt" your engine. Honda wanted a way to get better gas mileage and also get by the "environmentalists" in emissions, so the recommended oil on our cars is 5w-20. 10w-30 is a thicker viscosity oil, and it would work in warmer climates rather than colder in our engines, IMHO. The thinner, 5w-20 oil works good in colder climates. Hope this helps!

 

Any input from fellow Acura owner is helpful. Thanks.

 

10w30 will be fine...i dont know why you wouldnt want to use a 5w20 or 5w30, but 10w30 will work just fine...i wouldnt use anything heavier...as your car was designed with certain tolerances, and too heavy of a motor oil will put more load on the motor...

 

Some habits are hard to kill. All of my other vehicles always used 10w-30.

 

Now being that I have been schooled properly of which oil to use, will it hurt my engine on my next oil change when I go back to the recommended specs?

 

no problem at all. the gen 2 cars run 5-30, and the 5-20 was a scam for govt testing

 

All I have been using in my 07 TLS is 5w30 or 10w30 no problems here yet, I have a heavy foot so there is no way I would even try to use 5w20 no way!!!!!!

 

your acting like your car will blow up if you use 5w20...5w20 is no worse if you will than a 30 weight...there is not one thing wrong with that oil...nothing...you sound stupid making statements like that....

 

In the Florida climate I would suggest the 10-30. I run 30/10-30 year round in my TL because it only hits freezing once or twice a year and summers usually stay 100+ degrees. My 30wt in these hot summers is probably as thin as the 5-20 in a Canadian summer. Keep in mind, 10-30 can be used as low as 0deg F.

 

I was thinking about this the other day-

In a street-driven, average-to-moderate performance car, do I know anyone who has damaged an engine from using too light a weight, within reason?

No.

Do I know anyone who has damaged an engine from running too heavy an oil?

Yes. He broke the oil pump driveshaft running 30W in 35-ish degree weather. That was a small block with a high volume oil pump, but...

Just my personal experience.

I have no issue running 5W-20. I use synthetic for that extra measure of protection that it offers, mainly better cold flow.

Todd

 

How does the viscosity of 10-30 Synthetic compare to a regular 5-20 dino?

 

Small block with a high volume pump? So it was modified and probably had too high of a relief pressure too. On top of the high volume pump he probably did something stupid like take it to redline right after a cold start. A 30W (assuming it's not straight 30) is not even close to thick enough to cause a problem like that in 35 degree weather.

I wore the front cam bearing from using a high volume pump with a high relief spring in the Buick. Should I blame the thick oil or the fact that I knowingly modified the pump and considered the bearing wear a worthwhile tradeoff?

There is debate to the extra protection of thinner stuff. If you live in a moderate climate and the oil can flow decently at a 10W, do you really think there's anything to be gained by going to a 5 or 0? The other side of the argument is thick oil leaves a thicker film on bearings and that is what protects bearings before the pressure arrives. Of course a thicker film will protect better than a thin film.

 

10w30 shouldn't "hurt" your engine

 

Thanks for the input guys. This is my 3rd "Honda" vehicle and I have always used 10w30 oil in them, even though I have noticed the caps and books recommending 5w20 or 5w30.

 

So,
you guys are saying for summer time thicker oil bit for winter thinner. Am I correct?
Tim

 

Orrrrrrrrrr....you can always go 0W-30 synth like me!! Amsoil SS 0W-30 FTW!!

 

This subject comes up almost as often as "which tire due you recommend".
Search feature is your friend. Use it and you'll get more confused than ever.

Acura took into account the various climates when they decided to put 5W-20 into the manual.
Why not use what the mfr. recommends? Do you really think we know more than Honda R&D?
I doubt that 10W-30 would hurt your engine, though, I just don't know why you would risk it.
Lots of opinions on the subject.

 

It's because they're being influenced by CAFE. 5-20 will get you past the warranty period in any climate and that's all they need. Nothing changed internally in the 3.2 from back when it requred 5-30. There were no special changes to make it run 20wt. With 100+ degree summers, there's no way I would run less than a 30wt. The same goes for people who run the cars hard or have installed a blower.

