ement6

Hey guys, I recently got into an ap1 in nov of last year, I've been reading A LOT and learning so much from you guys. And I appreciate how everyone is so helpful on here. My main concern for my ap1 is reliability, I plan on keeping it bone stock under the hood, im just really anal about keeping the engines in my cars as healthy as can be. So I had two questions.

I read on a post here that putting ap2 retainers on the ap1 is a must. My question is, how do you know if they need replacement before opening it up? Is there a noise that it makes? And what should I be looking at price wise for those of you guys
Who have done this? Is there any thing else that u should replace while its opened up?

2nd question, I haven't done an oil change on it, I bought mobil 1 10w 30 high mileage for it, but idk if I should use that, the car has 83k miles, it does burn its share of oil but I don't hammer the car at all. I was choosing between the advanced performance and high mileage mobil 1 10w 30. I honestly drive like an old lady, I baby my cars so I don't really need an oil that requires heavier driving or anything of that nature. I'd really appreciate it if you guys can point me in the right direction.

PureFunction

There is no way to tell if you have cracked retainers without looking. If you do the work yourself, it is cheap. i think i spent around $60 on parts. Do a valve adjustment while you are in there.

Mobil 1 tends to burn more than other oils in these motors. I prefer Castrol edge myself.

ement6

Thanks so much bro I really appreciate it. What weight do you use in castrol edge? Oem oil filter?

jkelley

1. How long have you driven the car since purchasing it? If you've driven it more than say 1k miles then if you had cracked retainers I believe your engine would have already been toast.
2. Retainer damage on the AP1 stock retainers will only happen in the event of a mechanical over-rev (typically mis-shifting from 3rd to 2nd @ 9,000 rpm). The retainers are SOLID being beat on at 9,000 rpm all day every day, but are less forgiving in the event of a mis-shift at 8k+ rpms.
3. There is no noise that it makes, you have to inspect visually with the valve cover off. It's very tough to determine visually if you don't know exactly what you're looking for.
4. I would only suggest replacing the retainers to AP2 if you inspect them and they are damaged (no reason to replace with AP1 since AP2 are the same spec but more forgiving), if you are a poor driver where you could see yourself mis-shifting in the future, or you enjoy working on cars and hey... why not replace them? (like me)
5. IMO if you pull the valve cover and it all looks clean, continue with a group 3 full synthetic 10w30 (if in the lower 48 states) and you will be golden.
6. Always use an OEM Honda 15400-PCX-004 oil filter (prevailing opinion, even though SOME others say that there are comparable filters on the market. but this filter is great and is unanimously rated extremely highly by virtually everyone on here)
7. AP1's are notorious for (on average) burning more oil than an AP2. It's not ALL AP1's... but there is a trend where more often than not an AP1 burns oil on a regular basis whereas an AP2 is less likely to burn oil.

ement6

Dam, your help is so much appreciated. I have put about 1500 miles since I got it. An oem filter is what I intended to use. Im not so smart on the group 3 oil, if you can kindly elaborate on that... im just in the air if I should use the high mileage one that I got.

ement6

Pretty much group 3 is being synthetic right?

s2klariat

Oil consumption was worse using Mobil 1 in my car. I too use Castrol Edge 10w-30 and am very pleased with it. Also, cracked retainers can be cracked for several thousand miles before letting go completely and dropping the valve into the cylinder, normally under cruising conditions. Not trying to scare you, but definitely worth an inspection. Pulling the valve cover is very simple and can be done in less than 10 minutes. Check your valve clearances while in there as well. Should be .008 intake side and .010 exhaust side, adjust accordingly. There are quite a few valve adjustment write ups here on the forum. I would recommend changing all your fluids as your first step.

ement6

^^^ gave me quite a scare there, the previous owner was a coworker and drove about 100 miles a day combined. He babyied the car as well so im not too scared about it. I've always used mobil 1 but I think its time to change. I use 0w 20 on my dc5 and its really good oil, and I never heard of it till Honda started putting it in my car. Thanks for the heads up though.

ement6

Actually the oil that I got is the advanced performance mobil 1 10w 30 full synthetic. But I think im just going to go with the castrol edge. From what I hear its best for the ap1.

Billman250

Broken retainers can go 30k miles undetected. They show no symptoms at all.

Inspection is key, and takes a trained eye. If you can deem them perfect, there is no need to replace them.