What factors go into the oil life indicator: 2006 Civic

Yup, no where in there did I sate you said it. Reading comprehension is not primary to you I see.

Reply to
Seth
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I'm gonna give him the beneift of the doubt and say the above was a typo and he meant to say 5000 vs. 7500.

Reading comprehension is not high on his list.

Reply to
Seth

Doubt that it was a typo. That's why he referred to it as an extreme example, Seth.

Arguing between the merits of a 7,500 mi oil change and one at 5,000 is not what I'd call extreme.

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

Good point.

Reply to
Seth

I claim bullshit.

A year is 8,760 hours. A million miles in 8,760 hours calculates to....drum roll, please....114+ miles per hour.

That's straight running, with no stopping for fuel or driver changes.

Let's say fuel and driver changes are simultaneous, at 5 minutes every, oh, 400 miles. That's 2500 stops right there. 2500 times 5 is 12,500 minutes, or 208 hours. Now instead of 8760 driving hours, you have only

8552 driving hours.

Oil changes every 1K miles? Let's say an oil change takes 5 minutes (I'm being generous here). Let's further say that it happens, on average, during a fuel/driver change. So let's not even calculate the extra oil change time; let's leave straight available drive time at 8552 hours.

1,000,000 miles over 8552 hours is 117 miles per hour.

So this Civic drove between 114 and 117 mph for a year straight?

Well, then, why don't you do that. I'm sure the article would tell us how a Civic went 115mph straight for a year, with no hiccups in any of the fuel/driver/oil change periods, all of them running at an optimal 5 minutes.

Or maybe my quick calculations are all you need to back down on this particular fable.

Of course, this is all my opinion.

Your calculator has an opinion? Gee, mine just does calculations. Maybe my calculator is operating in some number base that yours doesn't?

Was that 1,000,000 miles in base 2?

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

Now THIS I find interesting...

I, too, have noticed this phenomena in 3rd. It has, on occasion, caused a slight grind, as I didn't get the car fully into third before letting out the clutch, as the notchiness (good word for it) interrupted my rythem.

What are the downsides (if any) to changing to a Synthetic Tranny fluid? The manual is pretty clear on sticking with Honda's Tranny fluid. Would this affect warranty?

Also, should it be done in a shop, or is it sufficient to just drain the fluid and add the Synth? I've never changed Tranny fluid before in any car. Always had it done by a shop. But it usually costs $80 or more. If it is relatively easy, I'll do it myself...

Thanks...

Reply to
Joe LaVigne

It's based on nothing useful. I have a 2003 Accord 4-cyl. I switched to Amsoil 0w30 at 40,000KM after what I call an initial breakin period. I replace the oil filer every 20,000KM. I replace the oil every 40,000Km. Amsoil has just recently come up with nano-filter technology that will allow me to replace oil filter every 40,000KM. My second break in period is just occuring. I have 223,000KM. I am now getting the best possible fuel consumption of 5.9l - 6.1l per 100KM while driving 100KM per hour. My oil consumption is exactly 0.6l + whatever's in the oil filter per 40,000KM. I recently bought a 2006 Pilot. It has a life indicator that shows or "reduces" the expected life of the oil the higher the sustained engine rev is. I managed to get it to a 5% of life left in just over 5500KM. However, I use Amsoil 5W20 (for inital engine breakin of 40,000km)which at that mileage is visibly very clean, so all I've done is reset the oil life indicator and continued with the same oil. The best thing for the society is to inform themselves about engine oil and mechanical durability. It will save a ton of money and a pile of resources for the whole planet. The rest is scare tactics and oil industry capitalizing on everyone's ignorance.

Hope this helps.

