DIY Oil Change Recommendation

[peschenbach]

Hello everyone, I have an Aspec 6MT and I'm right at 3.5K. I'm going to change the oil myself as I do not trust anyone else to work on my vehicles and I want to use a very high quality oil on this car rather than the bulk recycled crap the dealers use. I also do things the oil techs will not do. Anyone have any recommendations as to the best brand of motor oil for modern Honda engines? This is my first foreign car, so I have no experience with what brands of oils work best. The car calls for 0w20, which is synthetic, so I was thinking of going with Mobile 1 Advanced Fuel Economy. I also plan to use a Honda oil filter.

Also, does anyone know if there is a way to tell the car that I've changed the oil somewhere in the infomatics menu?

Thanks for any advice everyone. All of my other vehicles are 20+ years old, so this is literally the first experience I've had with modern vehicles. I have to say overall I LOVE this car!

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[NecroFIesh]

Hey Paul,

There are countless threads all over various forums about which oil to use and which is superior to XYZ, etc....a ton of this opinionated posting is present in the Honda world. In the end, it's completely up to you as to which oil you choose to use. Obviously something from auto zone that's not formulated for these engines is not a good decision, most of those will be around $3-$8 per quart. Stay away from that crap....Mobil 1 is a good choice in my opinion. However....

Acura/Honda offers a specific formula for their vehicles that you can purchase from any Acura/Honda dealership....

0W20 Ultimate Full Synthetic

08798-9041

It's the best oil you can choose from an OEM supplier for your car. We sell it at my dealership for $15.12 per quart so be prepared for around that price elsewhere as well. Make sure you only ever use an OEM Honda oil filter for every change....

15400-PLM-A02

Again, there are tons of options out there but just make sure to use a quality, reputable brand and fill to your vehicle's capacity....

1.5L

2.0L

Once you've completed the oil change, cycle through the menu on the right side of your cluster with the toggle wheel until you get to the Maintenance menu. From here you press and hold the wheel button for around 10 seconds and another menu will pop up allowing you to reset the oil life interval. That's it.

Hope this helps,

-G

 

[mikeneri23]

Amsoil is all I use

 

[nawfoo]

I trust the acura techs and will be taking full advantage of the 2 year free maintenance. Hoping to squeeze out 3 more oil changes.

 

[peschenbach]

I trust the acura techs and will be taking full advantage of the 2 year free maintenance. Hoping to squeeze out 3 more oil changes.

Hi, I hear you...... I just don't trust anyone with ANY of my vehicles. Also, the nearest Acura dealer is over an hour away from me, and by the time I drive an hour there, wait an hour for the oil change, and then drive an hour back home, I could have changed the oil myself and worked 2 1/2 hours on something else.

 

[BadKarma]

Hey Paul,

There are countless threads all over various forums about which oil to use and which is superior to XYZ, etc....a ton of this opinionated posting is present in the Honda world. In the end, it's completely up to you as to which oil you choose to use. Obviously something from auto zone that's not formulated for these engines is not a good decision, most of those will be around $3-$8 per quart. Stay away from that crap....Mobil 1 is a good choice in my opinion. However....

Acura/Honda offers a specific formula for their vehicles that you can purchase from any Acura/Honda dealership....

0W20 Ultimate Full Synthetic

08798-9041

It's the best oil you can choose from an OEM supplier for your car. We sell it at my dealership for $15.12 per quart so be prepared for around that price elsewhere as well. Make sure you only ever use an OEM Honda oil filter for every change....

15400-PLM-A02

Again, there are tons of options out there but just make sure to use a quality, reputable brand and fill to your vehicle's capacity....

1.5L

2.0L

Once you've completed the oil change, cycle through the menu on the right side of your cluster with the toggle wheel until you get to the Maintenance menu. From here you press and hold the wheel button for around 10 seconds and another menu will pop up allowing you to reset the oil life interval. That's it.

Hope this helps,

-G

I assume the Honda branded oil is the same and is fine to use?

 

[NecroFIesh]

I assume the Honda branded oil is the same and is fine to use?

The Honda oil is the exact same thing. Most often times with Honda and Acura fluid part numbers, you'll see an A at the end of the number designating Acura whereas for Honda it's just the part number without any A at the end...but again, same exact fluid/formula and safe to use.

-G

 

[GTO]

Hello everyone, I have an Aspec 6MT and I'm right at 3.5K. I'm going to change the oil myself as I do not trust anyone else to work on my vehicles and I want to use a very high quality oil on this car rather than the bulk recycled crap the dealers use. I also do things the oil techs will not do. Anyone have any recommendations as to the best brand of motor oil for modern Honda engines? This is my first foreign car, so I have no experience with what brands of oils work best. The car calls for 0w20, which is synthetic, so I was thinking of going with Mobile 1 Advanced Fuel Economy. I also plan to use a Honda oil filter.

