In the owners guide for my 2004 Accord it says to change the oil every 10,000 miles. It goes on to say that anything less is a waste of time and oil. My car is a lease for 36 months. If Honda says every 10,000 miles then that's what the car will get. The service department wants me to change it every 2500 miles, but I think they just want my money. Does anyone follow the 10,000 mile rule?

 

LOL NOO ....
depends on your driving conditions.... let me tell you....
forget about those numbers they tell you.... check your oil every week or so... and change them whenever they get dirty. simple....

If you use high quality engine oil and filter.... you should go max 5000 miles...

 

S E A R C H PLEASE.

10,000 is acceptable if using synthetics. If not I'd be scared.

 

but should I care if I followed their instructions and plan to hand the car back to them in 12 months?

 

> My car is a lease for 36 months.

Read the lease contract closely.

Does it specify maintenance?

Who covers the cost of a failed engine: a warranty, or you? (Cost of failure includes inconvenience, missed date, rainy roadside, replacement ride, towing... stuff that a warranty can't make good.)

There are two risks.

• Engine can wear-out early. For modern engines, that may mean 100K instead of 200K. On a 36 month lease, you will probably be long-gone before anything clatters or smokes. I hate to advise you to shorten the life of a Honda, but as a 3-year guy you have no reason to care how it will be in 10 or 20 years.
• OR: Engine can just quit, gummed-up.

2,500 is too short for ordinary SE/SF/SJ oil and ordinary driving: I do think the service dept is cashing-in here. 10,000 seems long, but I've seen much lesser engines with lesser oil go 10,000 miles before they gunked-up and died.

There are reports of some recent cars (one model of brand "T" comes to mind) that have been having early death by gummy oil. If that were true of this '04 Accord, I'd change it just to avoid having to walk home. Did that enough in days of SC oil and over-rich carbs. Also scraped an inch of sludge out from under a broken crank. No fun.

My car, I'm keeping it, 3K on dino-oil or 6K on M1 is what I do. Probably overkill on a Honda, but I saw the difference on old Fords.

If I were kissing it goodbye in a year, I'd double-check the Manual (might your driving be considered "severe"?) and the Lease (do they want more than "typical"?). Then at 5K, look at the oil (both stick and rocker-cover). If it is not filthy (it can be dark) or gummy, I'd just meet the letter of the maintenance list and keep the receipts. Tell the service manager where to stick the extra 13.5 quarts. Works better than Ex-Lax.

 

If you are intended to keep the car I would not wait 10000 miles.
If you give it back after the lease term has expired I would not waist my money.
Something bad should happen to your car in order for the dealer to hold you responsible for this. I personaly do not think something will.
But after all we are here only to suggest (even the brainless SEARCH). The decision will be yours.

Sam

 

I was recently thinking about keeping it since the buyout is less than the cost for one at retail. Im due for an oil change since it has been 6200 miles and 6 months since the last one. If I change it every 5k instead of 10k it is only one more change and a few dollars more. Im not concerned about the money, but it does seem odd that the book would tell anyone to change every 10k.

 

as stated above, if you use Synthetic oil you CAN go for that long under normal driving conditions.

 

Modern engines are running very efficiently. It is very, very difficult to overcome Americans perception that you need to change the oil every 3000 miles.
It benefits dealers, Jiffy Lube and other service companies b/c they obviously get more business the more often customers come in.

It does depend on your driving (heavy traffic, dusty conditions, etc) but 6000 to 10000 is fine on these new engines.
Dark color means nothing to the performance of the oil. It will darken very quickly and you can test it, the oil will have excellent protection.

Of course, it is easy to say change it often. It hurts no one. But it can be a waste of time and money as well as the significant impact to enviroment and waste.

check out bobistheoilguy.com for more reading on oil.

 

whenever the light comes on? :hsdunno: