need advice on oil change

[plchan]

Hi All,

The oil indicator shows it is 40% (total mileage clocked in the Pilot is ~3900) left and I will have a trip for total 300 miles coming up on this weekend.

Should I go to do the oil change before this trip or it does not matter for now? I don't want the indicator drops to 10% while I am driving this coming weekend.

(the dealership is a bit far from where I live)

thanks

[mfisher1967]

It will take a lot longer than 300 miles for the oil life indicator to drop from 40% to under 10%. If I did the math correctly, 10% of oil life equals ~650 miles given your information.

[GreenMachine]

Originally posted by mfisher1967
It will take a lot longer than 300 miles for the oil life indicator to drop from 40% to under 10%. If I did the math correctly, 10% of oil life equals ~650 miles given your information.

That's right. If plchan drives like the first 3,900 miles, that would leave about 2,600 miles before 0% on the oil life.

[plchan]

Thanks mfisher1967's and GreenMachine's replies.

I guess I could just come back from the trip and get the oil change next week.

Does it have any advantage to get the oil changed sooner than the reminder shows up? or it is just going to be waste of money to do so? just wonder.

[humanoid]

Waste o' money. Just follow the MM, that's what the engineers put it there for!

[mfisher1967]

If your Pilot is brand new, and has not had an oil change yet, do not do so until the oil life is <15%. Honda uses a special break-in oil that should not be drained until that time. There is no harm in changing the oil more frequently, but doing so will throw off the timing of your Maintenance Minder.

[plchan]

Originally posted by mfisher1967
If your Pilot is brand new, and has not had an oil change yet, do not do so until the oil life is <15%. Honda uses a special break-in oil that should not be drained until that time. There is no harm in changing the oil more frequently, but doing so will throw off the timing of your Maintenance Minder.

I read some discussion about if Honda uses the "special break-in oil" for the new car ..etc. I have not really found a conclusive answer about it thou.

I am going to drive the truck on this weekend trip and get the oil change on the following week. It is because I would have another weekend trip coming on next weekend (it is going to be around 2-300 miles around trip. it could be more if we would visit some more places).

[mfisher1967]

Your owners manual should make mention of the break-in oil. At ~4,000 miles it should be fine to change the oil though.

Do you have any plans to use synthetic motor oil? I noticed that my 06's engine sounded much smoother after I used Mobil One 5W-20 oil for the first oil change. I have used this oil ever since then with very positive results. Amsoil and Penzoil Platinum are also excellent choices. There is a lot of information on the "Bob Is The Oil Guy" site concerning motor oils. The K&N or Amsoil oil filters are listed as being top notch on that site as well. The Honda OEM filter is made by Fram and is not really a good buy for the money when looking at other filter brands.

You may want to collect an oil sample and have lube oil analysis performed. For ~$22 Blackstone Labs will tell you how your engine is doing based on oil condition and wear particle analysis. Over time you can see how your engine is doing and identify problems very early.

[whizmo]

You're WAY over-worrying this.

There is no magic point where you have to change the oil or problems are going to occur. The MM system (which seems to come due at 5-6K for most owners), just predicts an oil life that is likely to be the best compromise between the cost of oil changes vs. the chances of extra engine wear. This compromise is completely and totally arbitrary and varies from Jiffy Lube's 3K recommendation to the Euro cars which often say you can go 15K+.

There's nothing wrong with Honda's recommndation per se, but it is not worth obsessing over - take it in AROUND the time it suggests and don't worry about it further. And 10% left means 10% left, so there is absolutely no reason not to wait until it says 0%.

If you want to do more frequent oil changes, fine, you're just tilting the compromise on your own towards being more conservative. But leave the MM alone when you do your oil changes - otherwise you'll accelerate all the other services too.

Never been one shred of data that indicates Honda's "break in oil" is anything but off-the-shelf oil. Change it early if you like - it doesn't make any difference. Honda's admonishment not to change it early is just their wanting customers to stay out of their dealers as much as possible early in the life of the car when owners tend to have a nit-picky list of tens of minor problems they want fixed - problems, they'll generally forget about after a few months of ownership. It's all about controlling warranty costs.

I personally use synthetics because I think they're better oils and worth the extra cost. But with 5K changes, it may not be worth the extra expense. I certainly wouldn't spend the extra on synthetics if I was trading the car every three years.

- Mark

[plchan]

Originally posted by whizmo
You're WAY over-worrying this.


If you want to do more frequent oil changes, fine, you're just tilting the compromise on your own towards being more conservative. But leave the MM alone when you do your oil changes - otherwise you'll accelerate all the other services too.


- Mark

I will try to get the synthetics oil when I get the first Oil change next week. I am going to see what % is going to be left after this weekend trip.

By the way, since it is my first oil change, should I leave the MM alone if I change the oil at 20% (or even 30%) level?

Thanks for all replies