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How often will you change your oil & filter?

23K views 36 replies 22 participants last post by  Foresight 
#1 · (Edited)
Every 3000?
Every 5000?
Every 7500?
When the displays % reads zero?

I don't see intervals in my owner's manual.

And, will you change the filter every time you change your oil.

I plan on using exclusively Mobile 1 oil and filter just like in my last two hybrids.
I even bring it into the dealer for them to use on the service intervals.
 
#7 ·
I suspect Honda may put some additive (moly?) in the oil of the new cars to help them break in better.
You may want to leave the new oil in till the computer tells you to change it.

IIRC, this was the case in my 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid.

Does anyone know for sure if there is an additive?
 
#4 ·
I am going with every 5000 miles. I just scheduled oil change #2 today, almost at 10,000 already...
 
#13 ·
I am at 50% and at 4900 miles. The dealer had no problem with me coming in for the change and filter.

You guys can have at it, but I have never owned a honda and my past cars never had engine problems and they were changed at 2500-3000 miles.

Changing oil too early wastes it. Changing it too late causes micro particles too fine for the filter to filter eat away at your engine parts. Keep in mind once the filter is plugged raw oil circulates around the engine.
 
#6 ·
Same here, nervous as it makes me to not have a 'hard' number like 6,000 miles, etc., I will trust the manufacturer.....

I am at 40% and 7983+ miles......
 
#15 ·
One of the biggest ongoing expenses to the manufacturer in the maintenance of an automobile while under warranty is the care and changing of fluids. Manufacturers are trying diligently to reduce any and all dealer visits as long as possible, while maintaining the performance and durability of the various vehicle components within nominal tolerance levels. Remember, all parts are in either of two states: Failing, or failed. You want the parts to extend the "failing" period as long as possible, before the inevitable "failed" state rears its ugly head.

For more than twenty years now, manufacturers have toyed with the ideas of lifetime fluids, sealed lubrication, reduced maintenance, etc. Sparkplugs are now lasting over 100,000 miles; "oil and lube" is a quaint anachronism; even rear axles (those that still exist) require virtually no attention from the end user for the life of the vehicle. It's a brave new world. ;)

Honda, among others, have incorporated a series of sensors that evaluate vehicle use, abuse, heat, wear, and driving conditions, eventually deciding, based on those parameters, when your engine oil has reached it's approximate lifetime of adequate lubrication (during the "failure" period). Then it warns the driver to perform an oil change, loooong before the oil "fails." It's good for the car, good for the user, good for the dealer, and good for the manufacturer.

So, bottom line... in vehicles so equipped, just trust the display telling you when to change the oil, use the recommended weight, and you'll be golden... :D
 
#19 ·
One of the biggest ongoing expenses to the manufacturer in the maintenance of an automobile while under warranty is the care and changing of fluids. Manufacturers are trying diligently to reduce any and all dealer visits as long as possible
:D
Although I would think that oil changes would be somehting they would want to have people head into the dealer for as that is a money maker for the dealers.
 
#16 ·
Bravo,..........Bravo,................... I concur..........CS prevails.

Willie
 
#17 ·
I guess I'm just "old school" in thinking that the sensors might not be sensing everything. And that changing the oil "early" doesn't hurt anything. But to me changing oil every 5000 miles will put me at about 6 months under normal circumstances, and that's way longer than I let oil dwell in most of the other vehicles that I have.

For example:

S2000 -every 1000 miles (I beat the crap out of that car)
Motorcycle - every 500 miles (It doesn't even have an oil filter)
Tacoma - Every six months, that's probably ~2000 miles

Now with your money, you can do as you see fit. I just like the extra insurance.
 
#18 ·
I remember one of my engineering class was fluid study (I know there was a more scientific name of the class, but I forgot with time... shame on me, I know...). In this class, we analyzed oil in several ways : max temp before breaking acceptable viscosity point, lifetime, etc. And for normal oil, lifetime was something like 40,000 miles on a gasoline combustion engine. I remember the teacher saying "your oil filter will get packed before the oil is not good anymore, so the reason for maintenance is the filter, not the oil".

