Suggestions for a '13 Civic Si

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I hate to create one of these threads, but I did search and there's not much info regarding the 2012+ Civic Si
smile.gif
. I just traded my GTI in over the weekend, since I was missing..having some sort of reliability. Anyway, spent some time searching and there's quite a bit of discussion regarding 0W20 oils, but none I could find that were focussed on the K24Z7, which is the "performance oriented" K24 in the Civic Si.

Toyota oils seem well thought of, and I'm not quite clear on if the new Conoco Phillips made Honda Synthetic is as good as the prior version made by Idemitsu. The Honda stuff seems expensive (around $9/qt shipped) so if Pennzoil Platinum or Mobile 1 AFE are just as good, I'm happy to go with those.

I live in Virginia so we see all sorts of weather, and I plan on changing the oil out every ~5k, unless the maintenance minder tells me to do so sooner. Your thoughts are most appreciated!
 
I've thrown any oil that met the spec in my Honda's. Most other engines too! They're not picky though with some trial & error, you will find the one that you and the engine like in particular.
 
Don't think you can go wrong with either PP or M1 and they're readily avail anywhere, often on sale. I've used M1 and filters regularly in my Altima for 10K each change, but just for heck of it I put PP and a Fram Ultra in the Accord (same basic engine as yours?)the other day on the 10K mark. I had previously changed the oil at 5K, being of the old school and wanting to get things "cleaned out", but will now run the PP 10K unless the MM tells me otherwise. FYI, the MM read 60% just before the last change.

I've got a bunch of PU in 5W-20 when Walmart had it on clearance and will prob use that next summer. I'm not hung up on the 0W..thing.
 
Originally Posted By: climhazzard
I hate to create one of these threads, but I did search and there's not much info regarding the 2012+ Civic Si
smile.gif
. I just traded my GTI in over the weekend, since I was missing..having some sort of reliability. Anyway, spent some time searching and there's quite a bit of discussion regarding 0W20 oils, but none I could find that were focussed on the K24Z7, which is the "performance oriented" K24 in the Civic Si.

Toyota oils seem well thought of, and I'm not quite clear on if the new Conoco Phillips made Honda Synthetic is as good as the prior version made by Idemitsu. The Honda stuff seems expensive (around $9/qt shipped) so if Pennzoil Platinum or Mobile 1 AFE are just as good, I'm happy to go with those.

I live in Virginia so we see all sorts of weather, and I plan on changing the oil out every ~5k, unless the maintenance minder tells me to do so sooner. Your thoughts are most appreciated!


climhazzard,

Over here in California everything from Conoco Phillipps is expensive but well made oil/gasolines.

If Mobil 1 is less expensive for your pocket book then I'd go for it in a heart beat. I admit I never tried any oil products from Honda cuz in the past the dealerships only offered dealership contracted sources which never included any oils with the labels from Honda nor Toyota.

Durango
 
I agree with everyone that the K-series Honda engines are not picky at all. I have a 2011 Si Sedan with the K20Z3 and Im running GC 0W30. I drive mine quite hard, burns a bit of oil. I just added about 1/2 liter to top it off after 6000kms....

Almost all K-series engines burn oil when drivin hard with lots of high rpms. Im not sure what your oil consumption is going to be like with 0W20 and if driven hard.
Pre '12 Si's had a TSB for oil consumption issues, i believe there was an update on the piston rings. You should be ok. It would be interesting to know.
 
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Thanks for the great feedback everyone! I have to stick with 0w20 for warranty purposes, so my options are a bit more limited than if I could use a 5w20.

Based on the respones, it looks like almost any of the 0w20 options would be great. My only concern was I read that the Toyota (and possibly Honda?) variants are a bit thinner at startup than M1 and PP, but I'm not sure if that truly makes a real world difference.
 
climhazzard,

I just looked at your sig...we have similar tastes

My '11 Si is my daily driver
I also have a'01 S2000 as my Summer Toy....
only 40,000kms, never sees rain...also using GC

xl1x.jpg


Cheers!
 
Thugzy, very nice!! I was running Mobil 1 10W30 in the S2 since I bought it and recently switched over to Castrol Edge w/ Ti this year. M1 seemed to burn a slight amount even with the low number of miles I put on it (apparently common for M1 and the F20C), but Castrol seems to be holding up quite well. I'm guessing GC runs great in our engines also.

Nice job on the wax too
smile.gif
. What are you putting on there?
 
Napa Synthetic is still on sale this week for $3.49/qt. It is rebranded Synpower, and usually goes on sale a few times per year.
 
For cost, I would just run M1 or PP. Honda engines are constructed well ... probably no reason to run more expensive than necessary oil.
 
In the past, I've been corrected when suggesting any oil for Si's...so I HAVE to know:


Back in the 5W-20 recommended days for other K24 engines, Honda recommendeed 5W-30 for the Si.

Did they commonize the recommendation when 0W-20 started to be recommended on the non-performance engines?
confused.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Carbuff
In the past, I've been corrected when suggesting any oil for Si's...so I HAVE to know:


Back in the 5W-20 recommended days for other K24 engines, Honda recommendeed 5W-30 for the Si.

Did they commonize the recommendation when 0W-20 started to be recommended on the non-performance engines?
confused.gif



Yep they did - from 2012 forward all Civic Si's call for 0w20.

If Napa synthetic is rebranded Valvoline Synpower, I'm tempted for $3.50 a qt. Anyone know if there's any downsides with Valvoline as compared to the other offerings?
 
I drive hard and use all my engine power often.
My engine appears to stick rings less with the Valvoline and make more power. Recently the cold start performance seems good too on almost spent oil in the sump.
I feel its the best 0w20 on the market now. M1 is absolutely nothing special. If I had a high power density engine I'm not to sure Id run 20 grade Or ILSAC oil. Valvoline 0w20 is about 22 bucks for 5 qts at Walmart.
NAPA SYN had never been shown to be the same as Synpower thought it was sourced though Ashland.
 
To the OP:

Use the correct viscosity that the owners manual recommends.

As far as brand, I've been a Mobil 1 user for years and have never had any complaints.
 
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