[Joseph Silva]

I'm about to change my car's oil for the first time but am wondering what kind of oil to use. I'm thinking about Valvoline because I just received a Valvoline coupon but I don't know if their service is good. I'm an inexperienced person looking for someone to help me share my experience.
Thanks everyone.

 

[bluetegjoe]

Valvoline as an oil is fine but the bigger question is wether the shop with the coupons is to be trusted. Look up the shops in your area on yelp and google and pick one based on customer ratings. From personal experience, the quality of the work varies widely from shop to shop. Because of the location of the oil filter in these cars, a bad shop can leave an oily mess under the car. At worst, a bad shop can strip the drain hole in your oil pan.

 

[merlinj79]

I would not use any quick-lube shop, I've had very bad experiences.

I only took a car there once in my life when I had a broken ankle. They over-filled the oil which blew out the rear main so I needed a new clutch (they finally paid for it, but they sure made it hard). In retrospect, I should have changed it myself, the cast wasn't actually that awkward.

My Mom's car had several issues over the years, they left the fill cap off once, oil went everywhere, and got into the alternator brushes. The Alt failed a few months later, too late to get any help from quick-lube.

At best they're likely to screw something up, at worst outright fraud... there are NUMEROUS expose videos on youtube if you want to watch their fraud in action.

I'd do it yourself if practical or take it to a reputable mechanic or even a dealer. I use Mobile-1, never had a bottom or top-end issue in 20 years, and run my cars to 200k (the TSX will probably go to closer to 300k). I use conservative but not wasteful OCI. I actually use 10K OCI on the TSX since it's mostly highway miles and it consumes enough oil that it gets a fresh quart about every 5K anyway (I use extended life filters).