hsedsie

I purchased a new TL in June 2006. I have yet to bring it in for service because I have only driven it 1200 miles. Some say that the original oil is different and must remain in the engine for a specified number of miles. What do you think?

Desert_TL

Good question. I also bought a new TL in June 2006. By around October I had put about 4,000 miles on it and the MID indicated 30% oil life. I called the stealership and talked to one service rep and he said that although the factory oil is specially formulated with high-moly content and should be left in the engine until the MID indicates <15%, I could go ahead and have the oil changed anyway. When I drove to the stealership to have the oil changed, however, a different service rep refused to change the oil. He said that Acura mandates that the first oil change on all new cars must occur when the MID indicates <15% and no sooner. He said the factory oil has additives that help seals seat properly and so on. So I took the car back home. At 6200 miles the MID finally indicated <15% and I took it in and they changed the oil. At that time the rep said that I could have the oil changed as often as I pleased now that the first change was performed.

In conclusion, YMMV. I get the impression by reading around the boards that some stealerships will look the other way and change the oil sooner than <15%, while others refuse to change the oil. I'm like you; I felt pretty nervous/bad about leaving the factory oil in there for 6,000 miles but I guess if they feel the additional moly content and additives are good enough to protect the engnie for that long, then I suppose it's alright.

Silver Bullet

If you've only done 1200 miles since June then, based on your monthly average of ~200miles, it'll be 2 more years before you hit 6k miles. WOW--I'm impressed you are reserved enough not to drive your car that much!

I guess the next question is will the oil maintain itself sitting in your engine that long? Will you really only average 200miles a month?

PHILTRUONG

My idea,you should change oil every 6 months in your situation.my wife's car got only 9,000 miles when we bought it on 11/2003.So,every 6 months I take it to dealer to get oil changed.I totally agree that the original oil has some things in it,but nobody sure what the heck is it.Good luck.

JERU

I find it interesting that when it comes to the advice of Acura's engineers, so many people are skeptical. Mechanical and Chemical engineers that design these various components and spend years perfecting/testing their use. Tons of money to put this stuff through the motions to verify equations, etc. And along comes somebody sitting in their underwear at their computer, saying the advice "Just doesn't sound right".

Not necessarily this thread question, but it seems to go on alot. Tons of armchair engineering on this forum. Very interesting. Back to your question, there is a bulletin note on this very item in the 3G TL Acura ServiceNews Bulletins.. Good stuff to keep in your car for the recommended time....

knv8

since we are on the subject of oil change, does anyone know how to reset oil life meter if i take it to a non acura mechanic?

KilroyR1

From your sig, I see you have a 6MT. If you think they are so smart, why don't you try shifting at the recommended speeds and see where that gets you. I doubt there will be a difference between leaving it in or changing it early. However, $15 buck is a cheap way to buy peace of mind.

There is nothing special about the factory fill oil. The only difference is the presence of assembly lube in the engine. I changed my oil early and cannot see any possible downside to doing it.

To reset the service MID, you have to wait until it displays the Service Due Soon or Service Due Now messages. Then with the key in position II, hold the reset button while the message is displayed.

Ron A

This may be more than you want to know, but here's the full procedure to reset the MID display, and also info at the bottom about other service reminders when you manually reset the MID yourself.

(The procedure on page 196 (of the 2004 owner's manual, and probably for later models also but if anyone has a later model with the correct procedure please let me know) of the manual is incorrect. In paragraph 3a of the manual, the requirement to hold the button for 10 seconds the second time it is pressed is omitted. If this is not done, the display will not reset.)

1. Turn the ignition switch to ON

2. Select Trip A or Trip B (You can use either one, so if you are using one to record data for something, use the other one to reset the Oil Life Indicator).

3. Press the < or > button repeatedly until the oil life is displayed.

4. Press and hold the Select/Reset button for 10 seconds. The Multi-Information Display will ask for a confirmation.

This will explain what happens to the other services items when you reset the MID before the service due message appears.

From the service manual, page 3-6: (NOTE: This information is not in the owners manual.

So this means if you change your oil before the 15% Service Due Soon is displayed, and you go to reset the display, if there are other items to be serviced, they will show up on the display, and if you clear the display the MID will take this to mean that you performed the required service.

