Maintenance Minder - seems long. Really long.

[dave00str]

2019 Si, 19.7K
I've gone 10,218 miles on my current oil.
The Maintenance minder is still showing 60%.
A linear extrapolation puts that over 20k. Does that sound right?

I do mostly highway driving. My 2014 Accord Sport never went longer than 10k on identical driving patterns.

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[joshhjackson2112]

2019 Si, 19.7K
I've gone 10,218 miles on my current oil.
The Maintenance minder is still showing 60%.
A linear extrapolation puts that over 20k. Does that sound right?

I do mostly highway driving. My 2014 Accord Sport never went longer than 10k on identical driving patterns.

Your are going to get a lot of different opinions from a lot of different people. It will most likely start a fight but I am going to say it anyways.
The maintenance minder is crap and I don't use it. I change my oil every 4k miles. It will show 70% or 80% oil life when I change it. I usually don't have to reset it until the 3rd change. I change my own oil. When it is drained, it is really really black. I could personally not wait the 10k or more miles before changing. I gave up the free oil changes for life that came with my purchase. It would have to be like 15% or under oil life before you can get the free change. It's only 60 bucks for a change. I do 4 oil changes a year. 240 bucks a year is not a big savings to me. I now welcome the negative comments!

 

[theblackdogman]

Your are going to get a lot of different opinions from a lot of different people. It will most likely start a fight but I am going to say it anyways.
The maintenance minder is crap and I don't use it. I change my oil every 4k miles. It will show 70% or 80% oil life when I change it. I usually don't have to reset it until the 3rd change. I change my own oil. When it is drained, it is really really black. I could personally not wait the 10k or more miles before changing. I gave up the free oil changes for life that came with my purchase. It would have to be like 15% or under oil life before you can get the free change. It's only 60 bucks for a change. I do 4 oil changes a year. 240 bucks a year is not a big savings to me. I now welcome the negative comments!

BAHAHAHA!

 

[dave00str]

4k is a little early on a good synthetic. But you do what makes you comfortable.
All sorts of oil analysis supports this. I haven't done an analysis on the civic yet, but both my Accord and Mazda 3 said the same thing..i can go at least 8k before I see any degradation in oil performance.

 

[silverrascal]

Yeah, MM seems to always bring up debates. lol.

That said, I like it and use it as a good guide.

But there’s no law that says you can’t change the oil or rotate tires AT YOUR DISCRETION. Highway driving is arguably less wear on the engine as opposed to the stop and start type of driving. Thus is probably why MM is showing a slower reduction in percentage of oil life.

But check the oil level and clarity and if it looks like it needs to be changed then go for it. Otherwise keep on truckin’.

 

[turbociv910]

4k is a little early on a good synthetic. But you do what makes you comfortable.
All sorts of oil analysis supports this.

truth. a synthetic can go 7500-10000 miles.

 

[fjrman]

I changed the oil at 6K mile intervals in my old four cylinder Accord. Used non-synthetic oil. Typically 5w-20.

Accumulated 210K miles. Still running fine when sold. It consumed a small amount of oil but never enough to need an add in 6K miles.

Concern about engine oil is overblown. It's just not that important. If you're running at high rpm often and for extended periods then maybe a bit more concern is warranted. The vast majority of owners don't explore the high rpm range.

 

[Gruber]

Your are going to get a lot of different opinions from a lot of different people. It will most likely start a fight but I am going to say it anyways.
The maintenance minder is crap and I don't use it. I change my oil every 4k miles. It will show 70% or 80% oil life when I change it. I usually don't have to reset it until the 3rd change. I change my own oil. When it is drained, it is really really black. I could personally not wait the 10k or more miles before changing. I gave up the free oil changes for life that came with my purchase. It would have to be like 15% or under oil life before you can get the free change. It's only 60 bucks for a change. I do 4 oil changes a year. 240 bucks a year is not a big savings to me. I now welcome the negative comments!

OK, here it goes:
Negative Comment:
If you spend $60 on a DIY oil change, you must be using some expensive oil, which might be advertised for 25 kmiles long life. That's the main reason for the high price.
With 4 kmile changes you might be using less than 20% of the oil life.

More importantly, if you don't like black oil why do you change it only after it gets really really black? You need to change it monthly to keep it really really nice and clean.

 

[joshhjackson2112]

OK, here it goes:
Negative Comment:
If you spend $60 on a DIY oil change, you must be using some expensive oil, which might be advertised for 25 kmiles long life. That's the main reason for the high price.
With 4 kmile changes you might be using less than 20% of the oil life.

More importantly, if you don't like black oil why do you change it only after it gets really really black? You need to change it monthly to keep it really really nice and clean.