Seth wrote:

Reply to
highkm

Sorry to tell you I used to pay $7.5 CDN for 1l of Honda's 5W20. I now pay 6.75 for 1l of Amsoil 5W20. Honda oil is the cheapest semi-synthetic blend from Petrocanada on the market. I believe the only worse blend is Yamalube, which is $10 per 1l. Although Amsoil 5W20 is not a pure synthetic just like Mobil 1 is not (unless it a 15,000 extended range oil), I would bet my last dollar that Amsoil 5W20 is superior to "Honda's" 5W20. I have a 2003 Accord with 223,000KM. I drive on Amsoil 0W30 and have been since 40,000KM. I replace the oil every 40,000KMs. For me that's every 3 months. If I had to change it every 8000KM, that would mean that I'd have to go under the car more frequently than every 2 weeks. I guess suckers are born every day, and the oil industry loves them, so keep up the busy lifestyle of changing oil.

Cheers.

televascular wrote:

Reply to
highkm

Haha. That's a lot of calculations you went through. I guess I'm wrong about the one year time limit; like I said, I don't remember specifics. Do the Google search and find the contest website, I'm too lazy.

Reply to
televascular

Blah blah blah. It looks like you have accumulated lots of opinion on the topic but little in the way of real data. None of your ramblings are backed up with evidence.

John

Reply to
John Horner

Easily done. Just change your oil at some point early in the countdown. Personally I change the oil when the oil life monitor is around 20% left to go. Ta da, a safety margin.

John

Reply to
John Horner

Do you have any factual evidence for this assertion, or is it simply your guess? You are saying that Honda's engineering team pushed the oil life envelope aggressively in order to reduce perceived cost of ownership.

You should also note that the reason Hondas do well in cost-of-ownership calculations is due first and foremost to relatively low depreciation costs thanks to high resale values. In fact, it would be counter productive for Honda to make recommendations which shorted the useful life of it's products and therefore speed up the depreciation curve.

People readily confuse assertions with fact.

John

Reply to
John Horner

Actually there has been testing which seems to show that wear metals per mile rate decrease as oil continues in service.

One independent effort:

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There are other industry studies about this, but they cost money to buy.

John

Reply to
John Horner

Actually, the home study you reference appears to have used data on a single car and for only a few samples of oil total. I wouldn't recommend anyone waste a moment slogging through it and figuring out whatever point the authors seem to be trying to make. They seem to be amateurs at best.

Reply to
Elle

Joe,

There is no perceived downside to synthetic transmission fluid, besides cost. I should warn you, however, that tranny fluid requires a very specific viscosity and additive package, and different trannies require different fluids. Honda uses the same MTF for nearly every vehicle they sell, so just find one that is compatible. I did a lot of research to find one that would be appropriate for the '06 Si, and I decided on the SF-MTL-P ($30.20 + shipping for one gallon).

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is a great resource. Another note: after reading around on the internet, there have been some instances where people claimed to switch to Redline MTL in their Hondas, and then their synchros failed within 10,000 miles. Who knows if the two are related, but it's enough to deter me from buying their fluid.

A transmission fluid change is even easier than an oil change, since our Sis have no serviceable tranny oil filter. There are two plugs on the side of the transaxle: the top one is for filling, the bottom one is for draining. After draining, you fill the case with fluid until it starts overflowing through the top fill hole; that's how you know it's full. The service manual specs 1.6 quarts. You will need new washers for both plugs, and a funnel (preferably with a tube) for adding fluid. WARNING: on my old '98 Accord, I had a problem once where I drained the tranny fluid via the bottom plug, but the FILLER BOLT HAD SEIZED. I couldn't get it off for a while and it caused me a lot of stress. Make sure the filler bolt comes off easily BEFORE you begin draining!

Good luck!

Reply to
televascular

Joe,

I just re-read your post: changing to non-Honda fluid will not affect warranty. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act states that a provider cannot void the warranty just because an aftermarket part is installed, unless it is proven without doubt that the aftermarket part directly caused failure or malfunction due to incompatibility or incorrect installation. It is up to the warranty provider to prove the part caused failure; you do NOT have to defend yourself.

But rest assured; pretty much any synthetic tranny fluid is better than Honda MTF. Even my dealership's mechanic confirmed that.

Reply to
televascular

Aaaah! I bet that was an unpleasant surprise.

"Many things may come between the mouth and the morsel." - Cato

Reply to
Michael Pardee

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