i know our E needs to have its first oil change around at least 5000 miles..
but i figure.the way my wife and i drive it will only add about 300 or less in every month..(cause E is our 3rd car)...
and the place we work is just about 0.1 mile from where we live (around trip)..
so..it will be at least accumulates more than a year to reach 5000 miles for its first time oil change..
is that ok or i should have had its oil replaced anyway every 3 months no matter how miles it has??
thanks

Aloha,
the first two oil changes are the most important part of the break in, that's when you get the most (hopefully) metalic in the oil,,,,, it just sounds like a good excuse to go out for some extendedededed drives :twisted:

>metalic in the oil

:shock:

My gosh, no! You should never find anything metallic in the oil, even during so-called "break in". If you ever do - with 0 miles or 100,000 miles - then something is seriously wrong. The biggest concern (which is actually pretty small) for being religious about early oil changes is clearing away any leftover residue from machining lubricants, coolants and solvents.

West, I wouldn't be so much concerned with the "3 month" interval as I would in how you drive it when you do drive it. If your low mileage is going to be attributable to a lot of very short trips (tho' I presume you mostly walk to work), then you will want to simply halve the mileage interval to 2500 miles. Cold starts result in blow-by, gasoline dilution and moisture condensation, so the more cold starts, the sooner the oil will be contaminated.

That said, changing the oil too often is never a problem.* You change the oil to dispose of contaminates, not because the oil is "worn out". The most significant damage that too-frequent oil changes might cause is going to be to your wallet.

* - I have to correct myself slightly here. I had one engine, a long time ago, where I was a little overzealous about the oil changes. A failure (having nothing to do with the oil, BTW) caused me to have to tear it down, and, to my amusement, I discovered a rather thick layer of varnish in the oil pan. After consulting with my experts, they concluded that the brand of oil I was using (Pennzoil) had unusually high levels of "volatiles", which would burn-off in the first 1000 miles or so. But because I was changing oil like every 2000 miles, I was replenishing the volatiles at roughly 3 times the expected rate, which turned into that varnish. So I've been running Valvoline ever since, with no noticable varnish problem in any engine I've had apart, although I'm about 2-1/2 times lazier now about changes.

:wink:

YIKES! This is about the worst thing you can do to your vehicle, start it up, drive 2 minutes, and turn it back off. You are probably FILLING your crankcase and exhaust with water.

Explanation: Water vapor is a byproduct of combustion. When your car is warm, it stays in vapor form and leaves through the exhaust pipe. But when the car is cold, it condenses into water liquid and lays in the exhaust, even in the crankcase.

There are other byproducts of combustion that when mixed with water form an acid. This acid is suspended in the oil, makes it look like mayonnaise is in your oil. Oil has an additive package that neutralizes the acid, but it can only handle so much before it is depleted.

An engine used this way doesn't suffer wear while it's running, it suffers from corrosion while it's sitting!

If you live that close to work, I would recommend you do something to get your car up to operating temperature as frequently as possible.

If it was me, I would let the car idle to warm up in the morning before driving. Then in the evening I would purposely take the long way home.

First I would consider to walk or bike to work if possible!

Another thing I would do is put a fumoto drain valve on the oil pan and change the oil ever 2-3 months to get fresh-additive oil back into the crankcase. You could easily do this yourself, no need to change the oil filter more than once a year.

One last comment, when a car is used for short trips the best thing to use is standard/conventional motor oil and change it as frequently as reasonably possible. Using "synthetic" motor oil would not be beneficial... would be more expensive and you would never see the benefit.

I guess you need to think out how you would handle your regimen having this knowledge and knowing your situation and budget. You have to consider the costs of gasoline, changing oil, and the cost of replacing your cor or components more often.

[quote:c201b106f2="WEST"]i know our E needs to have its first oil change around at least 5000 miles..
but i figure.the way my wife and i drive it will only add about 300 or less in every month..(cause E is our 3rd car)...
and the place we work is just about 0.1 mile from where we live (around trip)..
so..it will be at least accumulates more than a year to reach 5000 miles for its first time oil change..
is that ok or i should have had its oil replaced anyway every 3 months no matter how miles it has??
thanks[/quote:c201b106f2]

Driving a CR-V now. Waiting for my ordered Element to arrive.
Re: CR-V and oil changes:
The dealer told me that the CR-V oil type and maint. schedule was set-up for 10,000 mile intervals (Honda's 5W synthetic?)
The dealer was especially adament about the first oil change not occurring until 10K. Because, supposedly, due to the fact that the factory-fill engine oil has a "micro-bead" additive that helps the engine surfaces attain the right "break-in", i.e., surface finish, valve seating, etc...
The dealer said to go ahead and change the oil earlier than 10K for any subsequent oil changes, but not the first one. (I made it 'till ~8K before I couldn't stand it and had it changed.)

This goes against everything I ever learned about new engine break-in.
It used to be that you should first change the oil at ~500 miles to get rid of all the metal shavings coming from the new engine.
But the dealer was adamant. He convinced me. He said the Honda engineers had been ragging on the dealers to ensure the first oil change interval was adhered to or else the engine wouldn't break-in properly and it might cause issues later.

I know the Element has the same engine. In talking with a friend who recently got an Element, I learned that his dealr told him that oil change interval (even the first one) is ~5000 miles. So I'm confused as to the different recommendations for the E and the CR-V and I'm planning to take up the issue with my dealer when the E gets here.