 

I ran 5w-20 in my 04 year around with no trouble while living in Central FL. The only trouble I had was sometimes finding it. However, now that I live in even hotter Key West, I will probably switch over to 5w-30 with no worries in my week-old 08 w/navi.

 

10W-30 is not nearly as common as it used to be. Most manufacturers made the move to 5W-30 some time ago and more recently they have begun to move to 5W-20. Change may be hard but it is probably time to stock more than 1 weight of oil. In your climate 10W-30 is fine but I would suggest that it may be time to embrace the change rather than fight the inevitable.

 

he’s right tho, if you beat on the motor then you should use 10w-30, I used 5w-30 in my TL I hauled ass everyday ended up doing an oil change to find engine shavings thankfully I caught it quick where I didn’t do DAMAGE to the motor just flushed it out and started using 10w-30 never had tha problem again with my other TL either after experiencing that

 

So you bump a 12 year old thread and then make a statement which is completely backwards; nice going. Long story short, there is nothing 10W-30 that 5W-30 cannot do better, or, said another way, 5W-30 is superior to 10W-30 in every metric you can choose. That said, 0W-30 is better than both.

 

Not true. Majority of if not all of 5w30s and 0w30s on the market will shear to a lighter weight oil much quicker than 10w30s. It takes a lot more viscosity modifiers to get an oil to behave like a 5 or 0 weight when cold and a 30 weight hot.

Does the j32/35 shear oil badly? Not sure...surely not as bad as the f20/f22 of the s2000 for example, but shear resistance is an important metric that shouldn't be ignored when choosing an engine oil for your car.

 

Sorry, false. The odd thing about 10W-30 is it uses the absolute cheapest rot-gut base oil which shears horribly. A 0W-30, which by definition is fully synthetic, will easily out last and out protect any 10W-30 on the market by at least two to one.

Irrelevant.

 

​​​​Your statement is too generalized to be taken seriously. Not all oil manufacturers use the same base stock for each oil weight and not all oil weights are the same viscosity from different manufacturers.

To say all 10w30 oils share the same base stock is ignorant.
To say shear resistance is irrelevant is equally ignorant.

Keep replying, because everyone on here knows you have to have the last word in every thread you participate in.

For those truly interested in the facts, just do your own research. Bobistheoilguy.com is a good place to start.

 

Clearly you haven't spent much time researching the UOAs on BITOG; I have.

I'll say it again for the cheap seats, a 0W-30 will out perform any 10W-30 of your choice. Period, full stop, then end.

 

I agree with all this except Bobistheoilguy.

Bob is a smart engineer who knows his subject matter well, but he is also a highly opinionated ranter who built a crude machine that tests how well an oil attempts to lessen the catastrophic damage of moving metal parts being forced into contact. His tests are not really applicable to engines running normally, because those kinds of tests are far more complex and time-consuming. I had to laugh when cheap parts-store generic oil scored far, far higher than Redline & Royal Purple. Ok Bob, how many drag racing teams use generic parts-store oil?

That said, use the grade of oil the manufacturer specifies = end of thread.

 

325K miles and have always used synthetic 5W-20. Still flies great! End of Story...........
.

 

Ik this thread is over 5 years old but I’m getting ready to do an oil change on my 13 TL with 110k miles and I’m wondering should I use 0w-20 High mileage or would 0w-30 be better or even 0w-30 high mileage I drive the pretty damm hard sometimes long trips sometimes short anyone’s help is appreciated!

 

13TL is a 4th gen but still a very similar engine. You can use 5W-20, or 5W-30 no problem. If it's cold where you live you may not want 10w-30.

0-weight oils have a lot of viscosity modifiers to get them that thin and they can degrade with time. 0-weight is good if it get below zero regularly where you live.

If you have an SH-AWD model don't exceed 5k miles on a change and check oil religiously (like every time you get gas) since the 3.7L is prone to oil burning past the oil control rings.

 

Preciate the response I didn’t realize this was a 3g thread lol it’s pretty damm hot here in Cali and where I live the coldest l it ever really gets is 60 degrees otherwise it’s pretty damm hot all the time. I have the the fwd model with the 3.5L I change my oil every 3k-3.5K miles I js wanted to know what oil would be best or an upgrade to the 0w-20 I use right now since I drive the car very hard