Oil Life Indicator VS. 10K Synth Oil

[joecalta3]

I drive my 2017 EX Civic appx 6K miles a year. The oil life indicator tells me it's time for a oil change at about 4K miles. I use Mobile One Synth oil (0-w20) which is rated for 10K miles. Should I ignore the life indicator and ride out the oil to about 8 or 9K in mileage? Or change the oil when says to, which is way less then the life expectancy of the oil? Also, I am using the following filter, rated at 20K miles.

FRAM XG7317 Ultra Synthetic

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[saiko21]

10K miles is only if you drive a lot on highway and not it city. 6k miles/yr seems like you do lot of short drives which reduces oil life badly.

Honda algorithm calculates how many miles you are driving and how frequently you are stopping and restarting the car and other factors to show the oil life. So, change it accordingly.

Also, may be you or the service guy forgot to reset the maintenance indicator after oil change. It might happen and you alone should know

 

[jred721]

I put a REALLY low amount of miles on my civic per year (~13k miles on odo after getting it in march 2018) and I follow the maintainance minder exactly. As the guy above me said, its not mileage but the way you use your car.

 

[joecalta3]

Great points all. Apprecaite the feedback.

 

[Rickmeister 48]

Everyone hit it on the nose, I just want to add that I'm pretty sure despite the mileage listed on that oil, that it also says if your car is under warranty, to still follow the manufactures recommendations.

 

[PNWCIVICSPORTHB]

change mine at 5k miles , i suscribe to the "oil is cheap ,engines are expensive " crowd. with all the stories of dilution it seems to be even more important to change it often

 

[Flaco1er]

Got my 2020 a month ago and has under 3k with 50% life already with some oil res on my exhaust tip; seemed odd so I called the dealer to make an appointment for next week to make sure everything still good.

She mentioned its because Honda uses starter oil when they come in ?‍?‍ hopefully its just that.

I have been beating on it tho since the roads are empty due to the pandemic maybe that's why I burned through so fast.

 

[SpringRubber]

@Flaco1er -- or maybe it's all doze up-n-down hills inda Poconos.

Funny -- I seem to be getting the reverse from most of you and while I do baby my braking I'm not opposed to pushing the throttle from time to time. BUT I also drive short distances: 2 years now with a daily commute of 3 miles each way and just 6K miles per year. You'd think the MM on oil would hate how I drive. Yet the MM tells me the oil is way good. Last month it was telling me the oil was at 40% life (after 10 months & 6200 miles) but check the attached lab report which says otherwise: change it now, due to fuel dilution and reduced viscosity. sigh.

I changed the oil just yesterday and here's the volume of what I drained out. You can see it's a half quart more than the approx 3.7 quarts that I had put in. Yeah, I knew my oil level was elevated per the dipstick but seeing the old oil in the jug makes it pretty clear.

Definitely will change oil based on time, distance and driving style and let the MM be a guide, not the rule!

 

[Flaco1er]

@Flaco1er -- or maybe it's all doze up-n-down hills inda Poconos.

Lmaooo might very well be I do love hitting the Delaware Water Gap where all them WRXs be cornering

I’ll find out Wednesday

 

[Nessism]

I change at 5k too. While in theory the MM should manage the best change interval, the oil dilution issue with the turbo engine is clear evidence that you shouldn't put blind faith in Honda.

 

[biosses]

don't go by what the oil company says, what the oil companies claim is based on 100% optimal conditions.....nobody drives in 100% optimal conditions,

follow your MM, i normally don't let mine get below 30% to be safe

your oil should be changed once a year REGARDLESS of what the MM says,

so its one year, OR MM....whichever comes first

same here, i change the oil at 30%

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