Honda Car Forum

i'm sure everyone asks this.. but i'm going to ask anyways

i have a '96 Civic EX (1.6L sohc vtec), if i'm not mistaken.. just hit
16000 miles.

here it comes....... what kind of oil should i use? preferrably
something that I can have them use at wal-mart.. and i already know not
to use fram.

is there a specific spark plug that would give me better fuel efficiency?
if not, what would be the best ones to use? i guess a balance between
cost and performance..

also, my car gets about 20mpg (mostly delivering pizza) ... should i be
getting more? what could i do to improve that? .. other than quitting my
job

thanks in advance!

--
-Chris

http://www.ChrisGarcia.com <- My Homepage
http://www.chrisgarcia.com/cars/ <- *NEW* My cars
http://www.chrisgarcia.com/dogs/ <- *Sort-of NEW* My dogs
http://starwars.chrisgarcia.com/ <- Centerpoint Station, the "ghost-
town" of the Star Wars Universe!

I use Mobil 1 synthetic and NGK spark plugs. I got around 25 mpg on a 96 EX.

Chris Garcia wrote:

> i'm sure everyone asks this.. but i'm going to ask anyways
>
> i have a '96 Civic EX (1.6L sohc vtec), if i'm not mistaken.. just hit
> 16000 miles.
>
> here it comes....... what kind of oil should i use? preferrably
> something that I can have them use at wal-mart.. and i already know not
> to use fram.
>
> is there a specific spark plug that would give me better fuel efficiency?
> if not, what would be the best ones to use? i guess a balance between
> cost and performance..
>
> also, my car gets about 20mpg (mostly delivering pizza) ... should i be
> getting more? what could i do to improve that? .. other than quitting my
> job
>
> thanks in advance!
>
> --
> -Chris
>
> http://www.ChrisGarcia.com <- My Homepage
> http://www.chrisgarcia.com/cars/ <- *NEW* My cars
> http://www.chrisgarcia.com/dogs/ <- *Sort-of NEW* My dogs
> http://starwars.chrisgarcia.com/ <- Centerpoint Station, the "ghost-
> town" of the Star Wars Universe!

I use Honda oil, but I used to buy castrol. I think no matter much which
brand. I do not use Mobil 1 because I drive ~80 miles everyday, and for this
reason I change my oil every 2 months.
For spark plugs, use NGK, you can't go wrong and they are cheap. I used to
have Bosch but I think NGK is better and cheaper.
I get ~34 mpg with my 98 civic coupe.

"Chris Garcia" <NcOhSrPiAsM@chrisgarcia.com> wrote in message
news:Xns93D3E9E9861D7NcOhSrPiAsMchrisgarc@68.12.19 .6...
> i'm sure everyone asks this.. but i'm going to ask anyways
>
> i have a '96 Civic EX (1.6L sohc vtec), if i'm not mistaken.. just hit
> 16000 miles.
>
> here it comes....... what kind of oil should i use? preferrably
> something that I can have them use at wal-mart.. and i already know not
> to use fram.
>
> is there a specific spark plug that would give me better fuel efficiency?
> if not, what would be the best ones to use? i guess a balance between
> cost and performance..
>
> also, my car gets about 20mpg (mostly delivering pizza) ... should i be
> getting more? what could i do to improve that? .. other than quitting my
> job
>
> thanks in advance!
>
> --
> -Chris
>
> http://www.ChrisGarcia.com <- My Homepage
> http://www.chrisgarcia.com/cars/ <- *NEW* My cars
> http://www.chrisgarcia.com/dogs/ <- *Sort-of NEW* My dogs
> http://starwars.chrisgarcia.com/ <- Centerpoint Station, the "ghost-
> town" of the Star Wars Universe!

"Chris Garcia" <NcOhSrPiAsM@chrisgarcia.com> wrote in message
news:Xns93D3E9E9861D7NcOhSrPiAsMchrisgarc@68.12.19 .6...

> here it comes....... what kind of oil should i use? preferrably
> something that I can have them use at wal-mart.. and i already know not
> to use fram.

I've always used Penzoil 5W-30 in my '97 Civic EX. I was using Honda oil
filters (made by Filtech), until some posts here and a website convinced me
to just buy STPs and be happy.

> is there a specific spark plug that would give me better fuel efficiency?

Just get the correct NGKs. I always use the non-platinum ones, which are
way cheaper.

> also, my car gets about 20mpg (mostly delivering pizza) ... should i be
> getting more?

I would think so...my car (5 spd, BTW) has never dropped below 30 mpg,
regardless of how/where/when I have driven it. I just filled up today, and
averaged around 34 mpg on my last tank. On extended interstate driving, I
can get 36 or better.

-patrick

"P. Moss" <psmoss@nospam-qx.net> decided to join the conversation on 11
Aug 2003 with message news:vjgnlb2rvs9n16@corp.supernews.com:

>> also, my car gets about 20mpg (mostly delivering pizza) ... should i
>> be getting more?
>
> I would think so...my car (5 spd, BTW) has never dropped below 30 mpg,
> regardless of how/where/when I have driven it. I just filled up
> today, and averaged around 34 mpg on my last tank. On extended
> interstate driving, I can get 36 or better.

yeah... i was kinda embarrassed .. talking with my mom about gas
mileage.. she said that their 99 cr-v gets about 20mpg in city... argh.

i'm betting something is probably worn out due to age.. my grandfather
(who i got the car from) didn't drive it much .. kept very good records
on it, but i think everything was done based on mileage.. is it possible
for spark plugs and wires to deteriorate over 7 1/2 years?

--
-Chris

http://www.ChrisGarcia.com <- My Homepage
http://www.chrisgarcia.com/cars/ <- *NEW* My cars
http://www.chrisgarcia.com/dogs/ <- *Sort-of NEW* My dogs
http://starwars.chrisgarcia.com/ <- Centerpoint Station, the "ghost-
town" of the Star Wars Universe!

Chris Garcia <NcOhSrPiAsM@chrisgarcia.com> decided to join the conversation
on 10 Aug 2003 with message news:Xns93D3E9E9861D7NcOhSrPiAsMchrisgarc@
68.12.19.6:

> also, my car gets about 20mpg (mostly delivering pizza) ... should i be
> getting more?

a followup.. took a 140 mile (round trip) trip to Baton Rouge.. Got ~
38mpg.. it must be my driving habits in the city.. i need to stop
accelerating so quickly.. cut back on the a/c usage. the tank before the
trip, i did try to calm it down a little, got up to 22mpg


--
-Chris

http://www.ChrisGarcia.com <- My Homepage
http://www.chrisgarcia.com/cars/ <- *NEW* My cars
http://www.chrisgarcia.com/dogs/ <- *Sort-of NEW* My dogs
http://starwars.chrisgarcia.com/ <- Centerpoint Station, the "ghost-town"
of the Star Wars Universe!