Danny049

So I keep reading that everyone uses 10w-30 synthetic. Is there any harm in using 5w-30 conventional oil? I work at a dealer and get it for free, but I'm willing to buy the good stuff if it's necessary. I've read that 5w30 burns quickly if using vtec but I've had no burning issues or knocking or anything of that sort so far.
What should I be using? I change the oil at 3 months/2500 miles now

btw, it's a 04 with 35k miles

JP Money

I use synthetic, 5w-30. I think there are some members using 0w-30, but I think the trend is synthetic.

Sinji

the 5w 30would be okay. im using that now myslelf. as long as its synthetic and you check your oil when Vtec'ing you should be okay.

Danny049

its not synthetic that im using now, does it matter?

ian05s2k

nope, conventional vs synthetic doesnt matter. I think you just need to change the oil more often with conventional oil.

Saki GT

Not everyone uses synthetic. Many people, including me, are happy with dino oil. If I had access to free dino oil, I wouldn't think twice about using it.

The life of dino oil is shorter than synth oil, but since you still need to change the filter, and are getting the oil free, you might as well use dino oil - no one's ever had an issue with dino oil.

Danny049

So Mobil 5w-30 conventional oil is ok to use?

Saki GT

Yup.

Burt Reynolds

I have the manual right here in front of me. It doesn't say anything about requiring synthetic. All it says is to use 10W30 or 5W30 and that you may use synthetic as long as it is 10W30 or 5W30 and meets the SAE specification. This would lead me to believe that conventional oil is what it comes with the S2000 from the factory. I use only synthetic because I am anal, but that's just me. I have the best luck with Lucas synthetic 10W30. I have tried Mobile1 and Royal and both worked well but the engine is noticeably quieter and after 5k miles it comes out looking almost as good as when it went in. I only use Honda filters and I have the Skunk2 magnetic drain plug. From the look of the oil it could probably go more then 5k but I am anal.

While we are talking lubricants I might as well mention my manual transmission gear oil experimentations. I tried HMTF, Mobile1, Royal and Redline. I am back to HMTF. For whatever reason it just shifts better with HMTF. Without HMTF if feels as though my syncros don't work as well when shifting from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 while under 4k RPM. As soon as I put the HMTF back in the syncros work fine at all RPMs... Some on this forum suggest this may be due to the material that our syncros are made of and properties of the HMFT. All I know is HMTF works much better in my car. I just added a Skunk2 magnetic drain plug here too. We will see how it looks after 10k.