Crazytree

Dealer says 3,000mi.
I'm thinking 5,000mi.
Manual says 10,000mi.

What do you say?

SPUDMTN

Hello-

I'd say 3000 miles. Baby your car...it deserves it!


SPUDMTN

Brad

Any of those frequencies would work. I change my vehicles' oil every 2500 miles. Engines love lubrication!

Sometimes there are marketing or political influences in a company's documentation.

- From a marketing point of view, if Acura were to recommend much more frequent oil changes, then a competitor could jump on that info and proclaim that Acuras are "high maintenance. Just look at how frequent you have to change the oil!"

- From a political point of view, the environment aspect frowns on frequent oil changes since it adds pollutants into the system and increases demand for oil.

What kind of oil does Acura recommend?

Crazytree

not sure... but I've heard good things about synthetics.

ebcheon

but on the other hand, if acura wanted to make more money in the service department, they would recommend a more frequent interval for oil changes.

provench

I go for 5000 which allow me to do oil change as well as get tires rotated and balanced.

There is something to be said for an easy to remember and fewer total trips to dealer/shop schedule

fdl

I think it really depends on how hard you drive, and/or how fast you put miles on.

If you drive hard, you should change more often. Also if you only drive 5k a year...i would not wait a whole year to chance the oil.

moda_way

Think about a couple of things and disregard a dealership's suggestions (I say this for a reason).

1. Fossil fuel based oils, under the best of conditions, is really only good until 3000 miles.

2. The oil filters on the car have been put through enough at 3000 miles, so why push it.

3. If you change your own oil, it will only run you $28 to do a synthetic oil change every 4.5k to 5k miles. Isn't it worth that little to insure being safe with your engine.

Now, an explanation of the dealership schedule.

The dealership is trying to "package" service so that you aren't coming in many times for things that can be done once on a stretch (oil, filter, tire rotation, lube, adjustments, etc).

I personally don't care what a shop manual says, I'll be changing my oil based on the fact that it makes sense for the life of my car.

XPLORx4

Speaking of oil changes, how hard is it to change the oil yourself? I read that it's very difficult.

After watching TOV's undercar video review, it appears that you must remove the panel covering the lower engine to get to the filter. Is that piece hard to remove? What's involved after that?

fdl

I believe there are instructions in the owners manual.

jt_02

Well, if you use a synthetic motor oil you wouldn't NEED to change your oil for about 15,000-20,000 miles. I have actually done many projects dealing with conventional motor oil versus synthetic motor oil. I have talked to many people in my research that helped back up what I discovered. I have talked to mercedes owners that have cars that say when the oil needs changed. When Mobil 1 was put in the car the light didnt come on for 21,000 miles. This was in comparison to a conventional motor oil that needed changed every 3,000 miles. I also performed friction tests and synthetic motor oils protected against wear better and longer. I have actual figures for all these tests, but I hope this helps.

moda_way

jt_02,
I completely understand your response, but you've got to remember the technology that Mercedes, and Porsche for that matter, employ to have those types of intervals on oil changes. The Boxster S has 3 oil pumps, 1 for stirring, 1 per bank of the engine. The Mercedes I believe uses 2, but for the same reason. Boxster carries 15 qrts of oil and I believe the Mercedes carries 10 qrts. The Acura carries 4.2 on a filter/oil change and that is something I would never recommend testing for 15-20k miles.

My overall assessment about changing oil is to change your oil every 3k or 3mths for fossil based and 4.5k or 4.5mths with synthetic; unless you're like the odd balls of Porsche, Mercedes, and others.

For the difficulty in changing... Yes there is a small hatch you remove to get to the drain plug and the filter sits (facing the engine) on your left. I highly recommend getting the filter wrench (more of a filter cap)... it makes changing the oil EASY, however the original filter is smaller than the filters that replace it... Don't know why Honda/Acura does that, but the OEM is a little larger than the one from the factory.

REI

I asked the service dept. about the oil changes and the manager told me Acura uses the average for the receommendations. He said 10k would be for someone who isn't driving under heavy demand. For the life of me I don't know who they is. He said 5k is for stop and go demand traffic like we have on the busy East Coast. That would be 5k on bulk regular oil, which is Mobil at Acura, by the way.

I use Mobile1 synthetic in my other cars. One just turned 184,000. I change it every 7k because one of the engineers who developed Mobile 1 said not to run it past 7500k.

The manual says change filter every other time too but who would do that? It's like leaving a quart of dirty oil in your car.

My friend with a Mercedes says M recommends only Mobil 1 for her vehicle.

In the old days we changed it every 3k with filter and there is nothing to keep one from doing that now if you have the time and the expense. But it's not going to hurt to go past that.

Count Blah

Is that 3k or 3mths a (whichever comes first) or (whichever comes second)? What if I only drive about 6k miles/year? That would be once every 6 months, or once every 1500 miles, depending on which measurement you use.

XPLORx4

moda-way- regarding the oil filter access, is it easy to reach?

On my SUV, the oil filter is tucked up above the steering rack, which means you first have to remove the skid plate (10 bolts) and then when you remove the filter (screws on vertically), oil spills all over the steering components and makes a big mess. (I've resorted to covering everything with 2 layers of rags to reduce the mess) On my 1993 Accord, the oil filter screws on horizontally, so when you loosen it, oil spills out right away, some of it onto the exhaust pipe, which smokes a little the first drive after the oil change.

I don't own a TSX yet, but I'll probably get one by the end of August (and I definitely intend to RTFM!). I generally do all my own oil changes on my vehicles, but if changing the oil/filter is a big pain in the @ss, I'd like to know whether I should bargain with the dealer for free "warranty-period" oil changes when I negotiate purchase price or if I should just do it myself anyway (because you can never really trust anyone but yourself to do it right - plus, I'd prefer to use synthetic Mobil1, which is unlikely to be provided for free by the dealer).

Thanks.

PS. How easily does the TSX drive up on ramps? Is front clearance an issue?