Best Lubricant for a Used Honda Engine

The importance of the right lubricant is unsurmountable for a used engine. as a buyer, you must know which specification and classification of lubricants will be most suitable for your engine and driving preferences.

Do you know the Best Lubricant for a Used Honda Engine?

Lubricants are an essential element of your used engine. It’s safe to say that without proper lubricants, your engine won’t be able to survive or function. An ideal lubricant serves as a protection layer for an engine’s internal components and saves them from wear and tear even when temperatures inside the motor go more than 120 degrees. However, a wrong pick of a lubricant can subject your engine to several damages.

So, after you have brought home your Honda used engine for sale, your responsibility of maintaining that engine begins by picking out the right lubricant.

How To Pick the Right Lubricant?

Before you go ahead and top up your engine with any oil, it’s important to understand what grade of oil will be best for it. If you have the user manual for your engine, you can refer to it for the manufacturer’s guidelines. Otherwise, you can confer with some Honda mechanics for their recommendations.

API Standard (SL, SM, SN, or SJ)

This API standard is set by the American Petroleum

Institute. It is officially used to classify lubricants based on their performance. You can find Honda’s recommended API standard for your engine in the user manual.

Viscosity Grade

The viscosity grade is a factor in the thickness of a lubricant. It allows you to determine the stress holding capacity of engine oil as thin engine oil works well for winters, but a high-grade or thick lubricant is good for summers.

This is also the reason high-performance cars come with a higher viscosity oil as their engines constantly work at very high temperatures. The viscosity of a lubricant is determined through a set of two numbers, like 10W-30, 0W-40 or 15W-40, or 5W-30.

In this grade number 5W-30, 5W denotes the viscosity, the 30 represents the thickness of the oil at a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius. Since an engine oil with 40 grade is thicker, it can survive better in higher temperatures.

A higher oil grade means a higher viscosity. So, if an engine oil’s grade is 5W-30, it means it will perform fairly in cold weather as its viscosity grade of cold start is 5W.
If an engine oil has a viscosity grade of 0W-40, it indicates the engine can have a cold start even in freezing conditions as the oil is thin enough (less viscous) to flow through all the parts.
A higher grade like 10W-30 is good for high-temperature regions as it can endure the heat without breaking into compounds. So, if you have a used engine in Houston, you’ll need a high-grade lubricant.

Advantages of Thin Oil

Reduces friction in the engine
The flow of oil is better & easier so ignition even in freezing conditions is easy.

Advantages of Thick Oil

Better operability at higher temperatures
The thick nature of this oil protects engine bearings and engine sealing by acting like a protective layer.

ACEA Rating

The ACEA rating of a lubricant like A5/B5, A3/B4, etc is granted after considering several parameters, including sludge, ear, soot thickening, oxidative thickening, and fuel economy. ACEA rating of a lubricant can help you determine its suitability for your vehicle so it’s best to keep this in mind when choosing an engine oil, particularly for a diesel engine.

Thus, all these factors are quite important to determine the correct engine oil grade for your car. In any case, if you end up using the incorrect viscosity, poor quality, or irrelevant standard of lubricant, it can lead to increased wear and tear of several internal components of the engine.

Hence, you must ensure that you take a look at your car owner’s manual for recommended engine oil grade. That way you can follow the automaker’s expert recommendations clearly.

Honda Genuine Lubricants for Petrol, Diesel, and Hybrid Engines

Honda has a range of Genuine Oils and Fluids specifically developed for the automaker itself to offer its customers the highest quality lubricants. Since its Honda-manufactured, one can rest assured about the quality and genuineness of the lubricants. Besides, why risk the health of your used Honda engine by using an incorrect grade of oil when you can choose Honda’s own line of lubricants.

Following are Honda’s recommended lubricants for Petrol, Diesel, and Hybrid engines.

Petrol Engines: For engines that run exclusively on petrol in Western European driving and weather conditions, semi-synthetic motor oil is recommended. It must meet the minimum specification of ACEA A1/B1 and the viscosity range must be between 0W-20 to 10W-40.
i-CDTI & i-DTEC Diesel Engines: For the i-CDTi and i-DTEC diesel engines in Western European driving & weather conditions, fully synthetic motor oil is recommended that meets the minimum specification ACEA C2/C3. The ideal viscosity, in this case, is 0W-30.
Hybrid Engines: Honda developed a special Hybrid Green Oil for hybrid engines that improves the performance characteristics in all driving conditions. In addition to that, it also improves fuel economy while being environmentally friendly.

Why is Using a Honda Genuine Lubricant Important for a Used Honda Engine?

Given that your used engine has already driven thousands of miles, it is natural to assume that the internal parts might have slight wear & tear on them. At this point, your responsibility is to not let it degrade further. So, it is a sensible choice to go for Honda Genuine lubricants and save your used engine in the most suitable manner.

Benefits of using Honda Genuine lubricants:

Ensures high engine performance & protection
Better fuel efficiency
Decreases emissions and exhaust
Protection against the extreme operating conditions
It’s developed by Honda so stands true to the brand’s specifications
Prevents the formation of sludge and deposits

Conclusion

A lubricant for an engine is not only responsible for protection against friction but for enabling optimum performance as well. Using the right grade and quality of engine oil can enhance your engine’s performance beyond your expectation. So, it’s imperative to research and consider all the relevant factors like your vehicle’s requirements, the region you’ll be driving in, weather conditions, etc. before finalizing an engine oil for your engine.

In the case of used Honda engines, the best choice turns out to be Honda Genuine lubricants as they are brand-recommended and fulfill the eligibility criteria for Honda engines. So, if you have a Honda-used engine, consult experts from Honda for buying a lubricant.