This being said, the synthetic oil has an even longer possible lifetime. But since the oil filter will be the cause of maintenance, I do believe the same "carbon packing rate" will apply on it either for normal or sythetic oil. However, the I2 burns 1/2 time less gasoline than other cars, or even a bit less, depending on how we drive it. Since the usual maintenance on a car would be roughly be required at 5000 miles, I would be comfortable with 10,000 miles between changes on the I2.

I'm following the MID indicator since a while, and it seems to lead for a 0% around 12,000 miles. The recommendation from the dealer is to change oil at 20%, which should be around 10,000 miles. From the analysis above, I buy that ;)
 
#21 ·
When I use to be a scion owner, we did it at 2500 after it started to look dirty and pass golden brown, to a dark brown color. We were anal about maintaining our little funny shaped cars.

When the next xb came out with the camry engine, we found the oil was still light golden brown at 2500 miles and were going to try changing the filter only. We did go from the toyota oem filter to the trd filter, but noticed no difference in oil color and none of us could see spending the bones for an oil analist vs just changing it.

I remember the teacher saying "your oil filter will get packed before the oil is not good anymore, so the reason for maintenance is the filter, not the oil".
Now my toy dealer used the oil change as a scam like to get more business as mentioned in the post above. They said the oil change and filter were free, but you paid 50 bucks for the visit and they checked everything, topped all fluids including windshield washer, rotated tires, vacuumed and washed car. THey ofered a lifetime engine warranty, but you had to get it serviced by them every 5 thousand miles.
 
#25 ·
I can't help but think of how many people that I know who have had their oil changed at 3000 miles, and gone to dealers and 'fast lube' type places that never got their oil life monitors reset and 1500 miles or so down the road their change oil lights have come on. I can see that being an issue with these cars too as the quick lube places rarely think about it and will just slap their current miles+3000 miles/3 months sticker on there.

I guess what I have to say is, if you get your oil changed make sure that either they reset it, or reset it yourself because if you don't you will be guessing and guessing at a number arond 10,000+ miles could be a bad idea.

My 95 Prizm gets oil+filter changes(standard 'dino'/non-synthetic oil) every 15k miles, it does consume some oil but I've done used oil analysis and it came back with positive results so running 0w20 or 5w20 for the maintenence minder recommended time shouldn't be a problem, especially using a synthetic. Does Honda recommend/require a synthetic for the I2?
 
#26 ·
Although I would think that oil changes would be somehting they would want to have people head into the dealer for as that is a money maker for the dealers.
You would think, but... :cool:

Manufacturers have an uneasy alliance with dealers... they know for a fact that the dealers are out to drain the buyers' wallets as quickly and as efficiently as legally possible. So they don't discourage those oil changes that undercut the recommended factory intervals, and allow them to set their own labor prices, selling prices, etc. They don't necessarily like the dealers. But as long as their cars are on the books and the dealer pays for them, then there's a lot of looking askance at dealer uses and abuses. The amount of tolerance can be rapidly diminished, but never completely eliminated, if and when the manufacturer gets a lot of complaints about a specific dealer's shady practices, as they tend to back their dealer (who is buying hundreds of cars from them) over your one-car relatively-piddly complaint. But basically, once that contract is signed by the customer, they really couldn't care less if a dealer ever sees the car again or not.

That's why it's important, if you have a serious bone* to pick with a dealer, that you let the dealer know right off the bat that you'll go nuclear on their sorry butts if the complaint is not immediately handled, that you'll escalate your complaint to the manufacturer and simultaneously cc the biggest, brashest local media ombudsman, making your issue a very loud and very public and very embarrassing event for everyone. It's not a time to be shy, it's a time to get a reluctant manufacturer to back you instead of the dealer.

Sorry to drift off topic so much... :rolleyes:

*And by that, I mean a transmission gone bad or a big battery not covered by warranty, not trifling complaints about fit and finish or paint with orange-peel.
 
#27 ·
Got my oil changed and alignment. I was a little over 5000 miles on the clock. I asked the service man and he said some people wait til 10 thousand miles or the wrench appears. He said he will do what i want, but in the future not to worry til 1 year or 10 thousand miles for hwy driving.

 
#28 ·
After changing the oil in my wifes civic last night and cursing it as i usually do I have to ask this question.

