Prelude oil and filter change

[OldCoupeGRGuy1]

Being from Yorkshire I put beef gravy in. It seems to run OK and smells lovely when the engine has warmed up.

 

[PR76UDE81]

Being from Yorkshire I put beef gravy in. It seems to run OK and smells lovely when the engine has warmed up.

Is it weird that reading that actually made me hungry?

 

[Alfettaman86]

Look at what the Motor Oil Geek has to say about your first oil change. No BS guy.

Motor Oil Geek (his name is Lake Speed) is a certified tribologist, a former race engineer and now runs a used oil analysis company. As an engineer myself, I certainly trust him.

 

[Alfettaman86]

(Going back, my point wasn't 10,000 ppm (implying 40g by your analysis)- that was an absurd number to say 'nobody really knows what a safe ppm is" - is it 1, 10, 100, 1000? Surely less is better - so change your oil to ensure <10 ppm. At which point somebody will say "no, <5ppm is safe". And the debate has no endpoint, except 0ppm)

Now, today's post... my car has just less than 7,000 miles and the maintenance-minder says 50% - so it is trending to ~14,000 miles.

And I saw that Honda, unlike many automakers, has a very low fleet sales rate of about 2% - not sure they would be extending service intervals, at a risk to their engines, to minimize fleet costs.

Anyway, get your engine serviced at intervals that make you comfortable.

I agree with you - there isn't a definitive safe limit for wear metals in the engine oil. It's a bit like asking "How many of these iron filings should I stir into my new engine oil?". Clearly, the correct answer is "None at all".

But there are some published guidelines on wear metal limits...

Wear Metal Limit Guidelines

www.theoillab.com

I have always viewed the manufacturers service interval as the maximum period between oil changes and in reality have typically serviced my own cars with about twice that frequency. This seems to keep the wear metals below 100 ppm, which I am happy with. The exception is my 47 year old Alfa Romeo which I've owned for 36 years. It has an oil change every 1000 miles, gets driven to the red line, has perfect compression and no measurable camshaft wear. My other cars get oil-changed at around 5000 mile intervals.

Also worth remembering that wear rates are relatively high on a new engine, then they settle down, and eventually start to go up again as the engine 'wears out'. So doing some additional oil changes on a new engine is not a bad idea.

But it's an entirely personal choice - perhaps with the manufacturers service interval as the sensible upper limit.

Lots more information on all of this at the Motor Oil Geek (Lake Speed)...

https://www.youtube.com/@themotoroilgeek

 

[Alfettaman86]

600 miles or so?

That's what I've always done with my new cars.

 

[PGH220]

My 26 CRV hybrid had it's first oil change at 600 miles next one is going to be at around 2k miles. After that it will be every 5k miles. For folks that do your own work what brand of oil are you using for your Prelude?

 

[Passfeller60]

I am around 650 miles in now and will get my first oil change tomorrow (at the dealership). Not because I have to, but because I love my car and want it in perfect running condition for a long time. Plus: I always enjoy some car talk with the staff there, will discuss my plans to get some new rims etc.

 

[Alfettaman86]

My 26 CRV hybrid had it's first oil change at 600 miles next one is going to be at around 2k miles. After that it will be every 5k miles. For folks that do your own work what brand of oil are you using for your Prelude?

I use Petronas '0W-20 Syntium 7000 Hybrid' in my Prelude and also in my CR-V hybrid.

But more important than the brand is the certification (API SP or ACEA C5) and the grade (0W-20). The Petronas Syntium meets these requirements and is specially formulated to cope with the unique temperature variations that can occur in a hybrid engine.

This is from the UK owner's manual...

 

[SSV60]

The 'have you checked engine oil level lately?' reminder came on the Civic EHEV yesterday. After checking (the oil level is low), thought I'd check the owners manual. The recommendation is to replace the engine oil every 6k miles/1 year - same as Prelude which figures as it's the same engine.

I booked the car in with the receptionist at our local garage, as it has done nearly 6k miles since the last service in January. A few hours later received a call from one of the service engineers. It won't be authorised under the service plan as it hasn't been a year since the last service and has not done 12.5k miles. The engineer who has been with Honda for nearly 30y, told me he has no idea why the manual states 6k. It's 12..5k miles/1 year and advised I top up the oil.

 

[Passfeller60]

Had my oil and oil filter changed yesterday by the dealership at 1150 km/715 miles. The employees told me that, although not necessary at this mileage from a technical standpoint, quite a few owners nowadays still choose to do their first oil change this early on. I took a look at the oil they took out. It did not look terribly dark, but way darker than I would have expected. Glad to have those particles out of the system before I take my Prelude to Switzerland next Weekend to drive the legendary Furkapass (like Sean Connery did with the DB5 back in Goldfinger).
They used OEM Honda 0-W20 (of course).

 

[CiceroGirl3]

On the subject of oil changes, the (UK) manual states 6,000 miles. But Honda UK and dealers are saying 12,500 miles or one year .

That seems rather too long between oil changes to me, but on the other hand the engine isn’t running all the time.
So

Well, FWIW, it was 7500 miles in the Gen 5 Preludes with ICEs…

 

[Alfettaman86]

Had my oil and oil filter changed yesterday by the dealership at 1150 km/715 miles. The employees told me that, although not necessary at this mileage from a technical standpoint, quite a few owners nowadays still choose to do their first oil change this early on. I took a look at the oil they took out. It did not look terribly dark, but way darker than I would have expected. Glad to have those particles out of the system before I take my Prelude to Switzerland next Weekend to drive the legendary Furkapass (like Sean Connery did with the DB5 back in Goldfinger).
They used OEM Honda 0-W20 (of course).

Your observation about the colour of the oil at this first change is the same as my own: after 600 miles, the oil film on the dipstick looked really clear, but the drained oil in the pan was quite a lot darker than I had expected. I'll do another oil change reasonably soon and will probably send a sample off for analysis just to confirm that the levels of wear metals are as low as I think they will be.

Enjoy your 'Goldfinger' drive!