lindros2

I had my oil changed at 3800 miles (just to flush the factory stuff out), and dealer forgot to reset my oil life meter. I figured it out for those that need to do the same (thankfully doesn't require a tool like Audi/BMW) --

1. Go to oil life in multifunction/trip computer.
2. Hold down Select/Reset for 10 seconds (until the Service Indicator comes up in Orange), then let go.
3. Hold down Select/Reset for ANOTHER 10 seconds (until it brings up the Reset <OK> notification), and let go again.
4. Then Press the Select/Reset a final time (just normally) and it will reset oil life to 100%.

NOTE that if you press one of the arrow buttons after the first time, it will turn on the "Service Notification A" (and associated "message waiting" indicator)...

-josh

2004 TL WDP/auto/navi

AJAX

Why did you want to get rid of the factory oil so quickly? I thought that was a no no

lindros2

4000 miles is enough time to break in components - i cracked my oilpan on my A4 after 500 miles (basically dumped all the oil) and never had a problem...

emendez

My dealer asked me to return for a complimentary oil change at 3500. I'll be bringing it in next week.

greenseed

This is one of the items TL manual says about break-in:

"Do not change the oil until the multi-information display indicates it is needed"

Leaving me to believe that the break-in oil is particular.

Just my 2C.

Z Factor

It is suppose to be special "break-in oil", so I am leaving it in until the recommended time to change it. However, I doubt removing it after 3000+ miles will make a large difference.

Rexorg

Acura says they put in a special break-in oil that should not be changed until the message comes up. It seems they want all the metal filings and crud to circulate in the engine as long as possible to score the cylinder sleeve walls to insure good sealing and no oil burning. Are they kidding? I usually change the oil at 500 miles on all my new cars. What's up with this? I haven't heard of "break-in oil" for 25 years!!!

Rexorg

greenseed

Rexorg -- perhaps. However do you think that they "cold-break" in their engines though? When my wife and I were on vacation in Italy, I had the pleasure of visiting the Ducati factory. The one area that particularly sparked my interest was where they cold-break in engines by mounting the engine up in a protective case. This case has a motor that attaches to the crankshaft and slowly spins the engine while oil is drizzled through it for a while. This ensures that the rings are seated properly and the other parts "mate" together.

I guess I'm thinking that other MFG's do this (but I could be wrong). And that procedure would help eliminate the majority of the shards and fragments. The rest would be caught by the filter.

Just my 2C worth.

Rexorg

Sorry, never been out of the Good Old U.S. of A with my wife, or anyone else. I thought Ducati made bikes, not cars. Did you see JPII on your trip? Oops, off topic. Getting back to break-in oil, why do they put Mobil I in Corvettes and Porsches? Don't know anything about cold breaking an engine. I doubt any car maker in the USA would take the time to drizzle olive oil in the engine. I know they put in break-in oil in John Deere tractors for the first 100 hours. Maybe that's why the POS Pontiac GP GTP Comp G I just got rid for the TL of had an engine hour meter.

Rexorg

greenseed

1st) Nope, Not catholic (or any religion for that matter) so I dont care about figureheads.

2nd)Because they are extremely expensive cars, so why not put expensive oil in them? My guess is that thoese cars are "cold-broke" in because theres no way to properly break-in a fresh engine with synthetic oil. Simply too slick.

3rd)I'll agree with you that the pontiac is POS in general. And I find it extremely strange that a car would have an hour meter. A pickup truck, yes. But a car? no!

greenseed

1st) Nope, Not catholic (or any religion for that matter) so I dont care about figureheads.

2nd)Because they are extremely expensive cars, so why not put expensive oil in them? My guess is that thoese cars are "cold-broke" in because theres no way to properly break-in a fresh engine with synthetic oil. Simply too slick.

3rd)I'll agree with you that the pontiac is POS in general. And I find it extremely strange that a car would have an hour meter. A pickup truck, yes. But a car? no!

