MaxGeek

My sister has an CRV and I just recently realized I put 5w20 in it instead of 5w30. Does this really matter that much? I remember a thread a while back saying it was mostly just marketing. Is this true?

xviper

5W20 is what Honda is trying to pedal these days for all their cars. They'll even try to put it in your S2000. Although it's not recommended for the S, you may be OK with it in your CRV. Please confirm this either in your owner's manual or from the dealer.
If you drive your CRV in a "domestic" setting and with summer being pretty much over (lower daytime highs), I don't see this as being a problem. If you drive the car hard, load it up heavily all the time, then you might consider a change. 5W20 will be somewhat thinner when at operating temps than 5W30.

Tugz_S2K

Depends on what year the CRV is....

97-01 models use 5W30
02-05 models use 5W20.


Only use what is reccomended in your manual

lamvu

I bought my car used and it came with 5-20 (mineral) from the dealership, I drove it pretty hard and whatnot for about 2k miles then switched to mobil 1 10-30... is there any chance that i could have caused damage?

xviper

Are you talking about a CRV (as this is what this topic is about) or are you talking about an S2000?
If it's a CRV, I don't see any problem with it. If you're talking about an S, this is another matter and would depend on what you mean by "hard", what the climate conditions were and if you kept the level topped up. In any case, it might be a good subject of a new thread.

The Hoth

Whoops, I have been using 10w30. Is it bad?

xviper

No. It's just a bit thicker than 5W20. If you have cold winters, you'll experience a little harder cranking on a cold start and your fuel economy won't be as good but the overall engine protection is good.

ps. As this is not really dealing with the S2000, moving to Car Talk.