1st oil change

frontlinegeek

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Call me crazy but I don't trust anyone else to do it. Twenty years ago one service guy stripped the threads on the oil pan and another time a guy didn't remove the old gasket and all my oil came out on the ground.
Exactly. Many that come on these forums to post and not just read, should be well capable of doing an oil change and we are all likely better on the average than the knob that is hired to only change oil at the shops (They DON'T have to be a mechanic and most don't know that this is the case).
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Gruber

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all of my driving is local short trip, stop and go. At 5K miles my MM is at 10% so I DIY my oil change every 5K. The drain oil is always thin, black, and smelly. I measure how much oil comes out and it's exactly the same as how much went in. Mine is the N.A. 2.0 with 6mt. If I buy the oil (M1 synth) and filter at wally world the whole thing comes to about 30 dollars. Call me crazy but I don't trust anyone else to do it. Twenty years ago one service guy stripped the threads on the oil pan and another time a guy didn't remove the old gasket and all my oil came out on the ground.

I do about 5 kmile oil changes on my civic, but it's a 1.5T. At the same time, I've been following the MM on my CRV with the 2.4L NA iVTEC, which leads to about 10 kmile oil changes. That's the longest I would ever keep the oil, no matter what anyone says. When I drove this car it would mean less than a year, now wife drives less, so it's more than a year. So what's the point with long intervals anyway. Maybe for cab drivers.

The (same M1) oil in the CRV definitely takes longer miles to become black than in my civic.

But thin and smelly? Used oil is always very smelly to me, but why would it become thin without oil dilution? Is your 2.0 L shredding your oil molecules ? :rolleyes: What's normally feared is that the old oil would become too thick as a result of volatility and thermal breakdown (and unfortunately, no, the thick burned oil is not a better lubricant :thumbsdown:).

I suggest that the alleged thinness of used oil after 5000 miles in a Honda NA engine is only your impression. Maybe it's the temperature or color of the used oil that makes you think it's thinner than new oil.
 

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I do about 5 kmile oil changes on my civic, but it's a 1.5T. At the same time, I've been following the MM on my CRV with the 2.4L NA iVTEC, which leads to about 10 kmile oil changes. That's the longest I would ever keep the oil, no matter what anyone says. When I drove this car it would mean less than a year, now wife drives less, so it's more than a year. So what's the point with long intervals anyway. Maybe for cab drivers.

The (same M1) oil in the CRV definitely takes longer miles to become black than in my civic.

But thin and smelly? Used oil is always very smelly to me, but why would it become thin without oil dilution? Is your 2.0 L shredding your oil molecules ? :rolleyes: What's normally feared is that the old oil would become too thick as a result of volatility and thermal breakdown (and unfortunately, no, the thick burned oil is not a better lubricant :thumbsdown:).

I suggest that the alleged thinness of used oil after 5000 miles in a Honda NA engine is only your impression. Maybe it's the temperature or color of the used oil that makes you think it's thinner than new oil.
yes it's only my impression. 20 weight oil seems thin to me.
 

frontlinegeek

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I've been following the MM on my CRV with the 2.4L NA iVTEC, which leads to about 10 kmile oil changes
That is nuts! Our 2010 only ever goes out to about 11k KMs so only 6800 miles. Where you are in TN, makes me wonder if the milder temperatures has an impact or if the MM is actually set different once you cross the environment/duty cycle equivalent of the Mason/Dixon line.

yes it's only my impression. 20 weight oil seems thin to me.
Yes, to I would say almost anyone used to oil changes in the 80s and early 90s, 0W20 synthetic is like thick water. Having been using 0W20 for the last 15 years, I am accustomed to it but it is still a very fast pour regardless of how cold it is.
 

novadrive

Normally I would say be weary of what the dealership is trying to sell you. In this case however...he is right. There are serious oil dilution issues (confirmed by Honda) and it is recommended to change the filter/oil more often than usual. I typically change my oil every 7500 Miles
 


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A lot of posts debating the proper mileage to change the oil at... but I'm wondering, is there also a time limit on the oil sitting in the car? For those who don't drive as much, should it be still be changed every 6 months, or every year? Or is mileage the only determining factor for when to change the oil?
 

