Yep, new Civic has an oil life monitor. I'm at 3000 miles and it's still saying 70% oil life remaining. This is from memory, but I think it will indicate it's time to change the oil when it gets down to 15% and will stay on solid below 10%, and then if you go all the way to 0% it will keep track of the miles over you drive it.
While I admit I feel like it's time for my first oil change I guess your supposed to be able to trust those oil life monitors. My understanding is it counts engine revolutions as it's main determinant.
That said, you can send a sample in to be analyzed to see how much life is left in it. On my Insight I changed the oil ever 3500 miles figuring Arizona was extreme enough, but even the Mobil1 came out looking almost new. Synthetic oils tend to turn black earlier than conventional oils (color of the oil is no indicator of it's condition lifewise), so I imagine it would have been fine for several thousand more miles, but my maintenance records sure do look good.
While I admit I feel like it's time for my first oil change I guess your supposed to be able to trust those oil life monitors. My understanding is it counts engine revolutions as it's main determinant.
That said, you can send a sample in to be analyzed to see how much life is left in it. On my Insight I changed the oil ever 3500 miles figuring Arizona was extreme enough, but even the Mobil1 came out looking almost new. Synthetic oils tend to turn black earlier than conventional oils (color of the oil is no indicator of it's condition lifewise), so I imagine it would have been fine for several thousand more miles, but my maintenance records sure do look good.
