Heads-up to '03 Accord owners re: oil capacity

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Just did my first oil change on the car and there's a pretty big booboo in the owner's manual: it states a crankcase capacity of 4.4 qts when in fact it's 5.3. Honda's spec sheet on their website correctly lists 5.3, it's only the printed owner's manual that states 4.4 qts.

I had the car on ramps and put 4 qts in, thinking I'm nearly full, and started the car up and backed it off the ramps. After checking the level I thought I needed to let it settle a little. I left it on a level surface for over an hour and it still was well below the low mark (barely registering on the tip of the stick). So I slowly added til I got to just a tick over 5 qts, then started doing some research on Honda's website. I guess it's a typo
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Thanks for the info. You never mentiond what motor you have in your accord....4-cyl or the V6?

[ June 23, 2003, 12:51 AM: Message edited by: Tommy2 ]
 
Timzak;
Where/which site did you find that on? My Odyssey has the V6 but the specs didn't say anything about oil capacity.
Thanks/
 
Keep in mind you don't really want to fill it to the FULL mark each time. As long as you're within the manufacturer's specification you'll be fine.
 
I have the i-4, but apparently both engines have the same capacity. I found the informaton on Honda's website. Click on Accord, then click on Specifications.

Matt, interesting, I looked up your Odyssey and it doesn't list crankcase capacity like it does for the Accord.
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quote:

Originally posted by metroplex:
Keep in mind you don't really want to fill it to the FULL mark each time. As long as you're within the manufacturer's specification you'll be fine.

The factory fill fluid was at the top of the Full mark from 0 miles til my change. I figured I couldn't go wrong if I filled the new fluid to the same point.
 
I just bought a 2003 Accord 4 cyl. last week and was wondering how long you waited before changing the oil the first time? What oil did you put in? Are you going to do any analysis? Also, what filters are you using?
 
Timzak;
Yeah, looks like I'll need to just "waitnsee" how it works out...I'll fill to spec and see what that does on the dipstick.

You say you have the I-4; could be two typos: In your manual they list the V6 capacity for the I4, and on the web they list the I4 capacity for the V6. What a perfect error that would be?
 
quote:

Originally posted by Matt89:
Timzak;
Yeah, looks like I'll need to just "waitnsee" how it works out...I'll fill to spec and see what that does on the dipstick.

You say you have the I-4; could be two typos: In your manual they list the V6 capacity for the I4, and on the web they list the I4 capacity for the V6. What a perfect error that would be?


Matt, the printed manual lists capacities in the 4's for both the i-4 and v-6...I think it's something like 4.4 qts for i-4 and 4.6 qts for v-6 (going by memory). The spec sheet on their website says 5.3 qts for both i-4 and v-6. Going by my first oil change, looks like the 5.3 number is the most accurate...I put in about 5 1/4 qts to get it to the Full mark.
 
Honda's have a factory fill of break in oil with high moly amounts to assist initial wear patterns and this oil should be left in for 6 months or 6,000 miles before the first oil change. You won't hurt anything doing this.
 
As a follow up, I have a 2001 Accord V6, had the dealer do the first oil change then used Motorcraft 5w20 through last winter but switched to Schaeffer's Supreme 7000 5w30 and always use Honda filters.
 
quote:

Originally posted by OutlawTitan:
I just bought a 2003 Accord 4 cyl. last week and was wondering how long you waited before changing the oil the first time? What oil did you put in? Are you going to do any analysis? Also, what filters are you using?

I lasted 3864 miles before I couldn't take it anymore...5000 just seems wrong for a break-in oil.
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Part of my motivation was the large amount of short city trips the car takes...my wife's daily work commute is about 4 miles each way. About 1500 of the miles was highway/roadtrip (we drove to Sedona, AZ, Palm Springs, CA and Carlsbad, CA on three separate trips), but most of the other 2000+ miles was short city trips. From now on, I plan on 3000 mile changes for the car.
 
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