First oil change mileage?

2004 Honda Civic 1.7 liter. I looked in the owner's manual and the
only thing I see about oil changes is to change the oil every 10,000
miles. I plan on changing it about every 4,000 miles instead of every
10,000 and was thinking about changing it initially at 1,000 miles or
so. What do you guys think? Waiting until it's hit 10,000 miles
seems like asking for trouble to me. Thanks in advance for input.

 

Listen to the manual.



How to turn off 'Maintenance Required" light:

1. Hold trip/reset button on dash
2. Turn key to "ON" or start engine
3. Hold button til light goes out

 

2004 Honda Civic 1.7 liter. I looked in the owner's manual and the

3,000 miles for the first and all oil changes is a good rule of thumb that
covers most driving conditions, like 100% city traffic driving.

Lynn

 

He doesn't have one. He threw it away. You know how the manuals
are--all dry and hard to read, and useless anyway.

 

I got this from Honda's website last year and kept it in my archives:

Why should I wait to change the oil the first time?

Your Honda engine was delivered with an oil that is specially
formulated for new engines that have not yet developed their "natural"
wear patterns and may contain minute particles from the manufacturing
process. American Honda strongly recommends this special oil be left
in the engine long enough for these wear patterns to develop, usually
until the first maintenance interval specified in your Owner's Manual,
based on your specific driving conditions.

 

The book calls for 5,000 miles for the severe schedule. Follow that.

 

Ah the old oil change debate where everyone thinks they are probably
more informed than the people who designed and built the engine. I
can assure you that the rapid oil change industry thanks you.

In your MANUAL if specifies that the Honda comes with a special
break-in oil that should be left in for the full recommended service
interval. You can choose the regular 10,000 or the severe 5,000.

 

You should check out www.bobistheoilguy.com forum.

Most of the 5K oil changes (using dino oil) are coming back with
excellent results (used oil analysis). I can't remember one 3K
interval analysis that didn't suggest a longer interval.

The old "Jiffy Lube 3K/3month" oil change should be replaced with a 5K
interval.
-
--
Curtis Newton

http://surf.to/cnewton
<delete remove-me. to respond to email>
ICQ: 4899169

 

My 2003 Civic Hybrid 1.3L has an oil-change interval of 10,000 miles for
the type of driving that I do, mostly highway. I read, either on the Honda
website or in the owners manual, that the increased oil change interval was
due in part to an extremely clean running engine.

At 18,430 miles (8,000 on this oil change), my service light has started
blinking at startup. I checked the oil, and I'm down about 1/3 of a quart,
and it is a darkish brown. At 6,000 it was still hard to see the oil level
unless I had bright light, because the oil hadn't changed color yet.

The oil change interval on the non-hybrid Civics was 8,000 miles in 2003.
Since the gas engine on my Civic Hybrid doesn't differ much from that on
other Civics, perhaps the interval on the 2004 has been increased.
The Hybrid does shut down three cylinders' valves during coasting, so it
might be a little cleaner than others. Yours isn't an HX is it?

 

Follow the manual. I do think the Honda engineers know what they are doing.
The more frequent oil changes only enrich the changers.

BTW- I've had dealers tell me that in "our severe conditions" more frequent
is better. BS.

 

Interesting. My dealer told me that under no condition should I change the
oil in my 2004 Odyssey until the 7500 mile point (live in NJ). Then a
couple of weeks ago I got an e-mail from Honda (US) telling me it was time
to change the oil (at 3500).

I'm gonna wait the full time.

Mike

 

My 2003 Civic Hybrid 1.3L has an oil-change interval of 10,000 miles for
the type of driving that I do, mostly highway. I read, either on the Honda
website or in the owners manual, that the increased oil change interval was
due in part to an extremely clean running engine.

At 18,430 miles (8,000 on this oil change), my service light has started
blinking at startup. I checked the oil, and I'm down about 1/3 of a quart,
and it is a darkish brown. At 6,000 it was still hard to see the oil level
unless I had bright light, because the oil hadn't changed color yet.

The oil change interval on the non-hybrid Civics was 8,000 miles in 2003.
Since the gas engine on my Civic Hybrid doesn't differ much from that on
other Civics, perhaps the interval on the 2004 has been increased.
The Hybrid does shut down three cylinders' valves during coasting, so it
might be a little cleaner than others. Yours isn't an HX is it?[/QUOTE]

No, it's an LX. I think after reading all of the responses I got
(Thanks to you all.) that I'll wait until it hits 5K miles and then
change the oil and continue changing it every 5K miles.

 

Don't use the 10,000 mile interval unless you're using synthetic oil
in my opinion due to potential for sluge developing. 5,000 and
dinosaur oil is also fine too.

I remember seeing references to "special break-in oil" additive as far
back as a 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 manual. The oil was said to prevent
scuffing of the cylinder walls and pistons during break-in. Honda is
the only manufacturer that refers to such oil anymore, as far as I've
seen.

So, did my wife's 1999 Passport get Honda oil, or Isuzu oil when it
was filled? Don't know, but I left it in there for 7,500 miles. The
engine has had changes out the wazoo since, but still exhibits the
classic Isuzu overuseage of oil starting at 30 or 40,000.

JM

 

He was asking about "First oil change" - synthetic is not usually
recommended till the 2nd or 3rd change for a normal production engine.

No they are not the only one:
http://forums.audiworld.com/tt/msgs/65043.phtml

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

Several vehicles, possibly all German, come from the factory with synthetic
oil.

What I thought was more interesting is that the frequent oil changes didn't
help JM's oil consumption at a measly 60,000 miles.

I have almost four times that on my 88 Dakota. I've never changed oil
earlier than the recommended 7500, and I've quite often gone well over
10,000. There is no sludge visible in the valve cover. I had to change
the valve cover gaskets last year because they hardened up and were
leaking. Other than that, nothing's been done to the motor.
Maybe it's the brand of oil that I'm using... whatever is cheapest at
Kragen. Fram filters.

 

When I bought my '04 VP the dealer said 5000 miles.

 

I don't know all the makes concerned but certainly some of them are not the
usual production engines - Porsche == blue-printed. Also if the factory
fill is synthetic then the factory can make arrangements, with its
machining operations and initial break-in, for that to work.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

Yeah, dealers will tell you that in order to make a few extra $$. I follow
the manual and recomend you all do the same. I do think honda has some
failry good engineers!