Which motor oil for a 88 civic?

[ck8788]

my dad bought this civic brand new and is handing it down to me. 118k miles on it. Its been using penzoil for a long time now. I heard penzoil oil was not as good as other brands because they leave nasty stuff on the engine.

So the question is which brand should i use on it?

EDIT: This car does A LOT of city driving. Prob 85 percent of those mileage is city miles. And the city i live in is sf where theres is a lot of hills. I put up about 260-280 miles on it in ~ 9 days

 

[VTEC01EX]

You heard wrong. This should be pretty apparent if the car is still running well. If it was my 88 Civic, I'd be running either Havoline or Pennzoil in the recommended spec (5w30?)

 

[ck8788]

on the penzoil sticker under "GRADE" it says 1040 so i assume its 10w-40

 

[vwoom]

I'd do an Auto-Rx regimen first for this engine. After that then yes, I'd go for Havoline too preferably 10w30 for this mileage.

 

[OCB]

Havoline 10/30 summer 5/30 winter

 

[ck8788]

whats an auto rx regimen?

so grade 1040 means 10w-40?

 

[KJA426]

If the engine has had routine oil changes then you really don't need an RX treatment. I'd use one of the High Mileage oils or just regular oil of 10w-30 grade. There is nothing at all wrong with Pennzoil. My uncle had a Chevy Caprice in which he changed the oil every 10,000 miles with Pennzoil 10w-30 and the body gave out before the engine did. It had 220,000 miles on it when the body wouldn't pass inspection anymore.

 

[ck8788]

oil is changed every 3000-4000 miles

Does anyone know how much oil is needed for a 1.5l car?

 

[vwoom]

ck, according to my Honda Civic Service Manual(1st Ed.) the 1.5l should take in 3.7qts of oil, same as in my old '90 Civic DX HB.

 

[55Test]

My brother's 93 Civic takes 3.8 quarts, same for my 92 Accord. I assume yours would be the same. 4 quarts with the oil filter.

 

[Gilitar]

Where do you live in Cal?

 

[ck8788]

i live in SF

why?

 

[mettech]

I have a '89 Honda Prelude with a 2.0L. I run Motorcraft 5W-20 in it all year. OCI is 5K. 140K miles on the car now. It's used for short trips to work and some hywy. I also run 3oz auto-rx in everyother oil change. Helps with the seals. Try it, you'll like it. Big improvement over 10W-30.

BTW, this car uses <.5 qts per 5K. Auto-Rx stop the seal oil leak at the 120K mile mark.

 

[zb11]

I too have an 88 Civic - just turned 87k. I've had it for a year and a half, changing oil often to find out what it likes. Now on Maxlife 5w-30 and it runs very smooth for my five mile commute.

 

[PandaBear]

Why not check on Honda-tech.com, there are still plenty of old civic around and people over there have very model specific info.

Regarding to oil, the usual rule is if it is not burning, use the same as recommended. If burn, use one grade (30 to 40, 40 to 50) thicker.

 

[ck8788]

does grade 1040 mean 10w-40?

 

[LarryL]

The Auto-RX treatment would be good for cleaning up you Civic especially the valve seals. I have an 84 1500 Civic and the valve seals need cleaning up every couple of years. If not the engine will burn oil and blow smoke. If you can keep the seals under control you can get a lot of miles out of the engine. I have about 380k miles and the head has never been off. I was starting to have seal problems again and Auto-RX cured it in one treatment. The seals have been replaced onece at about 250k miles, but need cleaning up every now and then. I think that Auto-RX is good stuff and well worth the price ant trouble to use it.

 

[BlazerLT]

I would go with a 5w30 and get a little better fuel economy.

 

[LarryL]

And be ready to move up in viscosity to control oil consumption. I moved from 5w-30 up to 20w-50 over the years to control oil consumption, until I found Auto-RX. Now I'm back to 10w-40 and am going to try 5w-30 on the next change after 2 Auto-RX cycles.

 

[VTEC01EX]

I highly doubt you need a 10w40 in that motor. If it's not smoking/consuming oil, I'd try a 10w30. San Fran doesn't get cold, so the 5w30 probably won't be necessary. Keep an eye on consumption and let us know how it goes.