Hey yall. Just wanted to come on here and ask for some advice. I bought my 2009 Honda Fit A/T in 2022 with 164000 miles on the clock. Since then, I have changed the oil whenever the oil percentage gets to 15%. I also put on a new set of tires in the beginning of 2024. As of 01/05/2025, the Fit has 202200 miles on it, most of which are commuting from home to work.

As far as things wrong with my Fit, there are minimal. There is a check engine light for the catalytic converter ( Code P0402) and my TPMS light is on. Also, when it gets cold, the Fit does tend to feel funny in the front end, making slight creaking noises, and feeling a bit spongey.

I would like to know if there is anything I should do to keep her running for as long as possible. Fluid flushes/ changes? New brakes? Struts? Anything really at all. Please let me know your suggestions and thanks for yalls time.

 

Very generally,,,,
Keep fluids changed. Including the automatic transmissions. Change it every 4500 miles, DO NOT use the oil life gage, it has you wait way too long.
Don't ignore the cat converter, if its plugged it can really cause horrible carbon buildup in the engine leading to more problems.
You should focus on things that age out,, rubber suspension parts,, Window seals, tires. (Tires are done by 6 garaged years, 4 or so if parked outside. )
I would find a good indy shop, there are many for honda's and have htem check the suspension and alignment and make a plan, like struts this year, rear shocks next year it depends on how the car drives.
Take time to rinse the bottom of the car off with a strong nozzle or the self serve car wash.. Its cheap maintenance and helps keep rust away.
Your EGR system is likely plugged if it has not been serviced, best time is at vallve adjust time (Valves should be done at least every 30K on a fit)

 

Thanks, i think this month i am going to do a full fluid refresh and brakes to start with, then work from there on up. Thanks, and please let me know more things regarding maintenance if anyone has anything.

 

If money was no object and you wanted to make the car last for as long as possible, you could replace pretty much every component on a 15-year-old/200K mile car.

That's not realistic or even financially responsible for most of us. A good place to start is to consult the maintenance schedule in your owner's manual. Look backward from the 200K mile recommendation and prioritize major components if you don't know that they have been serviced: stuff like brake rotors/pads/brake fluid change and bleed, coolant change, A/T fluid and filter change. Have a shop check out your serpentine belt, engine mounts, radiator/water pump, suspension, drive axles/CV joints, wheel bearings, exhaust, alternator/battery/charging system, starter, and tires. At 200K miles it might not be a bad idea to have the fuel pump and filter changed. Luckily the Fit is a pretty basic car and no individual service item is all that expensive or difficult.

As suggested above, I would change your oil more frequently than the maintenance minder suggests. I change annually (5000-6000 highway miles) and my maintenance minder has never dropped below 70% before the next change is due. Changing a couple times per year or every 4000-5000 miles depending on how much you drive is cheap insurance, especially if you're a DIY person (maybe $30/change). You can buy fancy oil if you want, but any cheap synthetic (e.g., Walmart Supertech) changed as suggested above is going to be better than the most hyped/expensive oil pushed too far.

Also as suggested above, if you live anywhere with winters and road salt, even basic maintenance will keep a Fit running far longer than the body will last without regular undercarriage washing and preventative rust treatment.

 

Instead of shorter oil change intervals I would rather follow the maintenance schedule, but pit the money on premium quality oil. Once a year or every 9k miles is enough. And take care of changing also the brake fluid and coolant according to the schedule. Other than that, check and clean the brakes, door hinges and locks. Carefully check CV joint and steering rack rubber bellows and parking brake cables. That's all, after all your mileage is not that high for a Honda.

 

I got a good look at that when I was replacing the heat shield (bolts had rusted out). One time I replaced an oxygen sensor and rented (free + return deposit at AutoZone, Advance Auto Parts, etc.) a special socket with a cutout so the part could be removed without cutting the wires. Of course, you could just cut the wires and use a regular socket when you remove it without damaging anything and smoothly install the new, perfectly functioning part on your first try. Could be the converter too/instead though.

You can't get under the car to that location without a jack and 4 jack stands (back end raised first). The front jack point is buried deep in the frame, but you can access it without a low-profile floor jack if you take the handle through the front wheel well area.

Assuming rubber aging is the only problem, you can sometimes fix squeaking in cold weather by spraying front suspension bushings with a lanolin-based lubricant designed to prevent rust (Fluid Film, PB Blaster Surface Shield). It worked for me. I also sprayed silicone-based lubricant directly onto the shaft of the front shocks after lifting up the cover. You don't need to raise the vehicle to get to most of it if you're flexible and don't mind being on your back; just turn the front wheels all the way both ways and get a piece of cardboard for the drips. TPMS sensor? I don't know. Good luck with that.

