Engine Flush / Synthetic Engine Oil for 7.5 Years / 31K Run Honda City?


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Guys I have a 7.5 years /31000 kms run city ZX
The car is in showroom condition ( in my opinion atleast )
Here is the link to the ownership review of the car-

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/ownership-reviews/12923-honda-city-zx-long-term-ownership-review.html

The car is used by my dad and we don't intend to sell it since It has been immaculately maintained and is running very well
Now my question ?
The car has been receiving yearly servicing/oil change after its warranty expired. Considering the low usage divided by the number of years I can assume that the engine oil
has been changed every 5000km/1year.The car has been serviced only at HASS and always fed mineral oil.

The car will soon be going for its oil change and I want to pamper the engine a little.I was thinking of adding synthetic oil after flushing.
What do you guys recommend Is it worth spending extra 3k or It will be better utilizing the money on something else like upgrading speakers etc.
The reasons I am considering using a flush & synthetic oil is that the car is 7.5 yrs old and is used sparingly.Which accounts to slightly severe conditions acc. to me.
I intend to restore the lost power/compression and make the engine as close to new as possible.

Now the doubts -

1 Where will I get an original oil filter ? Should I get it from ASS only .I intend to purchase the oil & filter and get them changed from FNG.
2 Can flushing do any harm in a 31k /7.5 year old engine ?
3 The car's manual recommends 5W30 but I think no synthetics are available in this spec.Is it OK to use 5W40 instead which is available in synthetic ?
4 I am avoiding castrol edge although it is the easiest available since I have heard many spurious castrol are available ? Am I right ?
5 I will try to get mobil 1 since it is the most preferred synthetic oil ? But which oil should I get 0W40 or 5W50. These are the only oil spec avilable according to their site.
6 I am getting synthetic oil at roughly rs 1000 per litre. I have read people getting oil at much cheaper and different rates. Where to source it from to get better rates
7 Also the car requires only 3.1 litre while only 4 litre packs are available .What do the guys who use synthetic oil do ?

These are the questions that spring to my mind right now. Guys please help me out.
 
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Hi Petroholic

I do not think your honda requires flushing, consdering it has just done 31000km. I have seen honda engines with almost 1.5 to 2 lac km. doing fine. So just go ahead and drain the old oil and fill in the new synthetic. My choice would be Mobile 1.
 
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I would be against using a synthetic if what the company recomends is mineral. Just make sure that you change the mineral oil after evry 5k interval or 6 to 8 months. I say 6 to 8 months because these days mineral oil has improved in terms of life expectancy as compared to what they were earlier. Some even recomend 5k or 1 year whicever is earlier. When I owned a Zen even the MASS would recomed 10k or 1 year which ever is earlier but I used to get my car serviced every 6 to 8 months.
 
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Hi,
Engine Flushing in 31000 kms is not really needed. That too your car is a Petrol Model. So dont spend the money for this case. As you said try out for the Speakers and other Stuff.
Even though you are not taking your Machine out for more than 20 days or so, kindly start it for around 15 minutes till the temperature reached its perfect mode.
 
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Hi Petroholic

I do not think your honda requires flushing, consdering it has just done 31000km. I have seen honda engines with almost 1.5 to 2 lac km. doing fine. So just go ahead and drain the old oil and fill in the new synthetic. My choice would be Mobile 1.
Completely agree here ,as Honda engines are considered the long lasting ones.I would recommend you to go through the HASS itself as this had added value to your car.
One more thing you can do while draining the oil is ask is about the status of oil sump in the car .If there are deposits in the oil sump(95% will not be there) then cleaning may be required.
 
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Changing the oil every 5000kms is equallent to flushing.
i would suggest to use the company recommended grade and change every 5000kms.
5000Km is unnecessarily soon on a car, it will actually be worse for the engine than letting it run for at least 10,000Km.

Also, oil grades are not rules we have to follow, they are simply suggestions for vehicle operation in a wide range of conditions, climates and driver styles. It is because of this that any good engineer would recommend using an oil that is more tailored to the precise usage of your own vehicle!
 
Thread Starter #9
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sorry for not updating.
the oil change and filter change will soon be done without flushing
apart from that fuel filter,air filter ,spark plugs will be changed
Also brake/clutch/gear oil will be changed
dust & pollen filter will also be changed

fluids will be mainstream ones
filters will be sakura and spark plugs denso
 
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engine flush is not recommended by Manufacturers. Its just the service center' trick to earn more. Following is the snippet from the website of a Honda dealer

"DO NOT perform engine flushing. There is absolutely no benefit to flushing the engine lubrication system as a maintenance procedure. An increasing number of catastrophic engine failures have been reported soon after this procedure was performed. "
 
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hi Mate,

I don't think you need to flush the engine

you've had the car for so long that is a surprise for me. Just do a major service and your fine to go :)
 
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To be frank cars in India have engine flush done at 35,000 to 40,000 kms for both diesel & petrol as far as i have seen.
I feel to say you have a Honda & hence it wont require an engine flush is like saying i have a Honda & it wont get dirty hence i dont need to clean it.

Its more dependent on fuel & other factors & in India its more true than ever.


Lets look at your case,i am guessing your father is not a rev happy driver & chances are of higher deposits in the engine etc.
And since your car does not see much usage & lets say the fuel is like 2 to 3 months old in the fuel tank,the chemistry of the fuel is known to change & promote more carbon or varnish(if i remember right),not many people think of this.
Either way i will recommend an engine flush(cos of age & low mileage) or at least adding a good additive to the fuel like "System-G"(safer bet).


So atleast try the fuel additive which will definitely help clean the tank ,lines & engine to some extent !
 
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To be frank cars in India have engine flush done at 35,000 to 40,000 kms for both diesel & petrol as far as i have seen.
I feel to say you have a Honda & hence it wont require an engine flush is like saying i have a Honda & it wont get dirty hence i dont need to clean it.

Its more dependent on fuel & other factors & in India its more true than ever.


Lets look at your case,i am guessing your father is not a rev happy driver & chances are of higher deposits in the engine etc.
And since your car does not see much usage & lets say the fuel is like 2 to 3 months old in the fuel tank,the chemistry of the fuel is known to change & promote more carbon or varnish(if i remember right),not many people think of this.
Either way i will recommend an engine flush(cos of age & low mileage) or at least adding a good additive to the fuel like "System-G"(safer bet).


So atleast try the fuel additive which will definitely help clean the tank ,lines & engine to some extent !

All of that is only necessary if you use cheap oil and don't maintain your vehicle.

You need to know that most good quality engine oils have plenty of non-lubricant chemicals dedicated to cleaning the engine as it is used, eliminating the need for flushing.
 
Thread Starter #14
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So atleast try the fuel additive which will definitely help clean the tank ,lines & engine to some extent !
System G already purchased currently on the first tankful.Should see results by the third tankful.

BTW system G cleans the fuel system while engine flush is for the engine only. Both have different purposes.

Guys please check out the last posts in this thread.I am not repeating the list of things to be done on this page since pictures are not uploading again

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/ownership-reviews/12923-honda-city-zx-long-term-ownership-review-2.html#post365897

What started as an oil change transformed into a most major service the car has seen in the past 7.5 years. Getting everything done from outside in front of me as it will cost me much less.
Your comments and suggestiona are welcome
 
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^ Since you were apprehensive about engine flushing i suggested the additive as a play safe option since you wanted engine in close to new condition(obviously i have no way of knowing you were using it),the additive does clean the deposits in the engine & smooth things about.
If you were planning to change mineral to synthetic oil then engine flush would be a common recommendation.
 

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