Honda J30A1 V-6 1998-2002 - Oil

[Gene K]

Honda J30A1 V-6 (1998-2002)
260,000 mi
20 or 30 Grade - API Starburst
10F - 100F Ambient Temps

It has a few minor leaks from the valve covers and cam thrust plugs (which I am going to repair). I believe what minor oil loss is taking place is primarily leakage.

What oil would you run?

 

[Graham Piccinini]

Any of these in synthetic flavor get my vote: 5w30/10w30/0w40/5w40/10w40.
That J30 can virtually run on anything, but with higher miles I think it would be best (for long term reliability) to sway away from 20-grade... I did run 0W20 in 2000 Honda CR-V with the B20Z2 engine that lived in high RPM daily driver duty. No ill effects in one OCI, but I doubt long term use would do it any good.

 

[Hall]

Any 5W-30 on the shelf at Walmart, Autozone, NAPA, etc will be perfect in that engine. Don't overthink this or analyze it. That engine requires nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[SR5]

Maxlife red 10W30

 

[JavierH19]

5/10w-30 or 15w-40

 

[wpod]

What ever oil is cheapest for one of the majors.

 

[benjamming]

I've run 0W20 or 5W20 the entire time on mine. It has 265k miles now with no external leaks. It has pretty much always used about 1 qt every 7500 miles. I run whatever synthetic is on clearance after stocking up at typically AZ. Right now it is Valvoline Full Synthetic or Modern Engine 0W20.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

The cheapest synthetic on sale

 

[ctechbob]

Yep, a non-vcm J-Series just won't much care what it gets. The only reason mine all get Havoline LL Synthetic is that's what the Ranger gets and I try to only keep one type of oil on hand that will do everything for me if possible.

 

[Gene K]

Yep, a non-vcm J-Series just won't much care what it gets. The only reason mine all get Havoline LL Synthetic is that's what the Ranger gets and I try to only keep one type of oil on hand that will do everything for me if possible.

Considering the engine specs from 20 grade to 50 grade depending on the market and they have a good reputation in all, that would stand to reason.

 

[Gene K]

Maxlife red 10W30

I was already leaning toward that exact oil. (Havoline LL Synthetic 10W-30 was my runner up).

The old TooSlick Dixie Synthetic OCI Formula recommends a starting point of 4900 mi OCI with high sulphur gasoline and my modified (100% instead of 80% of TBN squared) for ULSG recommends 6100 mi so I guess I will just go until the OLM starts flashing for 10 seconds at 6,000 mi.

So to recap:
Winner - Valvoline Maxlife Red 10W30 with Fram PH7317 OCOD for 6,000 mi OCI.