DealsAllTheWay

I have a 2013 RDX AWD Tech. my first maint. light came on and I need to get the A1 service.

Dealer where I bought the car says I NEED: Synthetic oil change and Rotate & BALANCE...cost is $128 plus tax

I thought this was high so I called another dealer just to ask what A1 service is and its cost...they said $74.65 plus tax..they do Semi Synthetic oil and only Rotate. He said BALANCE is NOT needed..

called dealer 3 and he said the same thing.."Semi Synthetic" oil and only Rotate..NO BALANCE for $74.95

So I am a little confused..what is the right service for 2013 RDX...

Synthetic or Semi-synthetic????

Rotate and Balance or just Rotate tires??????

thanks

DealsAllTheWay

the manual says use Premium-grade 0W-20 detergent oil with an API Certification Seal on the container.

I thought 0w-20 automatically means Synthetic..

then on the bottom of the page in the manual it says "You may also use synthetic motor oil if it is labeled with the API Certification Seal and is the specified viscosity grade"

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

Those are the going rates. Mention A1 and it'll be about $120 or so. Ask form the oil change and rotation, it'll be $75. Based on what I have read 0w 20 is synthetic and that is what the OM for your RDX asks for. A synthetic oil change runs $75 alone without the tire rotation. Your best bet... buy your own oil and bring it to them. You pay for the labor and have them do the tire rotation.

DealsAllTheWay

thank you.I'll get the synthetic since it would be better for the engine.

now 2 dealers and the manual say "Rotate" the tires

the one I want to take my car (proximity) to says I NEED "rotate and balance"...why???

CoachRick

Whole lot of folks out there saying a ro-bal is indicated every OTHER service for 5-6K mile intervals. Volvo is 10K miles between services with no indication that a ro- or ro-bal is needed more often than that. Even when their interval was 7.5K miles, rotation was indicated for every OTHER visit.

Generally, as with oil changes over the years, the folks who are paid to perform the service are usually the ones who recommend 'that' service be performed more frequently. Funny that.

IF you are melting the fronts off your FWD vehicle, I could see rotating every visit; but I'll bet every other visit(or 10-15K miles) would be sufficient provided you have no signs of trouble(uneven wear, vibration, etc).

rosen39

It's good to rotate the tires every 6K to have them wear even. I had the dealer do my first oil change and tire rotation at around $75.00. At least I got a free car wash out of it. The next oil change I did myself. Mobil-1 and an Acura filter for around $45.00. The re-balance I would do only if you notice an imbalance on the highway. The Michelin's are good at staying balanced.

mrgold35

For my TSX, RDX and MDX, I purchase mobil syn oil from Walmart for $22, lifetime rotations at Discount Tires, lifetime alignment with Firestone, K/N drop-in filter I clean every year, and Fram cabin air filter I replace once a year for $14 from Amazon. My dealership charges me $26 plus a car wash for a A1 service.

I rotate my tires every oil change just to keep the math simple in my head. I also purchased tires that are non-directional and cross rotate every other oil change. I cross-rotate because it provides even wear on all tires surfaces and it helps keep tires quiet down the road.

DealsAllTheWay

thanks guys..I ended up getting the synthetic oil change...

I got the tires rotated...did not do balance..

total $89 OTD..

dcmodels

Cross-front, Cross-rear, or Cross-X

ceb

If you have a tire vibration then you do a balance - if you don't have any vibration then a balance is useless - either a tire is balanced or it isn't. There is no preventive maintenance to keep a tire balanced.

What a rotate and balance does do is rotate the money out of your wallet and balance the funds by putting them in the dealer's wallet.

mrgold35

I do a X:
- front to back,
- cross left/rear to front/right and right/rear to left/front,
- front to back, and
- cross left/rear to front/right and right/rear to left/front,

The tires are back in their original position every 20,000 miles driven on a 50,000 mile tread-life tire. I also re-balance every rotation and check the alignment twice a year (have Eibach lowering springs, always a little out of whack). I've noticed the way I drive, the right rear tire is the least worn while the front left tire is the most worn. I hit the corners pretty hard with sh-awd and the tread along the sidewall wears more than the rest of the tread. Cross rotation evens out the wear and keeps the tire quiet at +25,000 miles on them.

hadokenuh

There is also a chance that the tech messes up the tire balancing, e.g. car vibrates after service. I wouldn't not get the tire balancing if not needed.

mrgold35

Sometimes it depends on where you feel the vibration. I know my front tires need balancing when I can feel it in the steering wheel. I know my rear need it when I can feel it in the seat or see the head rest vibrating. This may not work as well with electric power steering found now days. I've notice just rotating or X-rotating my tires resolved vibration issues with my tires when balance/alignment did not help.

