Gonna be sending in my engine oil to Blackstone Laboratories for the standard analysis and TBN. The oil I'm sending in has 6,811 miles on it, which is when the computer on my 2006 SE Accord started flashing the 15% maintenance minder. The oil looked pretty dark, so I'm wondering what the results will look like.

After today's oil change, I think I'm going to be changing to Mobil 1 sythetic.

 

Dark color does NOT automatically mean the oil is bad. Wait for the analysis & see what they say.

 

UPDATE:

Just received my Blackston Laboratories report. The TBN for my oil at 6,811 miles was 2.7. The computer had the oil at 15% oil life left. Per their report most of the additive would be gone by 1.0, so the oil could have stayed in the motor for awhile longer. They stated to keep the oil in for 8,500 miles and to send another sample at that time to see what the wear looks like. They also added, "Your Accord SE can handle it!" LOL. I was REALLY surprised by the results, as I didn't think it was going to be so good.

As for the rest of the report, the most notable difference in my results compared to the AVERAGE was with sodium, whichcame in at 178 where the universal average is 26. Other diferrences were as follosws: aluminum 4 (avg is 3), nickel 1 (avg is 0), potassium 2 (avg is 1) and silicon 15 (avg is 12).

Pretty good...

 

What kind of oil?
I had it done on my Accord at 57k miles with 7400 miles on the oil (Castrol GTX 5w-20).
Sodium was 201 & a couple people at bobistheoilguy said that's because sodium was part of a new-ish additive that Castrol started using. Blackstone universal averages include all different brands of oil with different additive packages.

TBN was 1.8 so I could have left the oil in a bit longer. The 2003 didn't have an oil-monitor, & the book called for an oil-change interval of 10,000 miles. This gave me a good feeling about 7500-mile oil-changes, but I didn't feel like extending it to 10k.

I really like the oil monitor that's on the newer cars. It takes into account driving habits so YOU don't have to keep a diary of %-ages of short trips, highway, cold weather, etc.

 

It was CASTROL GTX 5w-20.

So, I guess this means that I should be able to do 8,000 mile oil change intervals based on my results? But, would I want to do that with THIS oil instead of a full syn oil like Mobil 1? Seems like the LAB certainly thinks that I can extend the oil change interval a little longer.

What say you?

 

I would use your oil-monitor rather than simple miles. But that analysis says that you could safely go down to 5% or maybe 0%. That's similar to what I've seen on my 2007 Civics, where oil analysis indicates that I can go down below 15%.

I'd say you could do a few things.

1) Keep using GTX, knowing that you can go right down to zero%. That's useful in case you need to postpone an oilchange because you're busy for the next couple weeks.

2) Switch to a cheaper oil & do a couple analyses to establish THAT oil against your car's monitor.

3) Switch to Mobil-1 & do a couple analyses to establish THAT oil against your car's monitor. I suspect that you'll find you can go to 0%, then reset the monitor without changing oil, then go to say 50% before changing oil. (Don't take my word for it, I just made up the percentages)

I would do #1. Maybe #2 will tell you that a different oil will also last until 5% or 10%.

#3 is inconvenient, because I don't think you can reset your oil monitor to 100% until the warning lamp actually comes on. I doubt that Mobil-1 will go TWICE the distance, and it costs about 2x the price.

I use full-synthetic in my 2 Saabs (both turbos) because of the higher temperatures (coking & sludge formation) not for extended intervals.

 

Hmm, good points. I think I'll change to Mobil 1 and run till it hits 0% or even -5%, as the manual says it'll register up to -15%, I THINK. I'll probably get it down to -5% and then send it off for analysis.

Thanks for the very helpful feedback!

 

I just got an oil change done on my 08 sedan ex v6 accord. Oil life was at 20%, and after they changed the oil, it still said 20%. Is it supposed to automatically change to 100% when new oil is put in? or is there a button/switch that should be pushed to reset the oil life? I know this may be a basic question for some of you, but go easy on me.

 

Check you owner's manual. You still have it, right? And, yep, it's a button you hold down for about 3 seconds so that your oil monitor can go back to 100%. If you don't have it, I'll look in mine (2006) for the sequence.

 

Yes I got it...thanks so much!