I would welcome the backroom's advice over the following dilemma...
I like to over-service my '96 Civic by doing 4-5k oil changes instead of Honda's recommended 6k.
I was away from home at the weekend and popped the car in to one of those wonderful fast-fit garages for a quick semi-synth & filter change on saturday. I was in a hurry and "didn't have time" to stick my head under the bonnet and inspect their handiwork until I returned home last night. Upon doing so, oil looks fine, filled up to max level. However, i have a sneaking suspicion that the filter has not been changed, due to the markings I remember on the old one, although it's possible they've replaced the filter with the exact same make. I have no proof either way, and it's too late to do anything about it as the garage is 250 miles away.
What should I do? I'm tempted to just leave it as is. Filter had only been on 4,700 miles and I would be surprised if 9k miles on one filter would be a problem.
I figure next time an oil change is due, I'll either spend the time and do it myself, or I'll be marking the old filter before taking car to garage, and asking to see it once it has been removed and replaced.
cheers,
Ed
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If it was a national company pop into your local branch and get them to check it and cahnge as necessary. Most cars are now 10,000 service periods so modern filters easily go that far. Regards Peter
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I don't see how they are going to 'check the filter' to see if has been changed - there is no real way of telling.
I wouldn't worry; as it has been said previously, the filter has a large 'capacity' (in excess of 12000 miles) so blockage is not considered to be a problem.
By all means traipse over to the branch in your local town but I'd save my time, trouble and money (fuel) and leave it as it is.
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If you are that bothered; go and buy a manufacturers filter (usually £5 to £7), unscrew the old one and fit the new one, thereby problem solved and probably ending up with a better filter anyway...
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If you are that bothered; go and buy a manufacturers filter (usually £5 to £7), unscrew the old one and fit the new one, thereby problem solved and probably ending up with a better filter anyway...
But wont all the oil pour out, neccessitating another change? Or is the filter at a different level on a civic, not played with one.
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But wont all the oil pour out, neccessitating another change? Or is the filter at a different level on a civic, not played with one.
The majority of the oil should remain in the sump. All you should need to do is find out what capacity of oil the filter contains, and top back up with that ammount of oil after swapping. Had to do it once with a Cavalier, as the rubber ring seal around the filter leaked. I just unscrewed the filter, screwed the new one on and topped up with ½ litre of oil.
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Leave it, and make a note in future to change the filter at every alternate oil change. If you are changing the oil more frequently than recommended, then I don't see the need to change the filter every time.
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To be contrary, I would go along to the local outlet with your paperwork and insist that it?s changed. I doubt if they will argue about it.
As the original oil and filter service life is only 6K (suggesting a small filter), the old filter would be at 9K i.e. 1.5 times its service life span and could be blocked, restricting flow and reducing down stream pressure. It may even suffer media collapse. That would dump some of the larger dirt back into the system. It depends whether there is a bypass valve or not.
As mentioned already, the old filter will have retained the old oil and so the new oil after change will take on an early discolouration as the old dirty stuff is mixed with it.
Dip it, if it looks discoloured have the filter changed (and maybe the oil again since they messed it up) if it?s normal forget it. You could phone the original fitters and ask what make of filter they use, if the OEM one was still fitted you would then know. Unless the same outfit changed it previously-back to square one.
Either way I wouldn?t lose any sleep over it.
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> Either way I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.
Sounds like good advice!
I'm now 500 miles up, checked the oil and it's still like warm golden syrup, not even slightly discoloured. So I'm going to leave well alone, learn from my experience and be more cautious next time. It's a right £$%&*£ to get at the filter on the civic. I'm going to need a long metal skewer to 'draw' on this one before i change next.
Cheers for the replies folks.
Ed.
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Leave it, and make a note in future to change the filter at every alternate oil change. If you are changing the oil more frequently than recommended, then I don't see the need to change the filter every time.
As one who had some engine-design involvement in this subject pre-retirement, I totally agree with Cliff. Except under *very special* circumstances (like the first oil change after a major engine overhaul) the filter will have lots of useful life left in it even at the recommended change intervals.
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What color was the old oil before it was changed? If it was really contaminated and black and they did actually leave the old filter in, I bet you would spot the discoloration of the new oil.
Filter capacity vs total volume may give you a clue, can be approaching 1:6 on smaller engines.
pmh (was peter)
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pmh, it was dark brownish but not really filthy. I'll check out the capacities tonight. Paranoid i may be, but i'm struggling to believe that even a corner-cutting saturday mechanic would leave a whole filter's worth of mucky oil in a nice clean car like mine? ;-) otoh, judging by some of the stunts these guys have been known to pull, anything is possible...
Ed.
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