Given all the oil concerns - I've decided to be extra safe and change my 2018 CRV EX-L's oil (but not the filter) when the maintenance minder indicates the oil is at 50% life. I'll then have the oil and filter changed (and the Maintenance Minder reset) when it hits 100%.
It hit that 50% point at 4,500 miles this week and today I tried the Schwaben 6.5 Liter Extractor I recently bought. Even though the CRV (or any Honda for that matter) was not listed on its "fit list" - another poster here said it had worked for him so I ordered one (https://www.ecstuning.com/b-schwaben-parts/65-liter-fluid-extractor/011885sch01a/). I followed the suggestion of trimming the tip of the small tube to be angled but initially could not get it to go all the way down the dipstick tube. After about 20 seconds of twisting/pushing/frustration I was about to give up when suddenly it popped past whatever restriction was binding it up - and it slid all the way down. A couple of pumps on the extractor and the oil was quickly flowing out of the engine and into the extractor. It took maybe two minutes to pull all of the oil that the extractor could reach - which based on the extractor's markings appeared to be a bit over 4 quarts.
I then put in about 3.5 quarts of 0W-20 Oil (Castrol GTX MAGNATEC $21 for a 5qt bottle @ Amazon). The entire process - which was mess free - took about 15 minutes and will probably be faster next time now that I know the process.
So if there are others out there who want to change the oil in between Maintenance Minder changes - without the hassle/mess of changing the filter or crawling under the car - I can vouch that using an extractor (at least the one I used) does indeed work and makes it VERY EASY!
I took a couple pictures of the extractor in use. Not sure I can post them here - but will try.
It hit that 50% point at 4,500 miles this week and today I tried the Schwaben 6.5 Liter Extractor I recently bought. Even though the CRV (or any Honda for that matter) was not listed on its "fit list" - another poster here said it had worked for him so I ordered one (https://www.ecstuning.com/b-schwaben-parts/65-liter-fluid-extractor/011885sch01a/). I followed the suggestion of trimming the tip of the small tube to be angled but initially could not get it to go all the way down the dipstick tube. After about 20 seconds of twisting/pushing/frustration I was about to give up when suddenly it popped past whatever restriction was binding it up - and it slid all the way down. A couple of pumps on the extractor and the oil was quickly flowing out of the engine and into the extractor. It took maybe two minutes to pull all of the oil that the extractor could reach - which based on the extractor's markings appeared to be a bit over 4 quarts.
I then put in about 3.5 quarts of 0W-20 Oil (Castrol GTX MAGNATEC $21 for a 5qt bottle @ Amazon). The entire process - which was mess free - took about 15 minutes and will probably be faster next time now that I know the process.
So if there are others out there who want to change the oil in between Maintenance Minder changes - without the hassle/mess of changing the filter or crawling under the car - I can vouch that using an extractor (at least the one I used) does indeed work and makes it VERY EASY!
I took a couple pictures of the extractor in use. Not sure I can post them here - but will try.

