2007 Honda Odyssey-First Oil Change

[akennyd]

I have a brand new Honda Odyssey with a little over 2000 miles on the factory oil. The oil is looking dirty, as I would expect as the engine breaks in. The oil life monitor says the oil is at 70%. The owners manual says NOT to make an early change on the first oil change and that this will give a longer service life for the engine. It is killing me now not to change the oil, I would think that after 2000 miles of varied driving the engine would be broken in. I am about to make a long trip with the van this weekend and I can't decide whether or not to leave the factory oil in or change it...

Why would they tell you not to make an early first oil change? "Special Additives" to this factory oil for break-in? Does anybody know for sure?

Thanks for any help, wisdom or advice!!

Kenny <>{

 

[Pablo]

Either way at this point you will not hurt a thing - but please explain "looks dirty"......I went around 4000 miles on the factory fill on our 2006 Ody (If I recall correctly), and the oil didn't look particularly "dirty". Do you mean it's darkened?

How long of a trip? Honestly, leave it in there assuming you some have something extremely weird going on.

 

[akennyd]

Yes, by "looks dirty" I mean the oil has darkened and has been this way since around the 1000 mile mark. I am not seeing any indication that anything is wrong with the engine. I have experienced this same thing with new engines in the past before the first oil change, so I am not alarmed. I am surprised that you didn't notice the oil darkening in your van.

 

[Pablo]

Oh the oil darkened a bit, but this really means nothing. With your further info, I say drive on. Change it after the trip if you can't sleep. People now go 6-7-10K+ on factory fill oils and yes the oil is fairly spent, but engine perfect. BTW, trust the OLM....with a good synthetic it is very conservative. Next change I'm going with 0W-20 ASM and just resetting the OLM (mid OCI)

 

[akennyd]

Thanks for the reply, Pablo. It just seems to me that the OLMs are set on the long side. Obviously I am not basing this on nothing but the fact that I usually change my oil in the 3-4K range and the visual appearance of the oil. Though I must admit that the OLM on my 2000 GMC Sierra has come on at just over the 4K mark.

You say the OLM is very conservative, what do you base this on? Oil analysis?

 

[02zx9r]

I changed out the ff on my corolla at 300 miles, then changed again at 525 miles (cause I couldnt get the filter off at the 300 mark and it was getting late so I just refilled the sump, then changed oil/filter again at 1600 miles and now on my 5K intervals. Some will say I did the right thing, others will say you should leave it in there longer, it has all the special additives that help the break in process, how true that is it dont know and really dont care. I have never had an oil related problem or any problem because I drained out the ff too early.

I am not an engineer or anything like that, just the way I was brought up you change out the oil rather quickly to get the break in metals (however much or little there may be) out. Some people say do it, others say dont, that the tolerances and the way the motors are built now adays etc..., others say the wear metals (again however little there may be) will score the cylinder walls etc...

So I would say do what makes you sleep better at night. $20 for oil and filter seems like an easy call for me to know I have clean fresh oil in there.

 

[mitchcoyote]

2000 miles is plenty of break in. Put you a name brand synthetic in there and enjoy your trip......

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: akennyd
You say the OLM is very conservative, what do you base this on? Oil analysis?


I base it on my own analysis. And I base it on other Ody input here as well as the Ody Club.

Seems like it goes off around 6-7K. With the mean about 6.X K. All the UOA's I've seen look fine at that point and the synthetics with a ton of life left in them. My point being, whatever oil you trust the OLM will go off well before the oil is spent.

 

[thooks]

I went over 6000 miles on the new 2007 CR-V before changing the factory fill. 80% of that was highway mileage.


Pucker factor for sure, tho.


Oh, I didn't reset the OLM and it's got nearly 9,000 miles on it now and the OLM is at 20%.

 

[akennyd]

Thanks for the input!

When I said long trip, I mean only about 400-500 miles, mostly highway but all in a weekend. I think I will just wait until about the 3-3.5K mark and change out the FF.

9K and the OLM is still at 20%?!?! Must be all of the highway mileage. The owners manual for my Honda says the OLM counts engine revolutions. Less revolutions per highway miles and more for city. Our driving with the van has been more city than highway with some idle time waiting on kids, etc.

 

[ncelk]

I ran the factory fill in our 06 Odyssey Touring to 5k, did an oil analysis and other than high copper readings, it was fine.

The oil does tend to "look" dirty in this engine quickly, but that is no indication of how it is doing. I was doing 5k OCIs and it did great as far as UOAs go.

 

[06VtecV6]

Everyone knows for sure cept you but like the other thread "Oil myths die harder then hard' You can add the 3k oil change and the ridiculously low miles some people take out their Factory Fill to the list of myths. It is no myth that manufacturer add special additives namely moly to their FF...Your Honda has an MMS like my 2006 Honda Accord and you paid for it and it can be used precisely or loosely to determine your regular oil changes but I will tell you this...your FF should be atleast 5k and this has been beaten to death here namely and elsewhere..in case you were gone tho..yes, leave the FF in there...by golly you got a Honda so it should be no doubt... 5k minimum if not until the MMS reaches 15% (when your Change Oil light comes on..actually it's your Maintenance REquired 'monkey' wrench)...I waited till 15% but you could actually wait for it to go down to 0% (but I highly douby you fall into the category of person that would) Put it to you this way, I yes *I* would be more likely to go 0% on FF then you based on the apprenhension of your words in your initial post..it's all good tho but man you got a brand new Honda..don't you want to take care of it?? (I can't believe how much ppl tend to want to punish their cars even if their are special additives that can progtect their investment, they doubt the goodness in things and focus on their myths and non-facts...simply amazing)