CBL9

So the 06 Accords have the new maintenance minder system that tells you the percent life left in your oil. I have 3600 miles on my car and it says 60% life left. The owners manual does not have an interval like 7500 miles like all other Honda manuals recommend. The Honda dealer I bought the car from says make an appt at 20% life or so. So that would be abou a 7500 mile interval. The other Honda dealer in town says bring it in ever 3750 miles. Now are they jsut rying to make twice as much money for twice as many oil changes? I am a firm believer in 3 months 3 thousand miles, but my opinion has changed now as these two dealers do not recommend that.

I was thinking every 5K miles would be solid. The oil does not look dirty right now, at 3600. I realize it is special break-in oil. I have only owned my car for a month and a half to the day. I commute about 95 miles both ways to work everyday, hence the reason I bought the Accord EX-L K24 with 26/34 MPGs. I have not once gotten less than 31MPG and I usually cruise around 75-80 up to 85-90 when I am late. So I am thinking the highway miles could either make the interval longer as they are easier miles, but also it could shorten the interval as it is at a higher rate of speed even though my RPMs are pegged around 3200 at 80mph.

What should I do?

msedacca

Most 7th gen owners change their oil around 5k miles. It is a pretty debatable issue, some do it at 3k, others at 7500.

I'm assuming you have a 5spd as your RPM's are too high for an auto at that speed, but that doesn't make that much of a difference. How are your driving habits? Aggressive?

iam7head

I do mine at 3k, most dino oil today are good for 7k at least.

some people change around 5k just to be on the safe side, but I have too many high rev, launch, powerslide, cold start, stop and go and short trips.

Just for a peace of mind, oil is cheap, motor is not

highway miles are better than stop and go traffic, 5k sounds like a good starting point for you, make sure you change the filter too.

don't listen to the service guy at the dealer, they are in for business.

dagle

iTrader: (1)

Isnt it
v6 oil change :3000
v4 oil change :5000 ?

iam7head

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dagle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Isnt it
v6 oil change :3000
v4 oil change :5000 ?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

there's no v4 accord, there's L or I4, which is inline layout.

the layout of engine have nothing to do with oil change internal.


my 4 cylinder engine put out way more stress than my v6

CBL9

The car is standard, not auto.

I use Castrol 5W-30 in all my other Hondas year round up here in the Northeast. And a Puralotor Pure One Filter. I think I am going to wait until it reads around 30% life left than do the change with Castrol 5W-20, as it causes just a little less friction in the motor and probably and extra 10 miles to a Fuel tank or so, a fraction of a Gallon.

The mantenance minder system takes into account # of cold starts, engine run time, engine load under certain RPMs, etc. So I think it might be pretty accurate as it is not under ideal conditions. The perfect test would be for me to just rag on the car after an oil change and see how long it takes to drop from 100% oil life to 90% compared to shifting at 2500 or so all the time. If there is a difference I would really trust this nifty little thing.

OEM Honda oil is made my Exxon/Mobil. The bottle is identical to the Mobil Clean Semi Synthtic 7500 they sell at Advanced Auto. But Honda does not use semi synthetic oil in Accords. I wonder exactly what OIL Exxon sells Honda. I should get a sample of some and send it to a lab and then jsut buy the generic and be all set as OEM Honda Oil is like $6 a quart It would be cheaper for a dealer to change your oil with OEM oil and filter than it would cost you in parts to do it yourself.

YRMed85

Hey there, I have a 2004 accord and this is how i did/do things. the first Oil change i did at like almost 7 or 8 thousand miles...given the reason that the manual says to change the oil at 10,000 anyways. #2, the owners manual is supposed to clearly state schedule A and Schedule B. Schedule A is for very rough terrain ( lots of dust, lots of traffic, pretty much always hot weather) and you change ur oil every 3500 miles. Now....if you have traffic sometimes, if the weather is moderate, if the traffic isnt longer then like 30 mins per day and you dont shift every time at like 5,000 or 6,000 rpm then you can definitely change ur oil at 7500 miles and ur car will be happy. I like to pick a happy medium and change at 5,000 miles because its right inbetween optimal driving conditions and the worst driving conditions.

Hope this helped.

blue-sun

My GF has the 06 Coupe V6 auto.

First oil change we did at the 20% mark- around 7500 miles

We're gonna go by the Honda 20% figure, since Honda engineer's probably did that for a reason.

Once she gets to 10K (or the next oil change) we're gonna switch to synthetic and keep going by the 20% mark.

She doesn't abuse it, but she does cold start and get straight on the highway with it, mostly highway miles.

BTW, the V6 coupe is a blast to drive on the highway, you think you're doing 60 and I look down, bam, 90. No noise, vibration or anything! We love this car!

Ross 2.0

Here is the scoop on the maintnence minder system.
It uses inputs from various engine sensors (ect, tps ...)
and determines what kind of conditions the car is being driven in as well as the driving style.
So if you are all over a car and taking it to redline frequently it will want you to change the oil pretty close to 5k miles. If you are easy on it and gramma the car it can go upwards of 8k miles before it wants an oil change.

Also those of you that have the MM system shouldn't get reminder stickers with a mileage on it, if you do get a reminder sticker it should say 15%

conker

06 V-6 manual for the GF. Call me old school but 5k miles is the max for me. I know Honda put a lot of effort into their maintenance-minder but I just can't do the approximately once a year/10,000 mile thing. Oil is cheap, engines are not.

Ross 2.0

Well it's your car and you are definately entitled to do as you wish with it.
But from my dealership experience the system totally works. I have never had one of them have burned or otherwise bad oil on an oil change if thet change it within 15% - 0% but when it goes into negative mileage they smell burned every time.

YeuEmMaiMai

I change oil every 5K in winter and every 7K in summer. I do about 90% FWY driving......

CBL9

When you guys are changing at 20% what type of Oil and Filters are you using? Are you taking it to the dealer to use OEM Honda 5W-20 or Honda Filters? OR are you using aftermarket oil? What type of synthetic? Your basci Mobil 1?

Anyone know what the aftermarket Exxon/Mobil Oil is equvilant to OEM Honda Oil?

Ross 2.0

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CBL9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When you guys are changing at 20% what type of Oil and Filters are you using? Are you taking it to the dealer to use OEM Honda 5W-20 or Honda Filters? OR are you using aftermarket oil? What type of synthetic? Your basci Mobil 1?

Anyone know what the aftermarket Exxon/Mobil Oil is equvilant to OEM Honda Oil?</TD></TR></TABLE>
I would use a fram filter (they used to make hondas filters) and Mobil oil. Synthetic oil is a choice your car will survive just as long either way.

V6iCkSpEeD

Honda recommends the newer models with the percentage to be changed when it says 15%, for the v6 accord its 3,750 oil change intervals and for the I4 its now 5,000 miles.