I am thinking about switching to Mobile 1 Synthetic 5w-30 at the first oil change. Or putting in Royal Purple 5w-30 (which some people sware by) at the first oil change. I have yet to ask my Honda guy (which I will do hopefully tomorow) and I will let you know what he says. Have any of you done this with the 07-08's? OR does any mechanic have their input on this? Any info is appriciated.

 

Synthetic oil is better than conventional oil and costs more. What are your goals? I would use synthetic if you plan on keeping the car a very long time and/or drive in severe conditions.

 

I plan to keep the car 8-10 years. My brother (who is a mechanic at a Nissan dealership) says to purchase your oil at AutoZone or Petboys and then take that oil to the dealership and tell them to use it. Said it would cost around $11. He also just reccomended synthetic to me. Still would like some other oppinions. As for the conditions - I live in Oklahoma. It could be 110 today and -15 next week and snowing LOL

 

Check the Sunday papers. Usually there are coupons for 5 qts of full syn and a filter for $24-26 after rebate. Then change it yourself for free.

 

Unless you doing some heavy tuning to the engine, dino oil should be fine. Synthetic would be a waste of money. If you are going to be tracking it A LOT, maybe then you could go with synthetic oil as well.

 

doesn't the car take 5W20
not 5W30?
make sure you put the right stuff in.

 

I did some research when I first got my 07. Basically you are okay with regular oil, but synthetic will run cleaner and won't leave residues behind. The additives in both brake down at the same rate so the oil change interval should be the same. I usually keep my cars for over 100,000 miles so it is worth it to me.

 

A couple points from an old newbie.
-Why did you pick 5W-30 when the manual states 5W-20?
-About 3 years ago the guys on the Honda Odyssey forum were curious about the magical "Break-in" oil, so they sent some in for an oil analysis. Turned out to be good quality Dyno oil with extra Moly added. You can read in other threads/forums about Honda liking Moly for their motors.

 

Since you are keeping it 8+ years, I would suggest fully synthetic. It saves money, depending on your driving. The 15,000 mile/1 year Mobile 1 (which I just put in both our Mazda's today) cost about $5.40 a quart at Walmart. I did the labor in the driveway vs. the $79 for Mobile 1 dino at Jiffy Lube that has to be changed every 3000 miles. Now I'm done with oil changes until sometime next May-June. The Protege runs like new at 122K, and the '05 Tribute is expected to last a good long time as well. Got 14 years out of our Civic. Hopefully I'll have a Fit next spring, and keep it until I hit retirement. Just personal preference but I'll never go back to dino.

 

I spoke with the head honda tech which is one of my good friends. He said that there is no reason or no need to use synthetic in th Fit. The engine is not made for synthetic nor will it help it in any degree. I trust this man with my car's life 25+ years at the same honda dealership. He said its not the money factor, its just Honda designs these Fit engines around conventional oil.

 

off and on i will drive my car hard.. i use full synthetic just because i can do it myself, the service intervals are longer and i plan on going for 200K

 

Not sure if you're interested but I'm using Castrol synthetic blend 5w-20. I sent in my oil in to www.blackstonelabs.com to be analyzed at 6700 miles and they told me there was still ALOT of active additives in the sample of oil that I sent them. They also told me that I could have probably run the oil till 8500-9000 miles.

Note: my Fit is boosted and I'm now running Castrol synth blend 5w-30.

 

When we picked up our Fit on Thursday, the Honda person said not to use synthetic oil. He said to use regular oil and pointed to the manual.

 

lol

 

Okay, and the manual states "You may use a synthetic motor oil if it meets the same requirements given for a conventional motor oil and it is the proper weight. You must follow the oil and filter change intervals shown on the information display." It doesn't get much clearer than that.

Synthetic oil has known advantages, with the sole disadvantage being higher cost. Use it if the long term benefits are worth it for you.

 

why do people make cost the point to put it down when you have to change conventional more often? it all works out to the same in the end

 

I see synthetic as an insurance policy. I've thrown a water pump belt before and was glad I was running synthetic oil when the engine temp spiked. The lower deposit formation of synthetic bodes well for long-term EGR cleanliness or in sludge-prone engines. While you want to stick with normal oil change intervals for warranty purposes, if for some reason you miss an oil change sometime, synthetic's ability to handle extended drain intervals is another bonus.

I'll be the first to agree that you're not likely to wear out an engine with dino oil changed at appropriate intervals. For me, though, an extra $15-$20 for 4 quarts of synthetic vs dino oil a couple times a year is cheap insurance in a $16k machine.

 

I don't know who's "putting it down," but the fact is synthetic costs more than conventional. At any rate, as stated in the owner's manual, the oil should be changed when the maintenance minder advises. And I don't believe the type of oil will noticeably change that interval.

 

Synthetic is better than Dino oil. If you can afford it use it. And they do flow better in the extreme cold. There is nothing wrong with Dino oil either.

I have been using synthetic in my 04 Civic since the first oil change. I changed the oil every 10K miles. The car has over 90K miles and it still sounded like new. I'll continue to use synthetic when I get my Fit.

 

Our dyno says different. Mobil 1 has less friction and we routinely see 3% gain in power & 1-2 mpg better. Additionally, conventional oils, either naphenene or paraffin based, break down under heat and pressure much faster than Mobil 1, and probably other synthetics. (we have used and tested only Mobil 1 in our stret and race cars once we found its usefulness). And the shear strength of synthetics far surpass conventional oils. (thats the ability of being spread out in thin sheets without rupturing, a major consideration in today's close tolerance engines).
As far as costs, realistic oil change intervals are pretty well doubled or tripled so the cost isn't much greater if at all. The 7500 mile oil change interval is marketing 'puffery', not real world maintenance.
The harder you use your engine or the less you use it the more synthetics are recommended. A 6500 rpm Fit 1500 engine certainly falls there regardless how you think you use it.