Maintenance Minder ‘A’ - no oil filter change

Mr. Natural said:

Ok, I haven’t owned any car that doesn’t call for a filter change on every oil change. I’d like to believe that Honda knows what’s best for their engines. But skipping the filter change feels wrong to me. Does anyone know the science behind it?

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The only science I can think of the the cost saving of not replacing the filter. I plan on replacing the filter at every oil change.

I had two used Acuras before this and my trusted mechanic said it was OK to not change filter every time. But I would think it is mandatory on the first oil change.

dr_glenn said:

I had two used Acuras before this and my trusted mechanic said it was OK to not change filter every time. But I would think it is mandatory on the first oil change.

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during the break in period when you're going through the first few rounds of oil I suggest starting with a fresh filter. Metal shavings are common in those first oil changes and getting more of them out the system will do you a lot of good.

I have the free lifetime oil change offer from the dealership. They can do it once my oil life is 20% or lower.
I took my car for the first time at 9500 miles to dealership (20% oil life remaining). Plus I did the tire rotation (10$).
My maintenance indicator is changed from A to B now.

Alex said:

I have the free lifetime oil change offer from the dealership. They can do it once my oil life is 20% or lower.
I took my car for the first time at 9500 miles to dealership (20% oil life remaining). Plus I did the tire rotation (10$).
My maintenance indicator is changed from A to B now.

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Out of curiosity, did they change the oil filter too? Even though A doesn’t call for it, I’m betting most dealers change it anyhow.

Mr. Natural said:

Out of curiosity, did they change the oil filter too? Even though A doesn’t call for it, I’m betting most dealers change it anyhow.

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Yes they changed filter as well

I have a question. If you look at the minder recommendations for A - it only shows an oil change... In the B column, it says oil change and oil filter change.. Is this suggesting what I think it is?

Mobilcams said:

I have a question. If you look at the minder recommendations for A - it only shows an oil change... In the B column, it says oil change and oil filter change.. Is this suggesting what I think it is?

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Yes, but I don't think anyone here is going to skip an oil filter change even if Honda says you could.

Just a note here....Honda suggests the same thing on their motorcycles. The filter is suggested to be changed every other oil change. Honda would not say this if it greatly affected reliability/longevity. Their reputation is at stake here. I’m sure it’s in the interest of saving landfill space and decreasing hazardous waste but obviously engines just run much cleaner nowadays and oils have improved enough that switching out the filter so often isn’t necessary. Now, breaking that habit is a whole different ballgame. I, personally, am willing to follow the new standard. If a motorcycle engine that spends its entire life in higher rpms than a car can handle fewer oil filter changes, than I’m sure a hybrid could easily do so.

It took a lot of willpower to get away from oil changes every 3,000 miles. The filter, on the other hand, is going to get changed when I change the oil - every time. After all, I'm already under the car, and the filter is mounted in an easily accessible location. Why wouldn't I do it?

hasarad said:

Why wouldn't I do it?

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Same, for those of us that get an oil change at dealerships. I don't think my dealership will discount much if any for an oil change done without an oil filter replacement.

hasarad said:

It took a lot of willpower to get away from oil changes every 3,000 miles. The filter, on the other hand, is going to get changed when I change the oil - every time. After all, I'm already under the car, and the filter is mounted in an easily accessible location. Why wouldn't I do it?

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I agree, it’s not hard to do and is only one extra step. However, I think I would get a bit of satisfaction knowing I was doing my part to reduce unnecessary waste. Honda recommends it, so why is it so difficult to follow it when most people religiously follow the manual on everything else? The lawyers and bean counters did have to sign off on it. The way I look at it is, the filter is there only to catch large particles that older engines tended to make. Modern engines would only benefit from filter changes at the beginning and at very high mileage. In between, it doesn’t hurt but doesn’t really help either.

If it's really hard to skip changing your oil filterr, then I would just get your oil analyzed at 3k miles and at 10k miles, and it's likely you'll see a minimum difference. Back in the day, more frequent oil changes made an impact, but changing at 3k nowadays is overkill for sure.