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RE: Ask the Car Guy @socky Mar 31, 2019
My car has reached 5,000 miles and it is definitely due for an oil change. The dealership is not able to get me in right away. Is it safe to go over 500 miles between oil changes on a 2011 Honda?
Oil these days can last for far longer than many years ago. I remember taking engines apart and it looked like burnt cake batter on everything. We would take screwdrivers to chisel and scrape the majority of the sludge and burnt oil off the engine parts before taking them into the machine shop for a "hot tank" soak to get the rest of the sludge out of the motor. That is because the oils of long ago weren't as good and did not have the detergents and anti-wear additives that they have today. Also, the introduction of synthetics has caused improvements on regular oils so that they can be competitive. Now days, if I take apart an engine, it looks like the day it was assembled on the inside with exception of the surfaces wet with oil.
Try to keep your oil changes in the scheduled time, but if you need to go over the 5,000 mile scheduled time, it is not an issue. In fact, the leased cars would often go 30,000 miles on the original oil because people would not change it as the car was a lease. It would probably only be an issue if you had a race car where oil temperatures and engine stresses were maxed out regularly. You will be fine.