should I go by the engine oil life remaining % gauge to change my oil?
Asked by slip3149 Dec 03, 2014 at 02:45 PM about the 2014 Honda Accord Sport
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
I already have 6000 miles on my honda, and the oil % say's there is still 50% oil life left, is this accurate? the honda dealer says to wait until it's down to 15-20% to change the oil, but that seems like I could go till 10000 miles, seems a little much between oil changes, I do most of my driving on the highway.
23 Answers
it really depends on what oil is in it synthetic is better than conventional oil
I don't know what they put in it at the factory.
how many nmilesw r on it if it is over 5000 it should probably change it
CHANGED OIL AT 6000 MILES AT HONDA DEALER WITH 0-20 SYNTHETIC, DEALER SAID I COULD GO TO 7500 BUT CHANGING EARLY WON'T HURT. OIL LIFE GAUGE STIL SAID 35% LEFT
The more things change, the more they stay the same: Changing your oil a little bit early will NEVER hurt. Metal particulate in used oil is never good for the engine and it's parts. You all know that. Changing oil too frequently may be a bit wasteful, but your engine will only love it. Clean, clear oil is the key to a long life of the engine. That is all.
i go by the oil life gauge which takes a long time to go down , even after 12 mo might stlll be at 40%, but I only put around 7000 a mi a yr on my 2014 Accord Sport. Owners manual says for sure to get oil changed at least once a yr regardless of the oil life indicator. Never had any problems with my engine to this point.
Quick question...i have a 2016 accord which am actual driving now...am 1hour in a 4 hours drive back and forth and my oil life is 15 percent. Whats the best option should i continue?
your oil ilfe wont go down from 15% to 0 in 1 day - but I wouldnt wait too much longer esp if your last oil change was a yr ago. Owners manual says regardless of the readout (if not reading 0) get oil changed at least once a yr which is what I do with my 15 Accord Sport at which time I get inspection and tires rotated at same time (I only put on 6,000 mi s yr) Hope this helps.
Oil life gauge on accord is also governed by how many times car is turned on.So more frequent short drives will cause the life gauge to go down. That Imho makes it basically useless.
Best to go by miles. Change it every 5,000 miles.
nesimdalipi answered 6 years ago
My arm gets light does not working I change your oil and it says like 50% what happens if it goes down to 0%
I barely turned 4K miles on my 2018 accord 2.0 and the oil life says 5%...since it’s the first oil change, I’ll do it now, but the next one will be 7,500-10000. And if you are ever in question of the condition of your oil, you can order up a used oil analysis at https://www.blackstone-labs.com to put your mind at ease
According to my Honda dealer, the oil life monitor uses your specific driving characteristics to determine the oil life percentage. So, driving frequent short trips will lower the oil life more than the same number of miles over fewer, longer trips. The number of times that a car is started means nothing. And using the old fashioned method of changing oil based only on miles driven, could result in changing oil more frequently than necessary.
Accord_2011_in_MD answered 5 years ago
I get 12,000 miles per oil change and am at 229k now. I have a 2011 Accord EX-L. I have been driving about 30k miles per year and the maintenance minder gets to zero at about 12,000 miles. I've been changing the oil at that 12K point faithfully and now it has about 229,000 on it and runs great. Always synthetic 0W20. I am relatively easy on it - Maryland winters, garage kept, and always let it warm up before really stepping on it since I have heard that the hardest thing on an engine is the startups before it is warm and oil is fully distributed and flowing well.
I have a 2019 Accord EX-L with 3,500 on it. The oil gauge says 30 percent. I’ve had the car eight months but drive locally and not on long trips. I think I’ll wait until I get to 5000 until I get my oil changed.
I have a 2015 accord and I drive that thing hard. I use full synthetic and change it every 3,000 miles. Highway and city combined mileage I do about 35k miles a year.
If your engine takes full synthetic oil and you don't drive like a mad man, then 10K miles on the oil is no problem for the car. It is actually pretty standard these days
% oil life vs 7500/10000 miles: how about checking the color and clearance of the used oil?
A lab analysis is more expensive than simply changing the oil. Compare oil change costs vs a new engine/car and stop being a tight wad.
Guru9WR76V answered 3 years ago
exact same answer as Accord_2011_in_MD. Same here, every 12,000 is what the accord says, presumably since it's highway miles. I have put close to 250k on the car now, but now it only driven locally. If you are driving mostly highway miles at 30k per year like me, and the car maintenance minder says you can get 12k, you're wasting, time, money and oil if you change it every 3000 miles.
is the oil percentage guage go by the quality of the oil or the milage
I’m repeating myself, but it still applies: According to my Honda dealer, the oil life monitor uses your specific driving characteristics to determine the oil life percentage. So, driving frequent short trips will lower the oil life more than the same number of miles over fewer, longer trips. The number of times that a car is started means nothing. And using the old fashioned method of changing oil based only on miles driven, could result in changing oil more frequently than necessary. The oil gauge (oil life percentage) takes into account the type of driving and length of the trips and makes a calculation based on that information. So, it’s neither the actual quality of the oil or the mileage driven. It’s the computer’s best “guess”. But, it’s a very good estimate.
