[david]

I am a little over 3,000 miles now with my new Insight. With other cars I've had I've been pretty good about regular oil changes. The manual says the first service is around 6 or 7 thousand miles. (I don't have it with me right now.) Anyway, going that far without an oil change is making nervous, but what do you experts have to say. I seem to remember new cars having engine conditioners added to the oil and so on, but should I be getting nervous?

Also, is there a favorite brand of oil that has had good results in this car?

 

[Billy]

Here is my advice; others may disagree somewhat. I would recommend you do your own oil change, if you like working on cars. Put it up on 4 jackstands, have a work light under the car, and become familiar with all the 10mm bolts, and exactly where they go. Then, clean & wipe down everything you can reach up into the engine. Change your oil at 3750 miles, and use the Honda 0-20 (2.6 qts) the first time. Then, change it every 3750 miles and begin using Mobil 1 0-20. Billy....

 

[bigtrouble77]

I've had my oil changed after 8,000 miles once. Worried, I asked the mechanic how it looked and he said 'crystal clear'. I rarely stress the car so that may have a bit to do with it. Now I went that long once with my '93 accord and the oil was like tar.

-Bob

 

[Tim Maddux]

I have stuck with Honda 0w-20 oil since getting my Insight. AFAIK no other company makes a standard (non-synthetic, natural, whatever you call it) 0w-20 oil.

I have been trying unsuccessfully to find Mobil1 0w-20 for the past year at local Wal-Marts.

 

[Braxus]

Interestingly enough my local walmart has just started to stock 0W-20 oil... Pepboys here now sells them here as well.

I generally change my oil at around 5,000 miles. Easy number to remember.

 

[Rick]

Agreed, changing the oil more often won't hurt a thing. Even though my synthetic comes out just barely brown (synthetic changes color much faster) I still change it on my 3,500 mile interval.

As far as locating Mobil oil, they just opened up a WalMart Super Center 2 miles down the road from me and when I finally went there they had 0W-20. No case, so I just picked up 3 quarts. $3.78 a quart too so a pretty good deal. My local PepBoys also has it now. I've been continually checking other stores. Checkers doesn't seem to be interested in stocking it any time soon.

 

[Guest]

Hi All:

___I know some of you have read this already but my local Honda dealer will do the oil and filter change for just $9 and change if I hand them the 0W-20 Mobil 1 Tri-syn and the Supertech filter. The Honda dealer is within a mile so that helps as well … If you don’t want to mess with the jack stands and getting rid of the 2.5 + qt’s and used filter, I highly recommend that you check your local Honda dealers pricing on this particular service with your own oil and filter. At that price, I stopped changing my own in all my cars and now the Honda dealership does it!

___Tim, just ask the CSR in the automobile area to start stocking Mobil1 0W-20 for you. My local Walmart stocks it now because I asked them too.

___All, Arizona Rick can tell you a rather interesting story about his Insight up on ramps when changing oil a few months ago. That pushed me over the edge anyway …

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:1oa5k9eh][email protected][/email:1oa5k9eh]

 

[Resist]

Just stick to what the owners manual says for when to change the oil. Believe me, you can go much further in mileage, so don't be nervous. I can tell you this, I had a 4 cylinder 4WD truck and used to change the oil every 8000 to 10,000 miles. Not once did I ever have an oil related engine problem on that engine and it had almost 260,000 miles on it before I traded it in. The only thing I did was make sure I used a new oil filter for every oil change.

 

[boogetyboogety]

7,500? 10,000? What's right for your car?

Did I read somewhere that Honda had officially changed their oil change intervals to 10,000 miles on some models? It might have been here, even. Life would be so much easier then...

The reason I mention this, for the last 30 or so years I have used Mobil 1 exclusively in all our vehicles (personal and business) with an easy-to-remember 10,000 mile schedule, regardless of what the manufacturer says. We have NEVER had any sort of engine problem with any of the vehicles during their time with us (if I had to guess, minimum 95,000 miles before trade-in or sale; maximum, well, one of our Mitsubishi minitrucks has 276,000 on it and is still running strong, no smoke, no knocks, no issues).

This was done because we believed the inherent superiority of the Mobil 1 synthetic product would keep our engines running longer with reduced maintenance costs, offsetting the initial higher cost of the oil, while slightly extending the oil change interval for additional savings over the life of the vehicle.

In our businesses, we self-insure a lot of potential problems... with this in mind, the only reason to follow manufacturers' oil change intervals is to have a fallback warranty position in case of any engine problems. If, for instance, a Nissan truck calls for a 5,000 mile interval, and we go 10,000, and the engine seizes during the warranty period, the manufacturer can say "but you didn't follow our recommendations, so the damage is not covered under our warranty." That's a warranty claim that's not going to be paid.

But if you trust your engine is well-made, and the oil you use is superior, and you believe your engine will never suffer from your decision to extend the mileage between oil changes, then warranty issues become moot. It's like getting insurance coverage against, say, a herd of stampeding bullfrogs. After a while, when it becomes clear the bullfrogs ain't gonna come, you drop coverage. Based on our experience over the years, we began to realize substantial operational savings could be realized with this train of thought.

I am almost afraid that this opinion on my part may generate tons of replies along the lines of "but Honda says..." or "you're just asking for trouble..." or "my mechanic says..." :roll: Rest assured, I am NOT saying "you're wrong" or "you're right" to the way YOU may be doing it. Just thought I'd say how I've been doing it, my success with my methods, and my satisfaction with this method over the years, for your information, amusement, and kindest review. But... your mileage may vary.

 

[Guillermo]

I agree that it's safe for many people to change their synthetic oil and filter every 10,000 miles. It really depends on several driving factors and environmental factors.
The only way to be sure it to get oil analysis.
Oil analysis turns the guesswork of when to change engine oil into a science. It's common practice in industry, because it saves money in the long run.