Best oil for Honda S2000?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Oct 9, 2006
Messages
16
Location
USA
I'm trying to do as much research as I can before I buy this car. I've been over at S2ki.com and they seem to prefer Mobil 1 Extended performance. For those that are not familiar with the S2000 engine, it is a 8000-9000RPM high compression engine with variable valve timing and lift.

AFAIK, the oil Honda recommends is just regular Mobil 1 oil.
I would prefer to use full synthetic oil due to its advantages under high stress situations.

What is a good top tier synthetic oil that is widely available?

I would like to take care of my future baby as best as I can. The last time I was here, a safe oil drain interval was around 5000 miles for synthetic, is that still the consensus?

Thank you in advance.
smile.gif
 
I forgot to mention, the car that I plan to buy will have less than 35000 miles on it. Hopefully.

Also, I have heard good things about Amsoil, Castrol Syntec, Mobil 1 Extended Performance. I'd venture to say that they perform pretty closely to each other and the Castrol would be the cheapest from my experience. I don't want to cheap it if it means loss of quality, I'd just rather not pay an extra 20% for 3% better performance. I'd like the best bang for the buck like the majority of people here I presume.
 
Get a UOA at your first 5000 mile change and then based on those results decide how far to run it next time.

If the manual recommends M1, that's not a bad place to start.

Don;t the recent S2000s have a built in oil change indicator?
 
Quote:


Get a UOA at your first 5000 mile change and then based on those results decide how far to run it next time.

If the manual recommends M1, that's not a bad place to start.

Don;t the recent S2000s have a built in oil change indicator?




Yes, I am pretty sure they have an oil life indicator.
 
Quote:


Quote:


Get a UOA at your first 5000 mile change and then based on those results decide how far to run it next time.

If the manual recommends M1, that's not a bad place to start.

Don;t the recent S2000s have a built in oil change indicator?




Yes, I am pretty sure they have an oil life indicator.




Modern oil life indicators are good tools. You don't have to run them to 0% indicated oil life. You could do your first change at 50% life, look at the UOA results then base you next change on that. I prefer a good oil life indicator to the odometer because they compensate for running conditions.
 
I have a Porsche Boxster but am thinking about acquiring an s2000 at some point so I lurk at s2ki quite a bit as well. In regards to the oil life monitor, to my knowledge, it began in the 2006 model year and isn't terribly helpful if you are using synthetic and thus are running an extended OCI since its algorithm is based off of the assumption of dino oil.

With that said, I have a question of my own for the BITOG community. The recommended viscosities for the S2000 are 10w-30 or 5W-40 if the car will see sub 0F temps. Why the 30 to 40 jump? Why not just recommend 5W-30 for cold temp use? Then if that is the case, why not just recommend 5W-30 year round and be done with it? One poster seemed to think that honda was afraid that people would use 5W-30 mineral that would shear down too far below a 30 weight due to the viscosity enhancers inherent in mineral oils having to maintain such wide viscosities. Honda wanted to maintain at least a 30 weight oil consistently, but did not want to ask people to buy synthetic, so settled on 10w-30, which does not shear as much in dino form, and recommended 5w-40 for colder temps, which is such a wide viscosity range that only synthetics are capable of maintaining it, thus insuring that people must buy synthetic 5W-40 without directly asking them to.

Sounded like decently sound logic to me, but I am far from knowledgeable on oils compared to most of you guys, so help me out. What is the reason for the discrepency?
 
Nice car! The S2K is one of my dream cars, along with the Nissan 300zx. I'd recommend Amsoil's ASL 5W30
smile.gif
It's doing great in my high revving Integra. You can't really find Havoline Synthetic anymore, otherwise I'd recommend that. Pennzoil Platinum is another favorite on the boards here, also worth a try.
 
Last edited:
If the OCI is calibrated for dino oil, run it down to 0 on your first synthetic oil run, get a UOA, then decide from that how far to run it into the 2nd countdown next time. Just reset it when it hits 0 the first time.

I'm not familiar with the Honda unit, but if it's as good as the GM unit it's good... Actually I probably am familiar with it, my wife has a 2006 Acura TL.
grin.gif
It went 6000 miles on a dino calibration but it probably doesn't get driven as hard as your S2000 will.
 
I Got Vtec V6 which loves to rev as well. Hondas loves light oils 5w-20, 0-20, 0w-30 etc anything that is thin is good. Mobil 1 makes all these weights. Hondas also like moly. Chevron 5w-20/30 has a lot of moly.
 
You should try to stick with suggested recommended viscosities. I've never looked up the bearing clearances in an S2000 but if its tighter than the "typical" oil clerances you should stick with the recommended operating oil temp viscosity to prevent bearing cavitation.

There are alot of ford focuses with the 5w20 specs spinning conrod bearings probably due to using too thick an oil especially if they are using dino oil in colder climates.

People may disagree but I'd rather spend more money on changing oil for vehicles running thinner viscosities like 5w20, especially if your the sort that idles the car alot for warm up. Fuel wash and shear factors can add additional wear to a high strung/stressed high reving S2000 engine and the prevention is simple just by doing more frequent oil changes.
 
