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I have a 2006 Honda Accord Coupe EX-L V6 3.0L Stock. This is the first car I have owned with an oil life indicator (OLI). The dealership told me that I don’t have to change the oil until the car’s OLI tells me to. Well, I’m at 4600 miles since my last oil change and the OLI say I have 40% oil life left. I’m running full synthetic with a synthetic filter.
Is the OLI reliable?
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It is an algorithm that tracks your driving habits. How good it is depends on the understanding of the person or people who wrote it and how well it was tested. Car makers have been pressured to increase oil change mileage recommendations to cut down on use of resources and reduce pollution. Depending on the engine this has worked great or in a few cases caused engine damage. I don’t have enough experience to say what the case is with Honda.
If you check your owners manual you’ll likely find the recommended oil change interval is actually 7500 miles. On most modern vehicles you can run the oil much longer than the 3K we all thought was best. Longer still with synthetic.
There’s a lot more factors involved other than mileage. There’s time, humidity, state of engine tune, fuel quality, the amount of dust in the air, the type of driving (stop and go, etc), and so on.
A lot of people discover the hard way that adhering to a one size fits all OLM leaves them with premature engine damage to one degree or the other and wondering WTH went wrong.
Hey Eric, I did actually read all the way through this manual and no where does reference miles. http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/OM/AH/AAD0606OM/enu/AD0606OM.pdf
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