Civicnoobie

i use Mobil 1 5W30 syn and i drive 11-14k KM a year. Last year i only drovr 12,500km total.

Before i was changing my oil every 6000 KM or 6 months regardless how much ie drove. But was told im changing too soon and can easily go 8000Km. But because of the little driving i do, 8000km would be like 8-9 months driving for me and im not sure if using the same oil for 8-9 months in extreme winters and summers here is a good idea.

my current oil just hit 7000Km and was put in March so 7 months ago.

Do you think i should continue changing the oil every 6 months regardless the milage?

Can i just check the oil and go by colour to tell how much life is left?

Im thinking of changing it this week.

7500KM = 4999M

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

no, it is not ok. you engine will blow up and your transmission will turn to lock up.....not to mention it wears down your vtec fluid.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

i change mine every 10k or one year whichever comes first. i really should consider going 15k, because i feel like perfectly good oil is being wasted.

lowlife9

i hear you going that long just doesn't feel rite.

mikey1

i think time is more important than mileage, i would never go more than 4 months, regardless of mileage, but i normally put about 6-8,000km in 4 months,

Civicnoobie

^ just curious why you wouldnt go past 6 months? I guess ill get it changed this week and contiue to do it every 6 months regardless milage.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

CIVICNOOBIE.... the ONLY WAY you will know FOR CERTAIN if your OIL is still good at XXXX km or every X month is if you GET AN USED OIL ANALYSIS REPORT....


EVERYONE telling you ANYTHING on this board about that is ALL SPECULATION and is 100% not accurate because EVERY car is DIFFERENT and EVERY DRIVER drives their car DIFFERENTLY in their DIFFERENT CONDITIONS.

mikey1

moisture builds up inside your engine every time your engine cools down, then when you start your engine that moisture becomes a part of your engine oil, thats a small bit of water mixing with your oil every time you start your engine,

for what its worth (although i dont claim to be an expert) i was a manager at a "quick lube" joint for 6 years, i have been to many "oil seminars" and i have seen it all, and i have been there and done that,

Muirsy

lol @ sleepy... in before multiple page thread

lowlife9

[QUOTE=
i was a manager at a "quick lube" ,[/QUOTE]

you are the anti christ ???

Civicnoobie

Good point about the water getting inside. I was told gas gets inside too?

Well im going to do it wed, im gonna try it myself. I figure i know how to change my ATf, i should be able to do the oil? Or at least try.

Is it worth extra money for royal pruple filter?

Whats the best way to make sure i dont overfil? Should i check oil right after i fill it then again when hot? Cause the oil expands

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

you check the dip stick when the engine is cool. AFTER the oil has settled down... or else your oil dipstick isnt accurate.

Civicnoobie

Oh i always thought when hot cause doesnt the oil expand?. So basically change the oil, and if you check it right away (cause oil will be cold) then that should be an accurate reading?

Muirsy

just get a honda filter

Civicnoobie

Theyre made by honeywell and was told is fram. I have one at home still but not using it.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

you terminology is wrong. oil doesnt expand at the engine's operating temps. it take a lot of heat for oil to boil (you engine would shutdown or blow a radiator cap/gasket before it even got close to that temp).

the best way to check engine oil is 30 mins after your car has been turned off (engine is still warm). this will allow all the oil to trickle down and settle.

you can check it with a cold or warm engine. just as long as the oil has settled a bit. i perfer to have a warm engine because it gives it time to at least circulate the oil in all the necessary components so that way the measurement is a little more accurate.

mikey1

yes a very small amount of gas gets into the oil after combustion, it blows past the rings,

any oil filter will do, dont stress about that,

the best time to check your oil is when the engine is up to operating temperature, shut the engine off and wait about 2 mins, that is when you will get the most accurate reading,

when you change your oil and filter, put in about 2.8 liters, start the engine and let it warm for a few mins, turn it off and check the level after about 2 mins, you will probably need to add a bit more to top it up

Stock 99

yup, that's what I do, it's like $12 every 6 months for me. The fram vs OEM filters are not the same thing inside.

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

Oil doesnt effect Vtec fluid.. newb

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

And just so you know, dont look at color when you look at oil quality-there not really related.

An oil analysis is your SURE FACT WAY to tell how the engine is wearing incase you cared.

If it was me, change it by the reccomended km whatever they may be in the manual.
UNLESS you let it sit for a LONG TIME (6 months or more) then I would say change it sooner.

Use a QUALITY filter and QUALITY oil. Your engine will last a long time.

More important change it as reccomended.

Civicnoobie

Not sure what the recommendation time is for synethics, doesnt say in manual, but even though i dont drive 7k KM in 6 months, i guess ill keep changing it every 6 months regardless. 6months is about 6000Km for me. Anything more than 6 months is probably not a good idea.

Looking at my Honda filter right now and it says Honeywell with a code on it that apparently is the crappy filter. Honeywell i guess offsites their filters to fram.

Right now i use Napa Gold filters, really good filter.

