Engine Oil/Oil Changes Myth and Facts Thread

[Kaolinite]

motul every 5km

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

smart man

[Eff-1]

If you look at the S2000, Honda is all over the map with respect to the maintenance schedule.

Owner's manual says for normal conditions, change it every 12,000km or 12 months.

For severe conditions, owner's manual says change it every 6,000km or six months.

But if you go to honda.ca and choose S2000, it says change it every 6,000km or three months (both normal and severe).

For me I just change it every six months. Truth is I never end up reaching the max kms before the max time. Regular oil is fine for me (never bought synthetic oil for any of my cars, and probably never will unless its required).

[taylor192]

Originally Posted by Phil@rise

Ohhh my god not trolling my ass.

BECAUSE THERE MAY BE A FAULTY PART I've seen it first hand on many occasions and can point you in the direction of many other engine builders who also have.

That's why its called PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE and if you know what your looking for you can determine if something is going amiss by looking at your oil and inspecting the filter material in your filter and you don't need a microscope to do so, common sense and experience will do just fine.
Again its cheap insurance about 40 bucks every few months. That aint so bad compared to the extreme alternative.

Nice cam pics but the cam was just an example of many engine components that can wear out prematurely for many reasons and take out the rest of the motor if left undetected till the bitter end.

Dude, you're making your company look very amateur.

Yes you can do an oil change for $40 and check it for visible substances, or you can siphon off 250 ml and send it for oil analysis for $30 and get a printout of non-visible substances too.

The oil analysis report is very valuable, knowing that elevated levels of certain metals/chemicals/moisture/... can identify engine problems earlier than your simple visible check.

Please do not call Liquid Turbo a troll. He's provided techniques used by commercial vehicles, racing teams, ... that is available to the public for less than the price of an oil change. Meanwhile you're sticking to outdated garage mechanic tips that waste $$$ and give people false sense of security.

[LiquidTurbo]

Originally Posted by Kaolinite

motul every 5km

Shit, must be annoying to change oil everyday!

[tofu1413]

Originally Posted by LiquidTurbo

Shit, must be annoying to change oil everyday!

must be a 4G63

[LiquidTurbo]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

If you look at the S2000, Honda is all over the map with respect to the maintenance schedule.

Owner's manual says for normal conditions, change it every 12,000km or 12 months.

For severe conditions, owner's manual says change it every 6,000km or six months.

But if you go to honda.ca and choose S2000, it says change it every 6,000km or three months (both normal and severe).

For me I just change it every six months. Truth is I never end up reaching the max kms before the max time. Regular oil is fine for me (never bought synthetic oil for any of my cars, and probably never will unless its required).

Honda has decided that due to most of the climate of Canada, that Canada is considered completely 'severe' condition driving. The owner's manual is written for a North American audience, if you look closely, you'll see a note in the owner's manual saying that all of Canada is considered severe.

Vancouver's weather is very unlike most the rest of Canada.

[StealthFighter]

just use any oil that's manufacturer's spec and has a SM rating. then run to the oil change intervals in the manual. doing an used oil analysis will provided the best way to tell if you should run shorter or longer OCI.

though i like using a 0w oil for better pour point at cold starts. even though the manufacturer recommends a 5w-30. better fuel economy, less engine wear, less strain on alternator and battery.

for a filter, just use OEM, purolator pureone, bosch premium, napa gold, wix.

i would avoid using fram

http://www.knizefamily.net/minimopar...reference.html

[LiquidTurbo]

Originally Posted by StealthFighter

just use any oil that's manufacturer's spec and has a SM rating. then run to the oil change intervals in the manual. doing an used oil analysis will provided the best way to tell if you should run shorter or longer OCI.

though i like using a 0w oil for better pour point at cold starts. even though the manufacturer recommends a 5w-30. better fuel economy, less engine wear, less strain on alternator and battery.

for a filter, just use OEM, purolator pureone, bosch premium, napa gold, wix.

i would avoid using fram

http://www.knizefamily.net/minimopar...reference.html

Silly Fram with their cardboard endcaps. Still, hard to prove that doesn't work well, but most people want the reassurance of steel. After all, the classic blue Honda OEM filter was once made by Toyo Roki, is now made by Honeywell, a division of, you guessed it, Fram, and there are millions of Hondas running with them.

