really low on oil and have some part mineral 10W40 is this ok to top up with, car done 1400 miles

please let me know it it will do any damage, im pretty sure it'll be ok, but just like to check!

cheers

 

10W40 should be fine as a top up. How "low" you talking about? Even if it's really low, a 1 or 2 mile trip to the auto supply (or gas station) won't hurt you either.

 

went to the local gas station, told that the 10W30 is unusual - tried a couple of places and settled for 10W40 - will get some from the Honda dealers for next top-up

is about 10% above Min

is the Oil for our cars really that rare??!

 

There have been several threads stating that 10W30 is hard to find in Europe. That is surprising, because it is probably the most common grade of oil in America. 10W40 is fine for most cars, but I wouldn't use that thick of an oil for going to Vtec.

 

Anything at or above MIN is fine. No need to panic. That's the way the car was designed - to be able to run even with the oil at "add".
As for 10W30 being rare, NOT over here. It's as common as water.

 

ok, put in just enough to keep the car fine for a while. about 0.5L, and will get hold of the proper stuff next time.

strange 10W30 is more popular in the US then UK, are the cars different???

heard that replacing with fully synth gives slightly better performance, is this true? and when should it be done - around 5k??
cheers

 

Just as Honda decided to do the oil jet bolt recall for European cars (and nowhere else), your oil companies must think that due to your driving style, a slightly thicker oil must be better.
Although synthetic should allow your engine to function with a bit less resistence from synthetic fluid, some have observed that it also makes VTEC less pronounced. I have not noticed this but who's to say that it doesn't happen in some cases.
The manual (and most board members here) recommend staying away from synthetic till about 10K miles (or 15K Km) when it is considered that the engine has reached the end of its "proper" break in period and when any oil consumption (if present) has tapered off.

 

The only place (that I know of) to get 10w 30 mineral oil is from a Ford dealership in the UK.

I used that for top up until my first service (12mths - 3507 miles). I am now using 10w 40 semi synth Shell Helix with 250ml of the molybdenum added.

 

Oil companies supply whatever the distributor orders and they order whatever they think is in demand. No one that I know of in that supply chain is making lubrication decisions.. it is all about the market place. If enough people demand a product (and the distribution chain is not distorted by an organization or individual), the product in demand will become available.