2006 Honda Civic EX - how many miles on factory fill?

[Leonardo629]

Just picked up my first new car on the, a brand spankin' new 2006 Civic EX Coupe w/ R18 i-VTEC.

Question is....I really don't know how many miles I should put on the factory fill before I dump it. I've already puchased 5qts of Pennzoil 5W20 dino juice, and I will be switching to M1 5W20 after 10000mi...those decisions are already made...but when should I dump the factory fill?

I did the break-in procedures fairly hard, I took the car to 5100rpm for the first 150mi, and 6100rpm from 150mi to 250mi, and now I take the engine to 6800rpm redline whenever I can do so safely....

I've owned 3 three new bikes, didn't baby the engine either...but it was easy since the manual said to dump the factory oil at 600mi......

lost child here needs some guidance from the oily gurus!

Leo

p.s. car has 500 miles on the ODO now~

 

[ruking77]

Go 9500 more miles for a Honda recommended full 10,000 mile, then change to Mobil One 5w20. I did exactly that for a 2004 Honda Civic. The only thing different was I switched to Mobil One 0w20.

 

[ex_MGB]

I'd go 5k miles at least on the special Honda factory break-in oil, then do another 5k miles with Honda 5W-20 before switching to syn. I also believe you could use Honda 5W-20 for the life of the vehicle quite nicely.

BTW - Does the new Civic have an OLM (oil life monitor)?.

 

[Leonardo629]

yes, the new Civics do come with OLM....I'm at 90% currently.....

 

[Slick17601]

I changed the oil in my '03 Civic at 3,500 miles. Hasn't used a drop of oil in 40,000 miles. I used Pennzoil 5W-20 for the first 24,000 then switched to Mobil 1 0W-20 due to the Pep Boys deal.

 

[CharBaby]

This is always a hard question since these engines have always been known for their ruggedness. Man! I could tell ya some stories about Honda engines. Most of my friends and family members drive Hondas not for their lousy comfort and noisy ride, but for their indestructability. They whip these things with who knows what OCI's. Nothing less than 5-7000 miles, often even 10,000 miles on an OCI with who knows what oil. Im statring to think that those who have trouble with their Hondas, don't beat them hard enough. I've put on over 300,000-350,000 abused miles on all my Hondas. Sure! I've replaced some things on the car,(suspension parts, struts/springs, brakes, exaust parts etc). But man! Those engines!...Those drivetrains! The cars themselves aren't all that quiet nor are they particularly comfortable, but man!...

 

[Matt89]

I have a 2006 Civic EX as well. One thing I noticed is that the owners manual and 'service history book' for the Civic do NOT have the stern warning to leave the factory fill in until the first service interval (unless I missed it somehow). I wonder if they are changing their tune on that, or if it really doesn't matter these days.

My 2006 CR-V manual does have that warning in it, though.

 

[yooper]

I think your plan sounds more by the book than what I did.

I'm sure I totally screwed up. I dumped the factory fill at 1000 and filled with valvoline 5w20 and ran to 5000. Then switched to amsoil 5w30. Hope it wasn't too soon. I did break it in hard and I'm not using any oil. This is for my wifes 05 crv.

BTW, hi. I'm new here.
Scott

 

[lindermant]

leo,

I've got 6856 miles on the factory fill in my 05 Civic DX, and I'm leaving it in until 10k.

 

[ruking77]

In your case, given 90% useful life remaining with 500 miles, the OLM projects an oil change with your style/way of operation at app 5,000 miles. My Honda Civic does not have an OLM. I also broke it in "hard" but under load. However the car was and still is run at far LONGER intervals, where the key point is the oil gets up to temperature. The engine has consumes 8 oz of oil (1/4 qt) in the first 10,000 mile interval. (was still 3/4's of the way between min and max on the dipstick and if not for mulitple readings, I would not have even known.) With Mobil One 0w20 at the second 10,000 mile interval, consumed NO oil.

http://www.chevyavalanchefanclub.com/fun_stuff/may2002/page002.html

From what I know of a Corvette Z06 OLM and of personal experience, the "hardness" of a break in is really not measured in total by how high an RPM that is run. (within parameters of course) For example I run 15,000 mile OCI's as INDICATED by the OLM !!!! The oem fill is also Mobil One 5w30 and of course the OLM calculates using that "standard."

quote:

---

...that oil degradation, in general, followed pathways influenced by service and environmental conditions....

---

Some of the main variables that lower the intervals are short operation; stop and go, oil not getting up to temp, due to far greater frequency of turn on turn off, long and sustained idling, etc.

On one hand the OLM can be used to "drive in a particular style" to maximize miles between intervals. On the other hand one can "beat it to death" and the OLM can tell you when the oil sez UNCLE/AUNTIE.

