CR-V Oil Changes

[2007CRV_EXL]

The 2007 CR-V has Maintenance Minder. Howver, I want to change the oil before the recommended oil change. I've got 6600 miles on my "V" in nine months. I hear Honda has a break in oil and that you should wait until at least 7500 miles before changing. Anyone know if this is true? Would like to change the oil prior to hard winter setting in.

[2RedV's]

The 2007 CR-V has Maintenance Minder. Howver, I want to change the oil before the recommended oil change. I've got 6600 miles on my "V" in nine months. I hear Honda has a break in oil and that you should wait until at least 7500 miles before changing. Anyone know if this is true? Would like to change the oil prior to hard winter setting in.Welcome to the forum! :)

If you go back to the Maintenance and Service forum, look down a few threads and behold:

http://www.crvownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1766

One of many threads on the same issue.

hint: Fill out your profile with your location and add your vehicle info to your signature so that no one will have to guess. You could be anywhere in the world.

[Honda Tech]

I hear Honda has a break in oil and that you should wait until at least 7500 miles before changing. Anyone know if this is true?


Honda engine assembly plants use a moly based lubricant during assembly. The factory fill oil is not a special oil for break-in.

The engineers would prefer that you leave the factory fill oil in until the first scheduled oil change so that you are not flushing out the assembly lubricant right away.

The moly is why factory fill oil often looks dark in a short period of time.

I have seen posts by many people who report no trouble with their engines by changing the factory oil out early.

I have never seen a case of premature failure in an engine that could be rationally attributed to having changed the oil early.

[Badgerland]

This was our first honda and I had trouble believing the MMS could work, but waited until the famed 15% and that was 9750 miles on the original oil before I got the A1 wrench. As an FYI I switched out to Penzoil Platinum and have gotten 10,200 on the second oil change before the A16 came up also telling me to change my rear differential fluid.

This system seems to perform exactly like the owners manual predicts. I'm trusting mine for a LONG life. :)

[craig78681]

I switched out to Penzoil Platinum and have gotten 10,200 on the second oil change before the A16 came up also telling me to change my rear differential fluid.
Keep in mind that the quality of oil you use has no bearing on when the maintenance minder will let you know it's time for a change. All of the calculations are based on things like engine RPMs, etc. The oil itself is not actually being analyzed (now that would be cool).

[Black Pearl]

This was our first honda and I had trouble believing the MMS could work, but waited until the famed 15% and that was 9750 miles on the original oil before I got the A1 wrench. As an FYI I switched out to Penzoil Platinum and have gotten 10,200 on the second oil change before the A16 came up also telling me to change my rear differential fluid.
This system seems to perform exactly like the owners manual predicts. I'm trusting mine for a LONG life. :)

Thanks for the info on the A16. I have been very curious as to when the Maintenance Minder will schedule the rear differential oil change in light of all the threads recently regarding the 90K schedule published in the older models manuals when the real interval seems to be 30K. So if I read your post correctly the Maintenance Minder is scheduling the rear differential fluid change at approximately 20,000 miles. Is that correct? Again thanks for the info.

Keep in mind that the quality of oil you use has no bearing on when the maintenance minder will let you know it's time for a change. All of the calculations are based on things like engine RPMs, etc. The oil itself is not actually being analyzed (now that would be cool).

Falling under the category of Crazy Things Your Dealer Says, my dealer told me that there is a laser system in the oil pan that determines when to change the oil by the optical clarity. No one at this forum seemed to believe that.

The other thing one should note is that to protect your warranty, one must change the oil by Honda's schedule, not the claimed scheduled by the oil manufacturer. Some synthetics allow very long intervals. It violates Honda's warranty.

Honda Tech: Thanks again for yet another clarification. Your posts are priceless.

[craig78681]

Falling under the category of Crazy Things Your Dealer Says, my dealer told me that there is a laser system in the oil pan that determines when to change the oil by the optical clarity. No one at this forum seemed to believe that.
And my dealer was straightforward enough with me to tell the truth when I asked a question about that.

[Badgerland]

Thanks for the info on the A16. I have been very curious as to when the Maintenance Minder will schedule the rear differential oil change in light of all the threads recently regarding the 90K schedule published in the older models manuals when the real interval seems to be 30K. So if I read your post correctly the Maintenance Minder is scheduling the rear differential fluid change at approximately 20,000 miles. Is that correct? Again thanks for the info.

The MMS did in fact "tell" me to change out the fluid at my second oil change. It takes all of 10 minutes to do and is simple.I was starting to get a small amount of "noise" from the rear diff. when backing up and turning so I knew that it was going to be needing a change. I think to be on the safe side I will change out every 20k for both the diff and trans. On a side note, at the same time I thought I would do a quick tranny fluid change and completed that too just to be safe before winter hit. The color of the fluid was an orangish red versus the cherry red the new AZ1 fluid is. That too is a quick 10 minute process.

[07exlowner]

Thanks for the info on the A16. I have been very curious as to when the Maintenance Minder will schedule the rear differential oil change in light of all the threads recently regarding the 90K schedule published in the older models manuals when the real interval seems to be 30K. So if I read your post correctly the Maintenance Minder is scheduling the rear differential fluid change at approximately 20,000 miles. Is that correct? Again thanks for the info.

Hopefully I have this right, but from what I've gathered from Honda Tech, the maintenance sub-items are based on mileage and that number can go up or down depending on driving conditions. Also, more sub-items can be added to the list if you reach a certain mileage before you hit 15% oil life.

