Dave-ROR

The Maint. Minder system calculates it based on time and RPM, it's far from foolproof and has absolutely no idea what quality oil was used in the vehicle, and it's a best guess at best.

The car doesn't "know" anything, a computer was programmed to provide a guess at the remaining "oil life".

My last dino UOA showed shear down to a 20wt after 3,500 miles or so, and the maint. minder system showed 50% left. I wouldn't have wanted that oil in the motor for much longer, certainly not for anohter 3,500 miles.

KeeblerElf

I'll admit I know nothing about Fiber Reinforced Metal cylinder walls but everything I have ever been told about breaking in a new motor (built/rebuilt, not from factory) suggests the same thing or similar. Most people suggest changing the oil very frequently within the first 500 miles (e.g. 20, 100, 500). As far as new car break-in goes, the only thing I've heard is that manufacturers do their own tests on their motors before they put them in a vehicle and that the "break-in" is largely up to them.

But of course Honda can't really tell its owners that they just bought a new car that needs three oil changes...

The only other thing I can say is that if FRM cylinder walls take *substantially* longer to wear in than regular iron ones then that might justify Honda's recommendation as absolutely necessary, but in general I don't think individuals have much say in the break-in process of new cars. Maybe I'm just full of though, *shrugs* opinions?

INTJ

Come on guys, why is this so hard?

1. You can change your oil every hour on the hour. Your engine won't blow up. You won't help your engine in any way. You will piss away your money.

The change the oil after it was assembled story is based on knucklehead assemblers putting RTV everywhere and not properly hot-tanking during rebuilds. Sure, if you pay $1,500 for an engine, yes you will need to do that. Should you change it 3x? See 1.

Magical break in oil: Discussed forever. Resolved never. Any decent oil can be a break in oil. Sometimes people put more Zn in.

Factory fill synthetic is almost always done when the engine is already broken in...

Decent oil in a modern engine will get at least 5k. That is what the computer tried to do better than the manual: basically try to ge a better assessment of overall use, burnoff cycles, age, max t.

Why? So that the engine remains protected and you/they don't piss away money on throwing away usable oil.

There have been hundredsof thousands of cases where the rings don't seat properly on new engines. Take a look at any car site and you will find people whining about oil use. In some cases they got tolerance stacking. In many cases, they went to synth too fast.

This is why many companies have such CLEAR directions not to change the first fill so fast.

SpitfireS

INTJ Posted on Nov 29 2007, 07:46 PM
Yes, it was
(Copy & Paste )
I guess you meant something else.

Mobil1 "synthetic" may very well be Group III dino oil.
But that's another battle

KJ Carnutt

I had similar advice from my dealer, but with this complication. I had 6000 miles on my S2K and was planning on storing it for the winter. The dealer originally told me to store it with the break-in oil, and change it only when the computer said so. A call to Honda US gave me a different answer: change the oil before storage, no matter what. The dealer then checked with Honda US and agreed that they should change the oil prior to storage.