[markayash]

When to change oil? 5000 miles, 15%, 5%, 1 year, follow sticker, when? Help! ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ

I can't find it anywhere in the manual or online..It just says when the reminder comes on change it.:wave:

 

[iggibar]

There really is no exact mileage number that you need to go to before you should change the oil. Your very first oil change should be made at 15-10% of oil life. The maintenance minder will notify you when you reach 15%. There's a good section in the manual n page 493 that shows the estimated oil life chart. The computer calculates engine oil life from your driving habits, so oil is not consumed needlessly. That's why there's no exact mileage timing. You're more than free to change the oil every 500 miles, once you fully break in your your engine with the original "break-in" oil.
Apart from that stuff, you should make a habit of checking your engine oil. If your oil level is down, don't top it off. This causes a prolonged oil life, which means you will be using contaminated oil in your engine for longer times. If you see the oil low, drive somewhere to get your oil changed, or do it yourself.

 

[RTexasF]

If your oil level is down, don't top it off. This causes a prolonged oil life, which means you will be using contaminated oil in your engine for longer times. If you see the oil low, drive somewhere to get your oil changed, or do it yourself.

The computer does not analyze the oil it just records data. Adding oil wouldn't have any effect on the percentage of oil life remaining unless you reset the system by accident. If you ran the hell out of it and it was a quart low in 2,500 miles it would be nuts to have the oil changed. Just add a quart and go on with it.

 

[namegoeshere]

when to change engine oil .... It just says when the reminder comes on change it. :wave:

You just answered your own question.

 

[iggibar]

The computer does not analyze the oil it just records data. Adding oil wouldn't have any effect on the percentage of oil life remaining unless you reset the system by accident. If you ran the hell out of it and it was a quart low in 2,500 miles it would be nuts to have the oil changed. Just add a quart and go on with it.

I never said anything about it "analyzing" the oil itself. It only calculates it based on driving habits(as I mentioned in my original statement), and if it's too low, the maintenance minder will notify you. I was also referring to visual inspection...I guess you somehow missed all my points, since you cleverly forgot the sentence before the sentence you quoted me by:dunno: If your engine is that low on oil, it's for a reason, and chances are, it's going to be dirty as dirt!!
Helps to have an engineer in the family who's been working on building engines that are a small as a minibikes, to as large as a cargo ship's.

 

[Buszman]

and if it's too low, the maintenance minder will notify you.

Please help me out here.(no enginer in my familly)Are you saying the "Maintenance minder"has an oil level sensor in the engine?

If your engine is that low on oil, it's for a reason, and chances are, it's going to be dirty as dirt!!

I agree to disagree,different engines burn more or less oil(specially when newish).I dont see how would you contaminate the oil in your engine by adding a fresh 1 qt.of oil

Cheers..:wave:

 

[namegoeshere]

I never said anything about it "analyzing" the oil itself.

It was probably assumed since you said

This causes a prolonged oil life, which means you will be using contaminated oil in your engine for longer times. If you see the oil low, drive somewhere to get your oil changed, or do it yourself.

The above statement is also a bunch of hogwash. A visual inspection of oil will not tell you whether the oil is good or bad and needs changing.

Curious though. How does topping off your oil "prolong oil life" and cause one to use "oil in your engine for longer times?"

if it's too low, the maintenance minder will notify you.

Not it doesn't. The maintenance minder should only let you know when certain maintenance is due.

Helps to have an engineer in the family who's been working on building engines that are a small as a minibikes, to as large as a cargo ship's.

Hope this "engineer" didn't tell you all this.

 

[iggibar]

and if it's too low, the maintenance minder will notify you.

Please help me out here.(no enginer in my familly)Are you saying the "Maintenance minder"has an oil level sensor in the engine?

No, I actually made a mistake by grouping the maintenance minder in with the oil pressure indicator. By measuring oil pressure, the computer is essentially measuring oil levels, along with a possibility of faults in the system. Oil pressure sensors don't have a habit of breaking easily, so if your oil light is on, it's probably due to low oil pressure=low oil levels. I haven't read anything on this regarding the new Accord, but some cars have an oil pan level sensor that gets triggered if the level is too low. As far as I know, though, the new Accord i4 only has an oil dipstick as a visual oil level sensor. I made a mistake called the oil light the "maintenance minder." They're obviously two different things. If your oil level is low, the low oil pressure indicator will light up.

