I'm no car guru and am a little confused when it comes to oil changes in a new car. i always changed my oil around 3k, but dealership telling me i could change it around 5k with the 09 fits. that seems a little long for me, maybe its cuz i always changed it every 3k.

also does everyone keep their rpms below 3 till 1k miles on a brand new car? breaking in a car as well i heard many different things.

whats your input? help a noob out.

 

5k miles. Break in is about 500 miles. WAIT AT LEAST 5k for the first oil change. After that you can change it sooner if youd like. At 5k my oil is still clean tho.

 

The Maintenance Minder should tell you when the oil needs to be changed, based on its monitoring of the driving conditions encountered.

 

Straight from the owner's manual: Help assure your vehicle's future reliability and performance by paying extra attention to how you drive during the first 600 miles. During this period:

-Avoid full-throttle starts and rapid acceleration.
-Avoid hard braking for the first 200 miles.
-Do not change the oil until the scheduled maintenance time.

As for the oil changes, txmatt is correct - just follow the Maintenance Minder. (There's lots of info on that in the manual as well). The mileage between oil changes is not a set figure and will vary based on your driving - generally anywhere between 3500 miles for rough driving and up to 7000 for easy use.

 

You change it when your LCD service display tells you to. This is what my Honda guy said.

 

15% Oil Life

 

Today's oils, and engines, are significantly better than 20 years ago. I think the 3k oil change interval was a ploy by the quick lube industry. While there's certainly no harm changing oil every 3k miles, it most likely a waste of money for most individuals. As mentioned above, watch the maintenance minder for a pretty accurate guideline. You can always check your oil between changes to check levels and color, but 5k sounds about right for Honda.

 

Not to mention how clean your current $4 a gal emissions fuel burns. If you look at most Euro TUV specs,i'll bet they list the service intervals at closer to 10k mi. They never ran those Fram "pay me now or pay me later" guild laiden commercials that convinced us we were hurting our cars if we didn't contribute to exxon every 3k. I have a (very lazy) freind who has an 04 S-15 pickup with 100k and he's changed the oil THREE times in that period the longest interval being around 45k and it runs like a top. A bit excessive but certainly proves a point.

I'm changing mine every 7k on my 07 Fit FWIW

 

The heck with a Fit, I'm going for a used S-15

 

What grade of oil do the 09 Fits use? Is it 0W20 or 5W20?

 

5W20... 3.8 US quarts including filter

 

you can use 0W-20 and still maintain your warranty though

 

For me:

First oil change at 5,000 with Mobil 1 Synthetic and Purolator Pureone Filter.

Next oil change at 10,000 with Royal Purple and Purolator Pureone Filter. I'm going to pickup a Fumoto valve too so I don't have to worry about those stupid crush washers.

All subsequent changes will be done according to maintenance minder (7,500). Since this is synthetic oil, it lasts an extremely long time. I'll continue to use Purolator Pureone Filter.

Depending on when these oil changes fall in the year I will run 0w-20 in the winter when the temps get down to -20 Degrees F. During the spring, summer fall, 5w-20.

 

Do the new Fits have that maintenance minder? If its anything like the Civics, when it hits 5% oil life left we are around the 6k mile mark.

 

Just wait til your little orange Wrench comes on... then go to honda nad they will tell you what they need. people come in here and still have like 50% left and then argue with us about it

 

It should be the other way around with the multi-weight being run in the colder months so the super thin 5 weight can flow easier on cold start-up.

 

could you elaborate?

 

5W-20 is a multi-weight or more accurately, multi-viscosity, oil. It basically has two different "thicknesses." The heavier one is the 20 weight. It's thicker when cold, but once it warms up it's fine. The problem is it won't flow as well when cold. So when you start up a cold engine it will take more time to reach full lubrication and you will wear the engine more quickly (most engine wear occurs during start up).

What oil manufacturers have done is to include a second component lighter weight oil to help lubricate during this start-up phase. That's the "5" in the 5W-20.

Now, 20 weight oil is very thin to begin with. Unless it get's down into the 30's where you live, straight 20 weight is all you really need. But if it does get down to near freezing, going with the multi-weight is probably a good idea.

Honda has probably gone with a 20 weight oil because it gives better MPG and emmissions results, but in our Si track car (I was a Skip Barber driving instructor in a past life, now just a club hack ) car we still ran straight 30 weight for the extreme conditions of time trial events, especially here in hot Florida where a thin oil like a 20 weight runs the risk of being too thin once it's heated and not providing proper lubrication.

 

well i understand that. and i have no intention of running 5w-30. but why not use 0W-20 when it is negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit and colder? i'm just wondering how i should have it "the other way around".

 

Again, the lighter 5W component of the oil will flow faster at that temperature and provide better lubrication upon cold start. Once the engine is warm, it doesn't matter. But at start-up your oil is sitting in the pan and the thinner component will get to your parts faster to protect them.

Think about it, if you have pancake syrup, a fairly high viscosity liquid, and you put it in the fridge is it harder or easier to squeeze it out of the bottle than if you put it in the microwave and warm it up? Now, if you have a lighter viscosity sticky liquid, like say Coke, will there really be as much difference at 35 degrees and 100 degrees? So having a multi-weight oil is like having both coke and pancake syrup in the same bottle.

Now, it isn't really that simple. It's really one oil, but polymers allow the oil to have different weights at different temps, but you get the idea.

Damn, now I am hungry!

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