2007 Vue first oil change

[greensaturn]

First, I know there is a million threads and bits of information about oil and what people have been doing for 30 years and such and how much oil technology has improved over the years. How do you ever really know who to believe or what to believe? Everyone has a different theory. This really isn't any different. But here is the summary so you can add another bit of info for the records.

So I decided to do the first oil change today on my wifes 2007 V6 Vue. The odometer read 560 miles. I chose to go with Castrol 5W20 conventional for the first time around. (I'll switch to Mobil 1 5W20 when it gets a few more miles)

I cleaned the plastic oil pan really well for this one since I wanted to see if I got any metal shavings upon draining.

The second thing I did was drive the front wheels up on two 2x12's that I have for things like this. This raised the front end up with enough room that I did not need a jack. I found a 17 mm wrench to fit the drain plug and drained away.

Then for removal of the oil filter I had to modify the filter wrench since the filter is so small in diameter. I am surprised that the filter is this small for a V6.

Once everything was drained I buttoned it back up and slowly added 4.5 quarts of Castrol back into the crankcase. I did prime the new filter also.
I then reset the oil monitor and fired up the engine. Everything went smoothly. This is probably the easiest car to do an oil change on that I have owned in a long time, much easier than my SC2.

Now for the old oil, I took the telescope magnet and ran it a few passes through the oil. I did find that in 3 times of doing this that there were bits of small pieces of metal in the oil. I would say they were on the order of 20 to 40 microns, so pretty small but still visible.

So the dealer reccomends the first change to be at 3000 miles, but I wouldn't want to drive that long with any visible metal fragments.

I'll do another change in 1k or so miles and see how it looks.

[Schultzy]

A nice thing about these cars is that if you turn the wheel all the way the the right and you arms are long you can just reach in the passenger wheel well and the filter is right there. I can also fit under there with a creeper and im pretty skinny so its easy for me (no pun intended)

[gstien]

I hope I can fit under it without jacking the vehicle up.
That was the nice thing about my Subie Baja, it was already high enough up to where I could change the oil with no jack. I assume the Vue sits at least this high up.
So at 3,000 I will change the oil to synthetic, and hopefully won't have to get the jack out.

[Ritz]

I hope I can fit under it without jacking the vehicle up.
That was the nice thing about my Subie Baja, it was already high enough up to where I could change the oil with no jack. I assume the Vue sits at least this high up.
So at 3,000 I will change the oil to synthetic, and hopefully won't have to get the jack out.

I use a pair of ramps because I just don't feel like getting all dirty wriggling under there without a little extra room, but you could probably do it if you had to (or wanted to). The ramps give enough clearance to comfortably get in there with a creeper. No muss, no fuss.

Cheers,

[m4gician]

Every time you change the oil, RESET the oil monitor (turn on ignition, press pedal 3 times within 5 seconds, you'll see some flashing and that's it)

[BobbyP]

I read that Honda had a special agent in the oil to promote proper break-in, so I didn't rush to have it changed. My UOA at 2400 miles did show elevated Moly levels. I bought a filter magnet at 2400 miles to see if it does trap any extra ferric particles in the oil.

I'm going to change the oil again around 4800 miles and get another UOA. I have Mobil 1 5w-20 in it now. I'm going to cut open the filter and see if the filter magnet captured anything.

It's amazing that I have 1600 miles on the current oil and the oil level is still on the stick. Around 2/3's the way up the cross-hatch pattern on the end. After driving an S -series where you had to add oil every 1000 miles, this Honda engine is well built.