Hi - new guy with 2 new to me used cars

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Hi looking for advice so I thought I would ask the experts. I have two "new" (to me) used cars. My daughters are college students and dad takes care of maintenance.

Daughter 1 - 2005 Honda Accord - 165000 miles. It is a V6 car. I bought it from the original owner. He had said he had the oil changed regularly but he was the kind of guy that kept no records. He did not even know the brand of oil that might have been used. Car runs out and drives good. Seems to have been fairly well maintained.

Daughter 2 - 2006 Ford Escape - 116000 miles. V6 car also. Ditto about the previous maintenance - don't really know much. The guy I bought it from bought it at an auction. Car seems to have been maintained. Runs good.

I would prefer to use an oil that is readily available - I have a Walmart real convenient. Should I just use a good grade of regular oil or use synthetic? Is there a particular oil that works good with these motors?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

BTW this is a cool forum. I would have never dreamt there were motor oil geeks! I am in awe
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Welcome to BITOG!
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What kind of style of driving is used? Short or long trips? Lots of miles per year or little?

I'd run Mobil 1 0w20 in both. I believe that era of Hondas with the V6 do not have a great transmission. Keep an eye on it and change the fluid in it and put in a new filter.
 
Some people switch to the high mileage oils that promise to maintain the seals and prevent leaks. If your cars have some slight leaks, you might want to use high mileage oils. If not, you can stick with regular oils. If I were you, I'd just use regular dino high mileage oil like Valvoline MaxLife. I'd only use synthetic if your kids were away at school and you are not able to have the oil changed when its due and wanted to extend the oil change interval.

Your kids' cars are newer than my wife's and my car and have a lot less miles on them. Both cars should get them through college and then some.

Check to see if you need to perform any timing belt replacements on the engines.
 
Welcome! Take off the oil caps and peer down into the engines with a flashlight to see if there's any build up/sludge. Like someone above said, the driving styles/distances will help decide if syn oil is warranted or not. Regardless of the oil type, run whatever's on sale at Wally World. On the Accord especially, check the tranny fluid condition. Those units are known to be a weak point so I'd do a 3 drain/fills now and a single one every 15K miles thereafter. Stay away from machine flushes that shops push.
 
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Thanks should have noted how these cars were used - both vehicles about 20-30 miles per weekday, probably more on the weekend.
Interesting - so I can run that 0/20w even though the filler cap says different?
 
Originally Posted By: sjh888
Thanks should have noted how these cars were used - both vehicles about 20-30 miles per weekday, probably more on the weekend.
Interesting - so I can run that 0/20w even though the filler cap says different?


I wouldn't go thinner than spec. I'd head to Walmart pick your fave brand in the spec'd weight. For the Ford they sell Motorcraft OEM filters. For the Honda,I'd use a Fram Tough Guard.
 
So is it safe to assume they commute and you see them (the cars
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A quality conventional can easily do 5000 miles. Lets just say 250 miles a week, that's roughly 1 OCI every 5 months.
 
Originally Posted By: sjh888
Thanks should have noted how these cars were used - both vehicles about 20-30 miles per weekday, probably more on the weekend.
Interesting - so I can run that 0/20w even though the filler cap says different?
Both cars call for a 5w20 and you can safely go to a 0w20.
 
Keep a close eye on the transmission in the Accord. The automatic transmission mated to the V6 in those was known to be problematic. If it's a manual, disregard this comment. I could be wrong, but I think the transmissions in the Escapes of that vintage were also trouble prone.
 
Since you're new here, check out the motor oil articles to get a decent understanding of motor oil: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/motor-oil-101/

Read the first three or four articles, and you'll see that 0w-20 and 5w-20 are both the same weight at operating temperatures, but that the 0w will be thinner in cold temperatures. Though depending on the temperatures where you live, the difference may be minimal.

As for your cars, what's the oil change interval (OCI) you do on them? It changes what oils we'd recommend depending on how long you go between oil changes. Also, do your vehicles have oil life monitors (a setting on the vehicle that counts down the oil life and tells you when to change the oil).

Without knowing more about the vehicles (how often the oil is changed, driving conditions, etc), it's difficult for us to give you a definitive answer.

Here are some kind of generic answers that might help you until we get more info.

If you choose to go with conventional oils, I suggest Mobil Super 5000 (MS5k). It's a high quality conventional oil, and it ran really smooth and quiet in my car when I used it. As an added bonus, it's the second cheapest oil at Walmart, where you said you would like to purchase your oil from. The cheapest oil at Walmart is Super Tech oil, and both the conventional and synthetic versions of it are really good and excellent values.

