I was told to change oil at 15%(Wrench light). The indicator at 40%. Down 1 quart of oil. 103,000 mile + or -. The light only measures viscosity? Dealership never checked oil before draining.

 

The oil-life indicator doesn't measure the oil itself. It keeps track of driving habits, like how many time you start the engine, how many time you start it really cold (in winter), how many times you race from a stoplight, everything like that.

You will notice if you go for months driving stop & go in the city, and starting the engine every 5 miles, the oil life will get used up quickly. If you can manage to drive almost constant speed on the highway for 5000 miles without stopping at a bathroom, you'll notice the oil life gets used up pretty slowly.

And it absolutely does NOT measure oil level/inventory.

My daughter had a 2007 Civic, I used 5w-20 Castrol GTX in it, and one time she drove the indicator down to zero and beyond. I think after it gets to zero % it begins counting miles instead of %. She went about 150 miles beyond zero %, and when I changed it I grabbed a sample for analysis. It was still OK (barely), so I'm inclined to trust Honda's oil-life monitor as long as I use decent oil.

 

Thanks for your time Jim. I guess my next question is: Is it normal for a 2010 Accord with approx. 103,000 miles to burn a quart of oil after 6,000 miles?

 

A quart after 6,000 miles would be considered "normal" for literally 100% of the cars on the road today.