8th Generation Honda Civic Forum - View Single Post

Elmacho · 07-22-2006, 12:43 PM

Recently I noticed that my Si had taken a lot of oil, and it was well below the lower dot, so I added a quart, and scheduled an oil change. It has about 4100 miles on it and the oil life states 40%. I said screw it, they recommend 5000 miles, I will just get it a little early. So I go to my closest Honda dealership today and talk with the service guy for a couple minutes, then he says he needs to give the car a once over. Well I did't and don't see how that is necessary since it's just an oil change, but I kept quiet and let him do his thing. He got in and checked the mileage and oil life meter. He tells me "you don't need to get your oil changed, you should get it when the meter says 15%" I tell him that I was concerned that the car was taking in a lot of oil and that I had to add a quart. He said he had never heard of that with a Si yet. We talk a little more and he decides to check the oil, and since I just added a quart, it was pretty clean, and a little above the bottom dot. He recommended that they just top it off and I wait until the oil life states 15%. He tells me that the oil life number is not based upon mileage, but its actually very advanced. I am no car whiz so much of what he was telling me was going straight over my head. Basically he said that it's based on your driving conditions as well as mileage, such as the number of miles you drove that day at certain RPM's etc. He also stated that it measures something in the oil to determine how old and dirty it is. I took his word for it. He topped it off and I got out of there. Anyway, as I was driving home, I started thinking that this doesn't make much sense. Right before I had to add oil myself, the oil life was at 40%, the oil was old and black. After the new oil was added, shouldn't the oil life increase due to the addition of the new oil? Now like I said, I am no car expert, I don't even change my own damn oil, so I might be totally off. However, this just doesn't make too much sense, and the oil life meter remains a mystery to me as to how it calculates the percentage. Anyone have any ideas?

07-22-2006, 12:43 PM	#1 (permalink)
Elmacho Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Guam Age: 24 Posts: 260 iTrader: 0 / 0%	Oil Life Recently I noticed that my Si had taken a lot of oil, and it was well below the lower dot, so I added a quart, and scheduled an oil change. It has about 4100 miles on it and the oil life states 40%. I said screw it, they recommend 5000 miles, I will just get it a little early. So I go to my closest Honda dealership today and talk with the service guy for a couple minutes, then he says he needs to give the car a once over. Well I did't and don't see how that is necessary since it's just an oil change, but I kept quiet and let him do his thing. He got in and checked the mileage and oil life meter. He tells me "you don't need to get your oil changed, you should get it when the meter says 15%" I tell him that I was concerned that the car was taking in a lot of oil and that I had to add a quart. He said he had never heard of that with a Si yet. We talk a little more and he decides to check the oil, and since I just added a quart, it was pretty clean, and a little above the bottom dot. He recommended that they just top it off and I wait until the oil life states 15%. He tells me that the oil life number is not based upon mileage, but its actually very advanced. I am no car whiz so much of what he was telling me was going straight over my head. Basically he said that it's based on your driving conditions as well as mileage, such as the number of miles you drove that day at certain RPM's etc. He also stated that it measures something in the oil to determine how old and dirty it is. I took his word for it. He topped it off and I got out of there. Anyway, as I was driving home, I started thinking that this doesn't make much sense. Right before I had to add oil myself, the oil life was at 40%, the oil was old and black. After the new oil was added, shouldn't the oil life increase due to the addition of the new oil? Now like I said, I am no car expert, I don't even change my own damn oil, so I might be totally off. However, this just doesn't make too much sense, and the oil life meter remains a mystery to me as to how it calculates the percentage. Anyone have any ideas?