Addressing Valve Discoloration in My Honda City 2015

[ahxanzz111]

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a Honda City 2015 and promptly changed its oil to 5W-30 Honda. Unfortunately, I neglected to inquire about the type of oil the previous owner had been using. During a recent visit to the workshop for tuning and valve adjustment, I was shown the condition of the valves, which appeared brownish in color. The mechanic informed me that the previous owner had likely been inconsistent with their choice of oil, frequently changing it.

The mechanic suggested changing the oil more frequently, approximately every 3,000 kilometers, to help clean the engine. Now, I'm reaching out to seek your guidance on this matter. What are some possible reasons for the valves turning this color, and what methods can we employ to effectively clean them, thus improving the engine's performance?

[affanhaq94]

Doesn't look overly bad tbh. Just looks like the previous owner didn't do as frequent oil changes as required.

I would run the correct viscosity and just change it at the appropriate interval. Some people would run an engine flush before the next change.

If it was mine, I'd change it once at 3000, then go for regular intervals.

[ifadey]

3000 km oil change or engine flush, both will help clean the engine.

[affanhaq94]

Whichever route you choose, please be sure to use quality products.

[Retaliator]

Thats gunk. Use liqui moly engine cleaner. Then go with Honda oils or use better ones in the market ILSAC GF-6 / GF-6A standard oils.

[engnr.mubashir]

90% of the cars in Pakistan have similar conditions so pretty much normal because people often delays oil change. You probably haven’t seen worse cars.

[pwuser162557941033]

That doesn't look too bad. The top of my 8th Gen Civic's engine also looked similar, and it has 195,000km on it. Also, those aren't the valves themselves, those are the rocker arms that move the valves as the camshaft rotates.

If you really do want to do a couple oil changes to clean it out, get the cheapest oil that meets your engine's specification and change it out often. Use an engine flush if you want, but using a Motul Engine Flush on my Civic didn't make a bit of difference to the visible condition.

Mixing oil brands makes no difference and does not cause this to happen.

If I were you, I'd be aware that Liquid Molvi or whatever imported oudh oil costs Rs. 12-15k for 4 liters, and I'd just buy as many liters of quality local 5W-30 as I could for that price. PSO, Shell, Caltex, Total, whatever is cheapest and matches API SL or higher. Change it often - even at 1,000km if you like burning money - and you'll be fine.

Here is what's underneath the valve cover on my Suzuki 660cc engine. The engine is 32 years old.

It basically had the oil changed every 1,000km for one reason or another over the past 12 months and I never put the same brand or viscosity in twice. Just whatever was cheapest and available at the time (and meets the manufacturer oil spec.)