EE4Life

See the following December 2019 Acura Product Characteristic Sheet:

BPC13648
Maintenance Minder Message Oil Life: 15% Comes Up Early
Affected Vehicles: General Information
http://www.urvi.net/forumfiles/SB/BPC13648.PDF
http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/p...u/BPC13648.PDF

EFR

This is crazy. For synthetic oil to have to be replaced every year makes no sense. My first oil change happened at about 2800 miles because of the '1 year'. Now I am almost 5 months later and another 1000 miles and I can see it's going to want another oil change, likely around the 5000 miles mark or whatever it is when i hit 2 years. After my initial oil change, my BMW 528 scheduled oil changes on its 'minder' at every 15,000 miles. For me that was too much and I cut that in half...but this Acura...2 synthetic oil changes in 5000 miles where the BMW would have went 30,000?

russianDude

It makes a lot of sense. Every car manufacture requires you to change your oil at least every 12month. Oil degrades as it sits in your engine.

mathnerd88

Mercedes Benz does this exact same thing. Regardless of how many miles you put in the vehicle, it will light up service is due in 1 year or 10,000 miles, whichever comes first. You don't have to follow it, and I usually wait until 10,000 miles before I do an oil change. I've changed it once in the past two years when the car finally reached 10,000 miles. I just let the maintenance minder light show service is due even though it's been two years.

You don't have to follow the maintenance minder light...it's not a big deal.

mathnerd88

While I agree with you, it won't degrade within 1 year that requires another oil change if you've only put three thousand miles on it. Shelf life of oil is already five years already...

russianDude

For at least last 20yrs, Honda/Acura owner manuals wanted you to change your oil at least every 12month, why are you surprised now?
btw, I dont know if your dealer or factory oil is full synthetic. 0w-20 is available as synthetic blend

russianDude

mathnerd88

I always use Mobil 1 AFE or EP oil. I'm not surprised at how often you should change the oil. I'm just saying it's not necessary IMO to change your oil once a year if you've only driven 3000 miles on it for the past year. I've changed oil in my Benz once every 2 years or 10k miles, whichever comes first.

russianDude

shelf life is 5yrs when its in air tight clean plastic canister. Crank case is not clean, and oil will be mixed with some junk, that will shorten life of additives beyond 1 year. 12month limit is standard in most car brands.

russianDude

Mobil1 EP, AFE and AP all want you to change it every 12 month regardless of miles

Dereileak

Honda made the right choice putting that time limit in, 1 year max with oil if you want your car to last, If not then just ignore it and reset it and might as well just not change your oil

Waetherman

I was raised to change my oil every year, if mileage didn’t warrant it first. My mechanic said oil looked fine and didn’t need to be changed, and I believe him, but I’m cautious and think it’s still worth changing every year or so. I’m just less panicky about it now.

russianDude

My snowblower manual wants me to change oil every year! Now thats annoying considering some winters I dont use it at all

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

While true, conventional oil has chemical reactivity which pretty much renders it "used up" in about a year in a humid environment, out in a dry desert it would take many years to exhaust the same oil. Then there is synthetic oil, due to the significantly higher purity of the carbon chains which make up the oil, they are far more stable and to not react to aging like conventional oil. Companies like BMW now recommend a 15,000 mile OCI (and have since the late 1990s) as well as a 2-year OCI, whichever comes first.

russianDude

Well, mobil1 ep states its good for 15k/12month. Same for Amsoil, there is something about 12 month for engine oils. Why this is even a discussion beats me, if you dont drive you car much, how difficult its to change oil once a year?

Madd Dog

How much is anyone trying to save in order to exceed the manufacturer’s recommendation? How could that possibly be worth it?

mathnerd88

Maybe for Acura, not as big of a deal but for Mercedes Benz, service alternates between $250 and $500 per year. Somehow MB recommends changing the differential fluid every two years which adds signficantly to the cost. An oil change by itself costs $200. Stretching it to two years saves a significant amount of money.

Madd Dog

sorry, but no. If $150 extra over a year is significant, your key fob should not have a Mercedes logo on it.

We are going to a nice restaurant for dinner next week. There goes my $150.

mathnerd88

I like how everyone argues how people should spend their money. Nobody likes to spend $200 if they don’t need to even if they’re wealthy. Would you want to spend $200 on something that you don’t think is necessary?

There are some rules that can be bent. Manufacturer recommendations can be one of them. There’s a difference between recommended and required.

You know, my 2007 Honda Odyssey never had a transmission fluid change and it still runs well at 250k miles. Guess what the manufacturer recommends for transmission fluid changes? Every 60k miles. Sure, if I changed it every 60k miles it would last longer and transmission might shift slightly smoother but at this point I don’t care if the van breaks when it’s this old already. Sometimes manufacturers recommend these things so they can make more money off of you.

russianDude

sorry, dont know anything about mercedes.
But for my Acuras I buy mobil1 oil at walmart and change it myself, runs under $30. I know you will say that you cant change it yourself, but my dealer charges $50 for 0w-20 oil change. Too much?

mathnerd88

I would personally much rather spend $50 on an oil change for my Acura than $350 a year on average on the Mercedes. I would rather do oil changes on my own but pep boys near me charges $20 to bring my own oil and filter so I usually do that.

leomio85

Are people really quoting BMW recommendations for anything engine related? Whatever BMW recommends, I'd do the polar opposite.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Now there's an informed opinion.

Dereileak

just did mine today!! And a tire rotation