My dad's old 83 Honda Civic had over 400,000km using nothing but the dreaded Orange Frams + Castrol GTX conventional (because it was the cheapest) for its entire life until it was sold to the guy in the neighbourhood. I still see him zipping around in it occasionally.

That being said, I think there are better alternatives.

What engine do you have? What 0w30 you use? M1 AFE?

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by LiquidTurbo

Honda has decided that due to most of the climate of Canada, that Canada is considered completely 'severe' condition driving. The owner's manual is written for a North American audience, if you look closely, you'll see a note in the owner's manual saying that all of Canada is considered severe.

Vancouver's weather is very unlike most the rest of Canada.

Yes i'm aware that most manufacturers consider Canada as "severe". Still doesn't change the fact that honda.ca says one thing while the owner's manual says different.

[LiquidTurbo]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

Yes i'm aware that most manufacturers consider Canada as "severe". Still doesn't change the fact that honda.ca says one thing while the owner's manual says different.

You missed my point. If you read the owner's manual again it says "Use Severe Guide in Canada."

Therefore it's consistent with honda.ca's recommendations.

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by LiquidTurbo

You missed my point. If you read the owner's manual again it says "Use Severe Guide in Canada."

Therefore it's consistent with honda.ca's recommendations.

I didn't miss any point.

Read my post again.

Owner's manual says for normal conditions, change it every 12,000km or 12 months.

For severe conditions, owner's manual says change it every 6,000km or six months.

But if you go to honda.ca and choose S2000, it says change it every 6,000km or three months (both normal and severe).

[LiquidTurbo]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

I didn't miss any point.

Read my post again.

Owner's manual says for normal conditions, change it every 12,000km or 12 months.

For severe conditions, owner's manual says change it every 6,000km or six months.

But if you go to honda.ca and choose S2000, it says change it every 6,000km or three months (both normal and severe).

If the owner's manual lists that Canada is considered severe, then it's recommending 6,000km changes 'no exceptions'.

Honda is saying "there are no Normal conditions in Canada". Hence the website defaulting to 6,000km for all S2Ks in Canada. But yes, why are we arguing semantics? We agree that 6 month 6,000km OCI is good.

Don't the newer S2Ks have oil minders? When do they go off?

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by LiquidTurbo

If the owner's manual lists that Canada is considered severe, then it's recommending 6,000km changes 'no exceptions'.

Honda is saying "there are no Normal conditions in Canada". Hence the website defaulting to 6,000km for all S2Ks in Canada. But yes, why are we arguing semantics? We agree that 6 month 6,000km OCI is good.

Don't the newer S2Ks have oil minders? When do they go off?

There's no argument. All I was saying is there is inconsistency on when the recommended oil change is, depending on what source you use. I realize that 6000 represents severe conditions (i.e. Canada). But even so:

For severe conditions, owner's manual says change it every 6,000km or six months.

But if you go to honda.ca and choose S2000, it says change it every 6,000km or three months (both normal and severe).

06 and up had the "Maintenance Minder". Mine is an 05, so I'm not sure.

Regardless, I've been sticking with changing oil every six months. I'm only driving around 10,000 kms per year. I'm not worried.

[LiquidTurbo]

^
Ahhhh gotcha. I didn't see the 3 month 6 month ! My bad!

6 month 6,000km works just fine, especially if you take it to the highway occasionally. Unlike Engine temp, Oil takes 15km-20km to fully warm up and burn off any fuel dilution. 3 month OCI doesn't make much sense either, since a lot of people store their S2000s in the winter.

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by LiquidTurbo

^
Ahhhh gotcha. I didn't see the 3 month 6 month ! My bad!

All good.

[Noizz]

Originally Posted by taylor192

Dude, you're making your company look very amateur.

Please do not call Liquid Turbo a troll. He's provided techniques used by commercial vehicles, racing teams, ... that is available to the public for less than the price of an oil change. Meanwhile you're sticking to outdated garage mechanic tips that waste $$$ and give people false sense of security.

+1, if there is a problem with you're engine, it will show in the UOA. This might be stretching it, but to put it into another perspective: think about an ectomorphic person (cannot gain weight, lacking fat) who eats a lot of fast foods. Sure he may physically look healthy because he is still slender, but sampling his blood and analyzing it could actually determine that he has high cholesterol, thus unhealthy.

