gf's dad obsessed with oil changes

J

JohnnyM

2,500+ Posts
I can't take it. My gf just got a new CR-V a couple months ago and her dad is constantly on her to make sure she gets the oil changed. The damned thing doesn't have more than 2500 miles on it even.

For a brand new Honda CR-V, that she drives around town everyday for work (probably a good 35-40 miles of city driving a day), when does she need to get the first and then subsequent changes?

I think many on here have said before that every 3k is a ripoff? and I know, no Jiffy Lube.
 
For a new car I just check the oil level to make sure it isn't burning oil at first, then if it isn't I would go about every 5,000. Just handed down knowledge, im no auto expert.
 
The owner's manual should say how often the oil needs to be changed. For my Pathfinder, it's every 3500 miles. For a brand-new CRV, it's probably closer to 5000.

You might also want to have her check her car's warranty. I think you can void the warranty if you don't have the oil changed every xxxx miles. This is the case with my sister's Mazda, and they require her to get her oil changes done at the Mazda service center, not anywhere else.
 
Did the Dad buy the car? That might have something to do with it.

I can't tell you the number of times I've heard stories from other Dads and how their daughters blew an engine while away at college for failure to check their oil, etc. "Oh! I was supposed to do that??"
 
he split it with her mom, but this isn't her first car or anything, and her last one she had from 16-22 without any major problems, the last 4 years being away from him at college. the guy's just a lunatic, honestly. even the gf can't stop laughing when he calls to tell her to change the oil.

hell....we TOWED her car from arizona to texas on a tow dolly and he told her to make sure she got the oil changed. it was never turned on.
 
he's one of those guys who always thinks he's getting a deal or knows the inside on the right way to do something. it's good for some laughs, but also quite tiresome at times.

hell i run a masters pool, have for a few years now. i don't take a cut because i enjoy running it, but when the gf told him about it he said that had i come to him first, he "coulda showed me how to make a couple bucks on that deal".

gee, charge 20 and pay out 18....might that be it? thanks sherlock.
 
I don' tthink there is a mileage per se that you travel adn you can difinitively say you need an oil change. For instance my car and my wife's car both have an oil viscocity moniter that tells you how many miles until you need an oil change. My wife's car is brand new and the first time she started it up she had 14k miles before the oil change. She has driven about 6k miles now and still has about 8k miles to go. The car has a laser that shoots through the oil and tests it's cleanliness and how well it's holding up to heat and let's you know when it is time for a change. If you are using a good synthetic oil then you can go well over the 3k miles most people recommend between changes.
 
The owner's manual will have two maintenance schedules. Normal service intervals, and extreme service intervals.
Extreme service means very cold temperatures, very hot temperatures, lots of stop and go driving in traffic, or dusty road conditions. For new Hondas, the normal factory recommended interval for oil changes is 10,000 miles, and the interval for extreme conditions is 5,000 miles.
In Austin, I would recommend the 5,000 mile interval, due to heavy traffic and extreme summer temperatures.
Be sure and use good 5W20 oil, as the clearances in these engines is tighter than they used to build into them. We use Valvoline, but Castoroil or other brands would be fine, just make sure it is the 5W20 weight.
Another good idea is to go to the dealer or a Honda repair shop and buy about 10 "crush washers" made of aluminum to replace on the drain plug every time the oil is changed. Most Quick Lube places never do this step.
The washer seals between the oil pan and the drain plug, and gets distorted or crushed when it is tightened. Then to seal it the next time, it has to be tightened a little more, then after several times, you strip the threads out of the oil pan.
 
Semi-related question for accurate...

Does Valvoline MaxLife really make that much of a difference as compared to normal 10W30 oil? My '97 has 140k miles and is in pretty good shape.
 
accuratehorn

Whats your take on this, since 5W20 does not provide as much protection as thicker oils.

"The main reason 5W-20 was specified for your engine is to increase the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) reported to the Federal Government. CAFE is the combined average fuel economy of all of a vehicle manufacturers product line. Minimum CAFE levels are specified by the Federal Government. In order for a vehicle manufacturer to continue selling profitable large trucks and SUV's, which typically have poor fuel mileage ratings, as compared to smaller cars, and still meet mandated CAFE requirements, they must also sell enough of the smaller cars which have much better fuel economy ratings to offset the poor fuel economy ratings of the larger vehicles. For model year 2001, the change to a 5W-20 oil will allow Ford and Honda's overall CAFE to increase by a very small amount, typically in the tenths of a mile per gallon range."

link

Sounds like a crock to me since the engines didnt change!
 
I've heard some claim that getting oil changed too often *can* be harmful. Something about the effectiveness the oil filter being worse when it's newly installed by allowing larger-sized particles to go through, compared to after it's been in use for a while once the larger "holes" in the filter have already been clogged with impurities.
 
That is for 2003 and newer Hondas, I believe that's when it started.
Honda always recommended 5w30 in their cars, and we always used 10w30. But that was because we found out one of the dealers bought 10w30 Valvoline and used it. We still put 10w30 in most of the cars we service.
But the new models that call for 5w20, we use it. The dealers seem to be using it, and they claim it is necessary due to tighter production tolerances.
Hondas and Toyotas sell the bearings individually, and they are sized to the 10,000th of an inch. The cars will go 200k or more by following the factory recommendations, so that is what we try to do.
Maybe I will post a question on a tech website to see for sure if people around the country are using the 5w20 oil, but I think they are.
I have never read that changing it too soon harms anything. It is just unnecessary, and an environmental issue (disposing of the used oil and filter).
 
On the high mileage oil, I don't know what additives they changed to produce the product, or if their claims are mainly marketing, or are really valid for older cars. This is a real engineering question-you would need two fleets to compare over time, tear them down (nonbiased study), and publish the results scientifically.
I do have one customer that changed his Toyota Avalon to that oil, and right after that, his engine started knocking, and we had to get a used engine and install it. He is convinced the oil did it to his engine, but I really doubt it. It is probably a coincidence. Castoroil sent him a kit to send a sample back to them, and they are going to analyze it. The guy has a son that drives the car sometimes, and I'm thinking he hotrodded it to death, but I don't know that for sure.
 
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