That’s got to be one of the craziest things I’ve ever heard. I’m pretty sure that the owner’s manual tells you to check the oil at every fill-up, or something like that.
As far as I’m concerned, if you don’t check your oil and it gets low, or you go more than a year on an oil change, you obviously have no interest in keeping your car reasonably maintained and any problems that ensue fall squarely in your lap.
+1
I agree that matt’s theory is…bizarre…because, as asemaster stated, Owner’s Manuals advise that the dipstick should be checked at every fill-up.
Even if somebody doesn’t check their oil every time that they buy gas, the idea of rarely–if ever–lifting the hood is a sure formula for disaster.
Yikes!
As mentioned above the manual says to check the engine oil at every fill up, so whoever came up with the above explanation should really think twice before going one full year without checking the oil level. The reality is, depending on the type of driving and your climate, the oil might be fine for 18-24 months, who knows. Your driving would be considered severe based on the mileage and the type done. In my case, my driving was mostly freeway and based on the OLM my oil was at 65% at 8K miles. So probably fine for 15K miles.
The way I look at this is comparing the cost of engine replacement vs oil change, add in the minor inconvenience and you are good to go.
There are people I know who don’t work on cars who don’t even know how to check their own oil, it could be honda put the one year part in the manual for them? Either way I do drive my car at least 5 miles a couple times a week and more like 10
miles or more every month or sometimes every couple months. The trips I take are not highway driving but more like country road driving about 45 mph. Does that change anything?
Nope, you should be changing the oil the every 7000 miles sooner if the the indicator light appears before that.
But not instantly. Some get absorbed by the oil; and stay there until the oil gets hot enough to evaporate.
Some stay in the oil, like soot and acids and stay there until the oil is changed.
Those are the people who learn the hard way that a car needs more care than a toaster.
No. absolutely not. Use the correct oil. Check the oil regularly. Change it when the monitor tells you to or one year has passed. Simple.
You have yet to provide any reason or explanation of how not following the simple schedule above could in any way be of any benefit to anyone or anything.
Some people are afraid of going to the dentist. Are you afraid of going to the lube shop? 
Could I take a PH strip and test the oil PH to make sure it has not gone acidic?
Matt-there are several excellent mechanics and people here who have excellent knowledge about vehicle maintenance. Most of them agree that the recommended schedule in the vehicle manual is fine. Why are you nitpicking the concept ?
I will make it a but more clear than what @VOLVO_V70 said; It seems like the OP has made their mind up and just wants to find someone to agree with them.
I was once told “It is a free country sir, you can do it anyway you like!”.
No.
Apparently posts need to be at least 10 characters long. So I will repeat, no.
Even if you could check the ph you can’t check the status of the additives or if the oil has started to break down. You could spend $$$ to send a sample of the oil to a lab to have it analyzed, but it would be cheaper to just change the oil. I could have changed the oil and filter and returned the used oil for all 3 of my cars in the time spent on this post.
In 1976 Popular Science published an interesting article on synthetic oils:
http://books.google.com/books?id=FAEAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA90
Engineers ran some engines for very long intervals, including a '65 Lincoln for 100,000 miles without an oil change.
Then the engine was taken apart and studied. No mention of driving conditions.
Don’t try this at home, you could end up with this:
my understanding (and I may be wrong) is that PH strips only work in a water solution.
In fact, the bit about acidic oil only applies to any water mixed in the oil, again, my understanding from high school chemistry.
b
From what I’ve been reading, most full synthetic oils probably aren’t really “true full synthetic”, meaning they aren’t made with only Class IV PAO bases but have Class III mineral base mixed in, even if not considered a synthetic blend. In that case, it’s best to follow the schedule in the owner’s manual and not try to go for extended changes.
I don’t think it’s worth the risk to try to save money on oil for a car that I’ve spent a lot of money on. I prefer to do all maintenance within the time recommended in the Honda maintenance guidelines. Then I know I’ve done all I should and am not causing any problems by estimating a longer oil change schedule.
That goes with all other maintenance items too.
This leads us into the question: Which maintenance schedule do you go by? Regular or severe driving?
I find that different manufacturers define “severe” differently.
Although Subaru defines it such that everyone qualifies, I regard my driving as NOT severe, as I drive expressway and city streets exclusively, in the ratio of about 10 expressway miles per city mile.
However, the definition in the manual for severe is: any urban, coast, country or winter driving. Find me anyone who does not fit into that category !!
Reading the original question…the correct answer is “forever”. You can avoid changing oil like you can avoid doing any maintenance on your vehicle. I frequently avoid mowing the lawn, changing my furnace filter, laundry, and (occasionally) showers. The key to long vehicle life is procrastination and avoidance. I believe I read that in the manual.
In full synthetic motor oils there are no VI improvers added so there is nothing to wear out. The actual oil molecules never wear out. You could almost use the same oil forever. The problem is that there are other additives and they do get used up. I suppose if there was a good way to keep oil clean you could just add a can of additives every 6 months and just change the filter, never changing the oil, but why?
You have a 2011 Honda (which is 5 years old) and costs thousands of dollars to replace the engine or you could replace the motor oil every 6 months or 7,000 miles whichever comes first at a cost of about $ 60 with a new filter if you do it yourself or a bit more by a certified mechanic … I think you know what the answer is.
The reality is that motor oils do not need to be changed because they thin with use. It is the eventual thickening that limits the time you may keep oil in your engine. The limit is both time itself (with no motor use) and/or mileage use.