I change mine every 3k no matter what. You have to remember about how our di turbo motors work. Oil dilution is a big issue on our cars. I noticed driving until the service oil minder comes on and my oil would reak of fuel and my oil level would be higher on the dipstick quite a bit. Just my 2 cents.
And are you stock? No catless dp or anything? Also should read up on this https://www.civicx.com/threads/mape...-system-catch-can-testing-observations.31076/
The oil specs as well as the MM are designed to deal with and take into consideration the oil dilution issue with GDI and turbo engines. One of the members of this forum sent his oil to a testing lab after 6k miles, and they found that his oil was at acceptable levels and he could have gone all the way to 8 or 10k. Now it's not going to hurt your car to change your oil at 3k, but it is taking a bite out of your wallet
I don’t really agree with you on that. When I bought my 03 tiburon gt. I changed out a bunch of parts that needed changing and did an oil change using cheap synthetic oil and a k&n filter, my engine burned it down where there was no oil on the dipstick after a single month. I had to keep adding oil to the car. It had 160k at the time. There are no oil leaks in the engine and I made sure that everything in the engine was working properly and don’t say that I used the wrong oil or you’re meant to top off the car because it’s old. I tested high mileage oil in it too. It made it worse. When I used RP, most of my problems went away. My engine still burned oil, but it heavily reduced it to where it was a non factor. I never had to top off my oil except for one time I didn’t change the oil for half a year. I was a 3 months late on changes.
I will have to agree with @BoostedSiCoupe. All engine oils have to meet a minimum standard, as long as they are API SAE approved, they will protect your engine, even non-synthetic. I have owned 2 Camry's and a Toyota Corolla that both used non-synthetic, I drove them crazy hard and the engines lasted over 100K with zero issues (in those days synthetic was crazy expensive and mainly used in exotic sports cars). Your Tiburon definitely had an issue if you were having to add a quart a month. I owned a VW GTI, and it did the same thing...ate oil like there was no tomorrow. I had to put 20W50 in it to slow down the oil loss. Oils like Amsoil are good and all, but they are over priced and overkill and unnecessary expenses. It's the engine, not the oil
Well corolla and camrys wouldn’t use full synthetic anyways lol and their built to last long and be driven hard on the daily. Also if I am correct that a VW GTI is turbo then would require use of full synthetic and shouldn’t eat up a lot of oil like you say ‍
All new Toyotas from 2010 on now use full synthetics (or synthetic blends). The Toyotas I was referring to were 1995, 1999, and 2003 models. The VW GTI was a 1987 year model, a 1.8L engine, they were not turbocharged in those days. It was brand new when I bought it, and I believe it was spec'd for 10W40Well corolla and camrys wouldn’t use full synthetic anyways lol and their built to last long and be driven hard on the daily. Also if I am correct that a VW GTI is turbo then would require use of full synthetic and shouldn’t eat up a lot of oil like you say ‍
I do wish the car came with an oil pressure meter. While analog, I trusted it on my old 90s vehicles because if the pressure was reading low or high, I knew something was up with the oil level. I would see this error before the dummy light would appear (or not appear one time because the GM 3800 motor was 3qts low out of it's 4.5qt capacity. So glad I paid attention to the meter and noticed an issue arising before having the computer tell me.)
I'm still looking for a system I like, that is both functional and affordable.
I am by no means an expert, but I have done a lot of research, I have corresponded with Mobil 1, Amsoil, and Honda to try and get a better understanding of what the best oil, grade of oil, and change intervals. Honda and the oil companies fully understand the challenges of a downsized GDI turbocharged engine, challenges such as oil dilution, excess heat and pressure, and LSPI (low speed pre-ignition). Since 2014 companies like Honda, GM and Ford have worked with oil companies to overcome these challenges and have created standards to overcome these, such as ILSAC-GF5 and now GF6, API SA and SA Plus, dexos1 etc. Without getting into to much detail, they have taken into consideration oil dilution, heat generated by the turbocharger and other stresses on the oil when recommending the oil type as well as oil change interval. As far as using 0W20, the engine has been engineered and tested by Honda to correctly protect this engine in most scenarios. What I am saying is, if you follow the maintenance minder, as has been shown by those who have sent their oils to labs, your engine will be perfectly fine, withstanding something unforseenSo may theories and thoughts from so many, but very little verifiable facts.
(1) Is there a "special" Honda Break in oil, or not ?
(2) Is the oil that the Factory put into the engines, Synthetic or Not.
(3) What is the grade of the oil the factory put in .. 0W20 or something else.
(4) Why do Honda then recommend 0W20 ? Is it just because that is what they used to get documented higher MPG
(5) Is the real reason not to change the Factory oil, because of Molybdenum, either added to the oil, or washed off internal engine parts that were assembled with a Molybdenum based lubricant.
(6) Oil dilution .. of course it exist to some extend, (but really how much of an issue is it, and how to deal with it) KISS - just change the oil more often !!
I see myself having two options.
(1) Remain blissfully ignorant, and just follow Honda's and the Dealers recommendations, and then if anything goes wrong, hope that they will fix it to a reasonably level of being repaired & reliability.
(2) Try to figure out what this is really all about, and then make my own judgement as to if I am going to end up just doing #1, or am going to go may own way, for a valid, justifiable reason.
Being an "Engineer", and having been around car for more years than I want to admit to, I think I will take #2.
The ultra thin oil, with no real monitoring (pressure or temperature) leaves me considerably concerned. I am really considering adding such monitoring, as a higher priority, than addon Red Trim and other arbitrary accessories that are just cosmetic.
Already fitted a Direct Reading TPMS system... a decision I will never regret.
Once you have Direct TPMS, there is no going back to an indirect Idiot Light.
At the back of my mind is the idea that I want to keep the SI for a long time, but then, being realistic, in 10 year or less, an Electric Car may be a better option.
Whatever happens, and whatever I end up doing, it's going to be a FUN RIDE, (in so many ways), but I intend to control my own destiny, rather than rely on a "Dealer" to have my best interest at heart.
Thanks for your input and advice. I will obviously follow Honda's recommendations.
I agree with you, I don't rely on the dealer as well (in most cases). I directly contacted Honda for information. As an example, I also own a 2006 Toyota Camry SE. The dealer insisted oil changes should be 3000 miles while Toyota recommended 5000 miles minimum and 10K max. When I hit 30K the dealer told me I needed a mini tuneup including "valve adjustment". I knew that was BS, the maintenance schedule had no such service listed, and I know that most modern cars, including my Camry has self adjusting valves. Toyota has cracked down on dealers due to lots of complaints, so now you don't see as many bs services such as "fuel injection service", which is basically just a liquid they poured in your tank and charged you $120Thanks for your input and advice. I will obviously follow Honda's recommendations.
I just like to understand why they have those recommendations, and not be in the position of listening to BS from the Dealer, who often just make it up as they go along.
ie
Owner: Hey Dealer, you have way overfilled by oil.
Answer: That's normal - it's OK, it will just blow out what it does not need if its too high -- and we didn't charged you for the extra oil .
