I did my first oil change at 10k, just like the manual said. The first three I did at the dealer, the 40k one, I did myself. I purchased six cases of Mobil 1 0w20 when I heard they were going off market. The Napa store near me (Clinton NJ) was suprised to hear that they are taking this off market. They said (this was in April) they had 1000+ cases in the warehouse. Don't know what they have now.

Good luck.

 

I used 5-20 for a long time but recently got back to 0-20 and I believe the mileage did improve. Funny when I bought my HCH in 03 I got all the service done at the dealer - including oil changes. They didn't stock 0-20 for a long, long time and was using 5-20 (back in 2003, 2004). I switched to Jiffy Lube, which also only carries 5-20. Went back to Honda recently and they had 0-20.

 

Honda has a non-synthetic 0w20 their dealers are supposed to use for our HCH's I think.

Maybe you can still find M1 0w20 on the internet, I used www.partsamerica.com (Kragen) and it sent me to a kragen three towns away who had 12 quarts in stock. It reserved those quarts for me, so that was pretty cool.

Also, Amsoil's 5w20 has a lower viscosity rating than the new Penzoil 0w20, so better to use that if you can't find any M1 0w20 (www.amsoil.com). At least on paper, Amsoil appears to make an even better oil than M1, but they don't make a 0w20 or I would be using it already.

 

I would say it was a bad move to change out the oil so early on. I don't know what damage if any will be caused by this but it clearly states not to do so.

As for clean oil, I've changed out the oil for the first 30K miles at 5K intervals using Honda 0W-20, and it came out really clean. After the 30K mark I went to M1 0W-20 along with M1-110 oil filter and changed the oil every 10K... the oil came out just as clean as the 5K interval.

The other thing that I have noticed is that the car burns little if any oil. The mark on the dipstick doesn't change for the full 10K interval.

 

If there was a catastrophic engine failure, the dealer might play hardball on the warranty if they knew the initial oil change was done so soon.

I too debated about when to make the first change. My younger brother has a racing engine auto machine shop. They build or upgrage about 3 racing engines a week. His opinion was, "get that crap out of your car after 500 - 1000 miles, and put in some synthetic oil".

I waited for 4,000 miles and put in M1 0w20.

 

Your brother is absolutely right Mike - early oil changes *DO NOT HARM* engines, and in fact is good for them - gets all the initial metal shavings out of the oil. Most times, these tiny particles are grabbed by the filter, but not all of them are.

And no car company can void any warranty for "changing oil too soon" though. You can change it every single day or every weekend if you want to.

 

Would you void your warranty if you don't change your oil at the dealers?

 

No. You can do your own oil changes. I think you could void your warranty if it is proven you didn't change your oil in the specified service intervals.

 

while we're on the subject. If living "down south" specifically in my town in a little place called the imperial valley where temperatures reach the 120's.... getting about 115's to 110's right now.... would the low viscosity of the 0w20 oil be suitable for such a climate? I know that the manual specifies that but i'm reasoning that the 5w20 would be better suited for this region, or am i completely missing the point here?

 

I've run Mobil 1 0W-20 in my Civic HX for as long as Mobil has sold such a blend. I ran 5W-30 way back when I got my car and 0W-30 when it was first available too. I've got 138,000 miles on my Civic, almost every one of which in Phoenix, AZ where we have something like 25 days a year where the high is over 110 degrees and a few 115+ days here and there.

I change the oil every 7500 miles or so and the oil level doesn't ever seem to drop off, indicating excellent oil control and no oil seeping past the rings. This won't guarantee it's the perfect oil for you, but I've certainly not observed any problems with use of 0W-20 in my car during hot summers. I'll be doing another oil change probably this week or this weekend and taking an oil sample to send in for analysis. It's actually been a little over 8000 miles since the last change, so I think this will be a good test of the oil, having run the same oil in the car since, umm.. February or something.