If your engine is that low on oil, it's for a reason, and chances are, it's going to be dirty as dirt!!

I agree to disagree,different engines burn more or less oil(specially when newish).I dont see how would you contaminate the oil in your engine by adding a fresh 1 qt.of oil

Of course there are exceptions. My Passat was an oil hog. I had the oil tested a few times, because I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy it out after the lease do to it "burning oil." The tests required fresh oil, along with running oil samples. I was using Castrol full synthetic approved for VW. Though the oil looked visually clean on test paper, the test showed higher than average build up of carbon, and lower than adequate levels of zinc. Low quantities of zinc mean the oil is now insufficiently doing it's job at preventing wear, or reducing friction of metal to metal parts. If you were to "top off" oil in this case, you would be reducing the amount of zinc available to adequately create a buffer between metal to metal contact, because it now gets diluted in with the old oil. It's not good, and you're only prolonging your driving abilities for a short bit.

Cheers..:wave:

Cheers:salue:

It was probably assumed since you said

Hi :naughty:, nice to meet you to:wave:
That's the problem with assumptions.

The above statement is also a bunch of hogwash. A visual inspection of oil will not tell you whether the oil is good or bad and needs changing.

Not at all. You are prolonging the oil life because you are diluting new oil into old oil, which means you will get longer oil life, but have that used oil in your car for longer times. The MM doesn't even matter because it doesn't measure the actual quality of the oil. Most oils are created with oil content that naturally darkens with wear. That's not to say a dark oil is bad, or is providing insufficient cooling or lubrication, though. The cleanest oil color is always the color that it was when you put it in. Any color shift after that is due to wear, and chemical reaction, or the contamination of leftover oil. Patterns of oil wear are noticed if you make it a habit of visually checking your oil, which the manual suggests you do. The more the oil wears, the darker they get. There are exceptions to this, such as heavy machinery that uses thicker, darker oil, but obviously, for cars, the saying has been consistent since cars got their first oil dipsticks: if it was clean when it went in, and dirty when it came out, your oil is dirtier than when it went in. You have to really want to argue to argue against that.
You can tell a lot from visually looking at the oil, such as if it's been contaminated with coolant, excess carbon buildup, filter problems, and a whole sort of problems. There's also many types of test paper that tells a lot more than your eye can see. Apart from oil wear, if a car is burning oil , and you notice that the color is similar to what it was when you replaced it, it is usually a sign that there's a bad gasket somewhere.

Curious though. How does topping off your oil "prolong oil life" and cause one to use "contaminated oil in your engine for longer times?"

from my previous comment you quoted me from=

If your oil level is down, don't top it off. This causes a prolonged oil life, which means you will be using contaminated oil in your engine for longer times.

I guess you must have a seriously narrow mind of thinking.

Not it doesn't. The maintenance minder shouldn't only let you know when certain maintenance is due.

If you read my last comment, I somehow bunched up the oil pressure indicator and maintenance minder into one without thinking about it. Oh will you ever find it in you to forgive me???

Hope this "engineer" didn't tell you all this.

That's a great comment, coming from someone who sure as hell didn't provide a lot of insight into anything.
I'd be more than welcome to talk over pm with you, because I don't want to hog this up.

 

[namegoeshere]

You are prolonging the oil life because you are diluting new oil into old oil, which means you will get longer oil life, but have that used oil in your car for longer times.

That still doesn't explain how adding oil will cause one to use "oil in your engine for longer times."

One way I can see something like that happening is if you change the oil based on Maintenance Minder (MM) oil life and you were to reset the MM each time you topped it off. That's why RTexasF said the computer "does not analyze the oil it just records data."

If you don't reset the MM when topping off, the MM is going to tell you to change the oil at the same point in time regardless of how often the oil has been or hasn't been topped off. The MM calculates remaining oil life based on engine revs, miles traveled, and other factors.