You'll have a lot of people on here tell you to go with Pennzoil Yellow Bottle (PYB), it's the current favorite conventional oil on here that people are swooning over. Rightfully so, it's arguably the best conventional oil on the market (MS5k is also up there with the best of them). The reason I don't recommend PYB as a conventional oil is simply that it costs a couple dollars more than the MS5k, and if you're going to pay a couple dollars more for another conventional oil you could pay another $1.50 more than the cost of the 5 quart jug of PYB and get the 5 quart jug of Pennzoil Gold. Pennzoil Gold is Pennzoil's semi-synthetic oil, and according to what's written on the bottle, it's at least 50% synthetic oil. So if you're getting PYB, I feel it's worth paying the small amount more to get the semi-synthetic version of the oil.

If you want to use a synthetic oil, you'll have a lot of people who will suggest Mobil 1 (M1). Mobil makes excellent oils, and they are by far and away the #1 synthetic oil on the market (by volume sold). Protection wise, you can't go wrong with M1, or any of the other synthetics you'll find at Walmart like Pennzoil Platinum (PP), Pennzoil Ultra (PU), Valvoline SynPower, or even SuperTech synthetic. Personally, I've used M1, PP, and Valvoline SynPower, and I think all of them exceeded the needs of my engine. M1 was the loudest in my car, and other people have reported the same thing. However, a lot of people don't hear any difference regardless of what oil they use, so it depends on the driver and vehicle I guess. Please note, that although M1 was louder in my car, I have no reason to doubt it's ability to lubricate and protect the engine; M1 is an excellent oil. On the other end, Valvoline SynPower (and Valvoline MaxLife full synthetic) was the smoothest and quietest oil I ever used.

Any of those synthetics will treat you well. One thing that might help you decide is that there's currently a rebate on M1. Buy 5 quarts of M1 and get $12 back by mail. So you could buy two 5 quart bottles of oil (one for each car) and get $24 back.

Another alternative is to get Motorcraft oil. Motorcraft is a brand that's basically owned by Ford and makes parts to Ford's specifications. So Motorcraft oil is made to Ford's specifications, and has an excellent track record of not only being excellent in Fords, but being an excellent oil for anyone who needs a 5w-20.

As mentioned, not knowing anything else about the vehicles makes it difficult for us to suggest what to do. But because of the rebate, I'd suggest going with M1 0w-20, or going with M1 High Mileage (HM) 5w-20 if you wanted to go with a HM oil. Worse case, you pick it up b/c of the rebates and use it while you do more oil research to identify what you want to use in those cars.

Okay, it's late and I'm tired and rambling. Hope this helped.
 
Thanks everyone who responded! Good information. I was kind of thinking a conventional oil and just change at 5000 intervals.

I may try that Mobil Super 5k. I have had good luck with Mobil 1 in other vehicles.

Both vehicles look pretty clean in the oil filler cap from what I can see and the Honda has had a timing belt service, not sure about the Ford.

Here is hoping the trannies hold up. Daughters I have found are expensive!
But mostly worth it.
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I know with the trouble prone 2001 Honda Civic AT that changing the fluid regularly does help prolong the life of those, so it wouldn't hurt to do a once a year drain/refill of the accord if you can. I'm not sure if the Accords suffer from the same issue or not, however. If its anything like the Hondas we have owned, there should be a drain bolt where you can just drain a few quarts and top it off again through the dipstick hole, just like changing your oil. No affiliation, but I prefer Amsoil signature series ATF for Honda transmissions as it has worked great for me and others I've spoken to.
 
If you run 0W-20, keep a drip pan under each car at night so you don't oil down the driveway. Buy it by the case you'll likely need it for top off. Maybe you'll get lucky, but if they were mine, I'd just run MaxLife Red bottle 5W-30 in both and call it a day. Change every 5000 miles or so. Use any filter that fits. 5W-20 would also work, but with that many miles and unknown history, I think 5W-30 might be better. If you lived in Canada, it would be different.
 
Hi sjh888, so great of you to take care of your daughter's vehicles! We would recommend our Pennzoil Platinum High Mileage 5W-20 with PurePlus Technology for both of your engines – the 2005 Honda Accord with 165000 miles, as well as the 2006 Ford Escape with 116,000 miles. The Pennzoil Platinum High Mileage 5W-20 is a first of its kind full synthetic high mileage motor oil made from natural gas and designed to deliver less oil burn off than other High Mileage oils. It helps reduce leaks and oil consumption as well as keeping your pistons up to 40% cleaner than the toughest industry standards. It also provides faster low temperature oil flow, protects in extreme heat, and provides better protection from friction. Hope you find this helpful! - The Pennzoil Team
 
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