Oil changes for my driving style/enviroment?

[IceWindius]

YES, I searched and read several threads about the whole debate on oil for our Civics. The advice ranges from following the Honda MM *maintenance minder* to the letter, vs staying to the tested and tried ever 3,000 miles.

Every situation and driving style is different for every owner, so let me present my driving habits and enviroment.

I live in Montana, which always has variable weather that changes every 5 minutes or so. One hour it can be 40 degress, blowing wind and cold rain, the next hour it could jump to 60 degrees with sunshine and no wind. The winters here get very cold and harsh, with variable tempatures ranging from -20 to 40 degree's that changes constantly, with snowfall, ice, hail, fog and everything in between.

Summer and springs consist of random rainstorms with summer becoming very hot at times 80-100 degrees with little humidity until fall sets and and cycle repeats itself

Now, with my current driving style, this car is my buzz around town car and is not even used to get to work, my company van is for that. So there are times when I drive no more then a block away to the grocery store on a cold engine and drive for no less then a minute, park, do my thing and then head back home. Other times, im taking the 45mph sections to the other side of town which can result in alot of stop, crawl and go driving. At night I have more smoother and constant driving with less traffic. I drive from anwhere from 2 to 20 miles a day. My rough yearly average is less then 5,000 miles a year.

Our traffic in my town consists alot of stop and go, small side streets and a few sections of 45mph 4way roads around 5 miles long. There is also a decent amount of hilly roads that are around a 10% grade.

I also take side streets which average 20-30 mph and do require a fair amount of intersection stopping and going *I usually roll through stop signs, I hate full stops*

I only use highways maybe 2% of the time of my total driving, so the car is hardly ever at 50mph+ speeds.

The dealership I bought my Honda from out of town recommends due to our weather and road every 3,000 miles for maximum protection, irregardless of what the MM says, stating that it only measures the dirtyness of the oil, not the moisture, thickness ect..ect.. and is therefore not very accurate The first oil change should be done at around 4,000 to let the break in oil work.

I got off the phone with my local Honda dealership and they say that the MM is fairly accurate with the average driving in my town, can go around 4,000 miles or more depending on highway use which can extend the life of the oil. First oil change should be 4-5000 miles to allow break in oil to work.

I WILL not be doing my own oil changes as I:

A: Do not have the tools
B: Do not have the patience/skills/nerves/comfort
C: Hate getting oily and dirty
D: Apartment landlords forbid vehicle maintenance on lot

That being said, I want MAXIMUM protection for my engine and the best care I can give her. Im pretty deep in the hole after trading in my Accord for my baby, so I will have this car at least 3-4 years.

That said, whats your advice/suggestion/opinions?

[kenchan]

your background...

my advise is take it to the dealer when the computer tells you to.

[Rawhyde]

Those short trips can attract a lot of moisture into the oil. Change it every 2000-3000 miles and use a quality synthetic oil.

I am a regular on a MINI forum also. I have changed my oil every 2500 miles in that car since new. I now have 91K miles on it, and it still runs as good as it did on day one! I've been flamed many times for my attitude towards oil changes and other acts of compulsive maintenance as Kenchan can probably remember. Just to add perspective, MINI recommends ~15K mile oil change intervals. There is a guy on the MINI forum that takes manufacturer's recommendations like the Word of God and criticizes anyone who does differently. I offered him a $100 bet to find a MINI with similar mods and miles that has been maintained "by the book" and snatch off it's valve cover and see if it's as clean as mine. Funny thing, he didn't want to cover that bet....

All BS aside, change your oil often if you do a lot of short trips!

Rawhyde

[IceWindius]

Anyone else?

[Duce2k]

If you're paranoid and think that the maintenance minder's oil change intervals are too long then I'd say go ahead and change it every 3k miles using dino oil, much cheaper than synth. I've changed my oil 3 times using the minder, the last time laast week at 14k miles, it worked out to about 4500 between oil changes but I used Mobil 1 every time

[civsnake]

Honda says use the MM. Why wouldn't you believe them? If you're paranoid, change it when the MM says 30% or 40%. The MM doesn't base its indications on miles alone; it takes into account engine speed and duration.

The safest thing to do would be to change every 2-3k. It's just also more costly and wasteful.

