First oil change on '03 Element..

I bought an '03 Element in December which is coming up on 3000 miles. I
asked a kid at the service counter and he told me that Honda says not to do
the first oil change until 7500 miles for proper break in, and that there
were additives in the oil for the purpose of break in.

Should I change the oil for the first time in my new Honda at 3000 miles, or
wait 7500 miles like this kid says?

Thanks,


Jason

 

Check the book that came with it.
Look in the glovebox.

 

Well, that would be the obvious answer and the manual does say to change it
every 7500. I'm looking for the opinion of the Honda hardend wrench turners
in here. This is my first new car (and my first Honda) and I plan to do all
of the maintenence on my own, as I always have on all my vehicles. I grew
my wrench turning abilities on VW's so Honda-ism is new to me.


Jason

 

Our local Honda dealer said exactly the same thing when I brought my wife's
Pilot in at 3700 miles. Honda apparently has put the word out to its
dealers that 7,500 is the preferred 1st service to allow the engine to break
in properly. The oil is (I was told) a special break-in oil.

 

After a bit of Googling that does seem to be the correct answer. Is there a
certain type of oil filter you guys prefer in here for these engines? The
VW crowd is vehemently for/against various filters and has a lot of
supporting documentation. After owning VW's my whole life I now have an
Element, and Impreza and an 85 Mustang. Go figure. Change is good though,
I guess.


Jason

 

"Jason Mc New" wrote in message

Even the new VWs don't require a first oil change until 10K miles nowadays.
I'd follow the owner's manual...

Cheers,

Pete

 

Yes Honda does say that the oil is special. If you register at Honda Owner
Link and look in the maintenance FAQs you'll find this:

" Your Honda engine was delivered with an oil that is specially
formulated for new engines that have not yet developed their "natural" wear
patterns and may contain minute particles from the manufacturing process.

American Honda strongly recommends this special oil be left in the
engine long enough for these wear patterns to develop, usually until the
first maintenance interval specified in your Owner's Manual, based on your
specific driving conditions."

IMO it depends on which maintenance schedule you intend to follow based on
climate and driving profile - normal or severe. Personally I tend to
choose somewhere in the middle and change my oil every 5K miles so that's
what I use for a new car's first change.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

Don't do it till 20,000 miles. Honda oil is from dinosaurs and you know how
long they lasted in the ground, millions of years!




How to turn off 'Maintenance Required" light:

1. Hold trip/reset button on dash
2. Turn key to "ON" or start engine
3. Hold button til light goes out

 

if (you == !helpful) {
sky=blue;
}

 

ook at that funny book they put in your glove box. Read what they say
about the first oil change and go by it (and yes, the kid is right).

 

So let me get this straight. The manual says quite clearly that you
are supposed to do the first oil change at the full interval. The
"kid" at the service department at Honda told you the same thing. And
yet you're skeptical until it is confirmed by people on the net you
don't know and may or may not know anything on the subject?

After all what would Honda know about it?

 

No. Just looking for opinions from the Honda informed, which I admittedly
am not. You don't appear to be either. Here, let me get you a nice warm
glass of Ovaltine and some coupons for Jiffy-Lube.


Jason

 

hahaha! I like this guy.

 

Sorry if you took offense at my post. I just don't understand the
ongoing debates about oil change intervals, and in particular the
first oil change interval, when Honda states so clearly what they
recommend. In my naive, I guess, I see them as the most Honda
informed. There is a lot of misinformation offered by experts on this
and other forums. There is also a lot of really good ideas and
suggestions. I find the latter particularly useful for puzzling and
challenging problems, and for non-standard things such as options for
upgrading a radio in a late model Accord. The forums also are very,
very important to highlight problems and issues that manufacturers are
slow to acknowledge or are not very forthcoming about. One of these
apparently is related to the front disk resurfacing / warping or
whatever on new Accords.

On basic issues of standard maintenance, I think the people who
designed and built the engine are probably in the best position to
make recommendations.

 

Sorry if you took offense at my post.

No biggie. A little ball busting on Usenet is always good, clean fun.
While the fine folks that designed the cars do "know best", I've often found
that the guys with torn up hands and grease under their fingernails
sometimes make some very astute observations that the engineers may have
overlooked.

I've heard this about a lot of Hondas. For some reason they just can't make
decent rotors. I plan to replace all 4 of mine with Brembos at around 20k.

Funny thing I noticed about the Element, I have yet to see ONE person
driving one that falls into the target demographic for which the vehicle was
designed (young males). I'm 30, have a pretty good income and I'm a Dad. I
had a number of "musts" when I shopped (AWD not 4WD, ABS, 4 wheel disk,
decent handling, real utility, safe, etc etc) and the Element was the only
one that gave me all of these things for what I wanted to pay. Plus, Honda
quality to boot. My SO wanted an Escape which was more money and would fall
apart a lot faster.

The Element is ugly so we're thinking about painting the plastic panels to
match the body and upgrade the wheels. Other than that I'm thrilled with
it.


Jason

 

I've noticed that as well. I think I've seen other similar comments.
And I am starting to see a fair number, it seems.

LOL

 

I don't know much about Elements, but I can tell you that when I bought my
2002 Civic EX, I waited until it had 7000 miles on it before changing it and
then do all the regular changes at 4500-5000 miles there after. The dealer
tried to get me to change it at 3000 miles, but I heard that you should wait
until around 7000 miles for the first change so metal fragments can come off
the engine.

 

From the Honda '04 Element owner's manual:

Maintenance for normal driving (page 152):
Replace engine oil every 10K miles

Maintenance for severe driving (page 153):
Replace engine oil every 5K miles

Note: Check all fluids on a regular basis.


The "generic" service recommendation brochure that came with the car says 7500
miles for the first oil change, but this is a general recommendation for all
Honda vehicles and not specifically the Element.


As a new Element owner I love the car and my only gripe is the very limited
legroom/foot room on the passenger side, probably as a result of the lowered
glove box.