To clear the display:
After you get that service screen hold the reset/select for another 10 seconds.
It will then ask you if you want to reset.
Press the reset/select or the YES button (I forget which), and the MID will be reset

The statement from the service manual is a little vague, and I think they meant to say that if other items require service, the message "Service Due Soon" will be displayed, since if there is nothing else requiring service there would be no need for the message.

There is an explanation of how the MID works in the Acura Service News for September 2005 http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SN/B050900.PDF
and more about how you will get additional reminders when resetting the MID before it reaches 15% in the Acura Service News for September 2006: http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SN/B060900.PDF

Desert_TL

False. The factory oil has a higher moly content than standard oil and additional additives to trap and suspend particulate contamination (more additives than off-the-shelf oil).

pohljm

This question has been debated in many threads with enough information and data that only a petroleum engineer could appreciate. What I took away from the entire debate was that ........yes the original fill oil was different in that it had some special additives for the break in period that Acura wanted to keep in the engine for a particular amount of time.

On the other hand everyone knows that their are an awful lot of metal particals and other bad stuff swimming around in the crankase during this initial break in period. So I did what other more educated oil gurus have done before me and changed out the initial fill oil at 3000k miles and added I think it was a Valvoline oil treatment package that has the same special additives as the fill oil. So you get the best of both worlds, fresh oil with the same break in chemicals that Acura had intended.

knv8

thanks for the info

SouthernBoy

We have a few serious oil gurus on this site who have been good enough to give us their approach to this topic. Essentially, here is the gist of it.

Chenge your initial factory fill no later than 4000 miles.. better to do it at 3000 miles. The reason is several fold. There are a greater number of contaminants in the oil during the breakin process than at most any other time (unless you have a poorly maintained engine that is doing some nasty things). Also, the additive package in the "breakin" factory fill breaks down sooner than your MID is going to report. It's not unusual to see the car hit 7000 miles before the MID advises you to change your oil. This is far too long to wait. Finally, by 3000 miles with a decent breakin period, you have gotten just about as much out of the factory fill as you're going to get for the breakin period, so get it out of there at 3000 miles to play it safe.

bluenose

Acura engineers say 'follow the MID for oil changes' but we seem to know better. Honda (acura) is the largest manufacturer of internal combustions engines in the world (cars, motorcycles, snowblowers, lawnmowers, generators etc. etc., they also make engines for General Motors and are a leading manufacturer of Formula One racing engines. They even warranty the TL engine for five years yet we know that to follow their advice is unsafe. You can't make it up.

NYRecceman

Keep in mind that damage from questionable maintenance practices like extended oil change intervals shows up later in the vehicles life, usually long after the warrentee has expired. Ask anyone that has kept a car to 150 or 200k miles. The one thing they most often do is change the oil, often every 3 months or 3000 miles
So...How long do you keep a vehicle? If the car starts using oil at 100,000 miles because of the extended oil change intervals will you accept that? Will Acura cover the repair because you went by the MID? (Fat chance, it will be our tough luck) Changing the oil is cheap insurance if you want the car to last.

SHAMROCK13

I have talked to the service writer at my dealership and they had me also keep my oil in until after 6,000 miles. Which in my case was 40 days. The interesting fact that they told me was that the honda oil is actually made by Mobil. So after I get over 25,000 miles go ahead and switch to synthetic mobil 5 20. Just what the dealer told me though.

ding069

just reset my MID for the first time. Ron A, your instructions are on the mark for my 06.

honda nut

iTrader: (1)

Why would a service writer tell you to wait untill 25000 miles to switch to mobil 1? I started using mobil 1 5w20 at my first oil change.Some of the finest cars in the world including the acura rdx come filled from the factorywith it so why wait?

meowCat

Thanks guys for the information and it does make a lot of sense.

My car is at 1100 miles and I called up the Acura Service Department to schedule for an oil change, top-of-the line full synthetic.

mmm~ my car is gonna love it. You gotta feed'em!~

cristphoto

Leave it in for at least 4,000 miles and then change to synthetic. That's what I did after consulting with my dealer and various web sites.

ding069

i have done synthetic conversion to about 5 of my past cars, but i won't do it to the TL.

simply because of the MID in the TL. It doesn't actually read the oil content/life, it is just preset. No matter if you use synthetic or reg oil, you will still be prompted to change your oil.

plus, mobil 5w20 is guaranteed clean for 5,000 miles.....why pay extra for the synthetic?