Should I go ahead and change the oil?

[ryanschillinger]

Recently bought a 96 Civic in sig. I bought it at 143k miles, and the oil on dipstick was very dark and down to the bottom of the full range. I changed it with Supertech full synthetic and I've added about 1/2 quart to keep it full. I know color isn't the best indicator of oil condition, but it's gotten pretty dark in the last 3k miles compared to what I'm used to. I'm going to change the CV axles tomorrow, and wondering if I should go ahead and change the oil again while I'm under there getting dirty.
I believe it was just run on 5w30 cheap dino before I bought it. I'm going to be using synthetic and figure on at least 5k between changes using Supertech, or maybe stretch it a bit further if I go with the M1HM. I was thinking of considering the last change a flush and starting it now. Especially since I'll be under there already, and the oil has darkened quite a bit for 3k miles.
What do you guys think?

 

[Benito]

I'd be tempted to cut open the filter and see what's in there.

Maybe you can do that first and then take a decision on the oil change.

And if I was trying to figure out the right oci for this vehicle, I'd send off for a UOA.

 

[Dallas69]

Go ahead and change it.
Next time go a little more,like 5k.

 

[OtisBlkR1]

on a new and unknown to you used car, why test boundaries on the first OCI, just like you said. Call it a flush and do the change. If you truly wanted to have a bit of fun, throw your block cleaner in there for the last 500-1,000 miles and then dump it out and start over. Then you can sleep even better because it was a "flush"

 

[Pontual]

It may had run in dino for long and its cleaning now, change it to do more cleaning.

 

[bigt61]

Originally Posted By: Pontual
It may had run in dino for long and its cleaning now, change it to do more cleaning.

Agree. I'm a "don't change too early advocate", but I'd even change it in this case. The ST has done it's job and probably knocked off whatever major crud was in there. It might even be pushing the limits of the filter capacity. Just go longer on your next change. On a clean engine, ST Synthetic should be good for more than a 5k OCI under normal circumstances, especially in CA.

 

[cmhj]

When in doubt??? Why lose sleep over it, change it!

 

[HangFire]

The first change in type of oil often frees up a lot of deposits, especially dino to syn.

As the others said, change it (and the filter) a little early and then run a normal OCI for a while and keep an eye on it.

 

[ryanschillinger]

Good to know I seem to have had the right idea. Don't like being wasteful, but give it a bit of a clean slate I suppose. Next OCI will go further. I've never been a 3k oil change kinda guy except back when I did them free at work years ago running bulk 10w30 shell oil and filter. I was surprised to see it darken so much in 3k miles, but I think it might have had a lot of short trips. Only 146k miles on a 96 civic is pretty low.

 

[bernau]

I would change it since it is the first oil change. Never know how much neglect the engine took when the owner decided to sell it.

 

[3800Series]

I always change oil often on a new vehicle. When I got the Regal last year I changed the oil maybe 4 times in 7k miles. I feel I have now cleaned the engine to the best of my ability and plan to run normal (7500 mile) OCI.

 

[ryanschillinger]

Well I bought the civic from a friend who had it for about 4 years. He isn't quite meticulous about maintenance but he's not one to neglect his vehicles by any means. I'm sure he had the oil changed regularly, but I believe he just took it to the cheap tire shops that advertise the $15 or whatever oil changes. I already changed it when I first got it. Used 5w20 supertech synthetic. Going with the same stuff today. It averages a bit over 40mpg so far and doesn't consume much oil yet so that's good. I've never done axles but giving it a shot today. Wish me luck haha