Oil changes on 04 Accords

Hello there seems to be a lot of confusion on the timing change interval for
oil changes on the new Accords. The owners manual says 10,000 miles, however
the service department at my local dealer says 3,750 miles. The salesperson
told me 5,000 miles. I am planning to go with the 5,000 recommendation as it
seems to be a safe middle ground. What are others doing ??

 

Follow the owners manual severe duty recommendation. This should be the
right interval for most drivers and will protect your warranty.

Remember, the dealer is trying to make money selling oil changes. The same
goes for the quick lube places and the oil companies.

 

Unless the dealership can PROVE that your car is used for pulling trailers
or driving through mountains on a regular basis you will be fine with the
normal intervals... that said, I'll be going with the severe duty
recommendations 'cause I plan on keeping my car for ten years.

 

10k 1 yr Normal and 5k 6 months Severe
that is what my book said

Gary

 

10k? I'll like to see the condition of the engine when you have 60k on it,
if its running.
Seems too long of a interval, 4-5k sounds normal. Maybe if you drive long
runs, then 6k might work.

 

3-4 Thousand miles for non-synthetic.
55-10 Thousand miles for synthetic.

Frankly I think 10,000 miles is too long for any oil. If you have
Synthetic, Start looking for dirty oil at 5,000 miles and change when it
gets dirty. It will be before 10,000 miles. The owners manual specifies
not to change the oil early the first time. I would heed their advice,
since this is obviously part of the break-in process.

 

For one thing, the V6 and 4 cylinder models have different recommendations
in the owners manual.

V6 is 7,500 miles for US "normal" service, 3,750 miles for US "severe"
service and for all of Canada.

4 cylinder is 10,000 miles or 5,000 miles respectively.

Go with the severe interval for whichever model you have and then don't
worry about it.

John

 

By the way, here is a link to results of an oil analysis a guy had done on
an '03 Accord at 7.2k miles with regular dino oil (Pennzoil 5W-20). The oil
still had plenty of useful life left in it and probably could have gone the
10,000 miles without a problem:

http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=001885

 

The definition of "severe duty" is very broad with some manufacturers.
Lots of stop-and-go city traffic driving or frequent cold starts and
short trips usually qualify as severe duty. I'm sure there's a
definition of "severe duty" in the owner's manual.

Personally, if the car doesn't use synthetic oil, I'd be scared to run
it for 10K miles without an oil change.

Cheers,

Pete

 

Yes, but this is mostly highway miles and very few short trips, on an
I4 engine designed to go 10,000 on an oil change. It just goes to
show that Honda is right about 5W20 being ok in "normal," that is,
light duty service.

Severe service city folk should stay at 5,000 miles on the I4, 3,750
on the V6, if using 5W20 dino. If you're going to run it longer,
research the longer life that 10W30 dino or 0W20 synth will give you.

JM

 

And all your qualifications that give you more knowledge than the Honda
chemists are:

 

'Frequent cold starts'? How many of those can you do in a day?

 

my dealer said 3750 for the first change, then 3-4 k miles thereafter.

You can follow the book.........I just never have.