The Honda PCX / Forza / ADV150 / SH Forums

did an oil change today on my PCX, current mileage is 1740, i decided to change the oil and i noticed it was really dark / black when checking it,, the last oil change was the first service around the 600 miles mark, so thats 1100 miles give or take since the last change..

when i drained the oil it was black! like very black, as if it wasn't changed on the last service. either that or a non synthetic oil was used when the PCX specifically asks for fully synthetic oil to be used in which it would never turn that dark even after 3/4k miles... hmm

I would be suspicious that it was not changed. I change mine every 1800 miles and at that point it is getting reasonably dark. I only use the Honda specified oil which is quite light when first checking after an oil change.

I think it will have been changed but with what I don't know :/ I seriously don't trust my dealers service department anymore

Some people suggest going fully synthetic from the start was not so good and to let the engine bed in before going fully synthetic, others say that's an old rumour. Either way, any fairly decent oil let alone that supplied from the factory should not have gone black in 1500 or so miles! Something wrong there.
I had mine serviced at 600 and now have done nearly 4100 miles - no other service and I will do them myself from now on - but I last checked the oil level a few weeks backs and the oil was still a nice colour.

It's not a suggestion, Honda specifically states that this engine is designed for synthetic oil only.

Did the oil smell bad? Even if its not clear, as long as it's not thick and smelly, it was probably okay.

maddiedog wrote: Honda specifically states that this engine is designed for synthetic oil only.

Source or a link?

iceman wrote:Some people suggest going fully synthetic from the start was not so good and to let the engine bed in before going fully synthetic, others say that's an old rumour. Either way, any fairly decent oil let alone that supplied from the factory should not have gone black in 1500 or so miles! Something wrong there.
I had mine serviced at 600 and now have done nearly 4100 miles - no other service and I will do them myself from now on - but I last checked the oil level a few weeks backs and the oil was still a nice colour.

You check your oil level every few weeks?
I commute to work daily on my scoot....and unscrew that dipstick every day , usually at lunch time.
Oil is so critical to the health of small aircooled engines......
You're water cooled, but for me oil is too important to ignore for days at a time.
Fish

fish wrote:

iceman wrote:Some people suggest going fully synthetic from the start was not so good and to let the engine bed in before going fully synthetic, others say that's an old rumour. Either way, any fairly decent oil let alone that supplied from the factory should not have gone black in 1500 or so miles! Something wrong there.
I had mine serviced at 600 and now have done nearly 4100 miles - no other service and I will do them myself from now on - but I last checked the oil level a few weeks backs and the oil was still a nice colour.

You check your oil level every few weeks?
I commute to work daily on my scoot....and unscrew that dipstick every day , usually at lunch time.
Oil is so critical to the health of small aircooled engines......
You're water cooled, but for me oil is too important to ignore for days at a time.
Fish

No, now check the oil perhaps once every 3 months or so. The bike is running like a dream, there is no oil leak on the bike nor my drive nor where I park at work - so I now check less than when I did during the early months.

So your 2015 pcx 125 's Honda manual advises to use full synthetic only ?. 2015 pcx 150's are advised to use semi- synthetic (with Moly). Hmmm , the differences?.

I wonder if they used that reconditioned oil.

The two dealers here within 10 miles, don't even stock the recommended oil (Pro Honda 10w30 MB rated) they do carry it in 10w40 grade. It is a synthetic blend, from what I have read. The manual for the 2015 PCX 150 does say to use "motorcycle" oil. The only motorcycle oil I saw at Walmart was mostly 15w50 or thicker oils, and MA jaso rated. It is my feeling that FUll synthetic 10w30 would be better that motorcycle oils which are usually blended for air cooled wet clutch engines. As I stated elsewhere "Bob the oil guy" on the internet performed wear tests on many oils, including racing oils that are not street legal, and Pennzoil full synthetic 5w30 was by far the most wear resistant 115,000 pounds pressure before it gave up. Mobile-One was good to about 105,000. He did not test Pro Honda oils, but did about 70 different oils, Amisol (name?) etc.. The surprising thing to me was the thicker oils did not beat the 30w and even some lower 0w20s in wear protection. I paid almost $10 for Penzoil 10-30 at PepBoys, the 5-30 was about the same price. My PCX currently has about 1740 miles on it., I plan to change my own oil at 25k, unless it looks dirty before that.