Rocketsfan

The oil from the factory does have special additives in it. I'm glad someone told me about this. I'm not changing mine until the MID tells me to. What I'll put in there when it comes time to change it is another story... I wish Mobile had a synthetic 5W-20.

rets

Mobil 1 uses 0w-20... almost identical purpose's synthetic oil.

lindros2

To clarify, my oil life meter was at 30%, so it wasn't that big of a deal replacing the oil at 3800 miles.

REGARDING SYNTHETIC, there is one down side (as I found on my A4) -- it does cause additional wear on valves (as experienced by myself and other Audi owners who required a valve job to the tune of $870 at 80k miles).

-josh

technogeek

My TL just turned 1000 miles today. Typically I would be plannning on changing the break in oil now, but the oil life indicator just dropped to 80%. Regardless of the oil life indicator, I probably won't go much past 3K miles on the break in oil.

As for synthetic oil I'm a strong believer. My '91 Prelude I was driving had over 130K miles on it and still rode like new. It was fed synthetic oil for most of it's life.

We also have a Mercury Villager (Nissan Quest based on Nissan engine) with 161K miles. It has had pretty much nothing but Castrol Syntec or Mobil 1 for it's entire life.

What about the 5W20 oil rating? Doesn't that seem very lightweight? I was using 5W50 Syntec in my Prelude

greenseed

I too believe in synthetic oil. However I know that it’s not good to use when the pistons in a new car are still seating their rings. I usually wait an 2 oil changes to begin using synthetic oil.

I prefer to use Amsoil, however I won’t be changing the oil on my TL nor my wife’s '04 Maxima this time. However I'll still maintain my '02 F-150 since its easier to change. Getting to old and lazy (not to mention cold outside) to bother.

KJSmitty

Both the 04 Max and TL are extremely easy to change oil. Both have the filter close to the ground just inside the passenger front wheel well. A $25 dollar set of ramps and 10$ drain pan/container from the auto store and your good to go... I agree "properly" getting rid of the waste oil can be a mess/hassle. Your local Auto Zone etc. have waste oil depositories so no big deal. My Acura dealer charges $30, which isn't bad but even when I give him 5qts of synthetic it costs me just under $50 total. Performing the job myself takes less than 30 minutes, costs me $30 total, and I don't have to worry about some greasy guy crawling around in/out of my car. Not to mention I mitigate about 90% of the risk of damage... Anyone can give their car the visual once over changing their own oil - Because thats all the dealer does. Their is nothing to check, grease, etc so your paying for someone too check the air in your tires,,, if they even do that.

For most of us spending the money to have someone else maintain our vehicles isn't because we can't do it ourselves, but rather we are fortunate enough to be financially blessed and the additional cost isn't a factor. It was many years back, but after working at a dealer for over 8 years I know all the "bad" things that can and do happen. Besides, even in my 40s, still being a "motor head", and enjoying the time I do tinker with a car - I don't enjoying the 45 minute drive to the dealer for something I can still do in my garage. Warranty work, thats a different story

Speaking of oil, anyone a fan of Royal Purple Synthetic?? I've read/heard good things about their additives and am considering their 5W-20.

Smitty

mrtech

Smitty - I agree with you. If it is not too much of a hassle, I like doing it myself too. Not just the financial savings but the pride of your own workmanship as well. Check out the Fram SureDrain. I should make changing oil a lot easier and less messy.

tgbroom

Question??

If the Oil Life indicator is suppose to detect the life of the oil, why would it need to be reset?? Shouldn't recognize the new oil?

isn't different driving patterns suppose to determine the life of the oil... and therefore different oil change patterns... does the indicator actually check the life of the oil? or does it just go from mileage?

Ok a few questions.. not just one.

feironman

If you read the owners manual it determines oil life by accumulated RPMs and driving pattern. Although I'm not sure had it calculates driving pattern.

