Oil change..??

SD3_Driver · #1 04-21-2012, 06:07 PM

As far as i understand, the oil life remaining is a countdown of miles driven to 10,000, but with 4440 miles driven, the oil life remaining is @ 13%. More surprising is the fact that it was @ 16% last week and with no driving it went down 3%.... i'm i missing something??? i was just talking to a friend to get a hybrid, because of the less maint. required and less ownership cost, and was a bit ashamed when i discover that ( he saw the % last week and this week). I went ahead and got the oil and the filter for the next change ( a good deal by the way, 5Q Castrol Edge and the filter for $25) but for the last 3 weeks i've been seen a lot of oil "degradation" from 26% a month ago to 13% as of today....

Ophbalance · #2 04-21-2012, 07:14 PM

Without sending it out for private analysis, I wonder how accurate the built-in diagnostic is? Maybe bit the bullet this round and send in a sample to see how the computer vs actual analysis pair up?

EdwinTheMagnificent · #3 04-22-2012, 08:09 AM

I have wondered about my Honda's Maintenance Minder system and how it actually calculates remaining oil life. Right now I have about 7000 miles and six months on this oil , and it says I still have 40% oil life. I suppose it is possible , since I NEVER do any short trips with a cold engine and a typical trip is 15-22 miles.
I may have my oil analyzed , but until then I will continue to trust Honda.

nighthawk · #4 04-22-2012, 09:16 AM

its calculated based on driving habits, weather, time, miles...etc

but i have to say that seems low for any modern car, let alone a hybrid.

my insight II goes ~13k miles between changes

lolder · #5 04-22-2012, 09:30 AM

The FFH is solely a mileage countdown. It is reset manually in the Set-Up, Oil Life menu. It may have been reset to 50 % by a mechanic that wanted the oil change business at 5000 miles instead of 10,000.

SD3_Driver · #6 04-23-2012, 05:27 PM

I reread the manual again and it says 10,000 miles or one year... that last one make sense on why the oil life is dereasing even though it is parked for a week... but, it will be ok to continue to 10,000 miles or I should do the oil change as the oil life reaches 0%????

lolder · #7 04-23-2012, 05:45 PM

Reset the oil life to 50 % again and it will countdown the 5000 miles. I drive more than 10,000 miles a year so the time isn't pertinent. I wonder if it counts down by time also. With a 5000/ 50 % reset , one week would be 2 %. With rounding, either your 13 % or 16 % could have been off by one to equal 2 %. I'd go to 10,000 miles. It's not critical.

Ford Man · #8 05-02-2012, 03:14 PM

If you're under warranty and don't follow the maintenance schedule (miles, elapsed time) the warranty could become void. Personally I don't worry about elapsed time I have a set number of miles and always change my oil accordingly.

SD3_Driver · #9 05-08-2012, 04:22 PM

Hmm, now it has been sitting @ 10% for the past two weeks until today that got down to 9%,

, crazy oil life...

diamondlarry · #10 05-08-2012, 04:29 PM

There was someone I know that was driving a rental car from GM while their Insight was being repaired. He concluded that the oil life calculator must have been tied to ignition on/off cycles as the service life of the oil dropped to 0 in just a couple of weeks due to all of the keying off at lights.