You could do an oil change every 500 miles, not reset the MM, and it will let you know when oil life is down to 15% at the exact same time as if you hadn't done an oil change every 500 miles.

If one chooses to ignore the MM and instead follow an oil change interval of 5,000 miles, that person will still end up changing the oil every 5,000 miles regardless of if it's been topped off or not.

How are you figuring that topping off oil will cause one to use "oil in your engine for longer times?"

 

[Buszman]

:headbash:We should stay on the subject instead of calling each other names.
Bottom line is. the owner is responsible to keep the oil level up.If you Black Accord want to change your oil every time your oil level goes down its up to you.If I am not close to the 15 % on the maintenance minder I will add engine oil fresh that is.With a fresh supply of zinc whatever else is in there,I just want to bring the oil level up to the dipsticks top mark.
If you use your oil pressure light as oil level monitor I hope you topped off your extended warranty.When the oil light is on even momentarily your Black Hondas engine is starving of oil no oil pressure at all zippo,nada 0000.

 

[MikeySoft]

IMO
This thread has gone off topic with irrelevant miss leading information followed by both corrections to and attempted to justify some of the miss leading info.

I'm going to add what to do when the oil light comes on from the owner's manual:

Page 69. Immediately stop in a safe place.

Page 560 has additional info on what to do after you stopped. It said nothing about changing your oil or finding a near buy place to get your oil changed.

The answer to the original question is to follow the MM. For additional information, I recommend disregarding this thread and searching this forum for threads about changing oil and the MM. Relevant info can also be found by searching break in oil and break in in general.

 

[RTexasF]

It is always the engineers that make a mountain out of a molehill over thinking everything. If the frikkin car is low on oil just add some, it's really not complicated. As mentioned several times the car will tell you when to change the oil & filter.

 

[markayash]

Oh my, simple question that turned in a huge debate Every car I have owned usually listed a recommended oil life of 7500 for example..Just thought it was weird Honda didn't on the Accord..I know they said the new engine has a lot less friction which helps gas mileage but IMHO that should also help engine oil life. I am at 2200 and it shows 70% so it seems to be around 8000 to 10,000. I won't dare ask whats the best oil

 

[Pilm1112]

I can't find it anywhere in the manual or online..It just says when the reminder comes on change it.:wave:

I was looking for the same thing. Personally I think it would have been informative if Honda had noted in the owners manual that oil changes weren't going to be strictly mileage based and that's why they weren't specifying a mileage interval. But I also think it would have been helpful to give some kind of mileage range so people could know what to expect, after all, we don't want to get into the habit of just blindly trusting the car computer, especially since it's always possible it could fail and not give proper notification. It seems the only hard limit Honda was willing to put in the manual was to do oil changes yearly even if the oil life indicator is still above 15%, but I think they should have added some kind of range as a guide, maybe 5000-7500 miles, depending on driving habits, or maybe a maximum like 10000 miles. The same for other typical maintenance items, the first thing I look for in the manual is a chart of when they recommend various things be done or checked, but I haven't seen one, so they really are asking you to trust the computer, which may be ok but it would be nice to know you might have a big maintenance item upcoming so you can plan for it rather than being hit with it one day while driving into work. Funny thing about the owners manual I see is that almost 50% of it is devoted to how to use the nav/audio system, and so maybe they skimped on real car stuff in order to keep the manual from being even more huge than it already is.

 

[glen e]

It is always the engineers that make a mountain out of a molehill over thinking everything. If the frikkin car is low on oil just add some, it's really not complicated. As mentioned several times the car will tell you when to change the oil & filter.

:thmsup::thmsup::thmsup:

after owning a few new hondas, here's my regimen: I wait until the MM is at 15-20 % before I change, as the initial fill by Honda has some additives in it that help with break in. I then do not follow the MM and change about 5-6 K as my situation is I pass the time limit way before the mileage..as I am retired, and only drive 8K a year. Therefore, I change every nine months or so. And I put in 5w-20 as I don't need the extra mileage of 0-20 and am in florida with temperate weather....I also use a good brand of semi-syn from the auto parts store - usually Penzoil or whatever is on sale.

