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First Oil Change Decision

10K views 59 replies 23 participants last post by  canoetrpr  
#1 ·
My Odyssey has 3950 miles on it and the oil life monitor is now at 50%.

In June (when the projected mileage will be about 5000), we are driving from Ohio to San Diego in a very short period of time.

While I don't know that it will really make much of a difference, my choice is to change the oil for the first time either just before departure or upon arrival in California (when mileage should be about 7500 miles).

Would welcome all thoughts on the question.
 
#4 ·
My dealer quoted the oil change interval to be 3750 miles. It may be conservative, but that's what I'm sticking with. I definately wouldn't go 7500 right off the boat. IMO
 
#6 ·
For whatever it's worth, the oil life drops to 15% at around 5,500 miles and the MID shows a "Service Due Soon - A1" notice. We just went ahead and did it, what's interesting is the dealer put a sticker on the windscreen indicating next oil change should be 8,500 - not sure how they are calculating that given it took at least 5,500 miles to get close to low oil life status. I guess that's the 'pay us more than you need to' calculator they are using ;)
 
#7 ·
What does OIL Life truly indicate ..?

Happy31 said:
I read in the owners manual that you should NOT change the oil the first time Before 7500 miles.
I had my first oil change at 4,650 miles..,,which was a surprise to me as I had expected to hit the 7,500 mile mark b4 the first OIL change . The 7,500 mile change works very weill for my 1997 AUDI ..she runs smooth with no hiccups. I use the van on alternate days for commuting to work (10 miles) and then the weekend jaunt of 75 miles i.e Am puzzled as to why the oil life indicator would indicate oil change so early ... :confused:
Just want to caution you all that the dealers will attempt to load up extra services besides the oil change leading to >$140/- in costs..

Regards

Kandiah
 
G
#9 ·
Our indicator put us at an oil change at 6k. The dealer did stock the M1 5w-20, so we went ahead and had them use it since they were charging a fair retail price for the bottles. That way nobody can complain that we put the wrong oil in the motor. :D

--> Andy
 
#10 ·
This has been discussed to death on here. There is nothing wrong with waiting until the indicator says to change. Modern oils are not just oil they are engineered lubricants. Honda Corp says wait. Dealers just want to make money off of you. A long trip would have the least oil break down of any use. I say move on into the 21st century. This ain't your father's Oldsmobile.
 
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#11 ·
Maybe this was discussed before (I am pretty sure of that), but there are some issues with changing the oil PRIOR to getting notified by the car's service minder.

Just think of it for a moment. The service minder is designed to show you NOT only the oil life percentage, but also WHAT TYPE of service to be performed. Such as those letter codes "A" or "B", as well as some number which is decoded into "what else" needs to be done.

When you (or a dealer) changes oil, you (or the dealer) is suppose to reset the service minder (oil life goes back 100%). However, according to the Owner's manual, resetting service minder indicates that the recommended service has been performed (and not just the oil change !). So, if you change the oil early AND reset the service minder at the same time, you would never ever see what those service letter codes were suppose to be in the first place (if you were to let oil life count down to 15% or less), thus potentially missing some important service items.

I can not confirm, at this point, whether the above logic is in fact true. I just believe it might work out that way. It is possible that "non-oil" service minders really look at the car's absolute odometer readings as oppose to the relative one (i.e. since last minder reset), in which case the above is not a concern at all. Anyone from Honda service dept can confirm/deny this ??? GoodSonOdy ?????
 
#12 · (Edited)
I have not thought about that. It is a very good possibility that resetting the oil minder light would also reset other needed items back to zero.
None of the reminders are set to mileage.
However, the oil minder is set by a long mathematically formula which considers average RPM's, number of cold starts, time at idle and many other performance issues. It does NOT actually test the condition of the oil. (I don't think that any one here thought that anyway).
There are two competing ideas here.
1: The dealer wants you in as often as possible. Change your oil early and often.
2: Honda Crop. wants to keep the maint down to a minimum in order to keep the over all cost (i.e.: Consumer Reports) down for the life (or at least the 1st five years) of the car.

Personally, I would rather have 50 to 100% good oil in my car than I would 10 to 50% oil.
Would you rather have a battery in your pace maker that has 50% life left in it or one that has 15%?
 
#13 ·
GoodSonOdy said:
1: The dealer wants you in as often as possible. Change your oil early and often.
My dealer only charges $9.95 for an oil change and their service department is open until 10:00pm. There's really no reason for me to wait. As cheap as oil changes are compared to the price of the vehicle I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I'm sure this has been mentioned before too, but the only way to truely know how much "life" the oil had left is to have an oil analysis performed when you have it changed. www.blackstone-labs.com is a good choice. "Looking at your oil", or "having your engine still run smoothly," or even the "oil life indicator" cannot really tell you anything about your oil.
 
#14 ·
GoodSonOdy,

Great analogy, but if I wasn't going to live longer than the pacemaker, then it really is a moot point.

I can't imagine Honda (or any manufacturer) would tell us to replace the oil right before it is going to fail (with no margin for error). If someone wanted to play is safe, you could just change it closer to the 15% warning.

I think Alex makes a great point. We bought these new state of the art vehicles, and we should be benefiting from the technology. I think I am going to use the money I save on a new HDTV this summer.

