20W50 oil?

Hello. Does anybody have any opinion on 20W50 engine oil? Its used
mostly for high reving and hotter engines. Like on motorcycles. But I've
heard from people it is a good oil for honda civics. I've been using it
for a year now, but not in winter. Does anybody think it'll have any
serious effect on my car? Keep in mind there is 351,000kms on it now and
it works great.

On another note: How do I clean the intake area. I know it's never been
dont in the last 100 or 150kms. And I've driven abuot 4000kms on a dusty
gravel highways in some more northern areas.

Doug

 

It "works great" only because you've never had your motor apart.

It's a terrible idea. Your bearings and top end are getting a good, hard
scraping every time you start up from cold, since the oil is taking that
much longer to get up there.

Take it out and put 5W-30 back in there. If you're using 20W-50 to mask oil
consumption problems, then you're only ultimately making things worse with
the heavy stuff. This isn't the '60s any more.

Just pull the plastic intake tube off the throttle body. Spray some
throttle body cleaner on to a clean rag and swab it out and both sides of
the throttle plate (hold it open by hand).
Spray some more throttle body cleaner on a toothbrush and use that to
loosen the carbon around the spindle.
Wipe it all off and keep going until clean.

If you wish, you can unbolt the EACV/IACV and shoot some throttle body
cleaner through there as well.

Do not bother with spraying throttle body cleaner directly into the intake
plenum with the engine running. You will do no good and may even do harm.
All the gunk collects in the throttle body, especially if your PCV valve is
getting plugged.

 

Forgot to mention: Your oil filters will be calibrated for 5W-30 and 10W-
30. Heavier oils will activate the bypass valve more often, so you're
recirculating more abrasives through your oil pump, bearings and cam
mechanism than you would with the lighter oil.

Bad, BAD idea.

 

Shades of the mid 60s, I used to use 20-50W in a 64 XKE Jaguar. The old
Jags had a 10 qt sump and were designed to use oil at the rate of about 1 qt
every 300-500 miles. Can't imagine using it in a Honda. Even my Prelude
only calls for 5-30w.

 

Good to know. Perhaps I'll use 5w30 next time around. What the best
thing a person can do to a car with 350,000kms on it to keep it going?

 

if there's nothing wrong with it, keep driving it! use a good quality
oil with a decent additive package. personally i lke castrol gtx
because it keeps my seals from leaking & keeps the motor quiet, but ymmv.

 

Change your oil a lot. And do that from new.

 

use syntec oil or syntec blend by castrol if you want more protection.
especially if you live where the tempatures are extreme. also use a fram oil
filter. they're the best.


-jeff

 

They are? Offer your proof please.

 

Temperatures here go between -25(-13f) celcius to +30(86f). So its not
bad to put synthetic in an old old car with a million miles on it like
Ive heard? When its never seen synthetic before in its life.?

 

I get between -22F to 100F. Castrol GTX 5W-30 is all my baby has ever seen.
Still getting 2,000 miles per quart of oil with about 405,000 km on the
clock. How long that will last though, I have no idea.

Apparently not.

It used to be that synthetics had a tendency to leach plasticizers from the
seals and harden them, causing leakage, but that has supposedly not been
true since the early-mid-'90s.

 

I changed our '85 Volvo over at somewhere above 200K miles (about 220K IIRC)
because the deposits from the crankcase had plugged a 3/8 inch hose solid. I
never even thought to check a hose that big. Anyway, when it didn't leak I
changed my daughter's '93 Accord with a little more than 200K miles. Still
no leak. But (like you) I was leery.

Mike

 

Maybe it's worth a try then. With winter coming the temperatures get
cold. All small engines call for synthetic 5W30 in the winter for a
reason. So why not do it to the car?

 

Michael, how many years and miles of no oil-related problems have now passed
for each car?

 

Must be a little over a year for the Volvo, a year or a little less for the
Honda.

Mike