Chadwick

While I'm not expert, I can cite personal experience. After reading the Oil Journals and the various posts from Road Rage and the others, I've decided that I need to be on an approx. 5,000 mile oil change schedule.

It's still probably over kill, but I used RedLine 10w30 since my first oil change (at 5000mi) and I noticed that among other things, the VTEC transition seemed smoother to me. Could've just been the butt dyno, but who knows.

I VTEC several times a day on my commute, depending on traffic. And I occasionally take the twisty roads home. Haven't burnt a single ounce of oil in almost 13k miles. I did follow the break-in procedure like 90% (I did VTEC once or twice, because I got anxious).

While I'm sure that the amount I use the car doesn't justify the cost of the oil I use, it works well for me. I'll probably do an oil analysis at my next change to see what's what.

96_LXR

I have a 96' Civic LX (4 door) that I have had since new. Had a motor swap done that went bad (no compression in #2, 75 psi in #3) so I ended up doing what I really wanted to do anyway.

I purchased a brand new 2001 B18C5 (Integra Type R) engine assembly and the trans with the LSD from Acura North America.

I have over 40k on that deal now and have been running Mobil1 since about 5k on that motor.

The thing runs like a hit dog and is quite a sleeper (4 door with all the power goodies, etc).

It has no AC and also went with the manual steering setup. It has all the normal bolt on stuff (IHE) and a Skunk2 intake manifold.

I was just wondering about the S2K motor and running synthetic oil. The specs on all the synthetics are impressive but the dealer where I bought the car said that if you just do the regular oil and filter change with a good quality oil there probably isn't much of an advantage running synthetic.

For me I think that when the car gets to about 10k I will start running Mobil1.

Thanks for all the advice

Road Rage

You really should do your homework on this topic, if you want to make a learned decision rather than a simple gut one. While I have studied engine lubrication for over 30 years, and was an early proponent of synoils, I have come to the conclusion that given today's "conventional" oil technology advances, synoil is no better, and in many cases worse, than the best minoils. It only has proven advantages in extreme cold and heat, or where extended OCI (oil change intervals) are recommended by the mfr (as in European cars) - synoils are almost always formulated with heart additive packages which allow longer durations and can handle more dirt.

Today's "conventional" oils are the synoils of yesterday - they are so highly refined, so low in friction, so low in sulfur, so low in wax, that they perform tremendously. In fact, the base stocks of today's best minoils can legally be called "synthetic" in the USA.

I have come to believe that synoils are way overpriced, and being sold to a 1990's market mentality to drive profits - they no way provide 2-4x the performance of even rot gut off brand oil, let alone oils like Havoline, Chevron Supreme, or Motorcraft (my favs).

The absolue best oils (cost no object) that I have seen are actually synblends like Lubrication Engineers 8130 - but I am bothered by LE's resistance to formulate an SL oil - 8130 is still SH.

The point made by LE, and verified by my academic training and real-world oil analysis experience, is that Group IV syn bases like PAO's are cheap, but the best Group II parafinnic minoils can be processed and blended with PAO's to perform extraordinarily. There is a synergy partly based in the superior additive "uptake" by minoils, which seems to allow the add packs to becme effective at lower temps. There are over 37,000 parafins by the way, so experience in blending is paramount - like fine wines.

Based on the latest oil analyses of the new GF-4 formulations, as well as my oil change interval needs, I am using non-synthetic Havoline GF-4 10w30, changing every 6 months since I never come close to the 5k oil change intervals I recommend for the S2000.

I am now using 1 oz of Lube Control every 1k miles as well - this is the only oil additive I consider useful and safe for my cars.
http://www.lubecontrol.com/

So, there you have it - 30 years of study reduced to a few paragraphs - things change, old notions have to be continuously re-evaluated, but here is what I am using in my cars:

Havoline GF-4 10w30 in the S2000.
Havoline GF-4 or Motorcraft synblend 5w20 in the TL

1 oz of Lube Control every 1000 miles in both.

OCI: 7500 in the TL (it would be 5k without the Lube Control) - every 6 months in the S2000 (it would be 5K if I drove more miles - I "time" out)

TR-S2K

My S is my daily car to work. The weather in Southern California near the beach is mild all year, from a low of mid 40's in winter, to a high of mid to high 80's in summer. But since it is working car, it is driven mostly with the temperature ranges of low 50's to high 70's, 90% of the times. The one severe condition is short distance, only 5.2 miles each way on city streets. Since I like to change oil once a year or 7500 miles, whichever comes first, most likely I will "time out" first, isn't synthetic oil would be better for my driving conditions ? The Halvoline GF4 would be better choice (it will save me some $) if I can do 6 months (or 3750 miles) oil change interval.

The other cars, '94 LS400 with more than 160K miles and '00 E430 with more than 60K miles, had been using synthetic oils since new with OCI of 12K miles or one year, without any oil related problems.

asu_lee

Hey Glenn,

Lube control every 1K? Why? Who is the vendor?

-Lee