Honda oil life monitor

[johnd]

The wife got a new car, a Honda Civic LX which our first car with an oil life monitor. At 600 mi. the oil life monitor is at 90% which means if driving habits stay the same, we are looking at about a 6K change interval. Interestingly we were assured by the dealer to follow the OLM for changes so I guess we will.

Oh yes, and they were very adamant about 5w20 oil only.

 

[jorton]

My truck doesn't have one but this board has me 98% convinced OLM works.

It won't hurt the engine to change oil early though. You can change it anywhere between when you feel like it, and 0%.

 

[pitzel]

quote:

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Originally posted by jorton:
It won't hurt the engine to change oil early though. You can change it anywhere between when you feel like it, and 0%.

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Actually, overfrequently changing oil leads to increased incidence of gas path phosphourous contamination (leading to O2 sensor and catalytic converter degradation), and PCV/intake/throttle body deposits.

The more often you change oil, the more 'stuff' ends up vapourizing off, and into unwanted parts.

There is also a significant (and growing) body of evidence to suggest that changing oil more frequently leads to more engine part wear, as manifested in UOA's. For instance, the per unit distance ppm concentrations of wear metals tend to decrease with mileage.

 

[HokieRich1]

I also have an 06 Civic LX. I drive mostly highway miles. At the rate Im going, according to the monitor, my first oil change will be at about 10K miles. I wont trust it that far. One thing I hate about the maintenance monitor is that there is NO maintenance schedule in the owners manual. So you cant anticipate when things need changed. No mention of when to change coolant, plugs, trans fluid and etc. Does tell you when to change brake fluid. Later.

 

[Asystole]

My 2006 Civic EX Sedan has 1,100 miles on it. The OLM states 90% still. This should put me at or above the 10K mark. Turns out 10K is the same as the recomended interval for my 2001 Civic.

 

[Asystole]

On page 187 for Civic Sedans and page 215 for Civic Coupes there is the Maintenance Minder table. Most items follow the Maintenance Minder with Symbols. The only time or milage intervals listed are brake fluid every 3 years, and change the oil every year if the OLM does not state to change it before then.

If you live in dusty conditions, ignore sub symbol 2 and change air filters every 15K miles.

As long as you have good documentation, I would not worry about following the OLM and maintenance minder one bit.

 

[badtlc]

speaking of odd maintenance intervals, i just found out my 2006 mazda6i ATX requires no maintenance.

 

[TR3-2001SE]

sjlee. Try this link just for starters. Lots of UOA's point to this issue. http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/oil-life.html

 

[brad_d]

We've got an '06 Accord, and it has a similar system. One thing worth noting: the OLM will read 90% while it estimates 81-90% of life remaining, and will flip over to reading 80% once it feels you're a fifth of the way there.

This can be a little misleading when you're trying to estimate how long you'll get on an oil change. You see 90% on the OLM and figure you'll get around 10 times your current distance. However, you could actually be at 81 or 82%, and should really expect only about 5 times what you've gone so far. Depends on how long it's been reading 90%, obviously.

It's far more of an issue in the early stages, and as it nears zero the OLM starts to decrement by 5% rather than 10% at a time. Not a big deal, really, but we're still on our factory fill, and I've been trying to estimate when it'll tell me to change the oil. Careful study of the manual was revealing.

At least you can do some planning with oil changes. Everything else is just a "Shut up, we'll tell you when it's due," kind of deal.

 

[sjlee]

quote:

---

Originally posted by pitzel:
Actually, overfrequently changing oil leads to increased incidence of gas path phosphourous contamination (leading to O2 sensor and catalytic converter degradation), and PCV/intake/throttle body deposits.

The more often you change oil, the more 'stuff' ends up vapourizing off, and into unwanted parts.

There is also a significant (and growing) body of evidence to suggest that changing oil more frequently leads to more engine part wear, as manifested in UOA's. For instance, the per unit distance ppm concentrations of wear metals tend to decrease with mileage.

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Hmmm, interesting. Do you have any sources/links for this information? I've never heard this before and would like to find more about it.

 

[WOOCHOW]

I got 7200 miles on my factory fill for an 06 Civic EX. Monitor was at 10%. I do 90% highway driving. Used 5w-20 Motorcraft and a Honda OEM filter (Fram). Next change will be to RedLine 5w-20 and a NAPA Gold to get me through the winter without worry. No garage access in the winter, and I hate lying on my back in the snow to change the oil!