n3ok318

iTrader: (1)

When I bought the car, dealer said the car only needs one oil change per 10k miles. And it also says in the owners manual from what I can remember. But I see people changing their oils at 5k over here. am i missing somtehing?

Xtremespeed2102

depends if you fall into the "extreme conditions" i do becuase i live in florida and its ususaly over 90 degrees here and right now its extremely dusty where i live.... but again i put in mobil 1 synth. so ill probably change it some time after 6ish? maybe... but the first oil change i did at 5k.... rather quickly because its different engine oil i think... so now ill probably bring it in 12000 miles to do the 10k service and some oil change.

Whiskers

This sounds familiar...

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19214

slo007

5K is best. The car also starts to consume some oil after 30-40k .

bob shiftright

This scary picture is of a 2001 BMW 330i with 82.2k on the clock. If you want to believe in those extended oil change intervals, BMW recommends 15k intervals.....

joerockt

Wow, what a mess. Every 5K for me.

TSXrocks

According to the TSX manual:

Normal
The "normal" schedule is fine for most drivers, even if they occasionally drive in severe conditions.


Severe
Follow the "severe" schedule only if you drive in one or more of these conditions most of the time:

Trips of less than 5 miles (less than 10 in freezing weather)
Extremely hot weather (over 90 degrees F)
Extensive idling or stop-and-go driving
Trailer towing, car-top carrier, or mountain driving
Muddy, dusty, or de-iced roads


It also further states in their maintenance FAQs in the Acura owner link page:

So according to the above, why would it be necessary to go at 5K oil change intervals?

GIBSON6594

Man, after that picture, I'm changing mine daily

joerockt

I only work about 5 miles away from home. It gets over 90 degrees here in the summer. Lots of stop and go driving for me since I dont take the highway that often. And its dusty out here when its not raining like its been.

Necessary enough for me.

ClutchPerformer

That stuff is really cooked. Once again, folks: Extended oil change intervals are a MARKETING GIMMICK. Nothing has changed about the way an engine degrades oil.

Tsex on 19s

Every 3K for me

Xtremespeed2102

i think just a tad bit over 5 is nice, speically since ive put synth on...but i also keep an eye on it... see how it changes colors w. the engine hot and cold and what not... yes i do have that much free time on my hands

mg7726

if you live in the city, you 'should' fall under the severe category

i change it every 5k-6k w/mobil1 syn, on my past three cars, no problems.

n3ok318

iTrader: (1)

i see... so it's all about marketing.

I'm not a little past 1k, when should i have my first oil change?

Also, when is it good to change my oil to synthetic?

Thanks!

provench

I go for the every 5K and get a tire rotate (and balance if needed) to keep the regular scheduled stuff simple and adequate. Good tires and good oil ... the two best things for you Honda/Acura

jlukja

IMO you should not have your first oil change any sooner than 5K, just like the manual says. The oil your TSX comes with initially is specially designed for engine break-in. Feel free to replace it with synthetic at 5K.

billz260

The oil in that BMW pic looks to be from an extreme heat problem. I have seen several newer Vortec SBC's with the same oil in the gally at the top of the engine. It gets baked and becomes coal like when the exhaust passage on one side of the system gets clogged and routs all the exhaust gass through the intake warm up tube.

I am not saying that I agree with the 10K, but if your using syn oil, and you don't really push your car, 10 should be fine. Just my opinion. Check your oil often and as long as it isn't stinky and DARK, your cool.

TSX Hokie

The AMSOIL 0W-30 Series 3000 synthetic I use claims a 30,000 mile/1 yr interval, but a 6 month interval for the filter. The stuff was almost $100 for 12 quarts, so I'm sure as hell using it for the full year (I drive about 15k miles/year).

iamhomin

I do it every 6500 miles.

Alin10123

I too have put that stuff into my Toyota 4runner since 27000 miles and have been changing the oil once a year and filter every 6 months. It was at 80000 miles when i sold it and the engine has been running awesome ever since. When the mechanic checked out the engine for the buyer he said that the engine was really well taken care of since the engine did not wuite show the wear of an engine of 80000 miles on it.

Plus for me when i switched the engine ran smoother, quieter, and i got better fuel economy. So far... that oil has yet to let me down.

Amsoil has a 4 ball wear test on their website that clearly shows that amsoil protects the best out of 4 major synthetic oil company.

