[QUOTE]Originally posted by gtirs
[B]Why would a Honda dealer recomment 5w20 vs. 10w30 motor oil called for in the s2k manual?

 

Perhaps the 5W is spec'ed for acoords, etc. (and in turn provided by dealers for evryone ) for gas mileage. They can say the car has better gas mileage since it'll be tested with a lighter oil.

 

I think I read somewhere that a lot of manufacturers were using thinner oil in their new cars to improve fuel economy and emissions tests, at the expense of long term durability. I dunno how much of a difference it actually makes, thought.

 

I am not sold on the 5w20. I published links to Ford's internal documentATION and the EPA letter which pressured Ford to specify non synoil 5w20. It is being done for emission and CAFE only. I would not use it in my car. The SVT Cobra came with it, and I pulled it out at 250 miles. I want to see the long-term wear analyses first.

 

It's more expensive for them to buy individual oil viscosities and the majority of the time, the owner won't know and there won't be a problem. They buy the most commonly used oil viscosity in bulk. Of course, if there ever is a problem that is oil related, you have a great claim against the service department. I sure hope they aren't putting that viscosity in the hybrids (if I recall they use 0W-30)

This has happened once in my local area where they used 5W-30 (http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=150995) and once with me they used a NAPA oil filter that was the wrong size, of course I was charged for a Honda filter that cost twice as much as the NAPA filter (http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=155218).

It's getting to the point that you need to make your requests in writing when you go to the dealer or bring your own oil and filter in if you can't do the change yourself.