To me the OLM and oil analysis as advocated on this web site are indispensible tools providing the one/two punch of what is projected to what is real when it comes to OCI's. The real qeustion as you will probably come to see: what is the corelation (error %) between your OLM and actual oil analysis.

[ December 14, 2005, 10:50 AM: Message edited by: ruking77 ]

 

[martyi]

I have a 2006 Honda Ridgeline and it too has an OLM. The book says nothing about OCIs, including the factory fill. It says that when the OLM calculates an oil life expectancy of 15% you will get a service due notice (I am at 30% with 5200 miles on the truck). At 0% you will get a service past due notice. The manual does say however, that if you put so few miles on that the service due notice never appears, change oil once a year (filter every other change).

I am going to go by the book because I know for a fact I am not as smart as the designers of the OLM chip or as smart as the Honda engineers that desinged, tested and built my VTEC engine. Until they are proven wrong I think it is smart to do as they say.

I intend to change oil when the service due notice comes on with Havoline 5w20. Then, when the monitor shows about 30% left on the Havoline, I will take a sample for UOA and top-off. The results of the UOA should indicate if the monitor is telling me the truth as to the condition of engine and oil. I will adjust accordingly and maybe even go to synthetic if need be.

Having said all this there are two things I will not follow Honda on. They say there is no reason for oil additives but I'm using LC20 anyway - this is my safety net for going past my old, traditional 5000 oil changes. And, I am putting on a new filter with EACH oil change (some habits are just too hard to break!).

 

[Leonardo629]

Thanks everyone for the input!

Looks like the general consensus is to dump it sonner than later!

What I want to add is:

I know revving the engine does not aid in the process of break-in, the way I did it was lots of mid-full throttle running up to the upper range of engine rpm and lots of downshift and engine braking. I've done on this on two Honda motorcycle engines, and I always felt a power increase within the first 600mi, less engine noise...and no oil burning!

over~

 

[sxg6]

dropped the factory fill in my '03 civic at 2,500mi and it now has 71k and doesnt burn a drop. my recommendation would be anywhere between 3,000-5,000mi, and run dino until 10k.

 

[BlueWorld]

quote:

---

I am going to go by the book because I know for a fact I am not as smart as the designers of the OLM chip or as smart as the Honda engineers that desinged, tested and built my VTEC engine. Until they are proven wrong I think it is smart to do as they say.

---

I think it's smart as well.

The difference is that I know what's in the manual bears little to no resemblance to what they would tell you.

 

[Rickey]

Change the oil ASAP to get the break in wear metals out. ALL NEW engines produce wear metals in larger proportions compared to properly broken in engines.These early wear metals can't be good for an engine. My personal philosophy is to run a new and properly warmed up engine with increasing RPM/loading for the 1st 100 or so miles,dump the factory oil and filter, refill with good dino and filter. Run the snot out of it 'till 1K miles or so, then fill with a good synthetic and good filter. At this point I would consider the engine broken in. This procedure will also tend to weed out any weaklings that need warranty attention. Good luck. Rickey

 

[Cutehumor]

Leonardo-"I did the break-in procedures fairly hard, I took the car to 5100rpm for the first 150mi, and 6100rpm from 150mi to 250mi, and now I take the engine to 6800rpm redline whenever I can do so safely...."

I'm sure some have read this and are shaking in their boots.

 

[HondaMan]

"I'm sure some have read this and are shaking in their boots.

"

I'm not an old man or anything but I have NEVER been close to the redline on any of the three Civic's I have owned.

I admit I'm shaking in my boots at the notion of 6800rpm because the engine is soooooo new.

 

[HondaMan]

"I'm sure some have read this and are shaking in their boots.

"

I'm not an old man or anything but I have NEVER been close to the redline on any of the three Civic's I have owned.

I admit I'm shaking in my boots at the notion of 6800rpm because the engine is soooooo new.

 

[earthworm]

IMO, running these 10K OCI is only advisable when running at least 90% optimal conditions(oil at its normal operating temperature and cruising at 45 to 75 most of the time).
Most of us are lucky to hit 80%, so the OCI should be at 7 or 8 K miles...To avoid engine problems successfully I changed the oil every 3 to 4 months...Maybe this was wasteful...

Read the small print in the manual - where they speak of severe service...

 

[Dr. T]

I agree, what the does the owner's manual say about 'break-in'? I doubt it says to redline the thing with 500 mi. or less...

My `06 BMW X3 says to keep the rpms under 4k (out of 7k) and the speed under 100mph for the first 1k mi. and then to gradually increase it. Otherwise, the oil is supposed to stay until 15-16k mi....