unTuned

i should educate myself? these people are asking for advice on how to make a car last. you think what you just said is good advice for someone new to cars? use your oil for 100k miles for all i care. my point is that you should not, and you should be changing it at regular intervals. obviously nothing is going to get damaged overnight, but i guarantee if you keep running your oil for 20-30k or whatever, youll end up buying a new engine. and yeah, obviously the oil was at the 'end of the life cycle'...you think?

keep driving your dodge caravan and going 20-30k between oil changes if you like, nobody cares. when people on here ask for advice, theyre asking because they want whats best for their car and want to know how to make it last a long time. you can be as big a smart *** as you like, but dont ever give anyone the advice that they should be waiting that long between oil changes because thats a load of BS. id love to see what your oil filter and your oil looks like when you drain it after 30k miles.

ignore this guy.

Crappycivic

you sir are a joke ,go somewhere

pjb3

In the Civic I use Mobil 1 5W-30 with either a Mobil 1 or Purolater Pure One
filter and change it every 5,000 miles.

I am going with 5,000 miles for a couple of reasons. First, this car was purchased with 85,000 miles and no service history. I did an Auto-Rx clean and rinse with dino and now use syn. The syn is still cleaning the engine so I keep the intervals short. The other reason is the car is used for short trips so often the oil does not get hot enough to burn off contaminates and condensation.

Armith

[bs_comment]
Try this.. Pick up some Amsoil, and every 10k miles drain your oil into some cheese cloth and let it strain out all the crap into a metal pan.. Make sure it's metal because then you can attach a big magnet to the bottom of the pan to further trap the small metal particles that may have made it thru the cheese cloth.. change the filter and put the oil back.. Top off with new oil if necessary. Afterall that little bit of new oil will freshen everything up. You should be able to get your oil to last for 50k...
[/bs_comment]

OK just an sarcastic attempt at a little humor.. I've actually heard of people doing similar ridiculous methods for filtering and reusing their oil for motorcycles and small commercial machinery.. DO NOT TRY THIS!

In all seriousness.. I use the Walmart 5+ quart jug of mobil 1 5w-20 and new filter every 5000 miles.. Though I'd like to try some extended life stuff.. doing oil changes every 4-6 weeks sucks..

Muirsy

why would you ever wait that long... its just dumb... i have seen what builds up inside the engine if you wait to long to change your oil... robbing the engine of performance, gas milage and life of the engine.... i would love to see what your oil looks like when you finally drain it

Armith

It best, maybe something like what you'd find on the bottom of the pot that has days old coffee.. At worst more like something you'd see road crews using to fill in cracks in the road.

Who knows, throw in a little prolong with your oil.. You can drive with sand poured into your valve train with that stuff!!!

Muirsy

^^ lol

pjb3

There are plenty of people that like to use extended oil drain intervals and if done correctly there is no problem. Most people dump their oil long before it is at the end of it's life, by doing analysis during the life of the oil you know exactly where your oil stands rather than guessing. Another advantage to extended drains and doing UOA's is that it can pick up problems in an engine before they become apparent. UOA's can alert you to high numbers in wear metals, silica, antifreeze and other conditions before they damage an engine. I could point out that nucivicowner is basing his maintenance on actual data while those of us that change oil based on intervals are just guessing. Assuming he is adjusting the oil change interval based on the results of the analysis it is pretty much guaranteed that he will not get the dirt, sludge and "tar" that people are suggesting.

I do not recommend extended drain intervals and I do not do them on my cars. I don't recommend them because I believe that it does require a certain level of knowledge and understanding that not everybody has. I usually tell people to follow the manufactures recomendation, you can use the cheapest oil and filter and still be safe.
In my own cars I don't do extended drain intervals because i like getting my hands dirty and it gives me a chance to check other items as well. It also seems to me that it is more cost effective for me to change the oil for $25 to $30 rather than spend $20 on analysis and then change the oil. I may use more oil but from an environmental standpoint, but as long as I recycle my used oil I feel it is about even.

When it comes to oil, everyone has an opinion and in most cases there is no one right answer. Dino versus syn, what weight oil to use, how often to change oil, it really comes down to what works best for you. If you are really interested or want to learn about oil, additives, filters, etc., I would recommend the web site, bobistheoilguy.com.

Armith

someone mentioned the UOA!!!! Damn!! Won't be long now before someone will have to clarify Oil Analysis vs Oil Life Monitor..

No the maintenance light not being lit does not automatically mean the oil is fine..

So lets summarize:

Simple answer
-Any Oil Dino or Synthetic @ 5w-20 to 10w-30 or others based on specific environmental and driving conditions is fine.
-manufacturer recommended 3k-4k miles is best. more often if harsher environments and driving conditions.
-extended intervals regardless of oil brand, marketing hype, or fancy oil life monitoring methods is to be "at your own risk"

More complex answer
-How much your drive, how hard you drive, environmental conditions, general maintenance habits, temperature and air quality, your mood... basically everything can vary what is "best"
-If you have the time, knowledge, ambition, and need to get 101% of every last molecule of your oil.. There are a variety of things you can do and oils designed for such use.
-62% of statistics are just numbers.. With the right criteria you could make cat urine seem like the oil additive of the future.. Point is beware of marketing hype and use what works best for you.

pjb3

Pretty much true. I would point out that the 3k to 4k is usually the severe schedule so if you change it "more often if harsher environments and driving conditions" you are really getting carried away.

IceColdJones

I forgot to ask, how many quarts does my 04 LX take? It didn't come with a manual and the dip stick doesn't have lines on the end of it, just two holes which I'm assuming are for min and max levels?!?!?!?

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

3.4 quarts for the lx/dx, if I remember correctly.

Mraks

I currently drive with ZEPRO Eco Medalist 0W-20 oil, suitable for old cars.

Hugertown

It is difficult to say so clearly, because it is really unknown what kind of car you have and so on. Much depends on the age of the car and its other characteristics. So I will say from myself that it is certainly better to address to professionals immediately on this case and read the article about what will be the best oil for honda civic https://carfluidsexpert.com/best-oil-for-honda-civic/ and then you will have a much better chance to pick up the best oil. I will say from myself that at the moment I take Honda Genuine 0W-20 Motor Oil, but here is the thing, you need to look individually at your car and then already make certain conclusions, although the oil that you offered is also very good and fits well. I hope that it helped!

Davesum15

I change mine every 3000 with pennzoil 5w30, oil is cheap, engines are expensive