What a pain in the As*
I had no ramp but a jack, jack stands & a creeper.
I got it up enough to get under the front, ( I'm not fat either)
Then the next thing was to remove all the clips
so I could get the plastic engine cover off.
Those clips are such a pain. Then the bolts.
The oil drain & filter removel was ok just that the
plastic cover was a *****.
Then trying to get the clips back in place to hold the plastic shield on,
I thought the clips were tighter before I removed them,

So now I’m wondering do they have to be replaced every time?


This reminded me of the oil changes on my 350Z.
They had little screws though a lot more of them, it was easier

I think I will convert all the clips to screws.


Now at the dealer where I bought the Honda oil I thought the oil was synthetic
the parts man said no, just special 0W 20. (It didn’t make me feel any more special)

I asked what was the oil change frequency for a 2006 HCH.
He says 3000 miles is what the service dept says.
This is my first oil change at 6500 miles because I drive all freeway 70-80 mph.

I live in the desert & think I will do 6 or 7,000 mile changes because of the dust & heat.

I don’t have my owner’s manual with me but I recall reading 10,000 mile oil changes & 5000 mile changes in severe conditions.

Does anyone concur?

No. There's a maintenance Minder on the HCH that tells you when your service is due. If you click through the series of trip odometer displays you'll see the percentage remaining on your engine oil life. It starts at 100, drops to 90, 80, etc., every 1000 miles or so. It takes various parameters into consideration such as engine revs, miles driven, cold starts, to match your oil changes to your own driving conditions. Generally, the ballpark for oil change frequency is about 10,000 miles.

It's particularly important NOT to change the oil too soon the first time because your new car has a specially formulated break-in oil.

2006 HCH Alabaster Silver w/Navi
2003 Honda Accord LX

I would add "or once a year, whichever comes first". This applies to low mileage users. Time as well as distance should be measured.

Invest in a set of ramps, it makes undoing the clips a bit easier.

-Charlie...

Yes I had a set & gave them away,
I also have just built a 30X60 shop at home
& have a twin post hoist laying on the floor wating to install
but not now,
my real concern is if everyone else has that much trouble with those clips
that hold the plastic panel under the engine?
I appreciate your comments.

I have don't have any idea if the oil extraction method wlll work with any of the hybrid vehicles, but for those of us running TDIs ... its fantastic. Take a peek at CinciTDI's "How-To" Video Clips ... there is one that demos the Pela Oil Extractor.

--RichC --- "My Desultory Blog" & CinciTDI Club

It's an ICE. Why would it be any different than a non-hybrid?

Call me old fashioned! But I want to drain my hot oil and not suck it up a pipe leaving some residue in the sump somewhere! There has been discussion some where else on this site of a special tool for removing the sump guard clips and some clips that can replace the standard Honda ones for ease of use.

Grounded your perfectly fine with going ahead and changing the oil at your current milage. It's DEFINATELY well broken in by 6,500 miles. I just changed my oil at 2,500 miles in my '06, no problems what so ever, infact there appears to be a slight increase in mpg. A good full synthetic 0W20 is just as good and probably better than what Honda puts in there.