According to the manual (and Justinsw) severe driving is defined as:

Quote:

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

5 days a week I drive route 1 to work and back which is 25 miles at about 1-2 hours. This is 90% of my driving. Would you consider this extensive idling or stop-and-go driving?

 

My perspective is that, except for a very small minority of drivers, most of us should think of ourselves as "severe." Not many of us get up in the morning and drive 45 minutes, without traffic in optimal weather.

 

besides what darth said, i also follow the severe schedule because i plan on keeping this car for a long time.

 

Ok, I have about 5K and it is going in tomorrow for the windshield noise. I will put in for an oil change. Thanks.

 

oh and if i were you, i'd never wait 10k for an oil change as stated by the owner's guide. 5k and 3k are the most popular intervals for oil changes.

 

Hmmm, big selling point of the TSX is the relaxed maintanence schedule compared to others

 

Ok, so, now I'm confused....I want to keep my TSX for a long time, and 5k (described in manual as interval for oil for "severe" conditions as noted), seems very reasonable. 3k may be the traditional interval for keeping one's car in tiptop shape, but is it necessary for our TSX?

Thanks,

Steven

 

I'm currently on a 3,500 mile oil change schedule.

Comes out to about 3 months between oil changes.

 

, i do it every 3.5 k miles .

 

Every 5k should not be a problem. I would assume that for most people the every 3k verses waiting till every 5k probably doesn't make a huge difference. It also depends on the type of driving. If you take a long road trip or put on 5k highway miles, that isn't as hard on your engine as 5k worth of stop-and-go city driving. Either way, I would say that 5 is a safe bet.

 

wsklar, sounds like you drive in fairly "severe" conditions. 5k would be the average or on the safe side. i drive between normal and severe, so i change mine every 6k or so. maybe after 100k i will change it a little more frequently. honestly, i don't think our tsx, or any new acura needs an oil change within 5k miles. but i guess people just want to be extra careful.

my brother gets his changed in a '00 tl after every 5k, but he drives in really severe conditions. so far, after 75k with regular maintenance, he hasn't had any issues. waiting to see what it looks like at 100k.

 

The every 3 k thing is what jiffy lube and places like that want to believe. With today's engines and high quality oils, every 5,000 to 6,000 is fine for most drivers (after break in).

 

Well, since I am driving mostly stop and go, I will go the 5K route. Thanks for the expert responses.

 

One of the better ways to time the oil change interval is the BMW way - amount of fuel burned (I think theirs is around 600gal). Then it doesn't matter if its used a little on the highway but a lot of miles or a lot in a few city miles- it's the same amount of wear/use. Time should also be a consideration. Even if you only drive 5K miles per year, change the oil after about 6 mos.

 

Pretty interesting.

 

Yes, the BMW system is very smart. In addition to fuel consumed it also monitors things like the number of times the engine has been started, how often it came up to "normal" operating temp, elapsed time since the last service indicator reset, etc. C&D had a good article about this a while back.

 

I sorta figured that time played a factor, one of the reasons I sent my car in for oil right now. Thanks for the confirmation!

~ Steven

 

Actually, for most drivers in most cars, even 10K is fine.

With higher performance engines like ours, most seem to recommend 5-7.5K as the interval.

Only reason I'd worry about changing at lesss than 5K would be in a turbo. Even then, most don't seem to have the problems they used to.

For lower-use drivers there is still some validity to doing it at least every six months.

 

The only issue is that it's still up to some guy at BMW to pick some number at which to turn on the maint light.

The chosen number is sometimes arrived at with other than just engineering input. I can't see how in the case of MB one year the light comes on at around 15K miles (04 and earlier) and the next it's just 10K (05 and on when the free maint went away).

 

That would be the accountants analyzing warranty claims to come up with the number. Has naught to do with wear on the engine.

 

i just changed my oil, at 6k intervals.

 

On my old Audi the light came on every at about 8500K or after 11 months, whichever happened first. Makes sense, as the required maintenance interval was 10K or once a year, whichever came first. Not sure what would have happened if I had screwed with the calendar.