I'm currently at ~8500 miles (just had my first oil change at ~7500) and the oil life is now 90%. I checked to see what sub-items are showing at this point and it shows B16. So, it looks like I'm gonna have to change the oil, filter, rear differential fluid, rotate the tires and inspect a list of things the next time around which will probably be closer to 15k miles for me. Again, depending on driving conditions, this number can go up or down and it's possible another sub-item can be added if I reach a certain mileage.

The other thing one should note is that to protect your warranty, one must change the oil by Honda's schedule, not the claimed scheduled by the oil manufacturer. Some synthetics allow very long intervals. It violates Honda's warranty.

Just to clarify, you mean the maintenance minder when you say Honda's schedule, right? I could understand if you wait say 15k miles because the oil company said the oil could last that long, but what if you decided to change the oil earlier? I can't see how being cautious and changing it more often would void the warranty.

[Black Pearl]

Just to clarify, you mean the maintenance minder when you say Honda's schedule, right? I could understand if you wait say 15k miles because the oil company said the oil could last that long, but what if you decided to change the oil earlier? I can't see how being cautious and changing it more often would void the warranty.

Yes the Maintenance Minder for 3 rd generation or the Maintenance Schedule for previous years. More frequent changes will not affect your warranty. From page 268 of the 07 manual:

"Synthetic Oil: You may use a synthetic motor oil if it meets the same requirements given for a conventional motor oil: it displays the API certification seal, and it is the proper wight. You must follow the oil and filter change interval shown on the information display."

I doubt that the oil company is going to guarantee your engine, even if they say they will. If you care about your Honda warranty, do not use the extended intervals that some synthetic oils tout.

[2RedV's]

This gets funnier all the time. People will claim they need to change oil every 3k miles. People claim that synthetic will go 15k miles. Honda says up to 10k miles or whenever the maintenance minder says so. No one believes Honda. They believe the marketing hype of the oil change place or the oil company that makes the synthetic oil.

[Black Pearl]

This gets funnier all the time. People will claim they need to change oil every 3k miles. People claim that synthetic will go 15k miles. Honda says up to 10k miles or whenever the maintenance minder says so. No one believes Honda. They believe the marketing hype of the oil change place or the oil company that makes the synthetic oil.

I find very little humor in it all. I intend to keep my car for a long time and I would like to do the right thing. Yes I would like to believe Honda. Then you find out they recommend 90 K on the differential oil which I think everyone acknowledges to to be complete baloney. One would think that by 2006 Honda should have realized that the diff oil doesn't make 90 k. If Honda got the diff oil wrong, why should we believe them about the engine oil?

There is a tremondous amount of BS on the internet and the world in general. How does one decide what is best?

[07exlowner]

I find very little humor in it all. I intend to keep my car for a long time and I would like to do the right thing.

I agree. I want what's best for my car too. I also agree that it's difficult to figure that out because there are so many different opinions. I've decided to stick by the maintenance minder for now as long as it tells me to change the oil every 7,500 miles or so. I might just start changing it earlier than when it hits 15% oil life if the mileage goes way beyond that between intervals. I also plan on getting an oil analysis done to see how it's doing at certain mileages.

Yes I would like to believe Honda. Then you find out they recommend 90 K on the differential oil which I think everyone acknowledges to to be complete baloney. One would think that by 2006 Honda should have realized that the diff oil doesn't make 90 k. If Honda got the diff oil wrong, why should we be so believing about the engine oil?

It appears they fixed this for the 07' model because my maintenance minder is showing that I should get the rear differential fluid changed during my second oil change which I estimate to be around 15k. Weird that they would recommended in the 05'-06' manuals to wait six times as long, but then everything is a learning process and maybe they realized they needed to change it.

[07exlowner]

This gets funnier all the time. People will claim they need to change oil every 3k miles. People claim that synthetic will go 15k miles. Honda says up to 10k miles or whenever the maintenance minder says so. No one believes Honda. They believe the marketing hype of the oil change place or the oil company that makes the synthetic oil.

I know this probably sounds cynical, but we do live in a world where some people are selfish and are always trying to pull a quick one on others.

Unfortunately, due to past negative experiences, some customers believe that the automakers themselves are in it just for the money and don't care whether they get years of enjoyment out of their investment. Others probably even believe that the automakers hope the customers run into trouble with their cars so they can profit from it. After all, it is a business and businesses have to look out out for their bottom line. They wouldn't be in business very long if they didn't.

It seems difficult to decide what the truth is because the same feelings apply to the oil makers. Just who should you believe?

Personally, I do believe that Honda (or any automaker for that matter) is not malicious and they strive to keep their customers happy, but I also think even the experts don't always know exactly what's best for the car. Like everything else, it's a constant learning process and things always change which often confuses the customers. This includes when to change the oil.

I agree that sticking as closely as possible to what Honda recommends is probably your best best, but then I'm no expert.

By the way, I don't work for Honda. ;)

[Black Pearl]

07exlowner. You sound like a rational human being. Thanks for providing some intelligent insight. I am sure that the members of this forum think I am a crazy Irishman--which infact I am. So I think it is valuable to hear some doubts from others. Thanks!

[07exlowner]

07exlowner. You sound like a rational human being. Thanks for providing some intelligent insight. I am sure that the members of this forum think I am a crazy Irishman--which infact I am. So I think it is valuable to hear some doubts from others. Thanks!

My pleasure. I try to be rational as much as possible, but it doesn't always work. :p