Tri-C,

Here are my thoughts. If the warning comes on prior to your trip, definitely get the oil changed. Otherwise, I would highly doubt that you will have the potential to go past the recommended interval (especially when you figure the algorithm should be kind to highway miles).

Finally, I will say this. I personally have never had a car fail because of the oil, and I can't think of many people who have on a modern vehicle. Back in high school, I think my one friend might have killed his vehicle this way. But he had a Ford Tempo and didn't change the oil for 30K. Maybe by then it didn't even have oil....:stupid:
 
#15 ·
yatesd said:
Finally, I will say this. I personally have never had a car fail because of the oil, and I can't think of many people who have on a modern vehicle. Back in high school, I think my one friend might have killed his vehicle this way. But he had a Ford Tempo and didn't change the oil for 30K. Maybe by then it didn't even have oil....:stupid:
You do bring up a very good point.
I my years as a Honda service advisor I may see one or two cars a year that have major engine problems due to lack of oil changes.
I do see a lot of cars with engine slug due to this but they are still running.
But these were due to a major lack of oil changes and I don't mean missing it by a thousand mile or so but just plan not doing them for 10's of thousands of miles.
I do not believe that you will shorten the life fo your eninge by waiting to 15% to do you oil changes.
I guess at my age it's just hard to change. LOL :confused:
 
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#16 ·
GoodSonOdy said:

I do not believe that you will shorten the life fo your eninge by waiting to 15% to do you oil changes.
Well, you see, it is still not clear what to do for the people who like to change their oil just slightly ahead of a planned long trip (whereby stopping for a oil change on a long trip would be a waste of time). So if I were to change the oil just short of the 15% of its life remained (let's say, at 20%), how could I be sure I did not miss any other service items ???? Nowhere in the Owner's manual does it say about "the planned maintenance", all it says that we should wait for the service reminder to tell us what to do. Does not work very well for people who like to plan ahead. Sigh... this has been beaten up before many many times on this forum.

Now, if someone could tell us that resetting oil life back to 100% do or does not affect non-oil service items, that we all could make a well-informed decisions. Or, if someone could get us data on how the service minder is programmed (i.e. what service items are displayed at what intervals, just like in good old days). After all, someone had to code the logic into it..... I dont think they analyze tranny fluid life, or air filter life, or anything else for that matter based upon the engine starts, temps and etc. I dont think there is a sensor which checks air pollution and dust level in the filter, is there ???
 
#17 ·
I would wait to change the oil.

I know in other Honda vehicles, Honda adds additives to the engine oil at the factory, namely molybdenum, to helps the rings seat properly. I see no reason why Honda didn't add molybdenum to the Odyssey. In fact, with VCM, it makes more sense to wait.

As others have stated, frequent oil changes are money makers for dealers. There are many technical studies in the literature that indicate that modern engine oil can go 2 times the recommended mileage without any loss of lubricating properties.

For those of you switching to Mobile 1, why did you do it so early? In my other Honda, the factory recommended that I drive the car at least 7500 miles before switching away from dino oil. Of course, there are other cars out there that come with Mobile1 from the factory and so I don't know who to believe.
 
#18 ·
David said:
I know in other Honda vehicles, Honda adds additives to the engine oil at the factory, namely molybdenum, to helps the rings seat properly. I see no reason why Honda didn't add molybdenum to the Odyssey.
Good point, I wonder if they do use a "break-in" oil from the factory.
 
#20 ·
Alex: I completely agree with you. I feel less informed than I ever was about the service schedule for this vehicle. In the past I have always stuck to the schedule that was given to me by the owners manual, rather than the one the dealer wanted me to follow.

I think Honda should publish what the algorithm is. I like to plan ahead - particularly for big services - like timing belt changes and so on.

I for one did not mind having a fixed schedule from the manufacturer. It was about as simple as it gets.
 
#21 ·
Don't change the oil before 7500 miles.
When we got out 04 last year, we went on many trips to quickly rack up the miles before the first oil change. Today I just left the van at the dealership to do the second 7500 miles service (at 22,550 miles on the odo).
The 7500 miles service costs $49.95.
 
#22 ·
Good points all, about resetting the oil change minder early.

I, too, would reallllllly like to know what happens to the other service counters: Do they get reset when the oil life minder is reset or do they march to a different beat?

AP
 
#24 ·
I would be shocked if they are tied together. That would really be bush-league if the service reminder is not completely separate -- 99% sure they act independently.
 
#25 ·
I talked to one of our lead techs and here's the scoop.
Honda recommends oil changes any time before 10% oil life left.
This does not affect the light for any other maint needed.
Owners can decide for them self if they want to do oil changes before that or not.
There are lubricants in the engine during assembly that is an advantage to keep in longer than 3,000 miles while the engine breaks in.
There is no set time or miles that this should remain in you engine but more than 3,000 is advised.
The tech told me that it should be there at least 3,750 miles and that 5,000 to 7,500 would be fine as well.
 
#26 ·
GoodSonOdy,

Thanks for the update. I just want to make sure when you say, "Honda recommends oil changes any time before 10% oil life left.
This does not affect the light for any other maint needed." you are referring to the scenarion where changing the oil and resetting the reminder does not reset the "timer/countdown" for the other maintenance services.

Thanks,
AP