Doctors don't test whether you have AIDS or HIV by looking at you. They run blood tests, hence the reason why LiquidTurbo suggested getting your used oil tested & analyzed so you can get reliable data as well as a comparison of what the ppm levels should be at from past data. How would u assess whether there was antifreeze or too much fuel in the oil by looking at the filter material? And whether or not those levels are acceptable or not for an engine with XXXXX amount of km?

[TOPEC]

Originally Posted by taylor192

Dude, you're making your company look very amateur.

Yes you can do an oil change for $40 and check it for visible substances, or you can siphon off 250 ml and send it for oil analysis for $30 and get a printout of non-visible substances too.

The oil analysis report is very valuable, knowing that elevated levels of certain metals/chemicals/moisture/... can identify engine problems earlier than your simple visible check.

Please do not call Liquid Turbo a troll. He's provided techniques used by commercial vehicles, racing teams, ... that is available to the public for less than the price of an oil change. Meanwhile you're sticking to outdated garage mechanic tips that waste $$$ and give people false sense of security.

that is the WHOLE POINT of doing used oil analysis, knowing what is in ur oil which ur eyes cannot see. by the time u see metal particles in ur oil, it is already too late switch up to another brand and damage had occurred.

[Harvey Specter]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

If you look at the S2000, Honda is all over the map with respect to the maintenance schedule.

Owner's manual says for normal conditions, change it every 12,000km or 12 months.

For severe conditions, owner's manual says change it every 6,000km or six months.

But if you go to honda.ca and choose S2000, it says change it every 6,000km or three months (both normal and severe).

For me I just change it every six months. Truth is I never end up reaching the max kms before the max time. Regular oil is fine for me (never bought synthetic oil for any of my cars, and probably never will unless its required).

Funny you mention this. When I leased my BMW E92 I was told not to worry about changing the oil until I hit 15,000 - 20,000 and only do it when the on board computer tells me to. When I got my Audi A5, the first oil change is suppose to happen at 6,000. I even asked my friend at BMW if it's a smart idea to not change the oil say at 5,000. He told me not to waste my money because it was a leased car and let BMW worry about it. He also said some people don't get the oil changed until they hit 20,000 km's.

[iam_dan]

i remember being told for the average driver, you can change your oil every 10,000-14,000kms, and that synthetic isnt necessary for these numbers either.

ive read all the posts thus far, and im concluding that this is probably fairly accurate?
how about the synthetic vs non?

[LiquidTurbo]

Originally Posted by Jah Gekko

Funny you mention this. When I leased my BMW E92 I was told not to worry about changing the oil until I hit 15,000 - 20,000 and only do it when the on board computer tells me to. When I got my Audi A5, the first oil change is suppose to happen at 6,000. I even asked my friend at BMW if it's a smart idea to not change the oil say at 5,000. He told me not to waste my money because it was a leased car and let BMW worry about it. He also said some people don't get the oil changed until they hit 20,000 km's.

If you were leasing a BMW, then follow their suggestions with nothing to worry about. After all, if anything happens, it's their responsibility.

If you were owning a BMW, that's an entirely different beast. The folks at Blackstone tend to recommend not to ride out BMW's recommendations fully based on the UOA's that they've seen.

They only way is to do one then judge the interval that works best. I wonder why BMW stretched to such lengths. Is it perhaps to upkeep a perception of "luxury, less maintenance", or reduce maintenance costs for themselves, (since BMW offers the free scheduled maintenance program)?

PS: If anyone wants to look up a database of UOAs, head on over to www.bobistheoilguy.com.




This dude didn't change oil on his 3 series for 100,000km.

[LiquidTurbo]

Originally Posted by iam_dan

i remember being told for the average driver, you can change your oil every 10,000-14,000kms, and that synthetic isnt necessary for these numbers either.

ive read all the posts thus far, and im concluding that this is probably fairly accurate?
how about the synthetic vs non?

What car do you have and what kind of driving do you do?

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

Originally Posted by Kaolinite

motul every 5km

LOl u mean every 5000km

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

man that 3 series is really fucked, needs a rebuild or sth...jesus its like someone shoved mud into his engine

[taylor192]

Originally Posted by Mugen EvOlutioN

man that 3 series is really fucked, needs a rebuild or sth...jesus its like someone shoved mud into his engine

I'll see if I can find the thread, yet I think they actually got it going with a lot of cleaning a few flushes and the owner reporting back weeks later it was still running.