Is the oil filter on the front or backside of the engine. When changing the filter on my 2000 insight I hardly ever make a mess getting the fitler off since it is on front side it seems to drain well. Dang 2004 civic ex has the filter on the back side. lots of obstructions to get to the filter, pita to get the filter off without getting myself oiled in the process.

So which side did they put it on the new insight. If it is on the back side i am going to be bummed.

bob
marshall, il
 
#29 ·
guys

i might have a problem.

i bought an insight sunday, 7 days ago. i absolutely love the car. but i might have done something stupid.

im a believer of synth oils. i had a 1992 civic LX that i drove for 367k miles until the head gasket went bad and sold the thing for $650 in 2007. i loved that car and it has seen all 50 states.

back to the I2...

last friday, i did what i did with the civic. i changed the oil to mobil 1 at 300 miles. on the civic, i think i changed it at 100 miles.

my problem is, i have read somewhere and also in the owners manual not to change the factory fill until the first scheduled oil change at 10k miles because the factory fill contains alot of additives for the break-in process.

what are your opinion on this? em i screwed now with my break-in process? how do i put those additives back for the first 10k. i wished i would have saved the factory fill oil
 
#30 ·
I don't know the details, but check out the Bob is the Oil Guy web site and you will find that the oil geeks there say that generally, and especially on Hondas, you should leave the factory fill in until the recommended first oil change - and then do what you think best after that. The factory fill will be different than the Honda branded oil your dealer sells.
 
#31 ·
9XXX miles on my I2.
Got it since early April '09, which is ~3 weeks after official release date.

Haven't had the 1st oil change (free oil change from dealer) but I will do that when the maintenance reminder says so. I do check dipstick regularly to make sure the oil level is right. It became my habit because my other car (Subaru WRX) burns 1 quart every 3,000 miles.

Meanwhile, I do my own tire rotation every 5,000 miles.
 
#33 ·
Mine was a leftover 2013, so on the lot for quite a while, say 7 months, then I bought it in March of 2014. The break in oil was already 7+ months old. By the time the car had 5,000 miles or so, the oil was 19 months old. I talked to two dealer service guys and they both agreed that it should be changed due to age. Had it changed March 2015.

I'm only doing one oil change a year at the rate I'm not piling up miles. Will probably end up doing my own oil changes. Have done them for all my vehicles. I find it a pretty easy job. Save's $$, and time commuting to/waiting at dealership, too. Haven't decided which synthetic I'll use.

If miles pile up faster at some point, I'd go with the 20% to 15% MID indicator.
 
#34 ·
Changing oil

I have always taken my car in to Honda every 10,000 miles, regardless of what the computer said. It always had at least 5-10% left. With coupons from the dealers, the cost was not that bad. It gave me peace of mind that they were the only ones that did any work on it while under warranty. They also kept up with the computer updates.
 
#35 ·
The nice thing about getting a service center to change your oil is that it leaves history on car fax if you are considering selling or trading the vehicle down the road.

I saw mycarfax had an option to add service, however I do not know if it shows up on a report or if its for your own personal notes.
 
#36 ·
Usually every 10k ... sometimes the computer hits 5%.

I have an alignment coming up at the dealer and was going to have them change the oil for me but when they said I don't know the cost, $60? I was like hell no I'll do it myself ... as I have about 16 or 17 times before.
 
#37 ·
When I change my own oil, I know that the oil was drained properly. I know which oil is used and that a new oil filter was actually installed. I know I don't take shortcuts to maximize my profit. I know that, because I do it.

I have little faith in dealership service departments. These guys in the service bays are multitasking and in a hurry. If you have anyone else change your oil, make sure you check the dipstick and make sure that it indicates the oil is at the proper level.

If you don't check it and the oil guy lost count of how many quarts he put in, say he misses just one, you won't know what the baseline level was the next time you check. About 14 years ago, my wife drove her van home after the oil was changed and it sounded like a diesel. I checked the oil, and added 4 of the 5 quarts it held, before I saw any sign of oil on the dipstick. It took 5 quarts. We traded that van in at their dealership, and never allowed them to touch our car again. It only takes one time.
 
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