The current Amsoil News has a good article on oil life monitoring systems, such as the one on our cars. GM has gone this route also, with no specific oil change rec, after so many years of "every 3k miles", or else.

Now, this is a step in the right direction. But I still recommend caution. The powertrain specialist at GM stated that some of the "standard mineral oils" went as long as 16,000 miles, and that the GM OLS (Oil Life System) always set the light "before the oil was worn out". That 16K may have been for a car driven only on the highway at 55 MPH with a tailwind, but I have never seen any standard oil that could go 16k miles without being at, or over, the edge of protection. By then, the pH buffers alone would be so depeleted that the oil's TAN (total acid number) would be at the level where pitting of metal is a distinct possibility. Do not even think about how little anti-wear additive is left, esp since the API-SL oils have reduced levels to start with. "Worn-out" to someone with a vested interest may mean something quite different than my definition of worn-out (which is a TBN below 1.0).

Amsoil has a pretty unbiased (for them) account of the whole issue. The GM specialist was quoted as saying that "synthetic oils go longer" using GM's OLS system, likely the result of reduced oil temps in GM's algorithm.

But Amsoil also pointed out the Mercedes Benz mess in the US - where they allowed the alogorithm developed for synoils to be used with mineral oils, and the M-B system was allowing 12-20K service intervals, causing premature wear in some cars, and leading to a huge $32 million class-action settlement.

Point is, and as I stated previously, the truth is somewhere in between. Certainly, 3K is an excessively low oil change mileage, unless the car is hardly driven, and 16k is a risky max for a mineral oil. I would recommend 7.5k/1 year for a mineral oil, and 10-12k/1 year for a good synoil. Long-drain synoils (those with higher TBN numbers, like LE, Delvac1, and Amsoil), can go further in a mechanically sound vehicle.

Mechanically sound vehicle is an important point here - as best I can determine, the Acura MID does not actually test for TAN, as some systems do - nor does it look for silicones/glycols, which could show a coolant leak. The system could be happy as a clam, while bad things are going on in the engine, and the owner (and the MID) would never know it. I am conservative, and prefer to see a proof of concept before I commit.

Consider that Acura wants to lower "the hassle" of owrship, and is happy if their strategy gets you a 100k engine or tranny life (long past the warranty as well. But ome of us may want to go 250K.

My recommendation, and plan, is to run an oil analysis at the first oil change (no more than 5K), and look for any garbage in the oil. Then, my OCI's (oil change intervals) will edge up (7.5K, 10k, etc) with regular UOA's to check for yellow flags. Once (or if) I determine the system works, I will post to that effect.

Still, it is encouraging to see that oil mfr's have finally awakened - in part to environmental pressures, since the old adage of "3K oil changes" is tremendously wasteful, creates much more dumped waste oil into our ecosystems, and geopolitically increases our economic deoendence on the politics of oil (and I am no tree-hugger). Those Jiffy-Lube places may still pitch the "it's cheap insurance" mumbo-jumbo, but the science and the facts do not support it - technology marches on, in spite of troglodytes.

 

Thanks for the info. Very useful, since I'm approaching my first change. That being said, I get 2 year's free, and lose it if I don't follow the schedule, so.....

 

I like the MID concept and will likely stick with it. I'd like to better understand the algorithms it uses. It does not directly sample the oil. "The system monitors engine operating conditions such as fluid temperatures and engine speed to determine the proper service intervals." I'm not sure if there is a time interval factor for people who don't accumulate a lot of miles.

 

Since Acura only allows owners to reset OIL LIFE manually, it'll be difficult to keep all info of our MID accurate all the time.

For example, if you have tranny repaired and changed transmission fluid at the same time, as well as the dealer/you forget to reset your MID by their Acura computer module system, the MID won't display the correct info in the future.

:o

 

Road Rage, I'd like to also get my car's oil analysis done but I don't know where to send the oil. This is something that is routinely done with aircraft oil, and is almost SOP with Jet engines. Could you send me the address of the place that does automotive oil analysis? Thanks!!

 

Search on Google for Blackstone Labs, or go to LE's website and sign up for their LEAP program. 10 analyses for $142.

www.le-inc.com

 

I'd like to know what a troglodyte is.

 

No dictionaries in your world?
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionar...dyte&x=16&y=19

 

 

Something as simple as monitoring the miles driven plus number of cold starts, then doing a calculation based on these, would meet the criteria for what it's supposed to be monitoring. Number of cold starts would relate to fluid temperatures. I suspect the Acura system is about this simple. My TL is low mileage, has had a lot of relatively longer trips, and it seems to be projecting the first oil change at about TWO YEARS or more, so I suspect it doesn't account for elapsed time. (Since the car doesn't seem to know the date anywhere, including in the NAVI system, and there's no way to set or reset a calendar date after battery disconnection, etc., this is more evidence for not tracking elapsed time).

 

The system is far more complex than that - it uses temperature, run times, RPM, ambient temperature, and other factors. But these are passive variables - it does not to my knowledge use active sensors. One could make a simplistic mass spectrometer using a current through the dipstick, and at least measure TAN.

 

What does "dictionary" mean?

 

Since you are yanking mine let's start simply: dic!!!