Also, does anyone know if there is a way to tell the car that I've changed the oil somewhere in the infomatics menu?

Thanks for any advice everyone. All of my other vehicles are 20+ years old, so this is literally the first experience I've had with modern vehicles. I have to say overall I LOVE this car!

I believe you are on the right track.

#1 If you can do it yourself, do it yourself! Honest, true professionals are hard to find in any discipline.

#2 Honda filters, always.

#3 FULL synthetic Mobil 1 or Castrol changed every 5,000 miles has kept all my Hondas and Acuras trouble free.

 

[peschenbach]

I'm really glad I changed the oil myself, and did it early at 3.5K. When I drained the oil, it smelled really bad of gasoline. I baby this car, so I was surprised to discover this. After researching this, I discovered that the 1.5L Honda engine tends to have this problem. Apparently the "fix" for this issue is to shorten the oil changing interval to 3.5K. In the case of my car, the oil was so full of fuel that I'm tempted to not let it go over 2K on this oil change. I used Mobile 1 Advanced Fuel Mileage 0W20 Full Synthetic along with a Honda filter.

Has anyone else changed their own oil and noticed it full of gasoline?

 

[Palut]

I just did my 6th oil change at just under 25,000 miles. I did the first at 1,000 miles, with subsequent changes every multiple of 5k miles after that.

I'm using Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy or Pennzoil Platinum and either a Mobil 1, Wix, or Honda/Acura oil filter. The filters were all about the same price, but Mobil 1 synthetic oil is usually reasonably priced at Wal-Mart. So far so good.

 

[dima_n]

The current HONDA oil filter is made by FRAM, and I think every dealer uses a 0W20 synthetic of their choosing. So whatever you do yourself, will be just as good as the dealer I think. Mine has overfilled my car consistently now, I had to drain a bunch out. I think they assign the least capable techs to do the oil changes, and they don't know how to measure exactly 3.7 US quarts of oil unfortunately.

 

[submitaweasel]

I'm really glad I changed the oil myself, and did it early at 3.5K. When I drained the oil, it smelled really bad of gasoline. I baby this car, so I was surprised to discover this. After researching this, I discovered that the 1.5L Honda engine tends to have this problem. Apparently the "fix" for this issue is to shorten the oil changing interval to 3.5K. In the case of my car, the oil was so full of fuel that I'm tempted to not let it go over 2K on this oil change. I used Mobile 1 Advanced Fuel Mileage 0W20 Full Synthetic along with a Honda filter.

Has anyone else changed their own oil and noticed it full of gasoline?

Gasoline in the oil is inevitable with direct injection. The quantity of gasoline is what matters. An oil analysis is the only way to know that for sure.

general consensus is to be safe, avoid short trips that dont allow the oil to reach full operating temperature and once per week make a long trip and give the car an Italian tune up after 10-15 minutes of driving to burn off as much gasoline as possible.

 

[peschenbach]

Gasoline in the oil is inevitable with direct injection. The quantity of gasoline is what matters. An oil analysis is the only way to know that for sure.

general consensus is to be safe, avoid short trips that dont allow the oil to reach full operating temperature and once per week make a long trip and give the car an Italian tune up after 10-15 minutes of driving to burn off as much gasoline as possible.

Hello, thanks for the insight. I didn't realize these engines were direct-injection until I did some more research on it recently. Also given the fact that it's turbo charged would contribute to gasoline in the oil, in my opinion. So I'm sticking with 3.5K oil changes on this baby.

I always let the car fully warm up, even if I just need to move it around in the driveway. I also let it idle for 5 minutes before I shut it off to let the turbo cool down after driving (old habit from driving HD trucks). I baby the car, but every once in while I like to surprise a few people at stop lights

 

[submitaweasel]

Hello, thanks for the insight. I didn't realize these engines were direct-injection until I did some more research on it recently. Also given the fact that it's turbo charged would contribute to gasoline in the oil, in my opinion. So I'm sticking with 3.5K oil changes on this baby.

I always let the car fully warm up, even if I just need to move it around in the driveway. I also let it idle for 5 minutes before I shut it off to let the turbo cool down after driving (old habit from driving HD trucks). I baby the car, but every once in while I like to surprise a few people at stop lights

Idling; especially idling while cold will exacerbate the issue with the l15. It is counterintuitive to previous recommendations of vehicles, but these engines do not produce enough heat at idle to counteract the extra fuel added coupled with the direct injection. Putting the two together equals further oil dilution. Drive it at a light pace instead until warmed up. Also the idling after driving may also contribute to dilution but I have yet to see any concrete data regarding full temperature idling vs fuel/oil levels. Direct injection became our new normal thanks to mandated fuel economy targets. It has both pros and cons.

 

[SlippyFist]

Amsoil is all I use

same, amsoil signature is the only oil i put in my cars, with their oil filters if they're in stock

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