Litt

8300 km at my first oil change. What I found odd was that I had to rotate my tires when I've only had the car for 4 months.

chaiwala

You don't have to rotate tires by months but I don't follow the A1-6 or B1-6 crap. I do all my maintenance myself and the oil and rotations get done every 5000 miles, air filters both cabin and intake get changed every 15,000 miles along with the rear and front differential. Tranny fluid gets drained and filled every 30,000 miles and coolant gets changed every 60,000 miles. Spark Plugs, water pump, timing belt, tensioners, pulleys, serpentine belt every 90,000 miles.

I already have 12 quarts of Royal Purple motor oil, Max ATF, 1 pint of RP 75w90 gear oil and 1 quart of RP break-in oil are on the way. As soon as I get the car, all fluids are changed to Royal Purple, and I am going to substitute 1qt of motor oil for their break-in oil for the first 5K miles. I know 5K miles is a waste for synthetic oil but its easier to maintain a car every 5K miles than remembering a bunch of numbers and letters.

From everything I have read online the OLM is very very accurate and unlike a lot of people here who believe its linear are absolutely wrong. I have read on other forums who own MDX's and Accord V6's(same engines as 3.5 and 3.7) whose OLM's go down to 15% as low as 5000 miles and as high as 11,000 miles depending on driving styles.

OLM's take a lot of things into account some being temperature of oil, insolubles in oil, fuel in oil, on/off revolutions, RPM's, time and load.

Tswaibel

Just had my cars first A1 service: SH-AWD Tech at 5900 miles, mostly only local miles / non-highway. It's about 5 months old.

jdmdc5integra

My oil change light just came on a couple of days ago. I have 6500 miles, had the car about 6 months now. I was wondering when it would come on. Time to get my first oil change....

Kingmeow

Just checked today, 5600 miles and 40% left. 98% highway driving.

jspagna1

I am definitely old school. I keep my cars forever and take very good care of them. Cars that I have owned & still own, I always changed the oil at 1,000 miles and then every 3,000 miles after that. Have never had engine problems and have gotten many many miles od dependable driving.
I own a Toyota & have owned 2 Nissans. This is my first Honda product. Hope they are as dependable as everyone says they are.

Six Shifter

Well ... being one of the people who used the word "linear" in my posts, I can state with some certainty that the word was not used as a definitive condition. I believe there was some "presumed linearity" on our parts, but no one spoke in terms of the read-outs being absolute.

By the way ... last week mine did drop another 10%, exactly 1000 miles after the previous change (4898 miles). Not exactly linear, but pretty consistent with what others have reported who spend most of their driving time on the Interstates.

chaiwala

You think its linear because of your TL drops 10% every 1000 miles most probably because of your consistent routine that your car sees. If you were to do more city than highway you may have to get to your A1 service a lot sooner.

I think the correct term I should have used is that it is probably linear to each person individually since people don't deviate from their driving habits from week to week basis.

09tlsteve

As another "linear" poster, I believe the OLM does work -- and does take into account things line RPM, etc. But I also believe it has a limit that it hits if the car is driven very carefully. If driven hard, high RPM, city start/stops it will predict the oil life lower than 1000 mi/10% and definitely NOT be linear. On the other hand, it will not allow 20,000 miles between changes no mater how easy you are on it.

I'd bet that those of us who are seeing about 1000 mi/10% have at least 70% freeway miles and are fairly easy on the car -- so we are seeing the longest it will allow per 10% reduction. In this case it's mile based. For others (let's say the aftermarket intake crowd) -- it won't be based on miles, but instead the limiting factor will be RPM, etc.

Both camps can be right here.....

Kingmeow

Interesting theory. Sounds plausible. I'm one of those that is pretty much 98% highway with very little traffic jams - lucky me huh? I'm also easy on the car and I'm just about getting 1000 miles / 10 %.

chaiwala

There is a poster on VTEC.net who drives a Honda Civic(same olm as the TL) who drives close to 50K miles per year and his OLM tripped at 21xxx miles. He was scared by all the other posters telling him his engine would grenade so he forked over money to get his oil analysed and I guess according to people posting there the oil still had life and that the OLM was very accurate. He now goes by the OLM and still changes it around 20K miles.

clint999

Mine was just about 9,900. I drove it about 140 miles past the service due now warning.

wmahmud

5% Oil life and currently at 11,000KM (6835 miles)

Seems very high - but Acura keeps telling me to follow the computer.

I do about 50/50 highway/city driving

Kingmeow

That's not high. I'm around the 6k mark and the computer shows 40% left!!!!! I looked at the dipstick and the oil is a bit darkish but not very dark at all. Of course this is a visual and means nothing in terms of how much life is left in the oil without sending it out for an analysis.

bw5556

What you said is very similar to what my service tech told me when I had my first Honda product with the new and much improved maintenance minder system a few years back. I went in for an oil change at 3,500 miles and he told me to come back when the MM hit 0% and gave me the rundown on the system. I was so use to Honda's old and much ignored maintenance required light that would come on at 7,500 miles that I completely dismissed the new system. Simply reading about the new MM system let me know that it wasn't linear and it gained my trust.

Over the past several years, my MM usually indicates that service is due at around 6k-7k miles and 6-7 months. With the TL, I'm right on track with the time as it will be just over 6 months but mileage wise I'm earlier than expected (I blame the SH-AWD and summer rubber) .

lonestarpoke

I'm going in today to get the front passenger door speaker looked at as well. Think it's blown as well... wonder if anyone else is seeing this issue?...

On another note... Had my oil changed at 10k (now at 20k and ~40% oil life). Went with synthetic blend cause service guy said that's what Acura used and that synthetic wasn't worth it (should have known what was about to happen given that stupid remark). I declined the rear differential service he suggested. In addition to oil change they did a XX point inspection and never quoted me anything. I went to pay for my oil change and they said $200+ some odd dollars and I about shat myself. I asked what they "did" and they said..."oil change with synthetic blend and XX point inspection". I once again asked what they "did" and they explained that the XX point inspection was just looking over things and checking fluid levels. I then said that's the same thing Walmart does for $29.95 and said that I wasn't paying $200+ for that. They came down about half to just over $100 and I walked away pissed off and vowed never to go to that ass clown dealership again. This is the same dealer that when I test drove a SH-AWD TL the saleman, driving it before I got behind the wheel, almost wrecked it diminstrating how "well" it handled. Both me and my brother looked at each other and said..."not going to buy THIS car". I ended up buying in Dallas cause I was driving up there for something else anyway... but this Houston dealer I had the bad experiences with is a certain dealer in Houston on I-10 west of beltway 8. Needless to say, I'm taking it in to another dealer today for the speaker and always calling ahead for a quote on service.

Kingmeow

I think I've read elsewhere on this Forum that $200 +/- is about right for the first service as they replace your rear diff fluid too. I know that you declined the rear diff fluid. Maybe they charged you for that too even though they didn't do it and thus the $200+ price?

chaiwala

Being in the automotive repair business I can tell you that if you go to a dealership and ask for the bundle service(A1, B16 etc) they will take advantage of you because most people just come in, tell the service writer that their maintenance minder came on and to just do whatever needs to be done. If they sense or detect any lack of knowledge about automotive service, they will get you for all you have. After all, they also work on quotas, incentives and commision too.

Synthetic blend oil is just marketing BS. Most Synblends usually don't have more than 20% synthetic oil in it so why use it? Ask yourself this question, if you were changing your own oil would you put 4 quarts of synthetic oil and 1 quart of conventional oil?

Next time, just walk into a walmart, buy a 5 quart jug of a synthetic oil, my personal favorites are Pennzoil Platinum($23) and Valvoline Synpower($21) and a Fram Extended Guard(XG)7317 filter($8) which is the only fram I would use because it has a synthetic blend media backed by another ply of paper fiber media and finished with a wire mesh behind it(don't buy the Fram Orange can, very bad filter)and bring it to the service department and not only will it be cheaper but you are using better product. FYI, Honda oil filter is now manufactured by Honeywell(Fram) and after seing a few cut open they are pretty much a Fram orange can clones. I literally squished it like a soda can.

Last, you should get the differential oil changed every 15K miles per honda's suggestions. You don't want to give them any reasons to void your warranty and believe me they will look for any excuse to void it if you were to have a problem with the AWD system as it is a very expensive fix.

FYI, I typically charge around $80 for an oil change(conventional), tire rotations, and diff change.

jzacuto

Just shy of 6,400 miles and with 5% left on the reminder, I took my car to a dealer with an A1 special for service. The price was reasonable and I got synthetic for $70 all inclusive of the A1 deal, but I think that's because the service guy made a mistake and used it instead of regular oil. But I digress...

If you check your statement from the Acura dealer, and if they're running a special, you'll see that they separate out the "A" and the "1" service. (At least my dealer did.) "A" for oil (special was down to something like $23 with the coupon) and then the "1" service for the tire rotation (a WHOPPING $39.95 pre-coupon item!).

