First Oil Change on a 2k7 Civic Si
 

I just had my first oil change to Mobile 1 5W30 synthetic on my Si. Mileage was at 2640 KM. I've been reading on other forums that changing too early to synthetic may cause problems? Was this a good time to change or was it done prematurely? Alot of my friends recommended 1000-1500 KM. It has been driven a lot, almost everyday on the highway. Pushed it a few times too.
Also, I've just noticed that there is a subtle quiet high-pitched whirring sound when I accelerate right after the oil change. Is that normal or is something wrong. I don't drive the car all the time, so I might have not noticed it before.

Honda uses a special "break-in" oil in the engine when they are new. They also recommend that you leave that oil in until the maintenance minder tells you to change it. I've also read that changing to synth too early is not recommended. I can't remember exaclty why, but something to do with the morot being properly broken in and a few changes with regular oil gets rid of all the metal shavings, debris, etc. that the break-in oil will contain.

The whirring sound could be nothing or you're still getting used to the sound.

Whereis it coming from? Engine, suspension, etc?

LOL I wish I could tell you...
The maintenance meter was at 70%
And it still is, that's another thing I wanted to ask...I just changed the oil, but the meter still says 70% oil life. How do I reset/update it?

No idea. My car is dealer serviced and they reset it. I'm also planning on switching to synth, but I'm waiting for a few more months and k's.

How about you open the manual that came with your civic? I bet $5 the answer is in there. (i could give you a pg # if you can't find it)

Change your oil @ 70%... what a waste.

I think the oil change was done prematurely. I would have waited until it was time for the first maintenance interval.

As for re-setting, read p. 214 in the Owner's manual if you have a 2007.

When I had a 2000 SiR and I went for my first oil change (about 6,000 kms), I brought synthetic to the dealer and they didn't do it because they told me the "Engineer" said it shouldn't be used. I wonder who the "Engineer" was but it was already done so, I left it and since then, I refuse to go back to that dealer with my own car.

I used synthetic after that and it was fine. It never burned an ounce of oil while I had that car.

My $0.02

hey Mark, long time :)

so what should i do now? seems like i'm stuck with it...
also a few of my friends changed their factory oil to synthetic at around 1000-1500. that's where i got the idea from, maybe i should have done more research! one of them drives a type-s, and so far haven't heard any complaints from him. another a ralliart at 1k...i'm guessing these will end up to be long term problems that aren't obvious after the syn change?

Mark know's is stuff too. He works for Honda himself.

So why did they change to synth so early anyway? Honda has a very specific break-in routine that you are supposed to follow and keeping in the break-in oil is part of that routine.

I would just change it after a few thousand k's to clean out the dirty oil.

Any plans for mods?

i work there... do you want to know wat there break-in oil is.. its regular 5w20 test it yourself and switching to synthetic wont cause a problem. and Quite a few Auto Engineer's (this goes for every brand) LOVE to make a technicians job harder.. for the dealer tech's on this forum will know.

Why do they tell new owner's that there is break-in oil used? How does it make your job harder?

Not being a smart a$$, just looking for an answer.

I should skip a line and then talk about an engineer but oh well...

IF your a dealer tech you should know... When an engineer finds out a certain part on the car is easy to replace they will change it the next year. And when you have those "special" engineers come in to help you daignois a car problem. its probably the best **** i have ever seen. Example #1 car had a problem with suspension so wat do they do.. grab a new car and switch over all the suspension and still not fix the problem (problem bad oem bushings and we knew that was the problem but the enigneer said thats not possible i can quite that. Example #2 An Check Engine Light is on. for an air/fuel mixture problem. started with the basics replace air/fuel filter, cleaned injectors and lines, tested fuel pump nermious (sp?) times and never lost fuel pressure. Our good old "Engineer comes" says reseat the intake valves. So when you find out your 05 Accord with 10k needs to reseat the valves. Oh wait.. the check engine light was still on right from start up. we Had the car for so long it ran out of gas. walk over to the gas station get some gas... and wow check engine light was gone never came back. So If you work as Dealer Tech YOU would know. And im not being a smart a$$ i know sheeet :P CHeers


P.S. sorry for jacking the thread.

Great answer. What about the break-in oil and maintenance minder?

the Break-in oil i dont believe it just my opinion, As per if you look at new engine oil and regular 5w20 they look the same and feel the exact same... and the maintence reminder is the smartest thing even i dont have anything against it. GM has been using that since early 80's. I was talking about Most Engineer's over all. like I said a Technician will understand when you have to work with some of them.

there is no break in oil, they use the same oil for all there cars, 5w20 for the 2001+ and 5w30 for anything older
as or resetting the maintenance minder. turn the car on, hold the reset button on the left hand side there beside the mph button. hold the button until the oil % starts flashing, let it go, press it and hold it again until u see the oil%reset back to 100

ya thanks, MY SIR directed me to the right page, i must've missed it looking through the index the first time...regular 5w20 eh...i think it's too late for me to go back to regular now...i should've read up on it before i did anything!

Bruno, I'm still around but have been quite busy.

turluder: not all Engineers are created equally. I understand your frustrations and I am not one of the Engineers that you have dealt with.

About "Break in" oil... the basic oil is regular 5W20. That's true and by just look, feel, smell, you can't tell the difference. The difference is, there is some molybdenum (sp?) (along with some other chemicals) added to it to help protect the surfaces that haven't been broken in yet. Once everything is broken in properly then regular oil is fine. The most critical time for this is during cold start up. This is especially true for very cold start up.

Also, if car manufacturers could use just regular oil, they would. It would make it cheaper to them. They are always looking to make things cheaper. If there wasn't a need for break in oil, it wouldn't be there....

The old school thinking about replacing your oil right away (after the 1,000 kms or so) was valid when engines were not made to the same tolerences as they are now. We have much better manufacturing capability and the amount of "debris" from breaking in a car is not what it used to be so, using the oil from the factory until the regular mileage interval (6,000-10,000 kms) is fine.

Now with that being said I don't think there will be much problem with AdreeN's car with running synthetic from 2,600 kms but he could have waited... basically, don't worry about it but be a little gentle with the car...at least until 5,000 kms.

About Maintenace Minder, the system Honda uses is much more advanced than the one GM started with (I don't know what GM uses today) and they are not all created equally. If you don't trust it, then change your oil when it reaches 20% but it is up to you...however, at 70%, it is really just money out the window.

If you don't want to believe what I say/type, that's fine, after all, this is the internet....of course you can't believe everything.

Have a nice day!

+1 for Mark. His word is gold, well maybe silver, but he knows his Honda info.:thumbup:
The maintenance minder also recommends services, not just oil changes.

cool thanks to everyone who replied....very informative....i'm sure hoping it'll be ok...the drive quality is roughly the same, if not better. i'll make sure to do all my research next time :)