When do you change your oil? (Non SI-R18Z1)

[fg3_colton]

The dealership I bought my car from has suggested I change the oil when it reaches 15% on the Maintenance reminder. Other friends have told me to change it every 5,000 miles. I would like to hear when you all change your oil, and what you use! So far I've waited until 15% oil life, and changed it myself using mobile one and a Bosch filter. Unfortunately where I will be moving too at the end of the month, doesn't have the space to do it myself so I will be taking it to the nearest stealership to get it changed. Thoughts?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[webby]

15% on the minder per hondas recommendation. Any earlier and you're essentially just throwing away oil that has plenty of life left in it. A number of people have had oil lab analysis done even at 10k miles on mobil1 and penzoil platinum and they were told it still had life left. The lab suggested going another 2k miles and have it retested.

 

[bauer311]

I have changed mine at 5% and had no issues. I have a '15 ex when I get back from leave it'll be due for its 2nd oil change (i'm a lil over 10k miles). I had it changed at the dealership just in case there's any issues that arise, but it's really up to your preference.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[NoMoreNissans]

agree on waiting til 15%. sometimes I get a bit antsy and take it in at 20% but i realize its totally unnecessary

 

[Darkout]

I'm one to do it at 3k-5k miles at most. I run the car hard so that justify's it from me. I have an Si but oil is oil in any car, I prefer to be safe than sorry. At 35k miles I've had the manual trans fluid changed 4 times where most haven't even thought of changing it to give another example. Do what you feel that gives you peace of mind.

 

[ron v]

U guys are gonna call me a waster but I change mine at 30% and change my tranny every other oil change. What can I say, it's my baby.

My hatchy gets changed sooner. I kiss the engine just like that when I'm done.

If it's one thing in my life that I'm a sucker for besides my dumb dog. It's my whips.

 

[webby]

Why not get oil analysis done to tell you divinitivly what condition it's in?

 

[Bruce Bartlow]

Attached is the latest oil analysis from Blackstone. Oil was the 5w-20 Pennzoil Ultra Platinum driven for 5000 miles (Texas and back) with over a dozen peaks in excess of 8000 ft, thanks to the Rockies and the "Loneliest Highway" 50 through NV with its deserted mining towns... though I did notice one Trooper. Same guy who stopped my 85 yr. old father-in-law back in 2014 for doing 90. (Amazingly, he didn't get cited. Story for next time)

Higher lead (at 5 - 7ppm) was a concern in the early Dragon days but has settled back to relative normality. In fact, all critical wear metals showed lower readings despite an older engine. Didn't pay for TBN since 5000 miles is well within the oil's parameters. Should probably try a stretch without so much WOT (gotta pass those big rigs you know) to see if the bearings would last even longer. Heading to Texas again at Christmas... might try my last batch of Amsoil to compare. But very happy with the Ultra Platinum.

Good result considering how much thrashing this engine takes, though this year has been a lot easier on it than earlier years.

Any other Si owners have similar results?

 

[sunofwolf]

hwy miles are easy on oil's the short distance driving and cold weather that are the hardest making mileage test useless. Oil test cost more than the oil change, you should al ways have clean oil so sludge doesn't build up, that's way ultra pennzoil interest me so much. I would change to oil sooner no matter what test even if its a waste of dough which it is.

 

[Bruce Bartlow]

I asked Blackstone if my occasional lead-foot-itis might be causing the (slightly) elevated lead readings. His/Her response was informative:



Samir Kharbas
12:18 PM (10 minutes ago)

to me

Bruce,

Thanks for the follow up.

Indeed, things look good this time around. Yes, lead is still a bit elevated, but 3 ppm isn't a lot of metal and it's trending in the right direction so we aren't too worried. The type of use your engine experiences might be a factor, and that's fine. We see samples from race engines that consistently produce more metal than average (due to hard use) and as long as metals are fairly steady, there's no reason to suspect a problem. Universal averages are mostly made up of engines that experience street and highway use so even engines that experience "spirted" driving can produce a little more metal than average.

I wouldn't suggest changing anything on your end. Just keep having fun, and if a small amount of bearing wear is the price to pay, then that's not a big deal. After all, it'd be pretty boring keeping the tach below 3000 RPMs.

You could try Amsoil for the trip and see how it goes. I wouldn't be surprised if your engine produced similar wear though. We don't usually see a big change in wear levels due to the oil type alone, but you never know.

Thanks for contacting Blackstone!

Samir Kharbas
Blackstone Laboratories

 

[webby]

hwy miles are easy on oil's

you haven't seen @Bruce Bartlow drive on the highway

 

[sunofwolf]

Well you are correct maybe he's redline the car all the time. I think Honda's like to rev a bit higher than other cars- compared to a neon -its a sport's car. Wish I bought that everstart max battery today-its one fine battery from all the reviews and cheap and powerful too. Maybe I go back to wally tomorrow and get one.

 

[Bruce Bartlow]

My contact over at Blackstone-Labs was kind enough to invite any questions from the Forum... here's his email:

Samir Kharbas <samirk@blackstone-labs.com

P.S. You're right about Honda's redline. My tuner Steve moved mine higher still, to 7600. He also customized a calibration to run on race gas (100) for my track days, lowly regular (87) for those long road trips, or the standard premium. He's been fantastic to work with.

