How many miles do you guys drive before the maintenance reminder light comes on between oil changes? I just picked up a 2nd generation TSX and I so far two oil changes and I only managed to get a little over 5000 miles each time before the maintenance reminder light comes on, seems kind of early for a oil change? This is changing with 0w20 Synthetic oil and Fram Ultra oil filter.

 

The type of oil you use is irrelevant; the maintenance minder will signal the next oil change regardless of what type of oil you have in the engine.

 

I get about 6k to 8k between maintenance minder oil changes. The maintenance minder does not know you are using full synthetic with a Fram Ultra oil filter. Rather, it counts the number of ignition cranks and driving distance, among other heuristics, to determine when the oil should be changed. It is calibrated for 0w-20 synthetic blend oil, so you should be able to stretch out your oil change interval.

 

 

I get about 6k but I never have been a fan of the maitnence minder - just used as a backup. Check the oil, make sure it's not burning/evaporating every 1k miles. Change it at least twice a year.

 

Yeah, I'm at somewhere between 5 and 6k. Probably because it's used for a lot of short, but uh, "spirited" driving.

 

Most of the miles driven are city miles but i am a bit surprised that the maintenance reminder light would come on around every five thousand miles so far, even if it's with city driving. I wonder if it has something do with the weight of the motor oil being so thin at 0w20. I used to own a first generation TSX and the maintenance reminder light came up every 7500+ miles ( w/ Mobil 1 5w30) and this was driven the same route as the current TSX.

 

It has nothing to do with either of those things.

 

My 2014 Sportwagon with 50,000 miles was getting the signal around 10,000+ miles. Mostly rural highway driving. Now I'm retired and not putting the same mileage on so I'm on a yearly schedule.

 

Short trips will shorten the oil life. As will very cold/hot temps. And agressive driving.

The maintaince minder self-adjusts based on those things.

Weight of the oil has almost no impact directly. BUT thinner oil does tend to get hotter faster.

Either way, I was seeing about 6K-9.5K depending on how the car was driven. Currently, it only gets like 2-3K miles per year put on it. So...I just change the oil annually now.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. I am going to change out the oil this weekend with Mobil 1 0w20. Deciding on whether or not to leave the oil filter on for one more oil change interval since the fram ultra oil filter is rated up to 20,000 miles between changes and I am only at a little over 5000 miles.

 

Replace the stinking oil filter!

Get OEM A01 or a Mobile 1 filter.

 

Meh, there are a lot of oil filters out there which are better, even much better, than the OEM filter and don't cost anywhere near as much as the Mobil 1 filter.

 

Please, enlighten me. A01 (no longer in production) filter is very high quality filter that can be had for $6 - $9. Are you referring to the A02 filter? Mobil 1 was suggested because it is very common and generally a decent filter, for $10 (20K miles). OEM A02 filter is crap, made by Fram.

 

Higher end Fram, Napa/Wix, Purolator, and even STP are all filters as good or better than OEM Honda filters.

 

This sounds like an opinion.

I really would like to see real data that shows any of those are better than an A01 filter. Look at the A01 cut open, it's crammed with pleets and is very thick walled.

 

There's a ton of videos on YouTube with oil filter "dissection". I've taken a look at a few and just go with the Mobil 1 filter. Yeah, it's $10 at Wally World but meh, I don't care about saving $6 or so by going with a cheaper $4 filter. The argument over brand name synthetic vs Walmart house brand conventional is the same. It's a savings of what, $15 for 5 quarts? Mobil 1 is like, $29 and Walmart conventional is around $15 or so. It's not like the argument over going with Michelin Pilot Super Sports vs. some Kuhmo's or Pirelli's where you'd be saving $150 per tire.

 

As losiglow said, there is a very significant amount of information all over the internet on relative oil filter quality and performance. Another way to think about it; as with their oil, Honda does not make their own oil filters; I came across a stat a few years ago on BITOG (Bob Is The Oil Guy.com) which identified the four main makers of oil filters world wide; as with virtually every other OEM brand, Honda has theirs made by one of the four.

 

How many miles does your car have? I would normally get 5k-7k before 100,000 miles. I’m at 153,000 now and I get a check engine light around 3k miles. This engine starts to burn oil after 100k. It’s a known fact. So now I just have it changed every 3k. Still runs like a champ.

 

 

I'm having a difficult time wrapping my head around that statement; can you provide some context as to how you arrived at that conclusion?