2013 Honda Accord - is synthetic oil necessary?

Kama , if you are saying No it does not require synthetic then I do believe you are wrong . My search shows your vehicle calls for 0w20 which is almost always synthetic . That will be in your manual along with other info if you want this used Accord to last you.

Kama , your 16 year old Nissan never called for synthetic . And your manual is the authority as to what oil to use . Not what someone tells you .

Who is “they” . . . ?

I’m going to be very blunt, because there’s no other way to go about it . . .

You come across as somebody with an aggressive personality

Why are you beating up on Volvo . . . He’s trying to be helpful and point out a few things. I’m not sure why you jumped down his throat :confused:

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Kama, as others have said, you’re mistaken. Your engine specifies 0w-20, which is only available as a synthetic, except maybe a synthetic blend from Honda, for probably more $$ than most synthetics from, say, Walmart. Who told you otherwise?

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I am not privileged, and money while not being paycheck to paycheck isn’t in a massive surplus. A way I save a lot of money for us is doing as many car repairs as I am able in my driveway. I do my own oil changes too. And I use full synthetic in everything. I just wait until the bulk containers are on sail at Walmart or Costco, so they don’t cost me much at the outset, and they save me a lot of money when I add it up over time. Oil changes are not the hardest things to learn how to do for most vehicles either, and they require minimal tools and equipment (ramps).

@MarkCraig. At my local Rural King store, full synthetic oil under the Harvest King label is $2.79 a quart. The 0W-20 meets the specifications for my Toyota Sienna. I no longer do my own oil changes, but I bought a quart in case I need to add oil between changes.
If you are able to change your oil yourself or can find someone to do it, check your local farm stores and big box stores for the price of house brand oil that meets the specifications for your Honda.

Not everyone gave you snarky comments. Some of the responses were helpful, specifically the ones that told you to use 0W-20 oil, regardless of whether it is synthetic or a synthetic blend.

If money is tight, I recommend Walmart brand (Super Tech) 0W-20 oil. It’s full synthetic, but it’s less than $15 for a five-quart bottle.

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That’s what I generally use, the Supertech. I can’t stop with the 5k mile oil change interval so I hate to spend extra for Mobil 1, etc. Hopefully it’s good oil, at least good enough for a 5k mile interval.

It’s made to the same API standards as brand name oils.

Not only is Walmart oil made to API standards as @Whitey pointed out, it’s almost certainly made by a major name brand oil company. The oil company gets huge sales without advertising and can afford to sell to Walmart while still making money.

On nissanhelp.com the moderator drives his Pathfinder for around 300K miles already on SyperTech Synthetic and half a year back he published the Blackstone lab test results on his oil around the full 7K miles or so, it was still going strong.

Good to hear positive comments on the Wal Mart oil. I’ve never had an oil related engine failure (and I don’t want to start now). It’s usually the transmission that winds up being my issue.

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Some years back, Consumer Reports tested motor oils. The same brand of the same viscosity purchased in different states tested differently.
My guess is that a specific refinery may bottle oil under different brand names. That saves shipping charges. I bought some oil labelled “Wolf’s Head” at Minards. The price was right and it met the specifications for my car, so I “Ran With the Wolf”. When I read the fine print on the label, it came from the same refinery that bottles Quaker State. If the oil has the API stamp on the label and meets the specifications for your vehicle, it will be just fine for your car.

I change my own oil, I buy Toyota filters at the dealer, under $6. Mobile one at Walmart was $24and I got a $13 rebate from Mobil One.

I agree with the OP that the manual could be clearer. They make it sound like OW20 conventional oil is fine, but none is made.

Hi MarkCraig:
When money has been tight, I too have cut corners like you’re asking to do by saving money on oil. Many times it worked fine for me. Other times it didn’t.

Using anything other than synthetic is a gamble. If you use a synthetic blend, you might get lucky and win the gamble, especially if you change the oil more often (but then there goes the $$ savings).

If it were me, I’d try to follow the suggestions given above about finding inexpensive synthetic oil brands.

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 which, by default, means that the OP will wind-up buying 0W-20 synthetic or synthetic-blend oil.
Even though the manual should definitely be more specific in its statements, product availability is such that the OP would buy the proper type of oil by simply making sure to use only 0W-20.

Looking at the owner’s manual that @FoDaddy so graciously provided, I am struck by this:

Honda seems to be saying “We Recommend Honda brand 0W-20 oil, but another brand of oil will do as long as it is synthetic.”

Even more striking is the Ambient Temperature chart for your car. On most cars, it shows more than one oil viscosity. For example, this Ambient Temperature chart for my 1998 Civic shows I can use 10W-30 oil in temperatures above 20 degrees (F), but the preferred oil, which is acceptable at all temperatures, is 5W-30.

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So heed this warning: Only 0W-20 oil can be used in your car. Period, end of story. Do not use 5W-20 or 5W-30 to save a few dollars just so you can use conventional oil. If you do this, it’s not likely to make your engine die or even perform or sound noticeably worse, but the last thing you want to do if you’re short on money is shorten the life of your engine to save five dollars. You want this car to run as long as possible so you can catch up with your bills and get ahead before you eventually have to take on another monthly car payment.

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And as long as you change the oil often enough, I’m sure you could use 5W20 standard oil and not have any issues. A lot of cars recommend these ultra-low viscosity “energy saving” oils here in the U.S. but when sold overseas, the same exact engine recommends 5W30 or some other more common type of oil.

My wife’s 07 Lexus oil recommendation is 5w-30 (conventional or synthetic)
and my 14 Highland with the exact same engine oil recommendation is 0w-20. The reason - fuel economy
PERIOD. For t he past year I’ve actually been using 0w-30 in both vehicles.

You are committing a deliberate act of blasphemy!
Yet your car would most likely last the same as on recommended 0W20 or even longer :slight_smile: