Now I've never owned an Acura or any car that was even of good quality, so I wouldn't know what to make of this, but..

I bought an Acura a couple months back, and the dealer I bought it from, said I can "get away with" going to 6,500 miles before having the change the oil. Is this true?

Either way, can I really go longer without having to change the oil, on higher performance cars? The only other car I owned was a 94 Mitsubishi Eclipse, so I wouldn't know.... haha.

 

It depends on your driving habbits and conditons. In bay area cali I change it every 2800-3000 miles or once in less than a month, and my driving is around 150 miles DAILY. Oh and my car is a 1997 Acura 3.2 TL. I use only Castrol 10w-30 all the time.

 

If you do a lot of city driving, closer to 3000/4000 miles. If its gentle freeway driving, closer to 6000/7000

What year/model is your car?

 

I'm going to jump topic for just a moment if I can Ken. Which model Sig Sauer is in your sig picture? Just curious. BTW, I'm going to a show this morning to pick up a new XD40 for a ridiculously low price of $420. Got another G23 last month to compliment my current carry G23.

Sorry to hyjack your thread, gentlemen.

 

Sounds about right.

 

That's what PM's for.

 

Naiveté

 

As others have mentioned, a lot is based upon driving style. Middle of the road, all-around driving, I would change it every 5000 miles or six months if you are using a mineral type oil. With a good quality synthetic, you could probably stretch it 7500-8000 miles. If you do plan on using synthetic however, make sure your car has at least 10 000 miles on the odo.


Terry

 

I follow the recommendation in the owners manual... 7500 between oil changes...

 

On all newer Honda/Acura vehicles I just follow the maintenance minder, when it says to do it I do. Then I reset it and continue on that path.

 

If no Maintenance Minder, I tend to wait until at least 6K miles for daily drivers, and use 7500 as my outside limit if that's what the manual says.

 

that's what i've been doing as well.

 

Me too, I get about 7500 miles. When the thing gets to like 15% I schedule an appointment and its ususually about 10% when it gets changed. I could probably push it out to 8500 milies so it gets closer to zero, but since I am only changing about twice a year now, it's no big deal.

 

You have a PM

 

I run 15k intervals on Syn on my acura and 7500-8k on regular. My car idles most all day. Follow what the manufacturer recommends unless other wise stated.

 

i think the manual for the TSX lists 10,000 miles for regular driving and 5,000 for aggressive driving...

I change mine every 5000 though...

 

Me too. It's usually about ~8K miles between oil changes.

 

My car is a 2003 Acura CL-S. I dunno, I wouldn't say I'm a real aggressive driver, I drive like a grandma at times, other times I'm cruising quite a bit. To be honest I bought it back in August and I just put 3k miles in it myself.

And about the maint. reminder. Here's the thing, I called the dealer because I bought the car used, the salesman told me they replaced the oil, transmission fluid, etc. but I only put in like 1.8k miles on it before the maintenance reminder light came on.... They didn't reset it for me after they changed the oil. That's when I called them and it led to this question. I was just paranoid that they're were trying to dupe me into waiting longer, so there'd be engine problems, thus bringing it to them to get it serviced, and so forth.

 

Why is this?

 

Why is that cars straight from the factory use synthetic?

 

on older engines like 10 years or older i got 3000-3500 miles. on newer engines i go 5000-5500 miles

 

I think a number of performance cars have engines that are built to extremely high tolerances. Many are hand assembled and are bench run before installation.

"Average" cars have little or no run time and are for the most part machine assembled. The entire reciprocating mass, rings, and cylinder walls need to be either seated or worn correctly with a mineral type oil, otherwise premature oil consumption will often develop.

Of course, this isn't true of all engines manufactured nowadays as many machine assembled engines are built of superior materials with excellent machining, but I personally feel more comfortable heat cycling an engine a number of times with a good quality mineral oil to ensure proper seating.

Terry

 

 

Hondas and Acuras come with high-molybdenum dino oil from the factory and recommend that the cars be run through an entire maintenance cycle (6000-8000 miles, depending on the Maintenance Minder and drivers' driving styles) before changing out the OEM oil.

 

Honestly, it's up to you. If you want to make sure your engine lasts a real long time, keep doing maintenance regularly. I would say do it at 3,000 and see how dark your oil is(this depends on your driving). If it's nice and clean after the first out change, go a little longer. The reason I say this is because aggressive driving causes oil to burn; I'm not saying oil is seeping into your cylinders, but some oil does get burned from extremely hot conditions, ie aggressive driving. I change mine every 3000-3500 because I drive a lot of highway miles with some city driving.

Oil can get contaminated too, remember that. If anything gets into your engine, it would be critical to your oil's purpose. Dirty oil will not do the job clean oil would for your engine; oil is used for lubrication and heat dissipation. Without those two things, your engine will lock up(basically weld itself together).

Gasoline vapors sneak into the crankcase all the time. It's a little amount, but it still gets in there. If you see dirty oil after 3,000 miles, check your PCV valve. It should be ventilating that stuff out of your crankcase. Your driving habits can change the outcome of your oil as well.

 

french loverer!