Recommended oil being Pro Honda? My 2015 PCX 2015 owners manual states use normal 4-stroke engine oil that meets the Jaso standard and is not energy saving.

Sorry, synthetic blend "or equivalent."
HP4M is a synthetic blend.

Conventional oil is inferior to synthetic -- this is a fact, not conjecture. If the specification calls for a synthetic blend, use a fully synthetic or a blend.

You'll probably be ok with dino oil, but I wouldn't risk it, especially given how ridiculously cheap a quart of oil per 3k miles is.

My dealership uses a semi-sythentic ProLine oil, no problem so far, but am tempted to swap out to a Silkolene Full Synthetic oil with Ether additive. Few years back my father owned a Suzuki GS500E and noticed it ran much smoother on the Silkolene stuff.

Oil has a real science behind it, some people refuse to believe this and that is perfectly within their rights, and is their choice to do so. Everyone uses their bike differently, all we can do is share experiences

Maddiedog - is that from the service manual? I had a look in the owners manual before my last post and I was sure it just said 4 stroke engine oil with a few requirements such as non energy saving. I wonder if different manuals / regions state different things.

That's from the service manual, not the owners manual, which is probably why every time I say Honda recommends synthetic, a bunch of people question me.

There's no reason not to run synthetic regardless, even during break-in. The conjecture that conventional oil is better during break-in is just that, conjecture. The PCX ships with HP4M, and I recommend everyone run a full synthetic uncompromisingly. There really is no reason not to, unless you're upset over the extra $4 a quart of synthetic will cost over conventional.

maddiedog wrote:That's from the service manual, not the owners manual, which is probably why every time I say Honda recommends synthetic, a bunch of people question me.

There's no reason not to run synthetic regardless, even during break-in. The conjecture that conventional oil is better during break-in is just that, conjecture. The PCX ships with HP4M, and I recommend everyone run a full synthetic uncompromisingly. There really is no reason not to, unless you're upset over the extra $4 a quart of synthetic will cost over conventional.

There's no reason to, there's no reason not to...? It's just oil in a low powered economy vehicle and won't make any difference to the price of tomatoes at the end of the day.

It depends entirely on how long you want your PCX to last.

It's like buying a roof or painting your house. You can use cheap shingles or cheap paint, but they won't keep your house dry or looking good for as long. They'll work, but why skimp out when you don't have to?

Conventional oil breaks down faster, provides less shearing lubrication, and will therefore cause your engine to last less long. The question is, how long is less long? 60k miles versus 70k? 100k vs 200k? It likely won't matter, but in case it does, I think the benefits far outweigh the extra $4 an oil change.

Has anyone used fully synthetic Silkolene oil in their Pcx? i'd be curious to hear what they thought of it, and how it looked after a few thousand miles, compared to the normal standard stuff.

maddiedog wrote:That's from the service manual, not the owners manual, which is probably why every time I say Honda recommends synthetic, a bunch of people question me.
There's no reason not to run synthetic regardless, even during break-in. The conjecture that conventional oil is better during break-in is just that, conjecture. The PCX ships with HP4M, and I recommend everyone run a full synthetic uncompromisingly. There really is no reason not to, unless you're upset over the extra $4 a quart of synthetic will cost over conventional.

Just checked my service manual, which in the UK comes as the older 125-150 PCX + 2015 addendum, and it reads almost like yours but instead of ProHonda states 'Honda 4 stroke motorcycle oil or equivalent' which ties-in with the bit in yours that adds 'USA or Canada' next to the ProHonda. Exactly as stated in the europe owners manuals (hence 150cc covered to as UK is 125 only). Wonder why they don't mention ProHonda for europe?
Still, as many have said, stick to good quality 'runny stuff' from good manufacturers, make sure it's not energy saving and within the temp range for your locale. Can't really go wrong can you.