I will qualify my comments by stating that I own a 2004 (AP2) S2000 with 36.5K miles on it. There are AP1 (MY00-03) vehicles out there that may meet your mileage requirement as well. The AP1's will rev to 9200-9300 RPM and the AP2's will rev to 8200-8300 RPM, depending on where the rev limiter is set. This translates to some pretty high piston speeds in a 2.0-2.2L I4 NA engine. If you find one that is FI, then I would say synthetics are definitely the way to go for maximum protection.
With that being said, I'd have to say the S2000 is very easy on oil. I don't think I've ever seen a bad UOA, even when 0W20 was used by mistake during a Las Vegas summer. Even RP 10W30 seems to work well. But the most popular oil is probably 10W30 Mobil 1. The best UOA's I've ever seen were on a MY03 using AMSOIL TSO, ASL and ATM. But the owner was using an AMSOIL dual bypass oil filter system, so I'm not sure how much that skewed his flawless UOA's.
There are two issues that you will most likely be concerned about if you buy an AP1 (the less civilized of the two generations). Oil consumption is very common and high. You may find that some oils consume less than others. Also, installing Krank vents have helped many with this issue. The other concern, even though the engine is pretty bullet proof, are cracked valve retainers. This is caused by a mechanical over-rev (mis-shift at high RPM's). Have the valves inspected by a highly qualified tech ASAP after buying your AP1. You might as well have the valves adjusted too while he's in there.
The AP2 does not consume any oil as a rule, but there are a few that use a little bit. The only quirk that I have noticed is that some oils quiet valvetrain noise better than others.
I don't have any experience with the OLM, but previous Honda recommendations don't seem too dangerous to me. They said to use 10W30 or 5W40 for 3750 or 7500 mile OCI's prior to the OLM. I personally split the difference to 5K mile OCI's.
Since you don't have your S2000 yet (and I know you can't wait), it's difficult to recommend a specific oil for you to try. But if it were me, and I didn't have a significant oil stash already, AMSOIL 10W30 ATM would go in there first.

Be careful and get used to your new S2000 before you decide you're ready for the racetrack. It's a wonderful little car!
 
Quote:


I will qualify my comments by stating that I own a 2004 (AP2) S2000 with 36.5K miles on it. There are AP1 (MY00-03) vehicles out there that may meet your mileage requirement as well. The AP1's will rev to 9200-9300 RPM and the AP2's will rev to 8200-8300 RPM, depending on where the rev limiter is set. This translates to some pretty high piston speeds in a 2.0-2.2L I4 NA engine. If you find one that is FI, then I would say synthetics are definitely the way to go for maximum protection.
With that being said, I'd have to say the S2000 is very easy on oil. I don't think I've ever seen a bad UOA, even when 0W20 was used by mistake during a Las Vegas summer. Even RP 10W30 seems to work well. But the most popular oil is probably 10W30 Mobil 1. The best UOA's I've ever seen were on a MY03 using AMSOIL TSO, ASL and ATM. But the owner was using an AMSOIL dual bypass oil filter system, so I'm not sure how much that skewed his flawless UOA's.
There are two issues that you will most likely be concerned about if you buy an AP1 (the less civilized of the two generations). Oil consumption is very common and high. You may find that some oils consume less than others. Also, installing Krank vents have helped many with this issue. The other concern, even though the engine is pretty bullet proof, are cracked valve retainers. This is caused by a mechanical over-rev (mis-shift at high RPM's). Have the valves inspected by a highly qualified tech ASAP after buying your AP1. You might as well have the valves adjusted too while he's in there.
The AP2 does not consume any oil as a rule, but there are a few that use a little bit. The only quirk that I have noticed is that some oils quiet valvetrain noise better than others.
I don't have any experience with the OLM, but previous Honda recommendations don't seem too dangerous to me. They said to use 10W30 or 5W40 for 3750 or 7500 mile OCI's prior to the OLM. I personally split the difference to 5K mile OCI's.
Since you don't have your S2000 yet (and I know you can't wait), it's difficult to recommend a specific oil for you to try. But if it were me, and I didn't have a significant oil stash already, AMSOIL 10W30 ATM would go in there first.

Be careful and get used to your new S2000 before you decide you're ready for the racetrack. It's a wonderful little car!




My dream S2000 would be a 2006+ AP2 because of the VSA and the better looks IMO. The way I am thinking is: It only takes one time to underestimate the grip available; I'd rather be safe than sorry.

The highest priority in my search is that the car has to have low miles. Therefore I am looking at 2002+ (glass window) AP1's as well. I have read about the oil consumption in the AP1's and from what I understand it is just due to the design. From what I am gathering, I will probably go with Amsoil 10W30. Mobil 1 EP and Pennzoil Platinum will probably be more widely available, but once I decide on the oil I am sticking with it and I'll just buy a healthy reserve.

What type of oil filter do you use in your S2000? From what I have read, most people stick with the OE filter, as it is up to the job and reasonably priced.

You are 110% right when you said I cannot wait, I cannot remember where a day has gone by in the last 2 years where I have not daydreamed of owning one.
smile.gif


Thanks all, keep the information coming.

P.S. Does anybody know of a good retailer for Amsoil? Online or store is fine.
 
I'd use Mobil1 0W-40, Amsoil Euro 5W-40, QS syn. 5W-40 (Helix), or maybe (German) Castrol Syntec 0W-30 (more like a 5W-40)...

All are excellent PAO based synthetics that perform well in performance applications...

Also, Mobil1 High Mileage 10W-30 shows some promise as well...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top