Here's his bio and contact info copied from the website:

E-tunez was an opportunity to transform a passion for mechanical and electrical engineering into a harmonius relationship, a synergy inside the ECU. It was also a way for me to justify one of my favorite pastimes to my wife and kids. While I am an enthusiast as well, I do not take tuning lightly, I am a very methodical and systematic based engine tuner. I teach Automotive Science at a local College here, and you can be sure that my work is done properly. I tune both NA and forced induction tunes. I am also very comfortable with remote assistance for those that need a hand getting setup. I can take control of your computer remotely and help you figure things out for the first time, if you need it. As far as tuning does, I prefer focusing on just a few tunes at time and making sure they are perfect. I move ahead in steps, all of the actual changes I make to a map are logged in detail in both my maps and on the site account profiles as well as general comments about what the users should expect from different revisions. I do this so changes can be easily catagorized and referenced. I like to create solid baseline and starting point and then take the strengths of a vehicle and methodically build on them. Those who know me, know my personal moto has always been quality over quantity, I take the qualities of a project, and build on them meticously.

If a vehicle is hyper fuel efficient I like to build on that in the part throttle columns, rather then just focus on turning it into a power hound at WOT, if a vehicle makes loads of power under boost, I like to focus in and build on that rather then try to hypermile it, and in the case of the K series engines, they make great power NA, and have a good mix of economy and power and I like to build on that in both aspects.

My tunes tend to progress carefully, one revision per day (unless otherwise requested), making small changes and paying attention to detail and looking for results of the previous changes in the current revisions to confirm operability. My datalog analysis and explanations tend to use screenshots to show what is going on. I like to dial a tune in bit by bit, slowly reducing knock retard until the tune is just on threshold, with no retard under light knock volume and still retarding under unusually high knock volume and then I adjust the ignition maps to reflect this. I use the same technique for fuel tuning, small adjustments, tuning Lambda tables for ideal OL/CL transition and targets and then adjusting the Volumetric Efficiency tables to reflect. I have experience with nearly all mainstream Honda engines such as the J, K series engines, L15 and L15T, Turbo R18's and the F series Honda engines. I also have been kept pretty busy lately with plenty of work on the Subaur EJ series and Mitsubishi 4B/4G series. I started into this many years ago with a heavly modified AWD 4G63 Eagle Talon, and progressed into a Twin Turbo Legacy AWD EJ20H from Japan.

While I enjoy spending time at AutoX and Track days, I also really enjoy hypermiling engines at part throttle and extracting WOT performance in the "no vacuum" or WOT columns. The hypermiling hobby was likely caused by paying at the pump for the aforementioned gas gussling AWD's vehicles. You learn its not just about power, quickly. I have written many "economy maps" for users over the years, these involve keeping relatively normal AFR's (within .2-.3 of stock) but adjusting cam angles, ignition, setting closed loop windows to form economy bands from ~2000-3500 RPM. One of the setups on my 2008 Civic Si FA5 is a NA K20 with a IPS K2 built head (supertech) with a custom port and polish, and a matched 68mm overbored throttle body and of course all the supporting mods with a self designed intake and exhaust, and a custom Kid Racing Header with a HFC and Flex Pipe, and various rotational mass upgrades throughout. It was a great machine, but the 10th gen Honda engineering blow my mind, that my nearly stock (FlashPro only) 2016 L15T Civic EX-T is slightly faster and alot more fuel efficient using the CVT, then the modified 8thgen.

I like the peace of mind of a job well done and do all of my upgrades myself. On my personal car I try to keep the exterior as stock looking as possible (aside from the Motoegi Traklites and 235 Dunlop's) to avoid attracting attention, and I enjoy the look of surprise when I open up the throttle. My exhaust is free flowing yet quiet with custom resonated twin tips, and free flow baffeling through out the system and still uses a DOT compliant High Flow Cat. My setup puts out between 240WHP(30C) to 272WHP(-30C) from summer to winter on the Edyno when ran on level ground.

I live up North so I tend to see very cold temperatures. Actually my FA5 was not only the first to run a custom flash in Canada, but it was the first FA5 to see -40 degree temperatures as after custom ordering and taking early possession I made the trip back to home to then Thompson Manitoba, where it was already -40 degrees, in November. I am familiar with tuning in temperature extremes from -40C/F to +40C/105F.

My background as a tuner started in the late 90's with "DSM Link" and DSM turbo tuning, progressing into tuning via SAFC/VAFC then onto standalone platforms like Mega Squirt and ECU Live and eventually to the FlashPro, HP Tuners and the Cobb AccessPORT. Over the last 13 years I have owned over 60 vehicles and worked with nearly every factory available forced induction platform available (Toyota, Nissan, GM, Hyundai, Mazda, Subaru, Mitsubushi etc) from the 80's to current vehicles and even a few factory turbo motorcycles like the Honda CX series and Yamaha Seca Turbo series in the early 80's.

I enjoy tuning Honda engines as in most cases the same power or sometimes more can be made without the need for forced induction and the complexity and engine stresses it brings. Of course turbo charging a Honda engine really opens up some serious power and on some engines (like the D16 or the R18) no amount of NA tuning comes close to a good turbo tune. Turboing these engines can be alot of fun, and while I have tuned quite a few R18 turbos, one of my favorite projects was on an Integra AWD with a D16 that was ripte for a Turbo. Thats right factory AWD! Having a solid understanding of the Honda engines, I am currently expanding my knowledge base taking up personal studies in this field and also I am now starting to tune turbo diesel engines as well. Now that I have 4 growing children, even my FA5 is growing a little tight. For a time my "family vehicle" is a JDM Import Mitsubishi Delica with a 2800 Intercooled Turbo 4M40 diesel engine, but recently was move up to a Mid-EngineSupercharged 4WD Toyota Previa that hugged the corners a little tighter

I view myself as an enthusiast and time spent tuning is an opportunity to enjoy my hobby. My formal education is in the Electronic Engineering field.

Email: Tuning@e-tunez.com
Skype: E-tunez.com
Phone: Emergency contact (feel free to txt anytime) listed under Contact Us.