03 Honda Civic

[mrcoolguy]

After buying my 05 Honda Civic and having no problems my parents decided to get their own. I came home from college and found an 03 Honda Civic A4 with 77k miles. I drove and felt great. When I opened the oil fill hole I was really surprised when I found some pretty bad varnish. The oil in it was pretty dark so I put some M1 0W20 AFE for some piece of mind. The car has no oil leaks and doesn't burn oil so far. The car will mainly be doing short trips with the a long trip on the weekends. What do you guys think? How long should I run the M1 for?

 

[901Memphis]

5k is a good minimum

 

[gregk24]

I would do a couple 3K intervals then extend to 5K and stay there. PP 0w20 would be a good choice as well. Oh, also make sure you keep that transmission fluid fresh. The 2005's had most of the issues worked out, the earlier models (2001-2003) not so much.

 

[CivicLX]

Well it is bad varnish which is rare for that engine. Probably extended drain intervals with the dino oils. You may want to try M1 HM 5W-20..I've read somewhere in here that it has higher ester content.
I have a 2004 Civic which has 105k miles on it. I took a few shots last year.

 

[fdcg27]

That does look like a lot of varnish for the miles.
Long runs on dino or strictly short tripped?
With only 77K in eleven years, this car was certainly not doing a lot of highway trips or a long commute, so maybe both.
M1 AFE seems to be very good stuff.
I've used the 0W-30 myself and was surprised that the engines I used it in seemed just as quiet with it as they did with any other thirty grade, despite what you read here about M1 being noisy.
I'd say that a 5K interval as a minimum on this oil should be good.
It might be that an oil with a higher calcium and magnesium content than AFE, like M1 EP 0W-20, would clean more quickly, although it's impossible to tell from the very limited information given in M1 product data sheets what the content of each might be for any flavor of M1.

 

[gregk24]

Originally Posted By: CivicLX
Well it is bad varnish which is rare for that engine. Probably extended drain intervals with the dino oils. You may want to try M1 HM 5W-20..I've read somewhere in here that it has higher ester content.
I have a 2004 Civic which has 105k miles on it. I took a few shots last year.

Nice and clean!

 

[Merkava_4]

Valvoline MaxLife cleans up varnish real good from my experience.

If you got the money and want it cleaned up will fast, you fill it up with Redline.

 

[fdcg27]

Maxlife has seemed to do a good job cleaning that ole debil varnish off the valvetrain of my BMW and keeping things clean.
I suspect that this engine will clean up nicely with regular drains of any decent oil, though.

 

[FetchFar]

The simplest oil change schedule is 6 months regardless of miles.

The one I like better is Count the number of times the car is driven less than 5 miles cold (cold defined as the car wasn't driven the previous 7 hours at least). Count 180 of those and change the oil. If either 1 year or 10,000 miles occurs first, change it.

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: FetchFar
The simplest oil change schedule is 6 months regardless of miles.

The one I like better is Count the number of times the car is driven less than 5 miles cold (cold defined as the car wasn't driven the previous 7 hours at least). Count 180 of those and change the oil. If either 1 year or 10,000 miles occurs first, change it.


900 mile oil changes?
That is a little farfetched.
No automaker recommends this sort of an OCI schedule, although IOLMs do account for cold starts and number of miles driven on each start.
None of them will indicate the need for an oil change after just 180 five mile trips following each cold start, though, and OEM OCIs are generally thought to be pretty conservative.
Your oil change schedule seems to be a waste of perfectly serviceable oil.
A UOA would be a better use of funds for those driving mostly short trips.
At the other extreme, 10K OCIs on a car driven on mostly longer trips following each cold start is probably reasonable, although some engines beat up their oil enough that 10K might be excessive for them.
Once again, a UOA is your friend.

 

[mrcoolguy]

Thanks everyone, I will probably just run the M1 till 5 k and then extend to 7 k. I feel that the oil can handle it. Hopefully the M1 cleans up the varnish.

 

[Georgiaboy2109]

The M1 will def clean it up. On your next change you should switch to M1 High Mileage because it has more detergents.

 

[147_Grain]

Originally Posted By: gregk24
I would do a couple 3K intervals then extend to 5K and stay there. PP 0w20 would be a good choice as well. Oh, also make sure you keep that transmission fluid fresh.

+1

 

[Jiblet]

Good coincidence for me! Just visiting my sister this weekend and started teaching my newly licensed nephew some automotive maintenance.

'03 civic lx. 165k. Had original plugs, ATF, and (I think) coolant. Which makes me worry about the timing belt. (She's "looking into it")

No oil usage either, some slight valve ticking and a lot of varnish down the filler hole, just like OP.

She had an oil change recently so I was pondering adding something (maybe Kreen?) before changing over to a decent oil filter combo.

Should I bother with a treatments!? Or just let a better oil do the work?

Mrcoolguy, have you considered any treatments? Thanks.

 

[HangFire]

Jiblet, change that ATF a little at a time, and avoid any offers of "flush". The Honda recommended method is 4 cycles of drain, fill, run for a while, repeat.

I wouldn't bother with treatments, just quality oils and filters on shorted oil change intervals for several cycles.

 

[mrcoolguy]

Originally Posted By: Jiblet
Good coincidence for me! Just visiting my sister this weekend and started teaching my newly licensed nephew some automotive maintenance.

'03 civic lx. 165k. Had original plugs, ATF, and (I think) coolant. Which makes me worry about the timing belt. (She's "looking into it")

No oil usage either, some slight valve ticking and a lot of varnish down the filler hole, just like OP.

She had an oil change recently so I was pondering adding something (maybe Kreen?) before changing over to a decent oil filter combo.

Should I bother with a treatments!? Or just let a better oil do the work?

Mrcoolguy, have you considered any treatments? Thanks.


I probably wont do any treatments since the car runs so well, but I will try different oils. Hopefully M1 does the trick or I will have to try their high mileage version.

 

[Jiblet]

Thanks, guys, I'll probably skip the varnish treatments and get her to switch to a quality oil.

We did one drain and fill if the ATF. Still pretty red, no burnt color or smell. Hondas are so easy. Well, except for the oil filter location.
Thanks, HangFire, definitely just doing the drain and fill routine. With time for mixing in between.

 

[wing0]

Originally Posted By: CivicLX
Well it is bad varnish which is rare for that engine. Probably extended drain intervals with the dino oils. You may want to try M1 HM 5W-20..I've read somewhere in here that it has higher ester content.
I have a 2004 Civic which has 105k miles on it. I took a few shots last year.

Oh man...that's as clean as my K20.
I wish our D16 can be that clean. Been running PYB ever since acquired, but it's accumulating milage very slowly and now running VSP. Up till now, it still looks around the same after 10K and 4 oil changes(short dist/frequent start).

Attached a photo for comparison, maybe I should switch to M1 HM or maxlife for more detergent.

 

[G.Frost]

Have a 05 Civic LX with 125K, only synthetic since new, mostly PP 5W-30 at 8-9K OCI. Looks just as clean as new in the valve train.

I used Redline to clean up an 88 Accord (164K miles) from years of SG, etc. It did a good job, though there is still a bronze 'patina' on the valve train, no varnish left. A dose of group V is a good way to gently clean up. I was mostly concerned with cleaning up the ring pack.

 

[mrcoolguy]

My 05 EX's engine is pretty clean. I've been using M1 mostly but it was pretty clean when I got it at 92k.

Here are pics comparing the two.
05 Civic EX (103k)



03 Civic LX(77K)