Almighty-Si

I see a lot of complaints about these things and have replaced many of these actuators and short blocks due to a ticking coming from the engine at work. When I go to repair these issues and remove a valve cover or a cylinder head it's amazing at what I see. The oil build up and discoloration of parts is ridiculous. A lot of the time its people "my car is brand new I don't have to do maintenance" and they should be shot, but that's another story. But there are the few that do their maintenance and still run into issues.

For example, I recently replaced a short block at work on an 07 Odyssey with 69k that had a ticking noise coming from the engine. When I pulled the valve cover off of the front cylinder head it was like every other motor I've fixed actuators and engine noises on. Just a bunch of discolored engine parts and sludge build up from lack of maintenance except this time, that wasn't the case. Looking at the history of the car, the car was bought by us and all maintenance was done by us from date of purchase. There seemed to be a couple of times where intervals looked to be a little longer than normal but nothing that should cause these kinds of conditions. Speaking to the customer, turns out he follows the maintenance minder to the letter. I believe this is where all the problems are caused.

I'm not saying the maintenance minder is, well, bullshit but I think it was designed for the "perfect world". What I mean by perfect world is, when they designed this system, I don't feel they considered all factors. How many people really get up in the morning and jump in their car start it up drive straight to work without having to do any stopping for stop signs/lights or sitting in traffic? How many people get up for work early to beat the traffic and then sit in their car idling in front of their job until it's time to go in? In the summer when it's hot adding the air condition to the mix. Take people shopping and stay in the car idling until the person they dropped off comes out? I believe this is where the problem lies. The heat generated by this type of driving is too taxing on the oil for it to be changed only when the maintenance minder comes on. (for those who don't know typically 4,500 miles)

I have a customer who comes in religiously once a month for an oil change on his 08 Pilot and I used to laugh every time that I saw it. I spoke with him and he said, he didn't have a lot of faith in the maintenance minder, he spent a lot of money buying the car and plans on having it for a long time "so what's $35 a month on an oil change if it's going to protect my investment? I know people who spend more than that a week on coffee". Can't argue that fact. I do still though think it is a bit excessive but what I can say is, when I took a peek under the valve cover through the oil fill cap, the areas where I find build up and discoloration in trouble motors looks absolutely brand new in his and he's had no issues with it since he's bought it so there has to be something to it.

So I guess the moral of this post is change your oil. I don't feel you need to be as excessive as the man I mentioned above but In my personal car I have a maintenance minder as well but I have always gone with the old "3 months or 3,000 miles" and so far everything has gone well. Some of you may do this as well but may have bought your cars second hand and you never know how the other person treated the car before you. The damaged they caused was more than likely slowed by you properly maintaining the car but what's the saying "the damage is already done". As for synthetic users, yes it's a better oil but don't think for a second you can go "15,000 miles" between oil changes like it says on some bottles. Honestly, if you change your oil frequent enough regular oil is just fine.

Well that's it...sorry for the long post. These are just some things I see on a daily basis and a couple stories I thought I would share in hopes it will help someone somewhere.

johnsc2235

+1
I couldn't agree more... I see the same issues at my work as well....

I386

X2 Well said

94vtecmn

So I guess having a 95 Accord (F22A motor) with 280k and counting, that has had the AmsOil 100% Synthetic Oil its whole life changed 12 times (25k oil change intervals with by-pass oil filter changes done at 12.5k, topped off with an additional quart at filter change) must not be a good thing.

Almighty-Si

I had an 89 Accord that I did 3 synthetic oil changes to in the 13 years that I owned it, ran just fine too but it doesn't mean it was a good thing to do.

It's fine, until it isn't.

94vtecmn

Well, I think I'll just keep it rolling as is, just like it sounds you did.

I use it for towing snowmobiles in the winter.
Three summers ago I used it for towing ~1200-1400 pound loads of Oak boards. Probably 25+ trips like that 240 miles one way.
Today my 17 year old kid drives it daily.

So I know its not, nor has it ever been babied. No knocking, no rattling, and I don't change the oil more than once every couple years now.

Will it last forever? Probably not. But at 280k+ and can still handle everything I throw at it, oil is the last thing on my mind with how the car is driven. When it starts using oil (I don't think a quart in 7-8000 miles is using) I'll probably just sell it cheap and move on to the next.

I should add, we did do a valve adjustment at ~180k, and it was not all gummed up as you describe other vehicles that have been run with long oil change intervals.

I'm not trying to say people shouldn't do oil and filter changes regularly, but if they have no idea what kind of oil or filters they are using, then more frequent changes should be done as you say. All I'm trying to say is, there are alternatives to changing the oil every 3k miles, that are just as good if not better.