june 1st is my annual oil change day for all vehicles i own. last year i switched to gc. i did not install a new oil filter at that time, electing to re use the old filter, which only had 10,000 miles on it at that point.
now its back to my yearly oil change day and i am wondering if i should change the oil again or let it go out farther. currently the gc has about 7,000 on it. the oil filter has 17,000.
before you all yell at me for not changing the filter, keep in mind HONDA says to change the filter every 2nd oil change, or every other year basically up to a max of 20,000 miles are allowed on the oil filter.
i did a blotter test on the gc with a hot motor and the results are fantastic. theres a faint ring forming, but its quite small and it "appears" the gc has alot more life left in it. also the oil isnt even black yet. its a nice milk chocolate brown colour. also i have not needed to add anyu makeup oil. ther oil level is right exactly on the full mark, which is where i put it when i changes the oil last year., so considering that june 1st is my annual oil change day, should i change the oil AND filter? or should i hold out for another 3000 miles and change the oil and filter when my filter finally gets 20,000 on it?
looking down the oil filler hole at the valves and cams, they are all in pristeen condition. no sludge or deposits are visible.
youre thoughts, please?
been almost a year on gc, 2 years on oil filter. change or keep going?
- Thread starter Master ACiD
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I would do a UOA of your oil every few thousand miles. That is because you want to make sure the oil is still protecting your motor for such long OCI's. I would change the oil filter when the insolubles get to 0.5% or beyond. I would not go on what the company says is the max allowed miles on anything. I would stick with what is still protecting your motor. You can always do an UOA, post it on here and it will be analyzed again and again. www.blackstone-labs.com is good for getting a fast UOA.
As a pilot I tend to error on the side of caution and as such I tend towards conservative actions.
Once an oil or filter become less than optomized in performance wear begins. Wear is what we want to avoid.
GC it seems gives us an oil that is very stout/robust and will tolerate abuse. To me your question rings of a gamble or two.
You are to me gambeling that with your vehical and driving habits and no UOA that the marketing dribble will make things right. I wouldn't trust those premises at all.
Granted where we are in this forum my perspective might be a bit tight on this issue, but I'll not trust anything on this level without a UOA, and beyond that a read of the UOA by Terry Dyson.
I'm sorry if I'm reading your post wrong, but to me guessing at the OIC is just not a good thing.
As pscholte pointed out it is a worriesome venture that you propose.
Offered in a kind way to perhaps get you to think through this plan. John
honda says 10K annual oil changes,20K by annually filter changes.
im just wondering if i should run it out to 10K oil/20K filter or change it out early because my yearly oil change day is comming up and i havent quite gotten the full 10K on the oil and 20K on the filter.
quote:Do you fall under "normal" service or "severe" service according to your manual? If I were going to put 20K miles and 2 years on a oil filter, I'd insure it was a quality filter, Wix, PureOne, Amsoil Ea, M1, K&N, etc.
Originally posted by Master ACiD: honda says 10K annual oil changes,20K by annually filter changes.
That bothers me so bad that i would like to come change your oil for you! ![[Smile]](images/icons/smile.gif)
I would never put 20k on a filter. That said, if insolubles are still low, why could you not go extended miles on a filter?
quote:Honda also wants to make money in their service department.
Originally posted by Master ACiD: honda says 10K annual oil changes,20K by annually filter changes. im just wondering if i should run it out to 10K oil/20K filter or change it out early because my yearly oil change day is comming up and i havent quite gotten the full 10K on the oil and 20K on the filter.
I would change it just to stick with your annual schedule. I also think we would all love to see a UOA on oil that ran through a filter that had 17,000 miles on it.
I wouldn't worry too much about GC going the 10K miles. I've done it. In the right engine with the right driving conditions it should be no problem.
Even if the Honda manual indicates it's acceptable, I'd change the filter whenever I changed the oil though. If for no other reason than to get the maximum amount of dirty oil out of the engine.
