I have a coworker who has bought one of the Honda Hybrid cars. He was going in the other day to get his oil changed, and we asked him how do you know how many miles are on the oil? If this car is working the way it is supposed to be just how many miles are run by gas and how many miles are run by electric. I know it depends on your personal driving habits and such. He ask the tech at the Honda dealership and the response was basicaly DUH… I DON"T KNOW. Couldn’t honda build a parameter into the ECM that would tell you fuel useage and determine that. I thought the reason for Hybrid was to conserve fuel so changing your oil while it has no miles on it seems to be a big waste.
The best thing to do is the same as the guy at this link http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/630600-2006-hybrid-oil-report.html
At 8800 miles the used oil analysis for his 06 Escape hybrid showed the oil to still be in very good condition & suitable for continued use.
Should have added that to keep the warranty gods happy the oil should be changed at the mileage specified in the owners manual.
If the manual sez 10,000 mile oil changes with synthetic oil are OK, drive it the 10K miles & then have the oil analyzed for the peace of mind that it will give you.
Oil analysis is what convinced me that 10K synthetic oil changes are no big deal on every car that i’ve owned for the past 30 years.
But, then my driving habits are easy on oil. I drive about 70/30 highway/ city miles, with no short cold motor driving.
I also use a good-Amsoil- synthetic oil.
What does the owner’s manual say?
this guy is changing the oil per owner manual spec, but my question is how do they really know just how much use does the gasoline engine runs? I know I work on International school buses and know that I can plug a computer into the ECM and it will tell me how much fuel this vehicle has used, run time in hours, and many other things . I would think in the wisdom of Honda that they could do this, to make the vehicle as effective in cost savings. But I quess the oil BARRENS do not want the public to know this.
The ultimate issue for someone whose vehicle is under warranty is to change the oil according the the manufacturer’s specifications in the maintenance schedule. Failing to do so will give the manufacturer an easy excuse to void the warranty, and that is potentially more costly (in the event of a major mechanical problem) than a couple of extra oil changes.
Yes, I know that it would be better for the environment to limit the number of times that the oil is changed, but for the individual, the protection of the warranty is very important also. And this is true despite what the “oil barons” might think.