DarkEarth

hey guys,

My car has just reached 5000km so that means oil change and i was wondering if there was a specific type of oil i should ask them to put into my car, like synthetic oil or natural oil. as you can tell i'm not exactly the most well versed in car stuff, but am slowly improving. i also heard that they should change the differential or transmission fluids as well? or does that come at a later time.

Thanks for helping me out!!

dmw16

I just got my S2000 two days ago, but my guess would be synethic. I have always used Mobil1 Synethic oil in all my cars. I figure if it is good enough for Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, etc it is good enough for me.

Conedodger

Don't know about the '05s, but the manual for my '03 says not to change the factory fill until 7500 miles (~12,000km.) It also says not to put synthetic in until 10,000 miles (~16,000 km.)

Transmission fluid could go longer, but you may want to consider changing the diff fluid. Just make sure they use the right stuff! The dealers have been known to ruin our diffs with the wrong fluid.

Jsmply

Yes our manual's state to wait until around 10k miles to switch to synthetic. Go with regular oil for now, just make sure they use the right weight and filter. The dealers are notorious for using the wrong stuff, the s2k has a special filter that no other Honda uses.

Also, the transmission can probably go longer but a lot of people advocate changing the diff fluid early (under 10k miles) due to the fact it is very hard on it during break-in. This is totally up to you, but the important thing is to MAKE SURE THEY USE THE RIGHT STUFF! Honda has no OEM diff fluid that fits our car, if they use the stuff they put in the Honda CRV (which is a common mistake at Honda dealers) it will destroy the diff in the s2k. Either bring your old stuff or be adamant about seeing what they use and make sure its printed on your receipt (and keep it) just in case so you have records.

Just an FYI, the members here tend to like Mobil1 75w90 Diff Gear oil or LE 607. Our local oil expert on here (Roadrage) says he likes LE607 best as long as you arn't in places that the temperature gets below freezing (somewhere around there, I forget the cut-off). I run it in my diff since 8k miles and it seems fine, but I'm in Miami Florida, its summer here 11 months long lol.

- J

SheDrivesIt

Jsimply has pretty well summed it up. Unless you are running in "severe" conditions while driving, recommended oil change interval is 7500 miles. Honda recommends that you leave the initial oil fill in for the first oil change interval and not to change it out early. The jury is still out as to why but it is either an additive they use for breakin or the high molybdenum content comes from the assemly lubricants they use during assembly. Either way, they want them in there.

A good compromise is to swap it out at 5000 miles but no synthetic till 10K miles. 5K miles is a nice interval but if you are running in KM, though, I guess it's not so even.

Do watch the oil levels closely. S2000s are know to use oil especially in the first few thousand miles. Just keep it in the X's and top up as necessary with regular dinosaur oil 10W30.

The "wrong" Honda oil filter has the letters PLM in the part number. The correct one has the letters PCX. The PCX filter has a higher pressure bypass valve apparently and so the PLM will bypass too easily and could potentially stop filtering. Folks here have also done comparisons and the PLM filter used in North America is not exceptionally well made.

If you intend to use the car at all in cold weather, most of us would recommend against the LE607 diff fluid as it gets really thick in the cold. The Mobil 1 Synthetic 75W90 is a good choice and is available everywhere. It only takes one quart for the differential. Changing it out early is probably good as the diff creates a lot of wear as it breaks in. The first fluid that comes out will look really shitty but subsequent changes (most recommend 15000 miles) will look good.

DO NOT let them put the Honda OEM differential fluid that they use in the CRV into your differential. IT WILL RUIN IT VERY QUICKLY.

chuhsi

I just did my first oil change. I did it at the dealer cuz I was driving across the country. Here's the summary:

- Use regular 10W30 oil
- Use the Honda PCX filter (15400-PCX-004)

I did mine at 3750 miles cuz I was following the extreme maintenance schedule.

No need to do transmission or differential fluid yet, although you can if you want. I'll change mine myself in the next couple weeks. ALMASOL LE-607 for the diff and GM Synchromesh Synthetic "Friction Modified" for the transmission.

DarkEarth

thanks, you guys have been helpful like always. what is the extremem maintenance schedule?

allkingz

My guess is you haven't even looked at the owner's manual yet.