 

[glen e]

I won't dare ask whats the best oil

LOL - the best oil is the one that meets the specs of the manual and is on sale at your local auto parts store. You can way overthink this - go to bobistheoilguy.com if you want to see overthinking and "discussion" by "experts"

guys, this is a Honda commuter engine that is very low stressed...and made for Joe average - not a Honda F1 or Hendrick Racing engine. Use a good oil, change the oil when it tells you to or time wise every 9 months or so and a good filter...

and go have fun thinking about something else. I frankly am not trying to get into the Guinness book of records for how long my engine lasts, the above regimen will get you many more miles that you will have the car....

 

[redhat]

oil change? i thought hondas ran on hopes and dreams???

 

[robert4]

I just retired from the auto service bizz and have a few thoughts on the oil subject. Every car, truck and motorcycle forum I've ever joined has endless discussions on oil and oil changes. Between engine lubrication not being well understood and the "mouse milk" marketing of oils and additives, it's no wonder there's such differences in opinions. Plus, there is a huge body of folk wisdom, old wives tales and plain mis-information to further fog things.

Here is my advice. On a Honda, with anything close to normal use, the MMI will give you a reasonable change interval. Use the recommended viscosity and service classification oil and any good filter. That's it.

Lubrication failures are pretty rare in the last few decades unless the oil leaks out or gets way too low from normal consumption and/or extremely long change intervals. Honda engines stay amazingly clean inside even with infrequent changes.

With these long change intervals though, be sure to check the oil level every so often. An engine that uses a quart every 3,000 miles will be almost 3 quarts low after 8,000 miles. That level of consumption is not that uncommon these days. Friction reducing low tension piston rings are commonly used today for better fuel economy and can allow higher oil use.

Another reason to avoid too frequent oil changes is the risk of having some cretin who shouldn't be allowed to work on a wheelbarrow doing a vital service on your pride and joy.

Now that I'm retired, I plan to use the MMI for most maintenance. I can't lift a car at the condo so I'll use a good independent shop I know about and bring my own oil and filter. The old grey headed guy who does lube and basic service there is meticulous and happy in his work.

 

[glen e]

I just retired from the auto service bizz and have a few thoughts on the oil subject. Every car, truck and motorcycle forum I've ever joined has endless discussions on oil and oil changes. Between engine lubrication not being well understood and the "mouse milk" marketing of oils and additives, it's no wonder there's such differences in opinions. Plus, there is a huge body of folk wisdom, old wives tales and plain mis-information to further fog things.

Here is my advice. On a Honda, with anything close to normal use, the MMI will give you a reasonable change interval. Use the recommended viscosity and service classification oil and any good filter. That's it.

Lubrication failures are pretty rare in the last few decades unless the oil leaks out or gets way too low from normal consumption and/or extremely long change intervals. Honda engines stay amazingly clean inside even with infrequent changes.

With these long change intervals though, be sure to check the oil level every so often. An engine that uses a quart every 3,000 miles will be almost 3 quarts low after 8,000 miles. That level of consumption is not that uncommon these days. Friction reducing low tension piston rings are commonly used today for better fuel economy and can allow higher oil use.

Another reason to avoid too frequent oil changes is the risk of having some cretin who shouldn't be allowed to work on a wheelbarrow doing a vital service on your pride and joy.

Now that I'm retired, I plan to use the MMI for most maintenance. I can't lift a car at the condo so I'll use a good independent shop I know about and bring my own oil and filter. The old grey headed guy who does lube and basic service there is meticulous and happy in his work.

great post sir, a sane voice among the roar of the (enthusiast) crowd....

 

[ulflyer]

Anything Special in "Break-in Oil"?

Is there something special in the oil that comes in the new '13, such as moly? Is there any reason to leave it in longer than 3-4K miles?

I've always done short oil changes on new vehicles just to get rid of possible contaminents in the new motor, and then gone to longer periods between changes based on oil analysis reports.