2013 Civic oil life gauge reliability

[dguy6789]

So I bought a 2013 Civic at the very start of September this year. Had around 30 miles on it then. It has ~1400 miles on it now and the oil life(Not an oil quantity gauge, it's a gauge that tells me when to get an oil change) monitor of the onboard computer still reads 100%. Can that really be right? I would think it would be down at least a little bit since it has been over three months. The car has never had an oil change while in my possession.

Part of me wants to go ahead and do an oil change just to get the very first set of oil that has ever been in the car out but I won't if there really is no point to doing so.

Should I go ahead and change the oil or do you think I can trust the self oil monitoring of the car?

 

[Kroze]

How much $$$ did you spend for R&D last year in developing & testing vs how much did Honda spend for R&D?

Follow the manual. It said to change it yearly or maintenance minder, whichever comes first.

 

[dguy6789]

My concern is that I've had it this long and the oil life still says 100%. I would think it would have ticked down one notch by now so I'm wondering if something is up or if this is normal.

Thanks for the input

 

[Jimzz]

The system I think is setup for Syn oil so that is why it does not drop quickly.

I would change it at 10k or when the meter says 20% life left while under warranty. That's using Syn oil.

 

[dguy6789]

Thanks

 

[996GT2]

The first oil change on a new car you can do a little earlier, say at 3000 miles. Some manufacturers actually specify a shorter interval for the first oil change.

After that, a good rule to go by is every 4-5k miles for conventional or 7.5-10k for synthetic.

 

[dguy6789]

Sounds good thanks for all the info!

 

[NutBucket]

I wouldn't worry about it. The minder system on my Honda goes off about every 8k. I use 0-w20 per the manual which means by default its at least a synth blend.

 

[LTC8K6]

Look in your manual. It explains why you still see 100%. It only displays in increments of 10. It won't display 99%. It will go from 100% to 90% to 80% etc.

Below 20% it goes in increments of 5

100 100 to 91
90 90 to 81
80 80 to 71
70 70 to 61
60 60 to 51
50 50 to 41
40 40 to 31
30 30 to 21
20 20 to 16
15 15 to 11
10 10 to 6
5 5 to 1
0 0

 

[Meghan54]

A good rule to go by is read your owner's manual and follow its recommendations.

ftfy

 

[996GT2]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 996GT2

A good rule to go by is read your owner's manual and follow its recommendations.

ftfy

I'm not sure I can agree with that. On a 03 Accord, for example, Honda's recommendation is to replace engine oil every 10k miles, and to replace the oil filter every 20k miles. This is also the recommendation for most other recent Hondas. The Honda Oil for most of these cars is a conventional 5W-20, and I'm sure many dealers out there are using lower quality bulk oil. Would you want your truck to go 10k miles between changes on conventional bulk oil?

Some cars might be fine going 10K per oil change on conventional, but it's certainly not something I'd want to do. Sure, the manufacturer's recommendations are a good place to start, but you can't just follow them without using common sense.


EDIT:

As another example, Honda's recommendation for ATF is to change at 120k miles. When dealers do the change, most of them will only do 1 drain and refill, which only gives you about 40% new fluid. Only 40% new fluid after 120k miles! It's one of the reasons why Honda's V6 automatic transmissions have a high failure rate.

So, in short, no, I don't think you should assume the owner's manual has the best advice for service intervals.

 

[NutBucket]

Uh, no. Those transmissions failed more because of poor design.

But I do agree that service schedule of only replacing the filter every other time is ridiculous.

 

[996GT2]

Uh, no. Those transmissions failed more because of poor design.

But I do agree that service schedule of only replacing the filter every other time is ridiculous.

Poor design is one factor, but also the extremely long (120k) fluid change interval and no recommendation at all in the service manual to change the transmission filter. It's there, but Honda makes no mention of it. Some people have done DIY transmission filter changes and found that the old filter was completely clogged with gunk after 100k+ miles.



I've also heard that BMW's oil-change intervals went up to 15k after they started offering free maintenance with new cars. Yet another reason why you can't always take the manufacturer recommendations at face value.

 

[nerp]

General rule is first oil change at 3,000 miles, then go 5,000 miles between changes with synthetic for a new car. Some owners manuals might mention special break-in oil or other nuances that you should pay attention to. There's no harm in changing the oil too frequently but there can be serious problems with going too far between changes. I personally think 5,000 miles between changes is a reasonable balance between being overly paranoid and taking a risk with engine health.

Checking the oil level regularly between oil changes is almost more important than the frequency of oil changes. What good is a strict oil change interval if the level gets dangerously low early on?

One things for sure: people can get pretty damn weird and set in their ways when it comes to oil.

 

[SparkyJJO]

General rule is first oil change at 3,000 miles, then go 5,000 miles between changes with synthetic for a new car. Some owners manuals might mention special break-in oil or other nuances that you should pay attention to. There's no harm in changing the oil too frequently but there can be serious problems with going too far between changes. I personally think 5,000 miles between changes is a reasonable balance between being overly paranoid and taking a risk with engine health.

Checking the oil level regularly between oil changes is almost more important than the frequency of oil changes. What good is a strict oil change interval if the level gets dangerously low early on?

One things for sure: people can get pretty damn weird and set in their ways when it comes to oil.

5k mile oil changes on synthetic is being pretty darn paranoid

 

[Zor Prime]

I have a '11 Insight and drive mostly highway and follow the maintenance minder. I get about 10k oil change intervals with Mobil 1 0w20.

The system supposedly keeps track of a multitude of things in approximating when it needs an oil change. RPM's, drive time, temp, and whatever else.

However with Honda automatic transmissions, I don't give a flying $@!% what the book says. Change the fluid every other oil change and that transmission should last the life of the car unless you have an early automatic transmission mated to a V6 until around 2005 when Honda started building them to withstand the torque of the V6.

With the Insight's CVT the book gives you some stupid high number when to change the fluid. However, in an interview with the chief engineer of the Insight, he's been quoted saying you should change it out every 20k ... which is essentially HALF of what the manual says. Go figure. Book / Chief Engineer ... hm, lemme decide which one I want to listen to.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Weird that people are paranoid about tranny fluids. My 1998 Acura 3.5RL had original tranny fluid until 193k miles, and after the change there was no difference.

 

[SparkyJJO]

You got lucky. Neglecting the transmission like that is a good way to blow it.