Just bought an '89 Honda Prelude 4W Si and trying to figure out what weight oil to use. I believe it called for 10W-30 in engine and manual tranny. But now people use the Honda MTF in transmission. Just wondering if I should stay with 10W-30 or go to 5W-30. Looks like owner has been using Castrol 5W-30??? It has 172,000 miles and is in "perfect" shape....
What Weight Oil in '89 Prelude?
- Thread starter Gebo
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Any 5w30 will be much better than the oil it was spec'd for when it was new, and as for the transmission, you can use plain old motor oil, for better shifting, check out the different types of synchromesh fluids, my current fav is Pennzoil synchromesh.
For the engine any 5W-30 synthetic you can get on sale.
I don't know why many ppl think they can use engine oil in their tranny. When i read my friend's 2000 prelude manual, it basically say you should use specific MT fluid, but if it's unavailable you can substitute it with engine oil TEMPRORAILY.
May not apply to your 89 though...
Sorry OP, not trying to flame you, just my thought.
Back to topic, 5W30 should be good, heck i will jump on the G-oil with rebate...
May not apply to your 89 though...
Sorry OP, not trying to flame you, just my thought.
Back to topic, 5W30 should be good, heck i will jump on the G-oil with rebate...
I guess your more important choice to make would be type of oil like syn or semi or dino. Id go for a 5w-30 in a high mileage type and it would be a nice syn blend in mobil form.
Thats what im currently doing until my uoa tell me if im going in the right direction and will most likely run that for the rest of its life. Even if I rebuild the engine I will most likely use the syn blend in a high mileage type. I use a mobil 1 ep filter with that combo so I know i can get filtration all the way through the oci.
I think the really well made SN oils are way more than enough for our older engines we just have to watch the things the motor oil cant prevent like filtering and running too long or short on a change.
Id run a full syn and run it out to the 15,000 or whatever it claimed but with a uoa about half way through and also the end on the first couple just to make sure but I do alot of short trips and dont put too many miles on my truck so I would have to wait like 5 years to put on 25,000. so I guess its a waste to put the super expensive stuff in. I get the full bennefit from the lower qual stuff.
Thats what im currently doing until my uoa tell me if im going in the right direction and will most likely run that for the rest of its life. Even if I rebuild the engine I will most likely use the syn blend in a high mileage type. I use a mobil 1 ep filter with that combo so I know i can get filtration all the way through the oci.
I think the really well made SN oils are way more than enough for our older engines we just have to watch the things the motor oil cant prevent like filtering and running too long or short on a change.
Id run a full syn and run it out to the 15,000 or whatever it claimed but with a uoa about half way through and also the end on the first couple just to make sure but I do alot of short trips and dont put too many miles on my truck so I would have to wait like 5 years to put on 25,000. so I guess its a waste to put the super expensive stuff in. I get the full bennefit from the lower qual stuff.
If you are in a warm climate 10W30 would have less burn off than a 5W30. I am partial to GTX and buy it in the 10 quart box at Wallyworld. There is a $7 rebate that would bring the final price to $1.90 qt. OCI @ 4K or 3 months.
It's not a "real" B-series engine (B20A5 or B21A1)
5W30 will work just fine. Any brand name.
Honda MTF works well. Synchromesh does too. It's cable shift and those cables are over 20 years old so you might wanna' inspect those.
Fun car!
5W30 will work just fine. Any brand name.
Honda MTF works well. Synchromesh does too. It's cable shift and those cables are over 20 years old so you might wanna' inspect those.
Fun car!
Is the '89 cable shift?
I thought they still had rods at that vintage.
The owner will know the difference without even looking.
An old Honda using one rod to locate the shifter relative to the transaxle and a second rod to shift the tranny is great.
The later cable shifters, as with our two old Accords are not nearly as pleasant as our older Hondas were.
In response to the poster who questioned the use of motor oil in the manual transaxle, that is what Honda recommended back in the day, and we found 10W-40 motor oil to work just fine in the transaxles of those cars.
A little stiff on a really cold (like 0F or below) morning, but fine after a little driving.
I thought they still had rods at that vintage.
The owner will know the difference without even looking.
An old Honda using one rod to locate the shifter relative to the transaxle and a second rod to shift the tranny is great.
The later cable shifters, as with our two old Accords are not nearly as pleasant as our older Hondas were.
In response to the poster who questioned the use of motor oil in the manual transaxle, that is what Honda recommended back in the day, and we found 10W-40 motor oil to work just fine in the transaxles of those cars.
A little stiff on a really cold (like 0F or below) morning, but fine after a little driving.
Originally Posted By: lemonade
I don't know why many ppl think they can use engine oil in their tranny. When i read my friend's 2000 prelude manual, it basically say you should use specific MT fluid, but if it's unavailable you can substitute it with engine oil TEMPRORAILY.
May not apply to your 89 though...
Sorry OP, not trying to flame you, just my thought.
Back to topic, 5W30 should be good, heck i will jump on the G-oil with rebate...
In this situation, the Owner's Manual specifies 10W-30......yikes! There is no mention of temporary....
I don't know why many ppl think they can use engine oil in their tranny. When i read my friend's 2000 prelude manual, it basically say you should use specific MT fluid, but if it's unavailable you can substitute it with engine oil TEMPRORAILY.
May not apply to your 89 though...
Sorry OP, not trying to flame you, just my thought.
Back to topic, 5W30 should be good, heck i will jump on the G-oil with rebate...
In this situation, the Owner's Manual specifies 10W-30......yikes! There is no mention of temporary....
Originally Posted By: Gebo
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
It's not a "real" B-series engine (B20A5 or B21A1)
Fun car!
please splain to me whut u mean...
Don't buy things for a B18, B20B or B20Z. They won't fit.
The lot I used to work at had a repo'd wrecked B21A1 powered Prelude. I had visions of dropping that engine into my Civic with it's carbon fiber reinforced metal cylinder liners. B20 Civic! Had the carpet yanked out from under me when several reliable tuners advised me that it was not the same B-engine as an Integra or CR-V.
The lot I worked at eventually put a new clip on the front. It was a really fun car and had the best all around visibility this side of a convertible with the top down. Comfortable front seats too.
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
It's not a "real" B-series engine (B20A5 or B21A1)
Fun car!
please splain to me whut u mean...
Don't buy things for a B18, B20B or B20Z. They won't fit.
The lot I used to work at had a repo'd wrecked B21A1 powered Prelude. I had visions of dropping that engine into my Civic with it's carbon fiber reinforced metal cylinder liners. B20 Civic! Had the carpet yanked out from under me when several reliable tuners advised me that it was not the same B-engine as an Integra or CR-V.
The lot I worked at eventually put a new clip on the front. It was a really fun car and had the best all around visibility this side of a convertible with the top down. Comfortable front seats too.
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