27 replies to this topic

[JEM MotorSports]

(independent study)
Just curious to hear from a few others as to what engine oil they use and why...
interested to hear about 1st gens and 3rd gens only!

Lets try to stick to the following format:

1) Vehicle (1st gen CRX or 3rd gen Civic)
2) Engine & Mileage (1.5, 1.6, 1.8, carbed, Fuel Injcted, etc...)
3) Oil Brand (Torco, Motul, Royal Purple, Sunoco , Mobil 1, etc... )
4) Weight (5w30, 5w40, 10w30, 10w40, etc...)
5) WHY ?

* the #5 "why" question can get some interesting responses such as;
"well, it's just what my family uses."
"My favorite race team / driver uses it."
"I saw the logo on a car from a video game that I like."
surprisingly #5 is alot like other brands and products in the market.

Lastly, any constructive information based on facts would greatly be appreciated if you can add it to question #5.
_________________________________________________________________________

I'll start with mine.

1) '87 Civic Si
2) stock 1.5L @ 288K
3) Torco SR1
4) 5w40
5) I use Torco oil based on info I collected from a work shop which Torco International Corp. performed at one
of my JDM Monday night car meets. Torco performed side by side tests of other leading brands including Royal Purple.
Also, it's a bit comforting knowing that Torco's development team is realy into Hondas as well. Their test cars are ITR's and
other built civics. ...and that says alot to me when a company gives that much shit about their cars & their product.

When I purchased my '87 Si from the original old lady in Irvine, CA , I knew the car had never seen "hard mileage".
I have a lead foot and knew a high grade motor oil would be best for me.
Even though Honda dealers all recomend 5w30 our here in Southern California, I went with 5w40 due to a small leak which
I can not pin point. The thicker motor oil has temporarily sealed that issue up.

FYI, I'm in So.Cal. therfore am not affected by having to use various oil weights due to climate changes.
You cold area Civic and CRX owners may and/or will vary.

[Bubba]

1. 87 Civic hatch and 87 CRX
2. Civic= 1.5 Carbed- CVCC, I have put 40K on this motor but it is not the original engine(was swapped before I bought it) / CRX= 1.3 Carbed- CVCC, I pulled the motor from a junk yard and rebuilt it 20K miles ago
3. Supertech (Wal-mart brand)
4. 10w-30 late fall, winter early spring, 10w-40 the rest of the year
5. I don't like to spend more money than I have to, and this oil is likely just unbranded "name brand" oil (to my knowledge wal-mart doesn't operate a refinery).

It meets the same specs as the expensive name brand stuff and I have been running this oil for the last 10 years in my cars and in my wife's car for a total of over 250K miles without any bearing or oil consumption problems.

[RARECRX]

I use Mobil1 synthetic in my 1986 CRX si 5w-30. it has 95K on it. 1.5 . I used this because It's all I used in my rst-turbo and I never had problemo's lubrication or engine wise, or turbo wise (which is rare in a DSM).So I chose to stick with it .. I change twice a year (I only drive avg 1000 miles a year).

[oldskl87]

87 crx si turbocharged.

1.5 fuel injected

castrol 10w40

i noticed a diff after just one oil change in the amount of sludge inside the valve cover from using no name brands and then switching to castrol

it has the anti sludge formula that visualy seems to work well. i just got out of a class for work tonite, and coked up oil is one of the top problems for poor performance, fuel economy, and burning oil. fuel deposits are right up top of the list too.

its affordable.

now if you have a all out nice motor and you want the best hands down, amsoil... at my work we take oil samples and send them to the lab and customers are doing 20k miles on an oil change and still has less wear on the motor then conventional oils. that stuff is sick. way to expensive for me tho

believe it or not my manual calls for 20w50 for summertime on my 87 crx. i use 10w40 for the better fuel economy

Edited by oldskl87, 18 April 2011 - 09:58 PM.

[Old School REX]

1) '86 CRX Si
2) 1.5L EW4 @ 249K Web cam, ported TB, intake, Mugen header, etc... Motor has NEVER been opened.
3) Mobil1 full Synthetic
4) 10w30
5) It doesn't aaaaaaalways have to be mobil1, but if not its castrol or something similar. I used to run Pennzoil and Fram filters, but Fram's standard filters have gone to shit and I never really had a problem with pennzoil, but I noticed a clear difference in the running condition and clean-ly-ness of the oil after use of mobil1 in my truck. So when I got the new CRX, thats what I started to use. I use 10W30 just because thats what the guy who owned the CRX since day one of its life before me used and it doesn't need a single drop between changes; soooo don't try to fix it if it ain't broke.


cool topic.

[Smokescreem]

1) 1st gen crx si 87 Have owned it now for 19 years
2) Engine 1.5 Fuel Inj
3) Royal Purple for the past 3 year but before Mobil 1
4) Weight 5w30
5) The reason I use Royal Purple is that I like what I read about it. I only place about 2000 miles a year on the car if that. Got her with 67k and the 100k I have placed on her have been 90% city driving (stop and go). Never had a problem with the engine itself. Just the main relay,starter, alt and trans. But when I first got here I used castrol. The old girl just turned 167k. I use fram or wix oil filters.

