The maintenance guide says every other oil change, my personal mechanic says that's crazy. What do you guys say? It's only $4 more bucks. Should we be going for it every time?

I'm of the opinion "Why run clean oil through a dirty filter?". I've replaced mine with every change.

...because you'll see me passing everybody at 90 miles per hour going up mountains.

While I do change my filter each time as well, its a known fact that a 'dirtier' filter does filter better.

These are some pretty clean running engines and the oil doesnt appear to get 'that' dirty thanks to their efficiencies sooooo if the manufacturer is comfortable with their oil change intervals and suggestion on changing the filter every other time, you should be safe.

Less chance of a cross threaded filter or a double O-ring on the filter if you follow their interval recomendations.

Bottom line is you probably wont hurt anything changing it more often.

I have a 2004 HCH with a 5 speed. I change the oil every 5K miles and the filter every other time. If in doubt about changing the oil filter every other time, at the next oil change let the old filter drain several hours then cut it apart and inspect the filter elements. My guess is there will not be much if any grit or sludge in the element. Let the next filter go two oil changes then cut it apart and inspect it. You probably will not see a difference.

I change the oil myself every 5K-7K miles, and I change the filter every time. This is how I was taught to change my own oil, except with my last car I changed it every 3K miles because it used standard 5w30 instead of the impossible-to-find 0w20.

What I want to know is how to get those f&*@ clips off the underbody cover without breaking them -- they're about $2 bucks each from the cheapest parts place I can find... I break at least one of the nine every time I change the oil. Grr.

About every other oil change I take the clips apart and scrub them with an old tooth brush. So far in 95K miles of changing the oil every 5K, I have only replaced 3. Has anybody found a cheap sustitute for these clips?

I relace it every time I change my oil. Mobil 1 0W-20 and Mobil 1 M1-110 Extended Mileage oil filter. I do this every 10K miles. No issues at 80K miles.

Ooh, where are you finding the Mobil 1 0w-20? I can never find it anymore, and I end up ordering direct from Honda, which gets expensive.

Last time I bought it was at AutoZone. I bought about 2 years worth. But good question. Have to go check for it.

Some Walmarts carry 0W-20. Not all, I've found it to be about 50% of them in my area. A bit over $5/qt. Not much in stock though.

Possibly some 'outdoor sports' stores, too. I found some in "G.I. Joes" with other 4-wheel/snowmobile/etc maintenance things. About the same price as Walmart, and more in stock.

...because you'll see me passing everybody at 90 miles per hour going up mountains.