adversary

My girlfriend's 2011 TSX is approaching 5k miles (she's at 4700). However, maintenance minder says her oil life is at 50%. Should she get the oil change or follow the MM?

01ITR

MM, you want to keep the break-in oil in there longer.

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

follow your MID. always follow your MID and your owner's manual for your maintenance schedule. you probably drive a lot of hwy miles which means you will get longer oil change intervals (7500mi or so). if you do a lot of mixed driving or in town...your intervals will be closer to 4-5k mi.

benben01

if this is your first oil change, i would dump it now and follow MID rest of the way out. Reason being is that you flush out any debris (metal filings) from a new engine block. The MID is actually pretty accurate with oil life. Easy driving will get you the 7500 mile interval while hard driving will trigger a change at 5000 miles or less.

mrstak

iTrader: (1)

According to your manual, the first batch of oil from Acura comes with extra shit that's supposed to help break the engine in. I would follow the MM and not change your oil till it hits at least 10% or less. After the initial oil change, follow whatever makes you comfortable but I'd just continue going by the MM.

iamitman

It really has special break in oil in it???? It will take me an year to put 5k miles on the car!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

follow the MID.

defconskylude

i got it changed at 20% when i was at 7500 miles. but i didnt get the other A1 service crap that came with it. just an oil change.

tobwac

i change my oil every 3500 miles or when the MID says 60%

ed_423

lol the MID is there to help you so you don't have to worry about when to change oil, just follow it

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

to further persuade you fellas to follow the MID, several 3G TL'ers sent their oil in for an Oil Analysis through blackstone.

what we have been finding is that there is no unusual wear with oil intervals of 6k-8k miles.
Blackstone even recommended a 10k oil interval.
I believe 10k miles is pushing it, as OCI's do break down over time.

mrstak

iTrader: (1)

use this as an excuse to drive more

iamitman

Tell me about it. I work .8 miles away from home. All the driving so far has been in the city, I can't even get past 4th gear with all the stop and go. I can't wait to get on a highway, and just drive!

01ITR

I wouldn't go past 10k as well. The oil still might be good, but the oil filter is another story....

nj2pa2nc

in order to get a code wait until it gets to 15%-

nj2pa2nc

according to the owner's manual it says to follow the maintenance minder but if you do not get to 15% in a years time to change the oil/filter at least once a year.

MoaarLow

I'm at 1500 Miles, MM @ 70% Oil Life.
This would put me between 4000-5000 miles for oil change.

I'd follow the MM if I were you

PyroDave

i'd search the forums and peruse the 17 other threads asking this exact question. thats what the MM says to do anyway. i'd follow it.

ceb

Gee, who is smarter - a random bunch of guys on the internet that swap their cars every couple of years and wouldn't know what lubrication related failure is if it bit them in the butt or the people that spent years engineering the car?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

LOL
Follow the MID, Gentlemen!

PyroDave

was that rhetorical? if not, can i phone a friend...?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

calm down, Pyro, I got the joke.

MoaarLow

Lmao, Gotta love this forum

ceb

I don't know. Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

MrOtocinclus

I've always followed the MM with no adverse results. I think the engineers take into account that many people will wait until the very last minute and tune the MM to be conservative so that even when it says 0% oil life it's not really at 0% oil life.

Robert4

I've worked in the auto service bizz for 37 years. Lots of my customers use the maintenance minders on many different brands of cars for their oil change intervals. I see no problems on modern cars with this. The problem I DO see is a lack of other maintenance between these often long intervals. Tire inflation and vital fluid checks are too often ignored. Ignore a leaking transmission or water pump too long and see what happens.

Oil change prices are so cheap these days that many of my customers use a much shorter oil change interval for the free checking/topping of fluids, tire rotations/air pressure setting, brake and under car inspections and pre-trip check outs.

Professor

I bought my car in April 2011. It has a little over 6800 miles on it and the MID is saying the oil life is at 40%.

Very well true and accurate for oil breakdown. But I still think at about 7500 miles, I'll get the first change. A bit of moisture (and after nearly a year, you'd have some), would make things worse.

But I'll go to M1 and stick to my 8500 mile service.

ceb

the MID isn't linear and goes by lots of things including driving style so you may be at 15% sooner.

adversary

so my GF's car is over a year old and the original oil is still in there. should this be cause of concern?

nj2pa2nc

according to the owners manual-follow the maintenance minder or if in a years time it does not show service due get the oil changed at least once a year. My mom's 08 accord is not driven much so every Nov. I get the car serviced for her. The car will be 4 years old the end of this month and has almost 24,000 miles.

TSXy Luster

Yes. You should get it changed since it is over a year.

C'mon poeple RTFM: MID or 1 year.

benben01

The cost of an oil change is relatively cheap considering today's inflated prices. DYI with 5 qts of quality synthetic oil and a good filter is usually < $60 if you are paying full retail. Most of the time, you can get deals like 5 qts of Castrol Syntec with a K&N oil filter for ~$30 from your local Advance Autoparts or Pep Boys. Are we seriously gonna gripe about spending an extra $30-$60 a year for an oil change on a $30K+ car? Whether you follow the MID reminder religiously or perform oil changes on intervals you are accustomed to, just make sure you keep track of the other scheduled maintenance. The "what if" debates can go on forever....

robpp

iTrader: (2)

is synthetic preferred....i am a mobil1 user for 20 years and would like to continue with that?

Acura_Dude

Mobil1 should be a synthetic/synthetic blend. I believe their 0 weights are full synthetic.

Professor

I was at 30% MID at nearly a year from the factory. The dealer gave the first free oil change based on time more so than mileage.

atlACURAboi

I go by my MID. waited till i was at 30% for first oil change, about 5500 miles. i could have waited till about 7500 miles. i will now do it about every 10-15%