[volvo9]

Originally Posted by civsnake

Honda says use the MM. Why wouldn't you believe them? If you're paranoid, change it when the MM says 30% or 40%. The MM doesn't base its indications on miles alone; it takes into account engine speed and duration.

The safest thing to do would be to change every 2-3k. It's just also more costly and wasteful.

Yep, Honda's the one warrantying the car, so they don't want it to blow up.

I'd just follow the MM or go with 3k miles. Engines are very durable and even with crap care they last a long time. My grandmother drives kind of similar in her saturn and I'm not the least bit worried that the engine is going to fail because of the oil. She never lets it get to running temp and is afraid of highways. I just change it every year with dino oil, I don't even think she drives 2k miles a year.

[civsnake]

I went by the MM, and was changing every 6-7k miles. This is because I was putting 90% highway miles on my Si.

[IceWindius]

I need some more incite pretty please.

[ryker]

If you want the best and cost is not an issue. Along with the fact you only need one oil change per year. Amsoil, Redline, or Torco oil. I think Torco SRS 0w20 would be the best you can get and change it once per year which would be about what the MM would tell you to do.

I wouldn't worry about moisture in the oil. This is a modern engine from Honda. Not a 1965 Harley. If you are simply give the car a good hard WOT run once a month or so.

[black05tj]

I would suggest going with whatever gives you peace of mind. If you feel following the maintenance minder is sufficient, then fine. If you'd feel better to have it changed every day (extreme example), well that definitely won't hurt anything.

In your situation, I'd run a quality synthetic and probably change every 3 or so months, timing it more or less with the change of seasons. The exception would be the Maintenance Minder - if it indicated a change was needed sooner than my schedule, I'd do it then. In really harsh conditions, I'd probably check the oil more often and change it as I felt necessary.

Keep in mind, I'm only 500 miles into my first Civic, so the whole reliance on the car's Maintenance Minder is new to me - I'm not sure if I completely trust that just yet...

[cderalow]

follow the Minder, while it's a relatively new system here, it works, and simplifies things well.

Use a standard quality oil in the recommended weight for your vehicle or OEM fluids.
Change your oil filter every time to a quality filter (Mobil1 k&n champion etc)
Rotate your tires every time.
Change your air filter every other time.

My previous car was a 98 Dx Coupe, and using it's built in maintenance minder (purely mileage based) and changing my oil accordingly, the car had 190k on it when I sold it after getting my Si in Feb.

Simply put, follow the books and it'll likely run forever. Do as others have told you, and you may or may not cause damage to your engine.

Your choice.

[ryker]

Originally Posted by black05tj

If you'd feel better to have it changed every day (extreme example), well that definitely won't hurt anything.

...

Actuall the science of used oil testing has shown the brand new oil requires a slight break in period for the oil additives to stablize. Changing the oil before the lifespan has fully experied is a waste. Over 100k an engine that has had oil changed too often will have increased wear over oil that has been allowed to utilize its lifespan.

Kind of like a new pair of shoes and your feet. Wear a new pair of shoes every day verse a new pair every 6 months.

[black05tj]

Originally Posted by ryker

Actuall the science of used oil testing has shown the brand new oil requires a slight break in period for the oil additives to stablize. Changing the oil before the lifespan has fully experied is a waste. Over 100k an engine that has had oil changed too often will have increased wear over oil that has been allowed to utilize its lifespan.

Kind of like a new pair of shoes and your feet. Wear a new pair of shoes every day verse a new pair every 6 months.

Interesting... I never considered that oil might have a "break in" period. Just figured cleaner/newer = better.

[jdog1988]

Originally Posted by Duce2k

If you're paranoid and think that the maintenance minder's oil change intervals are too long then I'd say go ahead and change it every 3k miles using dino oil, much cheaper than synth. I've changed my oil 3 times using the minder, the last time laast week at 14k miles, it worked out to about 4500 between oil changes but I used Mobil 1 every time

I agree with Duce. I change mine with Mobil 1 following the minder around the 5k mile mark. I also clean my K&N filter every 2nd oil change. Yeah, the Mobil 1 costs more but I think it's worth it....anybody else?

[ryker]

Originally Posted by black05tj

Interesting... I never considered that oil might have a "break in" period. Just figured cleaner/newer = better.

Many modern oil have complex additives packages. Not sure why or how but I've seen several UOA check out bobstheoilguy.com oil forum for really tech stuff. or just trust the MM.