 

This is a rather interesting topic. I also own an 04 accord LX. I did not buy it from the dealer near my house because for some reason, they wouldn't budge much on the price. Anyways... so at the stealer i bought my car from, their service interval says 3000 miles for the oil change. However, since this place isn't near my house; I cannot go there everytime because i'm sometimes busy. So i go to the stealer thats near me to get the oil change since they charge the same and it's closer. Their service interval is 5000 miles! They are both using the same grade oil and both are using quaker state. So... just goes to show you some dealers/ oil change places will tell you to come back at a certain mileage for more repeat business i guess. But after further doing research, even if you are running on regular old nonsynthetic/ dino juice. You are changing your oil too early if you do it at 3000 miles. It can actually easily go to 5000 miles.

 

What does the Accord manual say? Ignore all dealers and others who make money off unnecessary maintenance.

 

There's a reason that the MANIT REQ light comes on at a certain interval. All the lube shops and dealers would like to perpetuate the 3K myth - it's not needed - follow what the manual says.

 

Be careful of the word "Recommend". My wife and I took her Civic in for an oil change. The Honda dealer had signs all over the place with "recommended" services at various mileage intervals. The rep wrote down a bunch of services that he said "we recommend" for the mileage on our car. When I pointed out to him that our Civic manual had different services he got a sheepish and said that this dealer "recommends" these "services" to ensure a well running automobile.

Just follow the manual and don't let the service rep talk you into unnecessary services.

 

Just found this today....

http://autos.msn.com/volvo/article.a...tentid=4022672

 

I just traded my 95 Maxima for a TSX. From 5k on I changed to oil and filter at 10 K with Mobil 1. The car had 170,000 miles on it when traded and burned only 1/8 of a quart between changes, usually at the end of the 10K interval. Only things done to the engine were plugs belts and hoses. Slight lifter tick on start-up after about 100K that lasted a second or two, helped with Marvel Mistery Oil that almost eliminated the problem. Ran like a top, and I would bet the compression was within specs even though I didn't do one before I traded. When the engine was running you could not tell except for the sound, no vibrations. Will keep the same interval with the TSX

 

Meh, I'll assume Acura knows more about when to change oil on TSXs than Larry Hall, MSN, and AAA.

5k for me - I ignore my dealer's window sticker propaganda

 

to answer the title, is anyone on this site "normal"?

Double meh! I change the oil in my Accord every 5000mi. I use Castrol syntec my oil still looks like honey when I drain it. I know it could go further. Todays oils and filters are awesome. Not to mention Honda engines are built like none other, why the h3ll would I change the oil at 3000mi when it still is nearly new in the car?

The TSX will get the same, my dealer doesn't even want to see me until the 5k period.

 

Well, if it means anything my car feels better after the dealer oil change.

 

Your car talks to you too?! Finally somebody else hears the voices.

 

So you have OCD and are

 

A friend of mine is a service tech at a honda dealer and he said server is if you do mainly city driving, and the temperate goes below 30 and over 90 degrees. I'd say you are server because of your city driving and because the temps do go below 30 and over 90 in NJ.

 

Define Crazy?

 

Alright, thats enough...You're scaring me...

 

 

Damn, you totally fell for some service manager's propoganda! Where the hell you get this "45 minutes without traffic in optimal weather" condition? The manual doesn't mention traffic or stress only optimal weather conditions! I drive 17 miles to work in (moving) traffic taking me about 25-30 minutes, and I follow the "normal" schedule. I fully expect most americans should be following the "normal" schedule -- else why would they call it NORMAL? LOL Honda did not intend for most of its customers to follow the "severe" schedule, but most all service managers are intent in trying to convince ALL their cusomters into following it. Don't fall for their lines. Just read your manaul and use some common sense.

 

Just because those are the most popular intervals doesn't mean they are "correct" and/or "optimal".

 

Safe then sorry???