[Jayscrx]

1) 1st gen crx si 87 Have owned it now for 19 years
2) Engine 1.5 Fuel Inj
3) Royal Purple for the past 3 year but before Mobil 1
4) Weight 5w30
5) The reason I use Royal Purple is that I like what I read about it. I only place about 2000 miles a year on the car if that. Got her with 67k and the 100k I have placed on her have been 90% city driving (stop and go). Never had a problem with the engine itself. Just the main relay,starter, alt and trans. But when I first got here I used castrol. The old girl just turned 167k. I use fram or wix oil filters.

Very cool topic! The guy who runs and owns the machine shop that did all the work on my EW4, told me that I should be using Joe Gibbs oil. He said that these old Honda's have flat tappets and todays oils are not made to protect engines with these flat tappets. Joe Gibbs makes a dino oil with high zich and other stuff to protect engines that sit for more than 3 months or that are hobby cars that don't get used much. I think it's called Joe Gibbs Hot Rod Oil or something like that. It's around $8 to $10 a quart. When I went to get this oil from him, he was out. I ended up using Castrol 10w30 along with a additive made by Red Line with high zinc.

I run Mobil 1 in my 08 fit and 06 CRV with a Mobil 1 oil filters and go 8K to 10K on changes. The 06 CRV has 76K and burns around 2 qts beetween changes. The 08 Fit has 38K and burns maybee 1/2 a qt beetween changes.

Jay V.

[F22hb]

1) Vehicle (3rd gen Civic)
2) Engine & Mileage (1.5 with weber, 170k)
3) Oil Brand (Brad Penn)
4) Weight (10w-40)
5) WHY ?

Brad Penn is from the same refinery that Kendal used to come from. It's the green oil that has high levels of zinc and other minerals that are great for bearings. Should definitely google it and check it out. It's not synthetic but costs the same. We use it in our racecars and it's all we trust for that.

[Buford]

Valvoline Max Life in all 4 cyl yard equipment. (leaf vacuum, Ford 8N Tractor, Lawn Mower etc) 10-40w Cuz some are older and I like the oil. Also used in the beater Nissan 240SX cuz the engine sat for a long time and seals needed softening. Was also used in the 3g SI engine that had 170k+ miles on it.

Royal Purple in all periodic used equipment (Generator, Snow Blower) 5-30w, Because it is priced right and it is non hydroscopic, keeps me from having to change oil every season because of moisture absorption..

Honda Synthetic in the CRZ, cuz it's a new Honda.

Redline in the Tundra, EP Civic SI, 1g race car. Cuz it is simply the best. They also publish all the oils specifications, like film strength etc.

Joe Gibbs Racing oil being considered for the next race engine build. Because they have a break-in oil and engineered oil depending on bearing clearance.

[1985 CRX SI]

1) '85 CRX Si
2) stock 1.5L
3) Mobil 1 synthetic
4) 5w30
5) That is what my Dad used

Jeff

[MadMax]

1) 87 CRX DX
2) stock 1.5
3) Castrol GTX
4) 5W30
5) I've seen a lot of race cars advertising GTX, a lot of Honda guys I know also run it, my engine is old and tired... if I rebuilt it I would likely switch over to ENOS full synthetic 0W30. I don't mind running light oil.. as long as all the seals are good there should be no leaks, its pretty easy to work on these engines to replace seals.

[letank]

1) 86 civic 3rd gen, RIP at 220Kmiles when son forgot to inquire about temp gauge being in the red.
2) 1.5 carbed,
3) Castrol
4) 10w40 GTX
5) Used it before on motorcycles, use it on the jeep w 349Kmiles.... and now on the newer 86 civic w 140Kmiles.

As for flat tappet , I did not realized that the civic has a flat tappet. The jeep has the same issues, so 2 years ago I went to Shell Rotella 15w40 this is for diesel, has a high zinc content which is no problem as I do not have a catalytic converter, high zinc supposedly kills cats, it is about $10 a gallon at wally world or $15 at the local parts place. It is a good detergent oil and will clean your engine very nicely. I had to pull the intake to redo all the failing gaskets.... and noticed that the valves are a lot cleaner than 10 year ago. There is a synthetic version.

The cleaner the oil, the better, on old engines it is more important to change often, I guess the 100% synthetic is not that important unless you are redlining all the time or racing.

[ballade]

1: 85 CRX Si
2: 1.5, 1.6 ZC, B16A
3: Castrol
4: 10W30
5: in 20 years I have never used anything else. Always seemed that my Honda's liked the stuff.
I'm also convinced you could run your car on anything if you changed it often enough. I think clean oil
is a bigger factor then the brand of oil. Synthetic still gets dirty just as quick as conventional oil.

[cbstdscott]

I'm also convinced you could run your car on anything if you changed it often enough. I think clean oil
is a bigger factor then the brand of oil. Synthetic still gets dirty just as quick as conventional oil.

A huge +1 from me.

Scott

[Buford]

You can speculate all you want about clean v. dirty oil, good brands, synthetic etc.etc. Only a good Detailed Oil analysis do with Mass Spec instruments can tell you what's best for your application. Blown engines might be another indicator!

The best site on the subject that I've been following since its inception:
Big Bob's Oil Site