Here's a URL to someone who actually has compared Mobil1 to Amsoil and actually left Amsoil in his engine for the whole year and he actually took oil analysis very often just to make sure everything was going ok.

http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/s.../oil-life.html

LoveMyTL-S

How about using something to protect your engine? Such at Slick 50?? BTW I change my oil every 5km.

ForceSHO

NO ! no additives.. they destroy engine

EDIT:
reading for slick 50 from ftc

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1997/07/slick.htm

McGriddle

I stuck with 10K for my first due to break-in, but since there's quite a bit of heavy traffic here in Jersey, I'm probably going to start changing every 8K or so. 5K is way too often for most people, IMHO, unless you track your car or live in a dusty desert.

Powered by Honda

10,000km for first oil change, 5-6000km for the rest.

LoveMyTL-S

Thanks for the article on Slick 50, wow what a mess!! I guess I won't be putting that stuff in my TSX...........

observer

Let me guess, your dealer does not have a service department. My dealer suggests an oil change every 3750 miles.

virtualbong

So, I am scheduled for my first oil change this Monday. I have about 5600 miles on my car now. My question is, what type of oil does the dealerships use when they change your oil? Should I bring in my Mobil 1 Synthetic Oil and tell them to use it or should I just let them put whatever they have?

joerockt

Dont tell the Amsoil people this

jlukja

If you don't specify the oil the dealer will put in regular oil with factory specs. If you want to switch over to Mobil1 then just bring a jug of it with you when you drop it off for the oil change and ask them to use it. That's what I did except that I waited until my 2nd oil change (10Kmi) to do it.

Savio

how much are oil changes at Acura stealerships?

NightShredder

In the end when you think about it oil is cheap when compared to $27K for the car. I say adhear to the "extreme" driving conditions in the manual and you can't go wrong. Anywhere between 5000-6000 miles for me.

virtualbong

Was there any reason why you waited until your second oil change?

jlukja

I asked myself that same question when I wrote that response. I remember reading a lot of posts here about switching to synthetic and frequency of oil changes. I'd say my driving falls 90% under the "normal" and 10% under "severe" so, per the manual, I should have done my change at 10,000mi. I went and changed it at 5,000 figuring that the first 5,000 break-in miles would be fairly severe on the oil. At that time I had not yet decided to go to synthetic. When I did decide to switch I did it at 10,000 mi. and do not plan to change the oil again until I either get to 20,000 or one year, whichever comes first.

In short, if I had a good reason, I don't remember what it was. It just worked out that way.

JKV808TSX

Living here in Hawaii, there's a lot of stop-n-go on the freeways during rush hour and on weekends....the weather is pretty fine...mid to high 80's... I change mines every 3k.. I had Acura do my first 2 oil changes.. now that Im coming up on my 3rd change.. what is the best oil for the TSX at the stage of 11k?

jlukja

You fall under the "severe" schedule. You will be fine just following the manual and doing oil changes every 5K, using the dealer provided oil. For an additional margin of safety you could change to synthetic (lots of owners here like Mobil1), its really your preference. I went with Mobil1 for peace of mind because under the "normal" schedule the 10,000 change interval was a little too long for my taste with regular oil.

JKV808TSX

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind to swtich to synthetic when my 3rd oil change comes around... this time, I'll be changing the oil on my own.

Howard911s

i put mobile 1 full synth, and change oil over 5k!

YOTH

I've got many more miles to go before my first oil change but seeing all the discussion of when/what to change I have some questions.

What's the benefit of synth? I ran my Mercedes (103K) on good old regular oil changed every 5000 miles. My MB mechanic said everything still looked pristine and worked fine. I asked him about switching to Mobil1 but he wouldn't recommend it for my car then.

So if regular oil got my car through 10+ years without any problems what can I expect by paying more for synth oil? Since my car is new I would want to make my switch now instead of later with more mileage.

Thx

jlukja

There is some interesting discussion on use of Synthetic oil here:
http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...ighlight=Mobil

and here:
http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...ighlight=Mobil

and some good links in here:
http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...ighlight=Mobil

bz268

Can you guy post some pictures for what the 5k oil looks like and the 10k oil looks like please?

I am thinking if they look the same, it has no point to change the oil every 5k miles.