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QUOTE="Drake, post: 683920, member: 31024"]A lot of posts debating the proper mileage to change the oil at... but I'm wondering, is there also a time limit on the oil sitting in the car? For those who don't drive as much, should it be still be changed every 6 months, or every year? Or is mileage the only determining factor for when to change the oil?[/QUOTE]

You might get a variety of opinions on this topic. As for me, I bought my EX sedan new in early March of this year. I currently have 3100 miles on it-- due to having to use my truck more often to work at locations with rutted dirt roads.

I just bought a filter/oil on sale to swap out the Civic sometime this week. I figure it's been 6 months, and I don't care for MMs on these newer cars....I still log the date/mileage and tape it in the door frame when I oil change my cars.
 

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A lot of posts debating the proper mileage to change the oil at... but I'm wondering, is there also a time limit on the oil sitting in the car? For those who don't drive as much, should it be still be changed every 6 months, or every year? Or is mileage the only determining factor for when to change the oil?
It's generally accepted that oil should not be kept in the engine longer than 1 year, but of course this depends strongly on how the car is used. If the car is kept in the garage every night and only subject to a normal number of cycles (start, warm up, cool down), and is regularly given a chance to fully warm up, maybe it could be OK to keep the oil a bit longer. But water inevitably will keep absorbing in the oil, hydrolyzing some additives, producing acids etc.

Even the oil in factory sealed bottles has, according to manufacturers, a 5 year shelf life. This may not be quite true (I would think it should last almost forever, at least in tight glass or "tin" containers) but it is not surprising that the oil sitting in the engine at high temperature in contact with humid air and exhaust should be drained after 1 year or earlier under some conditions.
 

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Rickmeister 48

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I can't get 5000 before my mm is telling me a change is due now.
Through two civics and four oil changes, I get about 4800 miles between, BUT I expect it due to the way I drive, most of my trips are less than 2 miles and the manual states that will kill the oil life, or at least set off the mm sooner .
If this was your cars first change though, there is a Tsb floating around here somewhere that states you should leave the factory fill in as long as possible due to some stuff they put in it.
I don't know why the dealership isn't going by that and telling you to do it earlier.
 

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Can someone point me in the direction of how exactly maintenance minder works? I
always
assumed all it did was count miles driven till next scheduled, but from here it sounds like it actually monitors and analyzes the oil to give "oil life %"
 

Gruber

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....
If this was your cars first change though, there is a Tsb floating around here somewhere that states you should leave the factory fill in as long as possible due to some stuff they put in it.
I don't know why the dealership isn't going by that and telling you to do it earlier.
https://www.civicx.com/threads/2018-type-r-oil-change-info.32122/#post-539237

Honda never said keep it as long as possible, only always according to MM.

Factory oil is only needed during the broadly defined “break in” miles. There is really no need ever to keep it longer than 3000 miles, but also usually no need to dump it at this point. Some old fashioned people like to change the factory oil after several hundred miles, which is irrational. The most fanatical ones even after less than one hundred miles, which is insane.
 

Rickmeister 48

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Can someone point me in the direction of how exactly maintenance minder works? I
always
assumed all it did was count miles driven till next scheduled, but from here it sounds like it actually monitors and analyzes the oil to give "oil life %"
It takes into account your driving style, like short trips etc to recommend at what point to change the oil. It doesn't actually analyze the oil itself though.
 

Gruber

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Can someone point me in the direction of how exactly maintenance minder works? I
always
assumed all it did was count miles driven till next scheduled, but from here it sounds like it actually monitors and analyzes the oil to give "oil life %"
The civic is not equipped with an oil testing lab and it is certainly unable to monitor oil quality. But it can use any sensors and counters it actually has to estimate the remaining oil life. Certainly uses temperatures, mileage and number of cycles. May also be using rpm, boost usage, timers, and any ECU parameters it wants.
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