OK, I plan on running either Royal Purple 5W-20 (SAE, non-racing stuff) or AMSOIL 5W-20, and the OEM Honda Tiny filter after the break in period. I've already bought a case of each to see if I really feel a difference with the Royal Purple. Both are PREMIUM Synthetic Oil companies with very good reps.

BUT - I'm still on the oil the car came with, obviously, as I only have 919 miles on it yet. I've heard some say you should change you oil as soon as 500 miles with a new engines, then 1000 miles, then 3000 miles with dino oil for a perfect break in. I've heard others just say run it the 300 miles, and then switch to synth. Others say go a whole 7,500 miles on the original dino oil, and then switch over!

I have NO Idea what to do! Suggestions. ONLY peopel with LOTS of expereince please. Not just seat of the pants opinions!

 

There's NO NEED to change the oil early.


When in doubt, stick to what the OWNERS MANUAL tells you to do

 

Well, the owners manual lists differnt times for 'severe' conditons and not - 5,000 miles or 10K for oil changes (THIS IS UNHEARD OF!) I don't care how good oil is - oil filters haven't chaged all that much over the last 10 years or so - and they still can only clean so much for so long. Also, I do know that engines are made better to starttout, form the past, but still - beak in is critical for best performance in the long run. How about some miliage EXPERT opinions? I say 3K miles, and then switch to syntec, or #K miles on dino, another 3K miles on dino, and then go to ~6-7K between with synth. oils

 

i'm not an expert, that's for sure. i just got my oil change at the 3k mark; i was pretty excited about getting my first oil change. perhaps a little too excited. i don't plan on switching to synth until at least the 9-10k mark. that's what all the experts i know seem to tell me; stick to tradition oil until around that time. they might be wrong, but i was going to stick to that plan.

 

Wow, I am amazed at how much thought you guys are putting into this! But that's good I guess.


This does not have to do with oil but it just got me thinking about how around here a lot of people say to break in a car the way you normally drive and the way you want it to run. For example, say you normally red line you cars once a day, so when you break in you car you would drive it the same way.

 

i followed the manual for my break-in for the most part. it says to drive it really easy for the first 600 miles and no extreme breaking or anything. i went ahead and took it easy on the car for the first 1000+ miles and after that started pushing it a little more.

 

i'm old school, so for my first 1,200 miles i drove really really slow. and it feels like a perfect break-in (not my car, the 4-door)...then i changed my oil at 1500 or 1800 miles...

i later changed the oil out to synthetic at 3,000 miles and from then on have always used synthetic oil on all the cars (even the DX model). everything feels fine or even better. when you get the car changed at the dealership, you already feel how dinosaur oil isn't as smooth running as synthetic when your car's at idle after driving a couple thousand miles on it.

they say honda OEM filters are really good, but i use fram doubleguard filters. they're not better than oem, from what i remember from our last board discussion, but they're easy for me to buy, put on, take off, and they're cheap so i'm happy with them and their performance.

 

my gf juss bought the 03 EX sedan I4 and the salesman told me to change oil at 10,000 miles. Now, we all know that most sales people are idiots but how can this one go beyond the stupidness of all the salesmen?? was he jokin around or serious?

 

That's the SUGGESTED change time. But, 500 miles is all you need for a break-in period. I'd go a full 3000 anyways though. Befroe switching to Synthetic.

BUT - for just normal oil changes I'd go for 3K-5K range. 10K is pushing it a lot. BUT he is right - ACCORDING to the MANUAL that's for 'normal' driving conditions.

 

BTW - DO NOT USE FRAM OIL FILTERS Thyeyt CONSISTENTLY are the WORST filters to buy. PERIOD. The best are Purolator Pure Ones. I used to have a bookmark to an EXTENSIVE testing site for oils and filters. AMSOIL is always #1 for Synth. oil, and Purolator is always #1 for filters. Usualy the OEM filter are decent though. But I'll check at my first change if there are any purolator Pure one filters for my car. I'm not sure if they are differnt from other accords, and not out yet, or what.

I think I've decided to just go the first 3K, and then switch over to synth. I talked with some AMSOIL peeps - and they said 500 miles is all that's need to break in, and then switch to Synth. But going a full 3K isn't bad either. So may as well be a bit cost effective and do that.