Effects of using the wrong weight oil?

[CG8TypeReplica]

Hi again guys, just found out that for the past 12 years my dads been using 5W 30 oil in the Accord and I've recently found it that it should be 10W 40. Just wondering what adverse effects this will have on the engine and if I start using the right oil, whether there will be any effect on the day to day running of the car. The car does burn a lot of oil, but its got 133K on the clock.

 

[SayamaAccord]

5W 30 is fine in your dad's car, it's better than 10W 40 because it's thinner so it flows and protects better during warm up which is when most engine wear occurs.

If it wasn't okay you wouldn't have got to 133k miles.

 

[vile]

+1 what Cliff said

 

[CG8TypeReplica]

5W 30 is fine in your dad's car, it's better than 10W 40 because it's thinner so it flows and protects better during warm up which is when most engine wear occurs.

If it wasn't okay you wouldn't have got to 133k miles.

Ahh seems good then . Engine still pulls pretty strong for its age, which is a plus. One last thing, would you recommend me switching or should I keep buying the 5W 30 stuff?

 

[SayamaAccord]

It's your decision but if it was me I'd carry on using 5W 30.

I used 5W 40 for years in my Accord 1.8 before I sold it at 143k miles and the engine was always fine.

 

[exec]

Honda recommend 10/40 for these cars, I was tempted to try out 5/40 on mine but 10/40 was on offer at half the price, might give 5/40 (also fully synth) a go next time, and if I was you I would personally go with that as well as 5/30 seems a bit thin? and correct me if im wrong its good practice to use thicker oil on older and higher mileage cars.

 

[BlueVTEC]

Honda recommend 10/40 for these cars, I was tempted to try out 5/40 on mine but 10/40 was on offer at half the price, might give 5/40 (also fully synth) a go next time, and if I was you I would personally go with that as well as 5/30 seems a bit thin? and correct me if im wrong its good practice to use thicker oil on older and higher mileage cars.

Correct.

The weight is dependent on the climate too. 5W/30 is recommended for winter as due to it's thinner nature, it warms up quicker during cold driving, thus helping warm oil get around to stop any premature wear. 10W/40 is then recommended for summer as it doesn't go too thin during hot days or spirited driving. In short though, the F-series is happy to run on either oil grades. Before I done the H22A7 swap, my F20B6 had 186k on it, and had spent it's whole life on 10W/40 being changed every 6k miles. It never used a drop between changes, ran very well and never gave me issues. I still have the motor at my garage, and it is currently in bits ready for a turbo setup next year as a fun little project. Usually you would not use a 186k motor for a turbo application, but it has so little wear that it could happily be used for a low boost application, as the bores still have their honing marks etc. Very impressive even for a Honda!

To the OP. You say it burns oil...How much oil is it using exactly? Wouldn't be unusual for the F-series to use a little oil especially when in VTEC, but I would be concerned if it was using a lot. It could be a number of things, and as Exec said, thicker oil might be an option on a higher mileage engine. If it is physically smoking or using an excessive amount of oil, I would first try using a thicker oil. If that fails to rectify the problem, I would consider looking into worn valve stem seals/possible rings etc, but to be honest there are lots of things it could be. Some food for thought anyway!