The lesson here: If you want to go in for the dealer's A1 coupon special, decline the tire rotation which you can get at any tire shop for peanuts. If the dealer says the coupon special is all inclusive of both services, turn and leave. Chances are they'll want your $23 as much as the next guy and cut you a deal.

Kingmeow

Another data point. Odometer just flipped 7k today and oil life shows 30%. I drive 98% highway.

Takehold66

So it seems that if the car is driven mostly highway then 1000 miles=10%. I drive mostly local with many quick short trips and only an 8 mile commute with very little highway and I have 3500 miles on the car with 50% oil left. Seems to all make sense. If you drive easy and highway it is 1000/10 and if you drive harder and more city then it adjusts for that and the oil% drops quicker. Follow the MID.

Kingmeow

Well, after 10,130 of mostly highway miles, finally took her in with 0% oil life for A16. Changed the oil for free (first one on the house) and the rear diff fluid for $99. Not bad...

Pete2010

Is the A16 for the rear diff? Is that @ 10k miles where you have to change the rear diff fluid? Or just coincidental?

Kingmeow

It's coincidental. A is for the oil, 1 is for tire rotation which I didn't do, and 6 is for the rear diff oil change. The service guy said the next rear diff change should be around the 30k mark. Acura wants you to change it early the first time with the first oil change.

George Knighton

5200 miles and showing 40% left!

Don1

My 06 generally goes 10,000 Km or so per oil change. It's now at about 93,000 and there have been absolutely no problems. I never need to add oil between changes and there is only moderate discolouring of the oil during that time. I follow the computer.

NJ SHAWD

Alright, let the flames begin...

where is the M/M on the Tech pkge?

TLNV

It is in between the Tach and Speedo in the readout box. When a MM pops up you will know, You then clear it by acknowledging it with the information button below the cruise control.

Pg 503 of the PDF I sent you so you don't have to go searching for it!
Pg 497 for those of us with the actual manual.

NJ SHAWD

Wow...heluva group we have here! Thanks so much for the email!

whsrddy

I bought my 2010 TL 6sp on October 21. I have driven 4,600 miles since and have 50% oil life left. I am old school I guess but I felt this was WAY too long to go b/t oil changes - let alone on the first one. I called the dealer and they said, go according to the computer or 6 months of time - whichever comes first. Still does not feel right...

George Knighton

Yeah, page 497 in that BIBLE they call an owners manual.

Pete2010

We've come a very long way in automotive technology to not need oil changes every 3000 miles... Also the oil that comes from the factory is specially formulated for the first 6-8k miles in the break-in process. Don't worry, Acura's are bulletproof for a reason. Follow the maintenance minder and you have nothing to worry about.

TLNV

Got mine November 3rd 2009. I have 8400 miles and the MM is saying 15% till change. Will change the oil when it hits the 5% mark which I am guessing is going to be real close to 10k.

Not worried at all about the first change. As others have said it is specially formulated for the break in period. On other vehicles I have had, I have had as long as 30k between changes using long OCI synthetic oils. Did oil analysis every 10k and it held up like a champ.

As is often said..... Drive more Worry less There is a reason why Acura and other brands say to do it this way.

gulu100

dumb question i cannot find the oil life indicator on my tl it was in the mid of my 07 but can't seem to find it on the 2010..

Pete2010

You've got to hit that center button (not up or down) on the right side of the steering wheel a couple of times to cycle between A/B mileage and oil life

singleshot

I'll change at 5,000 with Mobil 1 no matter what. It's just peace of mind for me.

SHAWD10

My first one came on around 7,400 miles. I don't drive the car hard and my driving pattern is about 60/40 highway/city.

(It's a good idea to keep an eye on your oil level to make sure it's in the correct operating range regardless of what the MM says)

GunnerX

My 2006 TL had a yearly oil change at around 10000kms. I'm expecting the same for the 2010 TL. However, the Dealer has been harassing me for maintenance already. I just picked up the car in May!

CapoTL

I had my car for 4 months and I only have 500 miles, I rarely drive it right now because i work at the moment in the same place as my father so I ride with him. What do you guys reccoemend after a year if I only have like 1500 miles or so?

Ruby

You guys do realize that when your oil life percentage is down to 0% the oil has completely broken down and is no longer doing its job right? Read your manual...Unless you're using synthetic you should be changing the oil every 3-4k miles.