KJSmitty

I like you, when I purchased my first car with an oil life monitor expected it to actually "sense" the oil - as in a probe or sensor in the oil pan checking for contaminants etc. This is not how it works, thus why you have to re-set the "computer". Now, I am not sure of all the parameters that the Acura oil life monitoring system checks, but if its like the one in my Suburban its something like this (and I'm sure it is..)....

Like mentioned, the system does not actually check the oil. What it does do is monitor engine starts, time of engine "run" durations, how hot and cold the engine gets, and the different rpm's and duration at each rpm etc. It takes all of these and most likely many more parameters and computes when normal oil would begin to break down under the "monitored" conditions. Depending on your climate, type of driving ie all city, all highway, or mixed, fast or slow etc. it can come up with a darn good computation of when you need to change the oil. That is why some may experience 4500-5500 miles before they have 20% oil life remaining displayed, and others will get 7500-10000. Bottom line, its all based off of a computation resulting from what your engine is doing thus what your oil is experiencing. Conventional oil will break down due to moisture and constant temperature changes, not to mention the contaminants involved with an internal combustion engine. Synthetic oils do hold up better given those environments, that is why you can run them longer between oil changes. The one problem with the Acura and most oil life monitoring systems right now is that the computer model is based off of conventional oil thus if running synthetic it wouldn't give you an accurate assessment of when to change. But if you check, most owners manuals will still require you follow the system regardless of oil choice.

Just as a comparison, I currently have about 2700 miles on my TL, 90% of which are all freeway. Mine just recently changed -displaying 80% oil life remaining.... At this rate I will have well into 8000 miles by 20% remaining. My plan is to change at about 5000 for the first oil change and then follow the system religiously to no less than 20%....

Hope this helps.

Smitty

tgbroom

yes, same here... over 6k miles and was at 30%, i couldnt stand it any longer and just got it changed, but the dealership did not reset the oil meter...

if it actually computes all of that stuff you mentioned... would it not be just a little easier to make a device that can tell whether the oil is holding up or not??

KJSmitty

I guess the answer could be yes and no... I would think designing a sensor/system etc that would actually detect the oil braking down could be expensive let alone possible not very robust. The "easy" of the current system stems from the fact that the computer controlling your engine is already gathering all of the data anyway... They just added a few lines of code to extract it and compute it in a percentage that represents oil life remaining. From what I have read (non Acura articles) regarding current systems, it's quite reliable/accurate. I'm sure like everything else, each year will bring something better. After being a dealership mechanic for over 8 years and a life long motor head, I think its great that auto manufacturers are finally "telling" people that oil does not have to be changed every 2500-3000 miles. If it were up to the oil companies and shops like Jiffy Lube etc., they would keep telling you 3000 miles. To them its just more money. The big picture is we are wasting natural resources by not having/utilizing a system that calculates each drivers maximum oil change intervals. If you would have asked me two years ago - my recommendation for oil changes would have been 3500-4500 miles. As of the TL and my Suburban, I plan to use the oil life systems to maximize my change intervals, save me money, and conserve natural resources.

Take care

Smitty

ndabunka

This is plain out WRONG! Synthetic lubricates better and therefore there is LESS potential for the experience you outlined. It is more fluid (i.e. less THICK) than regular oil. Are you saying that the way the Audi engine required a thick oil in order to work?

rets

TO tgbroom, give you another data for comparison.

Mine in NYC has 5% at 5700 miles. A friend in California has 5% at 8000 miles. We finally all changed oil/filter at that point.

tuhsteacher

Thanks, holding down the button again after the service notice reappeared did the job. I really didn't think I had to do that second step before, but maybe I did.

blueracer17

Not sure if you had the 1.8T or the 3.0. I had the 3.0 in my A4 and it recommended 0W-40 oil in it. I can't believe that synthetic oil would cause a valve failure. Describe the failure, I'm curious as to what the circumstances were on this failure.
Eric