Andrew97CivicEx

Hi All,

I just bought an 08 Civic EX Sedan, and plan to keep the car forever (and actually mean it this time).

Question is, what is a "realistic" break-in period? What kind of things should I be doing? What kind of things should I NOT be doing other than hard breaking and excessive red-line acceleration?

One other question: 10K mile Oil Changes? Are they nuts?!?!?! I had an '04 BMW 325 that called for 15K with Synthetic oil, which was beyond stupid (BMW paid for regular maintenance, no wonder). Now 10K miles with conventional oil in Hondas???

autofreak

Congratulations on your new Civic, I too have a 2008 Honda Civic EX AT sedan, and beside the obvious "no-no's" such as abrupt acceleration and harsh braking, I've also heard not to exceed speeds of 55 mph for the first 1000 miles, but that could just be an urban myth kind of thing that I still chose to practice. All of the break-in period procedures should be in the manual. Oh, and as far as the 10k mile oil changes, those are just estimates and being that your Civic is equipped with Honda's "maintenace minder system", it will inform you of the life of your oil and other key components based on how you drive and the conditions your vehicle undergoes which eliminates the guess work involved in maintaining your vehicle.....So you've gotten 38.26 mpg so far, that's amazing, because so far I've only been able to get 29 mpg mixed driving and that's because I consider myself somewhat of a "hypermiler" (I cruise at 60 mph on the highway and all shifts are at 2K rpm or below except for when the rare occasion of merging/passing arises and glide as much as possible). Once again congrats with your new Civic and a quick question, does your engine vibrate? Mine didn't vibrate at all until I hit around 800 miles (I now have about 2,200 miles) which continues to aggrivate me because engine vibration at idle is one of my biggest pet peeves.

Andrew97CivicEx

Well, I guess I don't have to worry about the 1000 mile thing. I am at 1600 miles now. Regardless, I have been driving the speed limit (45-55 mph) in an effort to save fuel, and my commute does not involve freeway driving.

Well, the 38.26 is now 36.79.... Summer in GA..... I run A/C all the time.

Yest, my engine vibrates with the A/C on... Maybe it's by design?

BTW, any recommendation on switching to synthetic oil???

autofreak

Well, the manual states that "you may use a synthetic motor oil if it meets the same requirements given for a conventional motor oil: it displays the API certification seal and it is the proper weight (5W-20). You MUST follow the oil and filter change intervals shown on the information display."
I've also considered switching to synthetic but wasn't sure if I should use a synthetic blend before completely transitioning to a fully sythetic oil. I've heard that with Hondas, you have to keep the original oil from the factory for at least 3,750 miles, because it supposedly has some break-in additives that Honda uses due to the construction of the cylinder liner/wall finish. If I were to switch to sythetic oil I'd consider either Mobil1 or AMSOIL based on the reviews and opinions expressed on this website.

Andrew97CivicEx

Since I drive a lot, I've always used Mobil1 in the cars I drive, given the longer life of the oil. I think I will definitely switch to synthetic oil at the first scheduled oil change, since now the oil changes are further apart. I might even do that in the '05 Odyssey since it is also equipped with the Maintenance Minder system. I am just not crazy about the idea of running conventional oil for more than 3-5K miles.

Summer driving in GA (with the A/C on) is killing my MPG!!! Oh well...

autofreak

Tell me about it, I live in Texas.

ghetto94integra

The 10000 mile oil-change seems reasonable.

I've heard that hybrids usually go about 10k between oil-changes, but yeah, there's an oil-life monitor that tells you when to go, so you don't even need those stickers in the windshield!