I guess you got me there! I may have exaggerated my point a bit. It is not just because of the color. The oil looks and smells like it is due for the change. I buy 0W 20 Mobile 1 Synthetic. I run a tuned ecu with bolt ons. I am sure I burn up my oil more than the typical stock DD. Not to mention that most of my miles are either city or empty twisty country roads. Another reason for the quick oil changes is for the oil dilution that occurs. You know, the other dead horse that is beat to death on this forum. Even if I am only using 20% of the oil life, I am just old school and go off of the philosophy that "oil is cheap but a new engine isn't". Also, I do not think the $60 oil change is a high price. My response was just for fun. My way is not necessarily the "right way". I just wanted to poke the hornets nest a little. I knew this thread was going to be trouble with or without me.

 

[Mikeybc]

2019 Si, 19.7K
I've gone 10,218 miles on my current oil.
The Maintenance minder is still showing 60%.
A linear extrapolation puts that over 20k. Does that sound right?

I do mostly highway driving. My 2014 Accord Sport never went longer than 10k on identical driving patterns.

Exact same issue here, all highway miles. I change it anyway when I get over 10 - 12,000 kilometres (about 60%). I'd rather have nice clean oil rather than going another 8,000 km on dirty black oil.

 

[Gruber]

I guess you got me there! I may have exaggerated my point a bit. It is not just because of the color. The oil looks and smells like it is due for the change. I buy 0W 20 Mobile 1 Synthetic. I run a tuned ecu with bolt ons. I am sure I burn up my oil more than the typical stock DD. Not to mention that most of my miles are either city or empty twisty country roads. Another reason for the quick oil changes is for the oil dilution that occurs. You know, the other dead horse that is beat to death on this forum. Even if I am only using 20% of the oil life, I am just old school and go off of the philosophy that "oil is cheap but a new engine isn't". Also, I do not think the $60 oil change is a high price. My response was just for fun. My way is not necessarily the "right way". I just wanted to poke the hornets nest a little. I knew this thread was going to be trouble with or without me.

If so, I must withdraw my Negative Comment, because I also use Mobil1 and change it at 5, 6 kmiles max with a completely stock car.
In my CRV I mosty followed the MM, which gave me about 10 kmile oil changes.

Btw. The OP may soon see the oil life % going down quickly as the first birthday is coming.

 

[latole]

Long mileage oil is not a problem, the issue is the oil filter, it can be blocked or less effective for keeping carbon residues or other.
New oil change is cheap. I change at every 5-6K miles, Synthetic only

 

[NotSerious]

The Maintenance Minder's number one variable is "cold starts". The more cold starts, the faster Maintenance Minder ticks down. If you have a long highway commute, the Maintenance Minder will tick down very slowly compared to the miles you put on.

There are many mechanics that advise that turbo-charged/GDI cars should have their oil changed more frequently than naturally aspirated cars. This is due to oil-dilution and the extra heat that turbo-charged/GDI cars generate.


If it was me, I would change the oil every 5k miles.
I would advise others that you never go over 10k miles without an oil change on a turbo-charged/GDI car.

 

[mikey003]

Having oil in ANY car engine for over 10,000 miles is rediculous,

I don't care what kind of oil it is,

Are you a robot?.....Do you need a computer to tell you what to do in your daily life?.....I am not, and I don't

Pay no attention to the stupid MM and decide things on your own,

I have been maintaining my own vehicles successfully, and working at a shop on customers vehicles for over 20 years,

I don't need a computer to tell me when my vehicle requires service, I can decide that for myself,

It's not rocket science with today's vehicles, its simple really,

I do an oil change with 0W20 synthetic every 6 months, regardless of what MM says, which for my driving is about every 10-12,000kms

I do my oil changes every April and October, I choose these months because we have cold winters here, and I don't want to work on my car in the cold,

I change my CVT fluid and coolant every 3 years which for me is about 60,000kms

I change my air filter and cabin filter every 25,000kms

Rotate tires whenever i feel is required, maybe every 30,000-40,000kms,

its simple, keep it that way,



I don't need my car to tell me when it needs service, I am smarter then a computer is.....

listening to the MM would be like me having a "Smart fridge" trying to tell me how long my fruit and vegetables are good for....my fridge might tell me my apples and oranges are still in good condition and are safe to consume, but when i look into my fridge and see my fruit brown and rotten, am i still going to eat the fruit because my fridge says so?......NO!!.....i don't need a fridge/computer to tell me when my fruit has expired, i can look at it and decide on my OWN!!!

we are not robots, that need computers to tell us what to do!!...this computer nonsense needs to stop!!

USE YOUR OWN BRAIN AND THINK!!!!!!

 

[integra15]

I like to trust the thousands of engineers at the oil and car companies who design the oil and monitoring systems. Weekend mechanic logic does not surpass their knowledge.

However your situation does sound like an outlier. Common sense also is important.

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