I did 13 months and 10k miles on GC in my wife's Sequoia (results in UOA section). Of course, this V-8 is anything but a fair comparison engine -- it never seems to do anything to its oil. I'm beginning to think that Toyota has planted a oil re-refining unit inside it. Seriously, you'll be fine, unless your engine has issues. Personally, I'd ignore the "every other" filter recommendation. It's not as if they are a major cost item. I'd also do at least a one-time UOA to make sure that nothing is out of order. Really, everything else, including our feedback, is just speculation. It may be well founded, but we're still guessing. Spend the $25-30 on the analysis, and know for sure. Trust me, knowing feels so much better than hoping. ![[Cheers!]](/forums/graemlins/cheers.gif)
p.s. Here's another odd-ball way to look at it: I'm thinking that there are a whole bunch of former Titanic passengers looking down from their place of final repose, who are thinking that it might have been nice to have radar on that ship. (Nevermind that it didn't exist yet...). Better to see the iceberg before it's too late! ![[Wink]](images/icons/wink.gif)
p.s. Here's another odd-ball way to look at it: I'm thinking that there are a whole bunch of former Titanic passengers looking down from their place of final repose, who are thinking that it might have been nice to have radar on that ship. (Nevermind that it didn't exist yet...). Better to see the iceberg before it's too late! Wow... and I thought about changing the oil filter at 3,000 mi during my 6,000 mi OCI.
Like the others have said - Before going on extended intervals - UOAs should be required. I'd be interested to know if the oil filter is still intact as I've had a few bad Fram filters shrivel up after 3,000 miles. ![[Razz]](images/icons/tongue.gif)
quote:The oil filters in general are good for 20K miles and bejond. I woudn't use a Fram though.
Originally posted by OriginHacker21: I'd be interested to know if the oil filter is still intact as I've had a few bad Fram filters shrivel up after 3,000 miles.
I certainly don't doubt that a quality filter attached to a clean running engine can last 20k miles. I still wonder why, though. For ~$10 you can have a new M1 or K&N. For half that, you can have several other top quality filters. Since they're almost at the "throw away" cost level, what do you really accomplish by going long on the filter? I'm not condemning anyone who does (I suppose if you really have to cut every cent from your operating cost, it makes sense), but I'd rather get a clean one on and not wonder when or if my filter is reaching the end of its effective life. Just my opinion.
" Before going on extended intervals "
10,000 miles is not an extended interval on a Honda.
quote:Going long on the filter? I routinely go 10-12K in between the oil changes so I change the oil filter at the same time I change oil. Way back I've cut several filters open and found nothing alarming. The media looked very clean. IMO, the oil filter longevity is a non-issue in a modern car. The bottom line: Why spend more on the overpriced filters if the cheapo ones from Walmart (e.g. $4 MC's) can do the job equally well?
Originally posted by ekpolk: Since they're almost at the "throw away" cost level, what do you really accomplish by going long on the filter?
quote:I guess it's a matter of perspective. I've cut 7-8 filters myself, and not really found anything horrible either, at least not that I could see. I'm concerned, however, that you can't really see the slow build up of really small stuff that slowly loads up the media. With the K&N, I had miniscule particle counts and insolubles of 0.1 after almost 5k miles. No, I can't prove to what extent the fresh K&N contributed to the result. Even at ~$10, it's still worth it, IMO, to replace the thing each OCI. If you're a believer in the "useless appendage" theory of oil filters, that's fine. If filters start selling for ~$25 or more, I'll certainly start experimenting with particle counts on multi-OCI filters. Until then, not worth it to me.
Originally posted by vad:quote:Going long on the filter? I routinely go 10-12K in between the oil changes so I change the oil filter at the same time I change oil. Way back I've cut several filters open and found nothing alarming. The media looked very clean. IMO, the oil filter longevity is a non-issue in a modern car. The bottom line: Why spend more on the overpriced filters if the cheapo ones from Walmart (e.g. $4 MC's) can do the job equally well?
Originally posted by ekpolk: Since they're almost at the "throw away" cost level, what do you really accomplish by going long on the filter?
My last oil analysis has showed 0.3 in insolubles after 7K and 14 months of mostly city driving with a $4 Motorcraft.
And I agree that the $5 difference is truly insignificant.
Actually I would wanna try a Mobil 1 or Amsoil Ea filters just for fun of it if only were they available for my car.
Unfortunately they aren't.
So, my point is - I don't think that my engine gets any less protection with the non-premium filters.
Regardless of what the ads are saying.
quote:Based on what?
I don't think that my engine gets any less protection with the non-premium filters.
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