Some tire(s) and/or rim(s) can just be out of round. Some places have road force balance equipment to adjust the rim and tire by applying actual road force to double check the balance. Sometimes, the tech has to adjust the tire on the rim to get the perfect balance. There are other machines that measure the roundness of the tire and they can shave the tire down if there are high spots causing vibrations (turn oblong into round).

http://www.motorweek.org/features/go...orce_balancing

AXMACD

I've owned a Honda for many years so I'm familiar with the maintenance minder system. I have 170K on my 2008 Civic and I've used synthetic (Pennzoil Platinum to be specific) since 100K. Doesn't burn a drop of oil between changes. What I'm wondering is with the newer Civic's the maintenance interval is double what it is on the older cars, is this true for the newer Acura's? For example, my Honda "requests" service every 8000 KM, the newer ones go for 16000.. what's the average oil life on these new RDX's?

Type X

I went in for an oil change with about 8100 miles on our 2014 and the service tech was like you should just get the A1 for a few more dollars and get the rotation.

I opted for it because over time if you have any issues with the tires etc etc you have a little more leverage.
I had the A1 done at the dealership where i bought the car and i have all my accessories & updates done at another dealership where they messed something up and now all my "labor" on accessories is free

So sometimes it's worth the 40/50 bux and over time it will pay off.

Shahryar

I'm so late on the first oil change in my 2014 RDX. I bought it new November 2014. I'm now at 9120 miles, 1334 miles past the service. Hopefully the maintenance minder is just early - I remember with my '04 Accord, the manual said that oil changes were needed every 10k miles under normal conditions.

Anyways, I plan to pick up two 5 quart bottles of 0W-20 oil Mobil 1 from Walmart today. I should have a Mobil 1 filter at home which I got free from Advance Auto parts once w/ an oil change coupon.

I don't know what Acura charges, but I plan to leave my RDX at my local Honda dealer which charges me $10-$15 for the oil change when I bring my own oil and filter.

Maybe I'll do the tire rotation too if it's $15 to $20 and I'll ask them to do the cross rotation as you've described above

dlee337

the maintenance minder supposedly uses vehicle conditions and driving habits as a measure of when to change the oil. i ignore it.

i've had my FWD 2013 RDX-T for a year and have barely put 9200 miles on it. the first time i was advised to get an oil change (at 15%,) the car ran like crap and i noticed a decline in gas mileage. the oil that came out was the factory fill, thick and black and smelled terrible. iirc, i was even short a quart or so, which i suppose it a bit normal for having run it 4700 miles. my commute is all city, i rarely get on the freeway.

i changed my oil this weekend after about 4400 miles and the oil minder at 40%. i also drained the ATF and replaced the air filter. it runs SO much more smoothly and quietly now. could i be changing my oil too often? maybe. cheap insurance, imo.

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

^^it is recommended by Acura that you keep the factory fill in the engine until the MID says so at <15%. There are additives in the oil to help with the break in of the new engine.

As far as what the OCI is suppose to be.... that depends on YOUR driving habits and conditions. Drive a lot of Hwy and your OCI will be over 7k miles. Drive a mix or a lot of city (stop and go) it'll be closer to 5k.

Certainly everyone can do what they want I terms of maintenance intervals with their car. Acura didn't pay all this money for R&D for the MID system in their cars so the car would fail.

I have followed what the OM has asked for both of mine. My TL ran regular Dino for the first 50k miles and then switched to full synthetic while following the MID. Now the car goes by an annual change since I don't accumulate enough miles to trigger the MID. My MDX has followed the MID since I've had it. No issues and runs perfectly fine.

Make your life simple... just follow the MID, that is what the system is there for. Except for the people that fail to follow the MID with overdue service. if anything happens and you fail to service the car in a timely fashion... dealer can use that against you to get the failure not covered under warranty.

hondu

Changing oil will not lower your gas mileage, unless the wrong oil was used (higher viscosity than recommended). Though it sounds like your driving conditions led to fuel dilution of your oil (a lot of short trips?). In all the years I've had Honda's/Acura's, the MM is pretty accurate to go by for changing oil.

hondu

Did you go 1334 miles past the 15% alarm, or 1334 miles past the 0%? I seriously doubt the MM is early and your oil was probably long gone (no TBN and high TAN) if you went pass 0%. Would not be surprised if you have some varnish build-up in your engine now, maybe even some sludge.

GRDX

If the MM got to 0% and you drove it 1,000 miles or more past without servicing the warranty is now void.

ceb

Incorrect.

If you have a lubrication related problem then the dealer can (rightfully) refuse warranty service on that failure, but if your door lock actuators die then it will still be covered.

Remember though, that "lubrication related" can mean lots of things. We used to play "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" and connect any failure to any modification (or in this case, lack of maintenance.

At 1k over, it is unlikely that you have any engine damage. Varnish and sludge builds up over time and (unless you've had the car many years to get to that 8k) you'll be fine - but - get the service done soon (today is a good time to schedule it) and hope for no lubrication related issues.

