Honda Car Forum

The way oil is formulated these days you can wait 6 months between oil
changes if you don't hit the mileage before.

"Khee Mao" <yousuckbigbad_buddhadaddy@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c6p6jp$sjg$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu...
> I've recently moved downtown and am now walking to work (and just about
> everything else), which has decreased my monthly mileage to somewhere
> between 100 and 200 miles total. I know the oil companies say 3 months/
> 3000 miles (despite my manual saying at least twice that), but changing
oil
> every 600 miles seems kind of ridiculous. does oil go bad from age as
well
> as wear?
>
>

I used plain old Castrol 10w-30 and changed the oil between 4,000 and 6,000
(basically - when I got around to it but never at 3,000) and my car has
232,000 miles with no engine failure.

Would I have made it to 260,000 with synthetic or a lower interval? At
100 to 200 miles a month it will take you 108 years to find out. Save your
money. Actually, if you calculate what that car is costing you per mile
(insurance and amortized cost of vehicle) - sell it and take a cab ;-)


"Khee Mao" <yousuckbigbad_buddhadaddy@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c6p6jp$sjg$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu...
> I've recently moved downtown and am now walking to work (and just about
> everything else), which has decreased my monthly mileage to somewhere
> between 100 and 200 miles total. I know the oil companies say 3 months/
> 3000 miles (despite my manual saying at least twice that), but changing
oil
> every 600 miles seems kind of ridiculous. does oil go bad from age as
well
> as wear?
>
>

> but changing oil every 600 miles seems kind of ridiculous.
> does oil go bad from age as well as wear?


Driving many short trips can in theory wear oil out rapidly, but long
periods of doing nothing followed by trips which get the vehicle up to full
operating temperature (at least 20-30 minutes of driving) are really not
that hard on the car.

You could sleep very easy going 6 months between changes and would probably
do no harm at a 12 month interval.

3 months/3,000 miles is an ancient rule of thumb which survives today mostly
to support the income of Jiffy Lube & friends!

John

I suspect part of that is to support Honda too. My dealer offers a
$19.99 oil change. Not a bad deal at all around here. However, the
sticker they put on the windshield indicates a 3,000 mile recommended
change.

The owners manual for my 2004 Civic indicates 5,000.


John Horner wrote:

> Driving many short trips can in theory wear oil out rapidly, but long
> periods of doing nothing followed by trips which get the vehicle up to full
> operating temperature (at least 20-30 minutes of driving) are really not
> that hard on the car.
>
> You could sleep very easy going 6 months between changes and would probably
> do no harm at a 12 month interval.
>
> 3 months/3,000 miles is an ancient rule of thumb which survives today mostly
> to support the income of Jiffy Lube & friends!
>
> John
>
>