1st service fo my 05 Accord

what does it say in the owners manual?

What's an LX-G?

I read the manual and it does not specifically say anything about the 1st service.

My mistake, my previous car was an 02 Civic DX-G (the G stood for a group option package) , I presently own an 05 Accord LX.

Rick

but it gives you the service schedule. that's all you need to worry about.

Rick

Ignore the "manual" mavens and get the service done. One year/8k km is just too long an interval unless you drive long distance trips almost exclusively. I have a 2005 Accord EX I purchased in early May and it just turned 4k miles. I'm changing the oil and filter done this week with the recommended 5W-20, but I'm using Mobil 1, which I use in all of my vehicles and have done so for over 20 years. My schedule is 4 months or 4000 miles, whichever comes first (it's always 4 months, though). I almost always do it myself to keep expenses reasonable, and I've not had any type of engine component failure - ever. Cheap insurance for the engine, better mileage, easier starts in cold weather, etc.

doug

do you wait for tires to wear out or do you follow some gut feeling method for their change schedule as well? fact is, if you're following the manufacturer spec, and are using a decent oil with a decent additive package, there's nothing to worry about. especially not for first service.

It is a shame to waste Mobil-1 on 4 month/4,000 mile oil change intervals. You are discarding a lot of perfectly good motor oil way before it's time. If you are running a top grade synthetic like that there is no reason not to go the full 7,500 mile (V-6) or 10,000 mile (4) intervals Honda calls for in it's current vehicles. By using such an expensive oil you are already giving yourself a huge safety margin over the factory recommendations. In fact, there are plenty of good sub $2.00/quart motor oils on the market now which are completely up to the job.

Oils, fuels and engines are all light-years better today than they were

20 years ago.

John

The oils and engines are light years ahead but the people in this country are to entwined in the past to understand that. If 3000 miles was good for my great grandpa then I should change it every week......

Beware that on my manual, it says there is special breakin oil that Honda initially uses, and warns you against replacing it early as it interferes with the breakin process.

-MVL

This is also for the '05 Accord? If so, could you tell me which page? When I purchased my Accord, the salesman recommended changing it within 4k miles. I asked him about the break-in oil and he didn't know anything about it. He called me the next day and said he spoke w/the service department who said there is no more breakin oil. Just additives in the initial oil. I skimmed the manual but did not *read* everything that carefully.

Thanks,

-Dave

Do you wait for your engine to sludge up or do you blindly follow the "Recommended" service intervals in your beloved manual? The fact is that a number of well regarded automobile manufacturers have experienced engine problems caused by the oil change interval given to their customers. You can believe it or not - I guess it comes down to whether you can accept a truth contrary to your opinion. Just check out the Toyota and Saab newsgroups. With very few exceptions, I believe that every car owner should use the extreme service recommendations as a guideline. More frequent oil changes won't damage an engine. It will hurt your wallet a little, but as I said, it's cheap insurance.

Waste of good oil? Hardly. If you want to run oil - even Mobil 1 - for

10,000 miles in your engine, be my guest. Some day in the future, the dealership will welcome you with open arms. The demands of driving in most areas today, e.g., frequent starts, stop and go driving, combined with the higher level of design, machine tolerances and assembly of modern engines, require a much higher quality level for lubricants. You are correct that current dino-based oils are much better today than 20 years ago, but the demands placed upon them have significantly increased also. If you think that a sub $2.00 per quart oil is the best option for YOUR engine, it's your choice.

doug

Rick, I have always changed my engine oil and filter at the 5000 km mark, regardless of what the owners manual or dealership says. I feel that it is a small price to pay for peace of mind. I also rotate my tires at the same time (one appointment and no wasted time). The fact that so many people have ignored is that you live in Northern Ontario, as far as I am concerned that is a real good reason for changing the oil more frequently than the manual recommends. I live in Halifax and I firmly believe that more is better when it comes to frequency of changes.

Brian

I change the cheap dino oil in my '01 V6 Accord every 7K to 7500 miles. I now have 134,000 miles on it and it starts up everytime and runs smooth. When should I expect this sludge problem to start? Keep in mind, my car isn't a Toyota or Saab.

For the horror stories and the photos to go with them, it's hard to beat TeGGer's collection:

what can happen in just 8700 miles! Mike

Mine came to roost around 210K or 220K miles on our '85 turbo Volvo. The crankcase is probably as clean as the rocker assy I can see through the oil filler (pretty nice, even if brown) but the grunge carried in the oil mist that circulated through the crankcase ventilation system plugged a 3/8 inch hose solid. I never thought about cleaning such a large hose, so it went unnoticed until I saw a large cloud of blue smoke following me down the freeway. At the next turnoff, about five miles later, I opened the hood to see everything on the driver's side coated with oil spewing from the dipstick tube. I had lost 3 quarts in 5 minutes. Tearing the ventilation system down later, I found the air/oil separator baffle box nearly plugged. It also weighed several ounces more than the new one because of the hardened sludge inside it.

It was that experience that convinced me to change to synthetic in the Volvo in spite of the risk of leaks. The top guru on the alt.autos.volvo group reported engines running synthetic don't generate those oil mist deposits, so I took the chance. When it didn't leak I changed my daughter's Accord to synthetic.

To each their own, but I'm a confirmed synthetic user now.

Mike

ok, so which one of you is going to present the technical rationale for this well researched decision of yours? i want numbers.