'10 Honda Civic Si oil recommendations

[Scuderia]

My car will be due for an oil change pretty soon, and I want to get some input from you guys. So...

1. What kind of vehicle you have
2010 Honda Civic Si. K20Z3 engine with a 8000 RPM redline.

2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well
5W30 with the "For Gasoline Engines" Starburst. The intervals are calculated by the onboard computer. My oil life is at 30% right now with 3,000 since new. Honda recommends changing the oil when the computer says 15% of oil life left. Most other owners, that do more highway driving, claim they reach that 15% mark in 6000 miles.

3. Where you live
Southern California. Very nice weather most of the year. It was beach going weather today in fact.

4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
I would say normal to hard. I hit VTEC at least once a day. I also put on quite a bit amount of lateral Gs on my car (according to my passengers), if that counts. No track days yet, but maybe in the future.

5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
Short trips and around 85% city.

6. Whether your car has any known problems
The K20Z3 has a rep of being an oil burner. Especially if you're hitting the VTEC range constantly. Not that it's a problem, but it's just the way the engine was designed. I've burnt through 3/4 of a quart of oil in 3000 miles. It's supposed to lessen as the engine breaks in according to other owners.

 

[dtt004]

Hi.

I am an engineer at Honda Racing, also in Southern California.

Ok. First of all, all engines consume oil by design. 3/4 a quart every 3000 miles is not considered an oil burning engine. Also, oil burning is a sign of engine damage. The cylinder walls have been scored or distorted, or the piston rings cannot seal correctly. If someone is saying that an engine has a reputation for being an oil burner, well, an engine burns oil obviously. If they are saying it's the engine design...well obviously a piston engine is designed in that way. A 100% perfect seal cannot be achieved with rings and walls alone. You need a fluid medium that does not compress easily. A motor oil is that exact thing. Some of it gets stuck to the walls and gets combusted during the 4 stroke cycle.

Your driving style is gravy for that engine. Hitting VTEC is nothing. You are not hurting the engine per se, but you will experience decreased VTEC operational limit MTBF over time. Mean time before failure. That is normal for driving and cam profile changes. The lock pin gets worn that's all.

The engine oil recommended in the manual is perfectly fine. Unless you have a reason to go differently, a conventional oil at 5000 mile change intervals is fine. It's a rough estimate, but the oil life meter will probably read 10% when it reaches 5000 miles. It takes into account engine speed, load, and driving style.

If you want a synthetic for extended oil changes, keep in mind that the oil life meter doesn't know if it has synthetic. If you keep the driving style like so, it will continue to hit @ about 5000 mile intervals.

You need to keep listening to the computer until your warranty period expires.

Then you can use a synthetic and extend your intervals.

 

[dtt004]

Also, the only Honda/Acura vehicle I own is a 2005 Acura NSX. I use a conventional 5W-30 at 5000 mile intervals.

I am not preferential for brand at all. They all meet the requirements and they're all excellent. I view this forum as an education community, rather than a selling community. So more knowledge for you = better consumer! haha

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

I've been very happy with Pennzoil Platinum in the recommended 5W30 flavor even after hours on the dyno tuning my mods. AMSOIL's premium choice is probably a tad bit better but the cost is double or triple if I'm not mistaken. Purolator PureOne oil filters also have given me excellent filtration at a great price. No need to shell out $10+ for the Mobil 1/K&N filter when the PureOne is at least as good and can be had for less than $4 if you know where to look. You're fine to go ahead and change that factory fill out, especially since you mention that you do give the engine a workout. If you perform an oil analysis on it you'll probably find that it's either a 5W20 from the factory of that it's already sheared down to a 5W20. I don't know if it's been figured out yet.

This engine doesn't seem too picky about oil but keep an eye on fuel dillution via used oil analysis with all of your city driving. I've never found mine to consume more than a fraction of a quart between changes. I don't know if this was the fruit of a somewhat agressive break-in routine or not. There's no way to really tell.

Here's the first three oil changes on my Si. I'm due for another soon. We'll see if the little bit of extra lead is just a fluke or if it's possible that my aftermarket NST pulleys are causing a little extra bearing wear or the fact that I like to take my engine to the FlashPro modified redline of 8600 RPM when the fun light is lit.

 

[Scuderia]

Maybe oil burner isn't the right term. Let's just say it consumes oil at an above average rate. I assume because it's a high revving engine it is normal for it to consume oil faster. Even when driving for fuel economy the revvs are pretty high up, around 2800 RPM (based on the shift points in the manual).

 

[Johnny]

Honda must have forgotten to design that feature in the two 2.4L I have. Neither consume a drop of oil in between oil changes.

 

[BigBuck]

The Si's at the dealer I work at run great on GTX for conventional and M1 for synthetic with a Honda filter.

Then again I am sure it will run great on any rated oil. Follow your maintenance minder!

 

[Dan55]

Since you are still under warranty use an SN rated oil and follow your MM. Oil usage for new engine is normal. Good Luck

 

[TimVipond]

My son and I have been using the AMSOIL ASL 5w30 25,000 mile/1 year oil and AMSOIL oil filter and changing once a year, around 15,000 miles in my 2006 Civic Si iVtec since the first oil change and ignore the mileage minder. Over 50,000 miles now. Autocross once a month. Short city mileage during the week, highway mileage on weekends. Add no oil between oil changes. And added the Injen/AMSOIL cool air intake 2 years ago. Works great!

 

[hate2work]

On the other end of the spectrum, here's a guy with the same car that uses the same premium Amsoil ASL that Tim does, but he changes the oil every 3000 miles. He runs his car hard, and doesn't want to leave anything to chance. Plus, by his own admission, he really likes to change oil

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2166488&page=1