5w20 oil

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TysonB11

New Member
I reccently read an article on TI claiming the thinner the oil the better. Does anyone know if it is it harmful to use this mobil 1 5w20 synthetic in a 93 integra?

For comparison, some SAE 5w30 have a viscosity rating of 10.4 cs at 212 F, and the mobil 5w20 is 8.8. At 302 F, the 5w20 is only approx. 0.2cs lower..

Thanks :)
 
Depends on what you're trying to do. Lighter oils pump more easily(more hp, fuel economy, etc.), but risk thinning too much when the motor gets hot for a long time. This leads to wear issues. Most race cars run heavier oils due to the engines running at high temps for long periods of time. Then there's an issue with running too heavy of an oil; it's harder to pump through the oil orifices and during cold weather.

5w20 should be fine in a 93 Integra. Just make sure your car/engine doesn't have too much miles though. In older engines, all of the old buildup and and such from the regular dino oil helps the seals out. Synthetic oil works so well that it'll clean the seals and lead to oil leaks/oil burning. I haven't had this issue in my Civic since the motor has roughly 55k miles(and ran regular dino oil in the stock engines), but I know a few people who switched to synthetic with around 160-240k miles and definitely started burning oil afterwards.
 
I used to run 5W20 for the first two oil changes, mainly cause it was fall when i put the car away and early spring when i brang it back out, plus the weekly start ups during winter, i had no problems. Now ive switched to 5w30, but i think i wanna go 10W30 since its hot as hell and i tend to get revv happy.
 
5w30 is good for me here in Germany during the summer and the winter.
 
Thanks guys :)

About the oil leak/burn, that's a risk i take putting any synthetic in a high mileage car right?

The car has 87k miles. Is there a way to tell if you have oil buildup?
 
If your car is burning oil before it wont change all too much with adding synthetic. My engine has about 112k (kilometres) and its been running synthetic for at least 3 years now with no changes in oil consumption, and i have changed viscosities twice. My car only tends to burn oil once its getting near oil change time, honda says every 6k, i say every 3k also i check it alot and depending on how hard i drive it.
 
i just did an oil change on my hatch and used 5w30 but high mileage synthetic this time...now for some reason i hear ticking when the engines running..it didnt tick at all before..wtf just happened? should i worry?
 
i used 5w30 before..and 5w30 this time too just synthetic..well car was warm when i changed the oil. then when i started it again it was ticking, drove it a lil down the road.

ill see how it acts tomorrow. should i switch back to regular valvoline maybe?
 
I'd just check the valve lash. Maybe there was crap between the valve and rocker that was acting as a damper; and when you put synthetic in it cleaned it out?
 
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