Oil Change Intervals - Low Mile Drives

[JOESMITHF1]

Hi,

Sorry...if this question has already been asked. But i can't find a post about this, on this forum. So i work 3 days from home and my drive into office is only 25 miles around trip. it took me 4 month to get 1000 miles(and this includes drives to other places). Should i change my oil every 3 months or every 6 months(as recommended)?

thanks.

Sponsored

 

[AZCWTypeR]

The online UK Honda Owners Manual lists service intervals by time and miles. If you make many short winter trips where the oil doesn't get to 180degF, I'd recommend the severe schedule.

 

[Clark_Kent]

Neither. I'm in a similar situation. I suggest following the Maintenance Minder. It will reasonably calculate your specific service needs based on real time driving conditions.

 

[J_D]

When the car beeps at you, assuming street only driving and no mods

 

[NeRO_CTR]

Depending on climate, I’d say at least every 6 months. Is that overkill, maybe? But engines and oils do different things in different climates. Condensation + unburnt fuel is not ideal, no matter the situation.

There was a time I built Honda engines, by 1000 miles and a dyno, they’d see 3-4 oil changes and a set of plugs.

At 1000 miles, I’d say it’s high time it received an oil bath.

 

[ChampionshipWhiteFL5]

Depending on how you drive, at least once a year, or every 5-7500 miles. I do mine every 5k as I'm hard on the car regardless of what it says.

 

[Nothing]

You guys say to trust the MM, but when I finally caved and changed at 6k (8 months), the MM still said I had like, 40% life left... Chance it could have turned 30% in the next 10 miles. I have school dropoffs before I get on the freeway so car gets to warm up under fairly low load, may help it's "calculation".

Or maybe that just means I drive like a grandma compared to you guys

 

[ChampionshipWhiteFL5]

haha....yup! Although I'm a gramps and love it!

 

[AspecR]

Hi,

Sorry...if this question has already been asked. But i can't find a post about this, on this forum. So i work 3 days from home and my drive into office is only 25 miles around trip. it took me 4 month to get 1000 miles(and this includes drives to other places). Should i change my oil every 3 months or every 6 months(as recommended)?

thanks.

Change your oil, once a year, every 5k miles or when Maintenance Minder gets to 50% which ever comes first. Why 50% because if you leave it up to the maintenace minder your oil change intervals will be around every 9-11k miles, which is too long to go between oil changes, especially with how little your car gets driven.

 

[ChampionshipWhiteFL5]

Change your oil, once a year, every 5k miles or when Maintenance Minder gets to 50% which ever comes first. Why 50% because if you leave it up to the maintenace minder your oil change intervals will be around every 9-11k miles, which is too long to go between oil changes, especially with how little your car gets driven.

Usually on our Acura, at 15%, RDX the NON race car, it's about 7000 miles give or take. I've not seen them go quite that high on oil changes. Just a heads up.

 

[AspecR]

Usually on our Acura, at 15%, RDX the NON race car, it's about 7000 miles give or take. I've not seen them go quite that high on oil changes. Just a heads up.

I used to work for a dealership, they go that high all the time

 

[ChampionshipWhiteFL5]

I used to work for a dealership, they go that high all the time

I own them....and haven't seen that yet....so it can go either way.

 

[J_D]

The system takes time into account too, it will go off after 1 year regardless if mileage is hit.

 

[Xmetal]

For synthetic oil, most manufacture

Change your oil, once a year, every 5k miles or when Maintenance Minder gets to 50% which ever comes first. Why 50% because if you leave it up to the maintenace minder your oil change intervals will be around every 9-11k miles, which is too long to go between oil changes, especially with how little your car gets driven.

The maintenance minder also takes time into consideration. My car only has 3600 miles and it's been a bit over 10 months since I bought it with a 03/25 production date. The MM just dinged at me this morning at 15%. This really pisses me off because I was at the dealer for some warranty work last week and the MM indicated 20% oil life and they would NOT do the complementary schedule A service for me They said Honda would not pay them for the service if it was performed early.

 

[thatonedaveguy]

For synthetic oil, most manufacture

The maintenance minder also takes time into consideration. My car only has 3600 miles and it's been a bit over 10 months since I bought it with a 03/25 production date. The MM just dinged at me this morning at 15%. This really pisses me off because I was at the dealer for some warranty work last week and the MM indicated 20% oil life and they would NOT do the complementary schedule A service for me They said Honda would not pay them for the service if it was performed early.

Yep, it sucks because they claim "first two years of maintenance on us" by which they mean oil change and tire rotation- but in reality it means they will only do the tire rotation with the oil change, which is 15% or less on the MM.

Waiting that long will mean you're putting excess wear on the tires by doing the tire rotation half as often as is recommended.

And then you get threads by people asking why their tires have uneven wear and whatnot.

Sponsored