Oil changing - how often?
06-13-2006, 05:37 PM
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Oil changing - how often?
Hi everyone. First off I wanted to say how great this forum is. I have recently taken a lot more interest into cars and my 'new' used civic that I got not too long ago. I've been doing repairs on my own now rather than taking it someplace and I always enjoy learning things off here. And now to my question... In the Honda user's manual for my 93 civic it says to do an oil change every 12,000km or 6,000km under severe conditions. I had always thought it was best to do oil changes every 5,000km. What's the best interval to do oil changes??
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06-13-2006, 08:05 PM
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Re: Oil changing - how often? (stock_honda_coupe)
on my daily driver i change the oil every 3000 miles,
but on my project i changed the oil like every 2000 miles and it was pretty nasty...
that is when it was running
but on my project i changed the oil like every 2000 miles and it was pretty nasty...
that is when it was running
06-13-2006, 08:33 PM
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Re: Oil changing - how often? (Marcpb443)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Marcpb443 »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I do mine every 3000mi also.</TD></TR></TABLE>
06-13-2006, 09:14 PM
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Re: Oil changing - how often? (EJ8 Coupe)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EJ8 Coupe »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">3k miles or 3 months, whichever comes first </TD></TR></TABLE>
How do you people get to 3 months? I change my oil every 1.5 months or so in my Accord. Do you people not drive a lot? haha
</TD></TR></TABLE>How do you people get to 3 months? I change my oil every 1.5 months or so in my Accord. Do you people not drive a lot? haha
06-13-2006, 09:32 PM
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Re: Oil changing - how often? (Clairvoyant)
I used to change my oil every 3000 miles or 3 months but decided the old girl has been babied long enough.
Now she gets an oil change every 7500 miles, filter change every 3750 miles. When I started this I switched to Mobil-1 "Extended Peformance" (long life) from regular Mobil-1. I've always used M-1 filters (though there's a cheaper Purolator filter with similar specs, I can never find it).
It works out to the filter getting changed roughly every 3-4 months and the oil changed roughly every 6-7 months. The long life oil costs roughly 15% more, but I'm changing it half as often, so the oil is cheaper in the long run. The oil filter, that's actually taking large particulates out of suspension, gets changed just as frequently to keep the oil cleaner over the long haul.
Keep in mind that the color of modern engine oil has very little to do with how much actual protection it's providing. Modern oils have additives to bind up contaminants and keep them in suspension, so they get dark very quickly, even if they're still providing peak protection. Back in the good ol' days motor oil wouldn't bind up those contaminants, so the oil stayed clearer for longer, which meant the color was more useful to judge what state the oil was in.
All in all how often the oil should get changed depends on what you're doing with your car - is it a daily driver, a weekend race warrior, a freeway/stoplight maniac, or racetrack-only? The harder you push it, the more frequently you push it, the more frequent you should change the oil & filter.
'course if you really want to know how well your oil is working, you could send a sample off for oil analysis. That'll definitively tell you how worn out the oil is, no guesswork or gut feelings necessary...
Now she gets an oil change every 7500 miles, filter change every 3750 miles. When I started this I switched to Mobil-1 "Extended Peformance" (long life) from regular Mobil-1. I've always used M-1 filters (though there's a cheaper Purolator filter with similar specs, I can never find it).
It works out to the filter getting changed roughly every 3-4 months and the oil changed roughly every 6-7 months. The long life oil costs roughly 15% more, but I'm changing it half as often, so the oil is cheaper in the long run. The oil filter, that's actually taking large particulates out of suspension, gets changed just as frequently to keep the oil cleaner over the long haul.
Keep in mind that the color of modern engine oil has very little to do with how much actual protection it's providing. Modern oils have additives to bind up contaminants and keep them in suspension, so they get dark very quickly, even if they're still providing peak protection. Back in the good ol' days motor oil wouldn't bind up those contaminants, so the oil stayed clearer for longer, which meant the color was more useful to judge what state the oil was in.
All in all how often the oil should get changed depends on what you're doing with your car - is it a daily driver, a weekend race warrior, a freeway/stoplight maniac, or racetrack-only? The harder you push it, the more frequently you push it, the more frequent you should change the oil & filter.
'course if you really want to know how well your oil is working, you could send a sample off for oil analysis. That'll definitively tell you how worn out the oil is, no guesswork or gut feelings necessary...
06-13-2006, 09:37 PM
#16
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Re: Oil changing - how often? (JDM-EJ1)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM-EJ1 »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How do you people get to 3 months? I change my oil every 1.5 months or so in my Accord. Do you people not drive a lot? haha</TD></TR></TABLE>
I have a 9.5 year old car that recently passed lucky 7 (77,777). That answer your question?
My guess would be that I live closer to work than you but... maybe you're not an antisocial ***** like me...
I have a 9.5 year old car that recently passed lucky 7 (77,777). That answer your question?
My guess would be that I live closer to work than you but... maybe you're not an antisocial ***** like me...
06-13-2006, 09:40 PM
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Re: Oil changing - how often? (MonkeyBoy668)
Change it every 5K-7.5K under normal conditions. I usually look at my oil every fill up after it hits 3K.
06-13-2006, 10:41 PM
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damn i guess i baby the **** our of my car then bc i usually change my oil every 1500-2000 miles.....thats just me....houston gets hot as hell during the summer so i dont take the risk
06-13-2006, 11:35 PM
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Its crazy how my dip stick keeps claiming my oil is low, I top it off, and keep doing this over and over again. Then when it's time to change the oil, my drain pan gets full.
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