My RDX needs to do service again, I was doing in Acura Dealer which charged $90 each time, it is too expensive, Please, good suggestions are welcome! Thank you!

 

I don't know how friendly your Acura service manager is; but, I purchase my own oil from Walmart to take to the dealership, cabin/engine filters from Amazon to do at home, and have lifetime balance/rotation from Discount tires. Acura does the oil change, uses dealership oil filter+crush washer, performs any of the muti-point inspections for an A or B service, and washes the car afterwards (half ass wash) for $26. My dealership also drops me off at work and picks me up when the vehicle is ready. Saves me some $$$ over time having 3 Acuras that seem to due for service around the same time.

 

If you have a driveway, for $90 you can buy all the tools you'll ever need for an oil change (ramps, wrench, funnels, bucket, etc), along with the oil and filter, and do it yourself. Then future changes will only cost oil + filter money (~$35).

 

If you are willing to get a little dirty, you don't even have to jack up you car - our RDX is perfect for DIY! You will need:

1. 5 Qt. of 5W-30 engine oil, Mobil 1 or Pennzoil, both have rebates going on, should cost less than $15 after rebate;
2. A decent oil filter. I have been using Mobil 1 M-110, with a 40% off coupon from Advance Auto Parts, you can get one for $6-7;
3. 17mm socket + wrench;
4. If you wish, you might want to get an Oil wrench also since sometime the oil filter gets a bit hard to take off (you can probably get away by wrapping some rubber bands on it) and just use you hand;
5. A plastic pan from dollar tree for $1;
6. Washer, I usually ask for like 10 when I go to the dealership for things like safety inspection. They give out those for free.

Overall, it shouldn't cost more than 20 bucks, and no more than 30 mins of your time - definitely saves time compared to going to the dealership. You can probably do a better job than they do by allowing enough time for the old oil to come out.

Couple more things:
1. If you wish, you can get a torque wrench, but you can probably get away with by just *feel* it after you've done this couple times;
2. I usually just hand tighten the oil filter, usually 3/4 to 1 turn after contact - at that point, you won't be able to turn it further by hand.

 

No pennzoil

Only M1 oil approved for RDX. (dexos 2 spec)

 

Link to support this statement?

 

From the manual:

"Required Engine Oil; Always use Mobil 1® 5W-30 or an equivalent oil that meets the Acura HTO-06 standard."

I personally use Pennzoil Platinum synthetic, but to be honest I do not know if it actually meets the referenced standard or not. I just know it's good oil at a good price.

 

Sweet.. learn something new every day!!

Thanks for the lesson guys!




You should be safe with Pennzoil as well. I've used it

 

FWIW; Mobil1 was the first one to meet the spec, thus why it's name dropped in the owners manual...but other brands are quick to meet standards. as shown by thoiboi in the post above

 

The RDX is one of the easiest DIY oil changes I've ever done (no need to lift it, and the plug and filter are easy to reach).

I'd go ahead and drop a few $$ on an inexpensive torque wrench for the plug.

 

Just wanted to add that Castrol Edge EP 5W-30 meets the HTO-06 spec. I've used Pennzoil Platinum, M1, and the Castrol...usually whatever I can find on sale or with a rebate.

 

I stand corrected. I was wrong. Things have changed. That Shell oil above got a GM dexos1 spec, but not one for Honda.

What motivates some RDX owners to go to a different oil?

I use M1 FS in all our cars and M1 EP in our truck. I use Chevron premium in all our cars and our truck. Each get a bottle of techron injector cleaner every year.

I'm doing all I can to keep all these running for as long as possible.

Why would I want to switch?

 

I am going a head to do oil change myself, for the first time, since it seems easy enough to reach the filter and the plug, saving me $20

 

Switching was never on my mind either; prior to buying my (soon to be sold) 2001 V6 Accord EX I had been a Mobil 1 guy for geez, over thirty years. The first oil change came due for the Accord and when I went to my local car parts store, they only had two quarts of Mobil 1 0W-20, so I opted for Castrol Edge 0W-20 instead. For the next oil change I went back to my tried and true Mobil 1; funny thing though, during the 7,500 miles the Castrol was in the engine, there was hardly any oil loss, however, after 7,500 miles on the Mobil 1, the engine consumed over a quart of oil. From the third oil change onwards, I used the Castrol Edge and never had any consumption issues. I have long heard anecdotal reports of Mobil 1 being consumed by *some* engines, and prior to observing the phenomena for myself I had always thought such reports were hogwash; now I'm not so sure.

I'll be picking up my Acura TL this Saturday, so needless to say I haven't done any oil changes on it yet, but I'm thinking to stick with Castrol Edge 0W-20 for it.