And probably be good idea to check a few more times the next day?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

correct, oil analysis will tell you and some engines with issues will cause the oil to go bad quickly. an engine in good shape can go 1yr/10k easily on synthetic and 5k on dino without additives. with LC20 and dino, 10k easy. but again it depends if you treat the engine right and it has no mechanical problems that can contaminate the oil. as for filters, they really dont do much at all. after a year mine looks almost new inside. btw, the 01-05 civic recommended oil change interval is 10k miles for dino under normal conditions. no way would i do that, but its in the manual. you will prolly junk the car long before any type of engine problems come up due to oil changes.

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

Reason I said check the manual is because I am not familiar with the miles to km conversion. Anywhere from 5000-10000 miles is good for your oil.

Personally I wouldnt go above 10000 miles, but thats just me. On synthetic. Most people go more.

I personally also wouldnt do less then 5000 miles which my converter says 8000km on synthetic.

Honestly anything less then that and its a huge waste.

Id say you can go anywhere from 8,000km-16,100km safely with synthetic oil.

mikey1

oil change frequency also depends somewhat on your driving conditions,

your oil and filter should be changed more frequently if you use the vehicle primarily for short trips, say 15 mins or less,

or if you frequently drive in dusty places like gravel roads, or mostly stop and go city traffic, your oil and filter should be changed more frequently under the above conditions,

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

yeah hence why i said for an engine in good condition. a vast majority of people simply do not know or care how to operate a car in general. short trips where the engine cannot warm up to full temp can cause major problems down the road. same with driving at high rpms before warmup. some of this depends on driving conditions like weather, where severe hot or cold can affect things.

Civicnoobie

if thats the case, then i better keep changing every 6 months.

Well like ive said before, everyone in my neighbourhood floors their cars every morning right from cold start, even in -35 winters, its retarded like hell. Once they get their cars off their lot, they floor it!

I do take quite a few short trips but i always let the car get fully hot before shutting off cause dont want carbon build up. If im going to a close place, sometimes ill just circle my neighbourhood a couple times first before going to get it up to temp. The only times when i take really short trips is after the car has been driven hot in the past few hours cause was told its ok cause the car has been recentltly hot.

kbook

Civicnoobie,

You also posted something on BITOG forum. You knew better. All right, last year I put Castrol Syntec Titanium (it was on sale at O'Reilly and I was tempted) in my CR-V and I drove for whole year ( >10K mi). I used it with Honda OEM filter (A01 Filtech) not the OEM FRAM (A02) you mentioned.

I trusted the oil because it's the premium one. Since I didn't do the used oil analysis so I guess when to change the oil, sorry , I followed the honda maintenance wrench indicator which makes a better guess than I do. Every 6 month is reasonable to me.

kbook

Yes I agreed, I read from BITOG forum long time ago that when the engine is not operating at the optimum temp, water condensation could occur and get into the motor oil and react with the oil. If I recall, it might become more acidic so motor oil has chemical to neutralize that effects. ahh the TBN number.

pjb3

I was curious about the "change oil every 6 months no matter the miles" claim. I did a little searching and came across what is referred to as the "aunt minnie test" which is a reference to SAE Paper #981444, entitled: "Advanced Synthetic Passenger Vehicle Engine Oils for Extended Oil Drain Performance" Presented by Mobil at the 1998 Fuels and Lubricants Meeting of the SAE. Below is part of the paper:

1. The aunt minnie test is the test of "the severity on the engine oil during this type of testing is attributed to conditions where the engine rarely reaches optimum operating temperatures."
2. The driving test consists of two short cycles, a 3 mile and 1.5 mile test.
3. "Under this severe driving condition, synthetic oil can provide excellent protection against engine wear and deposit formation."
4. The bulk oil temp ranged from 90 C in the summer to 30 C in the winter.
5. Fuel dilution was as high as 11%.
6. Cleanliness was excellent, the deck sludge rating was 9.7 out of 10.
7. "The iron content showed a low rate of increase, only 100 ppm after 40 months, although there has been a steady increase to over 600 ppm over the last 22 months. The source of iron has not been determined, as visual inspection of the engine did not indicate any abnormal wear or corrosion. In addition, elevated iron levels have not appeared in other test vehicles operating under 'aunt minnie' conditions."

The oil was a 5W30 running in a 3.1 L V6 with no oil drains.

The oil volume sampled was 5.5L and make-up was 4.4L. TBN retention was 33.

Test duration was for 60 months.


A couple of things I would point out. This is synthetic oil, in an engine with no mechanical problems, also due to replacement of oil samples, 80% of the oil was replaced over the five year test period. It's also possible that in the 14 years since this test was started, oils have improved.

I am not suggesting anyone should go 5 years or even 1 year. I simply am pointing out that synthetic oil handles severe, short operating cycles much better than I expected.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

its true, which means synthetic lasts even longer if you avoid short trips. I never stop without driving at least 10 mins. Sometimes the short trips cant be avoided, but you should try as much as possible to warm the engine fully each trip. another plus to electrical vehicles, which require far less worry and attention. press the button and away you go without warmup or anything.