ReD-BaRoN

For those of you who have extended oil change intervals (7k+), what do you do about the maint. minder, warning you after 5k miles? Do you ignore it, and just hit the accept button each time you start the car?

I'm think about going synth, but having the maint minder bug me every day would be annoying!

Tripnbeats

ummm no you press and hold reset when the oil life is shown on the screen then let go when the screen changes then press and hold it again for a lil while n the oil life resets....but then again i dont know who would run the oil for 7000 miles the engine starts to tick....it annoys me i dont know about others.

riomp300

reset the minder and do a UOA on the oil. It cost about $25 from blackstone lab but its worth it since your still under warranty. Just request a free test kit. You dont have to test it everytime but it will give you a good idea when to change your oil based on your driving habit/climate etc. Since you are still going to run the oil, you should get a suction pump and draw the oil from the engine. Most auto centers have them.

ReD-BaRoN

Synthetics like AMSoil should go much longer than 7k....

KJSmitty

If I followed the MID on my TL past it displaying 50% oil life, I would easily go to 10K miles before reaching the 5% mark...
- 7500 is nearing the norm for manufacturer oil change intervals. I average around 5500-6K and I have yet to go past 40% displayed on the MID

If your engine is ticking you may want to check that you have oil in it...




ReD-BaRon,
Have you actually taken your TL/oil change past 5K? The MID doesn't just go off at a preset mileage. It's algorithms are more involved than that. Depending on your driving style, location, and climate, you should easily hit 7K miles before the 15% or below MID reminders.

ReD-BaRoN

Hi KJ,

Right now my milage is ~5250 and my MID says <5%. Maybe it's because it's the first oil change and the MID wants to do it early? P.S. This is a 07 Tl-S. Maybe they're a little more aggresive on oil.

Tripnbeats

hondas engines tick, beat ur engine a few times or wait til ur percentage goes down an listen to the engine tick. they say every 80k u need a valve adjustment. I wouldnt put 7000 on the oil.....synthetic or not its still oil it breaks down just as fast as any other. PLUS the biggest factor is where u live if u live in bumble fuck u get great oil change averages....if u live like lets say NYC ur car catches more of a beating only because of stop n go and you're more prone to shutting the car on n off more than if ur to go further in distance on a single drive n then shut it off and turn it back on the oil life is heavily determined on 2 things..... the amounts of times the car is started and mileage/time driven.

KJSmitty

Very true Red-B,

My commute/TL use is about 70% highway which obviously has an effect on how long the TL MID would think my oil is "good". My guess is you have allot of city driving and possibly many short trips and start/stops.

In this case about all you could do is reset the MID as described above. I'm not sure if the 07 MID "brain" is set to ensure an earlier oil change on the first vs after the initial reset etc.? Could be. As you probably already know however, the MID doesn't know between synthetic or conventional oil thus will not adjust accordingly.

Being a previous dealership employee and very close experience with warranty issues, I always recommend whether using synthetic or not, still follow the manufacturers parameters with oil changes. Until they actually spell out different guidance in the owners manual for syn vs conv oil, they will hold you to whats published. May never bite ya but ya never know... :-)

I would do like riomp300 stated above, have your oil checked by a lab - changed when the MID recommends. Not the factory fill oil because that will have "stuff" beyond the norm. That will tell you the "condition" of the oil in regards to if you changed at a good time or whether you could of ran it longer - given your specific engine and environment etc..

You may find out the MID is right on or that it's being conservative. Beyond that will be your call.

Good luck and enjoy your TL