Oil Recommendation: 2009 Honda Civic SI

Status
Not open for further replies.
R

rsalan

Joined
May 6, 2010
Messages
76
Location
Central MA
Hi, I have a Civic SI with the K20Z3 2.0L I4 engine. I am wondering what would be a good synthetic for me since this is a high compression, high revving motor. This is my daily and often sees 8200 rpms during my commutes.

I have used Royal Purple 5w30 before and recently I have been using M1EP 5w30 @ 3k OCIs.
 
civic si require 5w-30, not 5w-20

valvoline synpower 5w-30 for your engine @ 5k-7.5k oil change intervals, you won't regret it.
 
Last edited:
If your dead set on running a synthetic I'd stick with 5w30 and go with Pennzoil Ultra, Redline, or Amsoil. You can't go wrong with either of those, just depends on how much you want to spend. For a filter I would use either a Purolator PureONE or the OEM Honda S2000 filter made by Toyo Roki. The S2000 filter will fit your Civic just fine and is a larger and much better filter than the one made by Filtech that Honda uses on all the other models. It has the letters "PCX" in the model number, the other one uses the letters "PLM".

If you want to save some cash to use elsewhere on the car you would be fine running a good conventional oil. PYB 5w30 can handle the RPMs.

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Welcome to BITOG.

5W-20 is now the spec' oil for your engine but I'd upgrade to a 0W-20.
Honda's own 0W-20 is an excellent oil with a very robust additive package.


This is the second time you have claimed that 5w20 is now the spec oil for the Honda K series motors. I have searched the web and can not find any proof of this. 5w30 is still clearly recommended for the Si models in the states.

Please provide a link or PDF file that shows Honda recommending 5w20 for the Si motor.
 
One more thing. If you're going to run a synthetic please stop wasting it with 3k OCIs. If you're going to buy in to the old school 3k mile myth then just run conventional, but you're wasting perfectly good oil either way.

I used to own a 2003 S2000 for almost five years. The F20C revs higher than your K series motor and Honda even recommended 7500 miles OCIs in the owners manual. I believe it's the same for your Si if I'm not mistaken, as my younger brother has a 2007 coupe.
 
3,000 miles the cheapest conventional oils will allow the engine to outlive your ownership of the car. You seem to have fallen into the marketing and false assumptions of the syn oil mfgs.
 
3k on Mobil 1 EP?!?!
21.gif
 
there might be some confusion as Honda recommends 20 weights for their lower revving K-series engines used on the RSX and previous Civics, but the higher revving variants of the K series use 30 weight oil. If a Honda engine revs to 8000+ rpms it has always used 30 weights.
 
Honda S2000 filter made by Toyo Roki is PCX-004.
Honda recommends 7.5k/12mo OCI for normal and 3.75k/6mo for severe driving condition with 10W30 dino for S2000 before OLM. Newer S2000 with OLM reports that the OLM went down to 10% at around 7-8k miles with normal driving conditions.
 
Originally Posted By: biodiesel
One more thing. If you're going to run a synthetic please stop wasting it with 3k OCIs. If you're going to buy in to the old school 3k mile myth then just run conventional, but you're wasting perfectly good oil either way.

I used to own a 2003 S2000 for almost five years. The F20C revs higher than your K series motor and Honda even recommended 7500 miles OCIs in the owners manual. I believe it's the same for your Si if I'm not mistaken, as my younger brother has a 2007 coupe.


I drive my car real hard and I want the best protection and performance. And its not being wasted, I use the leftovers in my beater 1992 Legacy lol.

Thanks for the replies, I just got some Pennzoil Ultra 5w30 ready to go in.
 
Originally Posted By: biodiesel


If you want to save some cash to use elsewhere on the car you would be fine running a good conventional oil. PYB 5w30 can handle the RPMs.



This PYB oil didnt stand up to hard charging even in my little toyota 1.5! So no - I would use a premium syn lke Ultra or M1 HM or Edge all 10w-30 flavor in the warm months.
 
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
This PYB oil didnt stand up to hard charging even in my little toyota 1.5! So no - I would use a premium syn lke Ultra or M1 HM or Edge all 10w-30 flavor in the warm months.


Strange. I can't find the thread on your Yaris UOA anywhere.
21.gif
 
No mentions of GC or Amsoil.
To the OP:
What didn't you like about the RP or M1EP?
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: cjhepburn
No mentions of GC or Amsoil.


GC is too thick IMO and would make the motor feel sluggish. It did so in my S2000.

Also, I recommended Amsoil along with Redline and PU in my post above.
 
Originally Posted By: biodiesel
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
This PYB oil didnt stand up to hard charging even in my little toyota 1.5! So no - I would use a premium syn lke Ultra or M1 HM or Edge all 10w-30 flavor in the warm months.


Strange. I can't find the thread on your Yaris UOA anywhere.
21.gif

Sorry, qualitative assessment only. You can discount my assessment - but I know when a car is not being lubed. Just like when the Japanese were selling stereo amplifiers with "zero distotion" in the late 70's and early 80's that sounded absolutely terrible. But they proved and quantified there was no distortion - how could it sound bad?! Silly. ( Aside: Yes, I would like to UOA that sample but I was unemployed at the time - I had worked at a lab were I could have run the viscometrics - and that's all I was interested in - but who says I could have duplicated the shearing and engine temps my engine was imparting on the lubricant in the lab? I DO know that I could wail on the engine all day with Valvoline Synpower and M1R4T blend (that I ran afterwards) with NO apparent loss of power or increase in engine noise.)
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: biodiesel
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
This PYB oil didnt stand up to hard charging even in my little toyota 1.5! So no - I would use a premium syn lke Ultra or M1 HM or Edge all 10w-30 flavor in the warm months.


Strange. I can't find the thread on your Yaris UOA anywhere.
21.gif

Strange I cant find data supporting your blanket claim either
21.gif
wink.gif
 
I recommend you use a 5W-30 in accordance with your owner's manual and follow the OCI dictated by the onboard Maintenance Minder. Your SI will run for 200K+ on plane jane dino for the length of the MM cycle. 3000 rpm or 8000 rpm, still protected the same.

Please get it out of your head that the higher price you pay per quart AUTOMATICALLY equals better protection.

Search for JoeFromPA's posts and UOAs. He's got a modded 06 SI and has some samples of PP 5W-30 with over 13K that still looked good.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Mugen_fn2
Civic FN2 oil choice
Replies
19
Views
674
Mugen_fn2
D
What oil should I use 2016 Mazda 6 Skyactiv 2.5L non turbo?
2
Replies
39
Views
1K
wareze
G
1991 Honda Civic Si (1.6L, D16A6) Injector recommendation
Replies
8
Views
292
kschachn
D
Oil and Liqui Moly MoS2 for brand new 2023 Honda CRV 1.5t?
Replies
7
Views
3K
Revving2Redline
K
2013 Honda Ridgeline-Oil choices, paralysis by analysis
Replies
8
Views
2K
supton
Back
Top