which oil for b16/18?

which oil rating should we be using for the b series engines?

my friend says we should be using really thin stuff...

atm im using gtx3 .. its about 15/40 from memory

Im using Castrol Magnatec which is 10W40

That was what was reccomended by the shop where I got it serviced.

At about $40 for 4 litres its alot cheaper than Mobil 1 which is about 70, then theres Honda oil (not sure if you can get it in aussie and cant remeber what exactly its called) which is dearer still

Well for a VTEC B series, 10W-30 is the oil recomended by Honda, I use penzoil.

But a 10W-40 will also be sweet, and its what I switch too.

0W-anything is not recomended, nor it a 20W-anthing as its either to think or too thin, and can effect the activation of the VTEC solonoid.

i'm using mobil 1 which is 5w-50

I use Mobil 1. Caltex Magnatec I found good for my old civic. My cousin who services lots of cars, tends to go the Mobil 1, he said something about the Honda Oil burns heaps more...

although Setanta is trialing the stuff...so we'll see what his opinion is.

We use OMEGA 778 synthetic in our drag civics’ engine...
We are so totally well pleased with this stuff – big time… I can’t overstate it…
Honestly, it’s absolutely awesome stuff!
The engine has never used a single drop of oil! nor has anything ever come out of the breather...
And that’s punching out 321kw (430hp) @ wheels on Croydon’s Dyno dynamics... :D :silly2:
I’d have to say it’s the best oil we’ve ever used but… It's kinda... um... real expensive...
For us, its money well spent…

10W-30 or 5W-30 Is reccomended by Honda, all the Honda oils we get here are made by Caltex in Australia, (Go check the product material data and specification sheets on their site)
You could get 'Caltex Havoline Energy 5W-30' It should be using similar detergents to the 'FEO oil' that has 'Honda' written on it

Otherwise Shell do a Semi Synthetic 'Helix Plus ECO10 10W-30'
it is sold in 5L containers and I have only ever seen it at Kmart here in NZ for $49.95NZ, not even Shell have it on the shelf and it is also from aussie.

Mobil also do a 'Mobil 1 10W-30' but it can only be bought in bulk amounts from distributors, otherwise Holden dealerships should have it.

Castrol Magnatec 10W-40 is also a good oil. And in Aussie all Castrol products are in 5l containers.

The Pennzoil 10W-30 comes in 5L containers as well, there is a lot of bad info about it on the net, but it seems to be related to sludge build up that happened with their oils many years ago (about 15 years), and they have never managed to lose that bad rep with some people, but I haven't heard of any problems with it now, it's also a good price.

I use Mobil 1 5W-50 in my little D15B dual carb LOL, I got 4 packs of it cheap with Kmarts 15% off sale and then a 7.5% student discount on top of that, = $55 each :D
but I have just put my last one in, and will try the Shell Helix 10W-30 next time, it seems like a good choice, as we have two Hondas to feed here.

I've just done the first oil change in mine and have gone to Mobil 1 after a fair bit of research (10 minutes on the net).
Might be a placebo affect but it seems to run better???????

Originally posted by B16a4me
I've just done the first oil change in mine and have gone to Mobil 1 after a fair bit of research (10 minutes on the net).
Might be a placebo affect but it seems to run better???????

what were you using before Chuck???

my cousin uses the Shell Helix fully synthetic in his baleno...and I must say it drinks the stuff.

Well I just put my 3rd or 4th lot of penzoil into the Civic today, and the old stuff comeing out other than being a bit black looked to be in pretty good nick.
Theres certianly no evidence of sludge forming, and I know the engine dosnt complain about running on it.

Originally posted by Moppie
Well I just put my 3rd or 4th lot of penzoil into the Civic today, and the old stuff comeing out other than being a bit black looked to be in pretty good nick.
Theres certianly no evidence of sludge forming, and I know the engine dosnt complain about running on it.

All the information I have read about it refers to problems many years ago, just that some ppl still think that this is the case with the current product, while there is no 'formal' evidence to point that there is any problem with it.
There also may be a bit of a bad feeling as Penzoil is made by Quaker State who also make the controversial Slick50 product.

I find that after 10,000k's with the Mobil 1 it is quite dark brown in colour, I found the Castrol Maganatec that I used to use was about the exact same colour as the Mobil 1.

But I don't have VTEC and I also don't give it a hard time either which probably has some influence on how it ends up, although I have done a lot of short distance travel, thats why I got the synthetic.

Well I drive my car pretty hard, plus its got a few Ks on it, so Im not worried that it comes out black. Id rather the crap came out in the oil, than stayed in the engine.

Spunky: Dunno looked like black lumpy lava. I think it was the same oil that was in it in Japan. :eek:

Originally posted by B16a4me
Spunky: Dunno looked like black lumpy lava. I think it was the same oil that was in it in Japan. :eek:

LOL :hehehe:

oh chuck...keep trying with that signature :p

Do you guys think that I should switch to synthetic?

I to have an 89 D15b Dual Carb engine but it has a bit over 200,000 K's on the clock. As far as I know it has allways run on the stuff that came out of the ground. Is the higher detergency of a synthetic oil going to make my poor little civic GL blow smoke? (Am I right in even asking that???)

Like afew of you (I guess) I've got full custom exhaust system, an intake and drive my old car quite hard. I want to know if the potential risk of blowing smoke is worth it, if the synthetic oil protects the engine better (I don't even know if that is true...).

can you help me out?

i switched over my old corolla twin cam at about 220,000kms no probs there.

Originally posted by aus4gen
Do you guys think that I should switch to synthetic?

I to have an 89 D15b Dual Carb engine but it has a bit over 200,000 K's on the clock. As far as I know it has allways run on the stuff that came out of the ground. Is the higher detergency of a synthetic oil going to make my poor little civic GL blow smoke? (Am I right in even asking that???)

Like afew of you (I guess) I've got full custom exhaust system, an intake and drive my old car quite hard. I want to know if the potential risk of blowing smoke is worth it, if the synthetic oil protects the engine better (I don't even know if that is true...).

can you help me out?

Use the magnatec...that's what we use in mum's 4th gen... get better mileage.