groper

Got my Acura Style magazine today and within the pages of this fine publication is a Q&A section in which readers write in Acura related questions. One question of note is a reader's concern about when to change the factory fill oil on his new 2003 TL with 1800 miles. (A little dated but still relevant). His dealer advised against changing the oil before 3750 miles, "because it has chemicals that must process through the engine thoroughly. The "expert" agreed with this advice and added "The oil originally installed at the factory is a very special blend normally referred to as break-in oil. It contains special additives that are beneficial to the early stages of an engine's life." It goes on to advise to stick with the manufacture's drain interval afterwards.

Dkrudop

Just curious......."Acura Style" magazine? Is that something Acura sends out on a semi-regular basis???

JPSMAN

I have heard conflicting reports from the Acura dealers in NC (one said 3000, another said to wait for the maint. reminder), but I think I'll leave my "break-in" oil in until 5000 miles.

groper

Yes, a quarterly magazine.

JoganJani

Leave it to MID. It will tell you when to do A1 and do it that time. Mine was up at 5500 miles.

cdbell1201

I concur with joganjani. Isn't that the purpose of the MID, or at least one of its purposes? I'm around 2500 miles and my oil life is 80%. I'll wait until it tells me to do it.

Sherlock

But you don't understand, so many Acura drivers DO have their degree in PetroChemicals and Honda Engine Engineering. They know SO much better than Acura what the oil is made of and why it's in there and why Honda says to leave it in there for the full first oil cycle (until the MID indicates).

Didn't you know that tradition that was passed down from father to father to us in using 70 year old Oils and filters still applies to oils made today and that what GrandPa did is still so valid as to override a company with such racing heritage as Honda ?

Everyone knows so much better these days, never mind what the manufacturer says, they only designed the car and such. Nothing about cleaner engines, more refined oils, oil additives.

*rolls eyes*

Tedanddenise

LOL Sherlock - love the sarcasm! JiffyLube has changed more perfectly good oil than one can imagine (are they the ones who started the 3000 mile BS?) - I belong to a motorcycle forum where some of the members have done oil analyses at various mileages using different types and brands of oil. All of us were mildly shocked when we discovered that oil that has 8-9K miles still checks as "just fine". Although the viscosity does change a bit (shearing?), additives and other components seem to hold up just fine. I like the 5K interval but will be depending on the MID on the Acura. Email me and I'd be happy to email some of the data - tedanddenise@comcast.net

TBone2004

For anyone who dared to disobey the MID and relied on the old "what my Dad and his dad always did" rest assured I changed my first oil out very, very early and you know what? The car still runs! Whew!! I was worried. Enough about oil changes guys. Use the MID, use every 5000 miles, hell - change it every week! Too much thought and concern are getting mixed into this. It is OIL. Do you use Castrol, no I use Penzoil, hey should I use Quaker State, I dunno I use Valvoline, what about Synthetic, dunno what's that? Can you say M-A-R-K-E-T-I-N-G ?? C'mon...there is no harm in frequent changes and there is no harm in following the MID. MOST Important thing is - just change it! The MID and our father's advice are actually similar - Change every 3k - 7k and you will have no worries.

Pug

This shows what is great about this website. This guy writes a letter to a magazine and has to wait three months to get an answer. If he came to a-tl.com, he would have gotten a lot a healthy debate on following the MID, not following the MID, observe some flame-wars around syn oil, why fram filters are cheap, whether the washer is needed, etc etc etc.

You can learn more by search through these forums for a few hours than you could from a year's worth of mags

Sherlock

Ditto on TBone, just keep it changed, but I would at least leave the break-in oil. I have spoken to some pretty respected engineers and there are plenty of reasons for it. After that, change to your heart's (and wallet's) content.

I for one love the first week of burning oil smell that I get when they always drip oil on the block

tonyg24

i hear jiffylube uses recycled oil

acura told me to wait till 10k miles for first oil change...my reminder is less than 15 percent right now with 5600 miles

narnia

How can you subscribe to Acura Style?

TBone2004

I dunno - I never told them to send it to me - it just appeared yesterday in my mailbox. The prototype RL pics were cool.

JoganJani

Even I started getting it when I bought the Integra in 95 but it stoped later after I moved. Register on Acura.com site and they might send you.

Pot80h

You could call ACS and ask them about it.

Does anyone know if the MID has multiple settings? IE: does it have 2 schedules; one for "regular" conditions and one for "extreme"? We have to use the extreme schedule because of the excessive heat and dust here in the desert.

Jss1

I was told that if you don't use the car very much you should change the oil every 6 - 9 months as it starts breaking down whether it is used or not. Is there any truth to that?

Road Rage

I posted the VOA of Honda's factory fill in the Oil Journals. What i found is that it is high in molybdenum, and the usual ZDP addditive pack. But my analysis also revealed something else - there is a commercial product that you can easily get to add to any mineral oil you want, while still being able to do a change at 1K miles, which i like to do to ensure that none of the sand casting material runs through the engine. The best of both worlds.

The product? Valvoline MaxLife Engine Protector - I found bottles of it at Pep Boys. The S2000 came with the same "wooooo" warning from Honda, so for the scardey-cats at S2KI.COM, I ran the VOA (virgin oil analysis) and I found a replacement fluid.

This is exactly what I did on my car - I drained the fluid at 1K miles, added some quality mineral oil, and 1 bottle of MLEP - done.

Next!

Road Rage

Yes, but it is not really breaking down. What happens is that ambient moisture in the air, and the moisture by-products of combustion, can react with the sulfurs in the fuel to form weak sulfuric acids. If the oil is at the end of its useful life, the pH buffers (usually calcium) will have been depleted enough that they cannot offset the attack of the acids, and pitting of the rings and/or the cylinder walls can occur.

Even the best oil mfr's (Amsoil, Lubrication Engineers, Red Line) require an interval of time replacement - never more than 1 year.

Jss1

Thanks guess its time for the first change.

Road Rage

Here's the VOA of factory fill in Accord V6:
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/index....owtopic=193726

And MLEP:
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/index....owtopic=194334

neuronbob

It was an automatic subscription that appeared in my mailbox after I purchased my 2G TL. You don't have to do anything special to get it.

That's why I hang out here so much.

lindros2

I changed mine at 3800 and everything has been fine.

I cracked the oil pan on my last car (Audi S4) at 1200 miles and never had a problem. I used synthetic from that point forward.