 

I'm 62, owned a bunch of cars that all went 300K before major service. all on 4500 to 5000 mile oil changes.. (Sample of one )
The fit motor up to the early third gens is actually a pretty basic motor, not a lot of tricky stuff going on except for the single cam vtec, If you have the head off its a pretty simple but has friction points and depends on the oil to activate it correctly. I've tried various oils and the Honda Oil is the most consistent on when the extra valves ramp in. I have a LM1 that I watch the air fuel and you can see the valves open. Its part of the reason fits need regular valve checks, the valve train looks like the old CVCC engine from the 80's, they needed a valve adjust about every other oil change and those engines got changed at 3500 to 4000 miles (Pre synthetic being a big thing)

GM has the same setup as Honda on the oil minder, they are have ridiculous timing chain failures and their4 cyl has almost the same setup as the Honda, they lose timing chains way before its normal and the common denominator is their oil minder calculates when to change based on how hard they think your driving the car.It works out to between 10 and 15K. and they are tossing chains and VVT components by 60K miles. Ford has had similar issues on the eco boost. others as well and oil condition is a big factor in all the fails,, Worth doing a oil test ever 3 or 4 oil changes just to see how the engine is doing. I use speed diagnostix, they have about the most thorough testing results.

Had multiple service managers tell me if you do it on straight mileage and change at 5500 they never see the car for repair.

 

Like I said above (lessons from a mechanic dad): any decent synthetic oil changed on a reasonable interval is going to perform better than the fanciest/most expensive oil pushed too far.

Luckily, all modern synthetic motor oils are good. Are some a bit better than others? Probably. Is the most expensive synthetic oil three or four times better than a cheaper synthetic oil? I doubt it. Do I want to push my oil change intervals to the max to find out? Nope.

In the time I've had a Fit I have averaged 5000-6000 highway miles per year. I'm pretty comfortable with an annual oil and filter change for my driving. If I drove more, or in the city/stop-and-go, I would change more frequently.

For the O.P. looking to keep an older Fit on the road, more frequent oil and filter changes using any synthetic oil of the correct weight is at worst going to be equal to running a premium/expensive synthetic for longer intervals.

 

I use the Honda Blend, I like how quiet the motor runs with it and the dealer is like 1 mile from my house.. LOL

 

get this for your check engine light for the catalytic converter it will eliminate the light just install it on your downstream catalytic sensor also i would start looking to change your water pump your thermostat new radiator fluid also i just put new belt tensioner and maybe new belt also my fit is at 270k

 

 

In my opinion, changing full synthetic oil at 5000-6000 miles is a waste of money. For over 30 years I've been changing Mobil 1 Extended Performance oil in multiple cars about every 20,000 miles. Mobil says it's good for 15,000 miles and I'm certain they realize folks like me will push that number. I've got a 2007 Fit Sport M/T with 280,000 miles run this way and it still burns only one quart of oil every 6000 miles, same as it did when new. Still gets about 35 mpg around town like it did years ago. One piece of important advice, when changing oil on longer intervals like this, always use the best oil filter money can buy. Rather than $4 for a Fram, spend about $15 on a K&N or Mobil 1 filter. That's all you need to do. I live in the rust belt along Lake Ontario and this Fit is going to die because of rust, not mechanical problems. It's been a good soldier so far with few major problems. Bad alternator, bad electric power steering, several coil packs, rear hatch actuator, A/C compressor. Valves have never needed adjusting, they don't clatter.

 

How long does it take you to drive 20K miles? it would take me 3.5-4 years and I'm not going to use any oil or filter that long. To turn your argument around, if I'm going to change my oil once per year after 5K-6K exclusively highway miles, spending more for fancy extended life synthetic oil and extended life filters is a waste of money.

Conversely, one of my uncles used to change the (dino) oil in his 1980s Chevy pickups every 20K-25K miles (and I'm sure he used the cheapest filters as well) and they would last 200K-250K miles. But, he drove 75K miles per year so he was still changing every 3-4 months, and because of his driving style/amount he beat them up so much that the entire truck was worn out after a couple years.

I will also note that my 2010 Fit (almost 130K miles) doesn't burn or leak any oil, just like when my brother bought it in 2012 with about 20K miles. I don't think an economy car like a Fit (e.g., low-performance, under-stressed engine) should be burning oil, either when new or when older, if properly cared for.