Whenever there is a lubrication related issue (very seldom) then the manufacturer will ask you for all of your service records and a delayed maintenance is all they need to deny your claim.

hondu

I would not be surprised to see some varnish start to build up on any engine going 1,000 miles passed the life of an oil. Of course a fresh oil change could probably clean-it up relatively easy.

Shahryar

Yikes, so after reading all your comments since my post on Tuesday ( https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...9#post15025019 ) , I'm a little freaked out. I personally don't think that going the 1k+ over the mileage minder is too big a deal. Like I said, I remember my '04 accord i4 which I purchased new 10 years ago as per the manual says change the oil every 10k miles. So while the minder did go off around 8k, I feel there's a pretty decent amount of wiggle room.

Oil's no longer about that every 3k or 5k interval cycle anymore right? I thought all oil these days was around the 10k mark, and if you use Mobile 1 or Amsoil, you can even push further on that. In my '08 Lexus IS 350, I remember I took my Mobil 1 oil past 11k on the cycle and had a used oil analysis carried out by blackstone and they said I was pushing it during that cycle. However, they said that if I had changed the filter along the way, I probably could have pushed the oil further.

I'm not sure how much the oil that came with my vehicle differs from Mobil 1, but definitely going forward, I plan to push my oil changes past the maintenance minder intervals because I'll have mobil 1 fully synthetic oil in there. My next oil change I'll do at 10k miles after this one and carry out another used oil interval analysis to confirm that the oil interval is ok. I'll share my results with you guys.

I know people say getting early oil changes is a good cheap prevention technique, but I'm from the camp that says if oil is still good why waste money and burden the environment with it? Use it til it's done.

All that being said, I am freaked out about an Acura dealer possibly giving me a hard time should something ever happen in the future. So I don't want them to have any documentation that I went so far over my Maintenance Minder.

So I canceled my appt I set with Acura for the oil change tomorrow and will go to my Honda dealer instead. On the plus side, getting the oil change done by Honda vs Acura will be cheaper - Acura quoted me $45 and Honda quoted me $20 (assuming I brought in my own oil and filter - which I will: I already called the acura parts to leave me two filters ($7.04) and two washers ($1.98) with the cashier for me to pick up before Cashier closes at 8, then I'm off to walmart to pick up the 0w20 mobil 1 fully synthetic oil)

The tire rotation cost between the Acura dealer and Honda dealer would be same. Again, I plan to do the cross x rotation mentioned earlier in this thread by mrgold35. (Planning to print out this post of his actually ( https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...5#post15023995 ) and leave it in the service request envelope)

hondu

You cannot compare the V6 in your RDX with the I4 in your Accord in anyway at all. Honda/Acura J-series V6 engines have been found to be very hard on oil (with the VCM at least). I've done UOA's on my Honda and Acura cars and the MM's are pretty accurate. I would never go past 0% on my MM without a few UOA's showing how your driving habits affect your oil life. I am pretty certain your TBN is less than 1.0. There is nothing wrong with using your oil for its entire useful life, but I would never recommend pushing it too long. Not trying to scare you too much, but there are many documented cases of people going too long on their oil and experiencing sludge build-up and varnish (various makes).

I would recommend you take an oil sample this time and do a UOA and then do another UOA on the Mobil 1 when your MM is at 10%. I would then choose how long to go between oil changes based on both of those UOA results. Make sure to test TBN on both samples.

Oil is the lifeblood of your engine. I don't advocate changing out perfectly good oil, but if you can run synthetic oil for a good 7-8,000 miles, you've got your money's worth from it. It is cheap insurance to change oil and keep it fresh.

dlee337

sorry, i wasn't clear. my city MPGs had dropped gradually from about 21 to high 18s. as i mentioned, it was the factory oil. after the oil was changed, it went back to 21ish.

my driving is almost exclusively around town. i don't have much need to get on the freeway. you could say i don't drive my RDX much- i'm still under 10k on my 13th month of ownership.

GRDX

I could be wrong but as far as I understand it the fact that the maintenance interval was exceeded is permanently in the MM memory and will show up whenever a technician plugs into it. If Acura wants to use that against you to deny a warranty claim the only way you could convince them otherwise would be to produce credible documentation the required maintain was was done on time with the MM not being reset correctly.

1CleanRDX

Since the MM has to be reset manually, one could just say they forgot to do it for a few months or some other excuse. If you are going to drive it way past the MM (I have no idea why anyone would delay maintenance and risk damage to a $35k vehicle) just reset it when it first comes on. However, I am guessing that if someone is too lazy to get the oil changed, they are probably too lazy to reset the MM.

mrgold35

The MM is so annoying when due and it displays every time you start the vehicle; you have to reset it because it takes over your M.I.D. if you changed your oil or not.