honda recommends your spark plugs changed at 100,000 miles.
I wouldn't change mine unless you drive hard or notice a difference in the way your car runs.

I also suggest using a can of seafoam in your car every 10,000 miles, cleans the carbon from your plugs, injectors, really great stuff.

 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOK...There is a a alot of misinformation in here. First off Honda recommends that trans fluid be changed every 30k (both m/t and AT). I am a Honda technician, and we sell 30k interval services everyday. Other Hondas also get their power steering serviced at the same time during the 30k interval. Fortunate for us GE owners we wont ever have to worry about that thanks to our electronic powersteering. It is also a good idea as mentioned earlier to change your pollen air filters during this time. They are located behind the glovebox. I recommend (and do this for customers as well) to pick up a bottle of lysol disinfectant spray from any grocery or market and lightly spray the filter with it. Your car will maintain a fresh smell everytime you cycle the A/C or heat. And ladies we have ngk plugs in our cars...dont change them until you really feel it necessary. They will probably outlast your ownership of the vehicle for cryin out loud! Also yes, there is a plastic splash shield that will need to be removed before changing the trans fluid. It is normally held in place by a few clips. When changing the trans fluid ONLY USE GENUINE HONDA ATF AND MTF!! If you cant find it, order it off line. Also stated earlier it would be a great idea to hit A&J up for a magnetic drain plug. And for the record i change my oil every 3500 miles. To each his own, but I drive it like im spose' to and its gotta last me a long while lol!

 

blah! the Amsoil Syncromesh MTF is better then honda
30000 wow...i didn't know that often..so Im due soon.
I had MT honda fit sport, and noticed a lot smoother shifts with the AMSOIL SYNCROMESH MTF!!
I do believe the spark plugs will last a long long ime.

good idea about the spray...where do u buy the lysol disinfectant spray?

 

walgreens, walmart, any grocery store. I have heard of that amsoil being pretty compatable with honda trans. I just cant recommend it because ive only used honda genuine parts. OH also on a side note...Honda oil filters only people. They are made specifically for Honda motors. No reason to go with any other kind (including high end manufacturers like mobile1, k&n, etc.)

 

oh come on now! Honda doesn't make oil filters...and I also heard the new Honda filters are made by FRAM!

i use mobil 1 full synthetic in my 2009 fit..and a either a PUROLATOR Pure 1 oil filter..or mobil 1 filter :P
i won't use honda oem filters since they are made by fram!
but i do use most of their oem parts for everything except regular manitenance

 

just changed mine and went with Royal Purp Synchromesh mainly because I can get it for 10 bucks a qourt. SOOOOOO much better now.

 

Talk about misinformation. Dealerships sell unnecessary service stuff all the time: it's high profit margin. From page 251 of the '09 Fit Manual...

Maintenance Sub Item 3
● Replace transmission fluid

Driving in mountainous areas at very low vehicle
speeds results in higher transmission temperatures.
This requires transmission fluid changes more
frequently than recommended by the maintenance
minder. If you regularly drive your vehicle under these
conditions, have the transmission fluid changed at
60,000 miles (100,000 km), then every 30,000 miles
(48,000 km). (For A/T only)
If you tow a FIT behind a motorhome, the transmission
fluid must be changed every 2 years or 30,000 miles

(48,000 km), whichever comes first. (For A/T only)

So for severe duty the AT gets fluid services at 60k and every 30k thereafter. No mention of MT. For Normal duty, the intervals will be longer as decided by the Maintenance Minder.

I guess I don't understand how Honda OEM parts (fluids, oil filter, spark plugs, etc) are so special that we should only go with official Honda stuff but the official Honda service intervals are so substandard that we need to change the oil 3x more often than recommended and ATF/MTF about the same.

 

North American Honda filters are made by Allied Signal - Allied signal manufactures filter elements for...you guessed it....Fram.

All my car sees are Wix, Mobil 1, Bosch or K&N filters.

 

MT gear oil is rated differently than motor oil, so essentially the low viscosity numbers you see on Honda MTF translates to a 75W-80 MT oil if guaged on MT scales. I have yet to change mine, but I normally change it every 2nd oil change. It sees good abuse and heat cycles for me to leave it in for very long periods of time. My past Hondas I have used Amsoil MTG 75W-90 fluid with no side effects. If/when I purchase and install a gear type LSD (ATS/Across carbon), the stock Honda oil is definitely not going to cut it.

 

All 12 of my Honda filter say Filtec is the manufacturer.

 

For those who changed the M/T oil already. is it hard to take off the drain and fill bolt? What size bolts are they? I need to use a 1" diameter pipe as an extension on my wrench when I loosened the M/T drain and fill bolts on my G20 before.

 

That 100,000 mile spark plug maint. interval kills me. Yes, todays iridium spark plugs last ridiculously long but that is not the problem. The problem is chemistry. The reaction of two dissimilar metals (galvanic corrosion) of the cylinder head and the threaded body of the spark plug (aluminum & steel, respectively) after being exposed to a sh!tload of heating and cooling cycles can result in a less than favorable outcome. Any tech. or mechanic knows it is a poor idea to wait that long to replace the plugs. The reason being that the cylinder head threads may just come out with the spark plug. Not fun. Heli-coil anyone? While you pack the tap with grease to avoid dropping metal shavings into the cylinder head. Or better yet, the Heli-coil repair fails do to improper installation and you get to pull the head. Do yourself a favor everyone and change them somewhere around 60,000 miles. The cost is relatively small and is cheap insurance against plug seizure. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

 

you must have got an older batch then, they switched now..to allied...aka FRAM!

 

thats automatic, is there one for the manual transmission? funny reply btw lol

 

No...I just got a case of 30 oil filters from the parts department and they are all made by filtec. I never said that Honda made their own oil filters. If the shipment isnt from filtec its from honeywell. Those are the only 2 suppliers of Honda oil filters. Do as you please about the "unecessary" dealer service intervals but keep this in mind when you post comments like that...We have a customer with a 07 Civic hybrid that now has 440k on his car. Has completed almost every service on time. (On original motor and trans [AT]) His car still runs strong and exceptionally well for the amount of driving it has seen...

 

I think you are mistaken.

 

I just changed my MT oil, at ~60,000 miles. The old stuff was brownish but didn't look particularly bad. The transmission shifts exactly the same with the new fluid as it did with the old fluid. All in all, I'm pretty sure the original oil could have stayed in there with no harm at all. Honda doesn't have a recommended interval for changing MT oil that I can find, so maybe they figure the transmission oil will outlast the transmission... I dunno.

I'll repeat what I said earlier: Honda uses a very lightweight oil in the transmission, more like 30W than 90W. In fact the manual says that 10W-30 motor oil can be used in a pinch (but replace it as soon as you can with the right stuff). I don't care how fancy the name, how weird the color, or how much they paid for it; people putting in 75W-90 and the like in their Fits are not doing their transmission any favors and may actually be doing harm.

I bought 2qts of Honda MT oil and used about 1.6qts to refill.

You do have to remove the plastic tray that surrounds the engine compartment -- either that or make one heck of a mess when the oil drains all over it! The drain plug takes a 3/8" square socket exactly like the one on the end of your 3/8" square drive ratchet. Just stick it in there and turn counterclockwise. The fill plug is 17mm hex. Both have crush washers similar to the engine oil drain plug. I wish I had known that before I started, I would have had some new ones ready! Instead I reused the originals.

I only had gravity to work with, and a funnel with about 12" flexible spout, so I took the battery and its holder out of the car and then was able to fill from above. The whole job took about an hour, including changing the engine oil and filter.

 

thanks for clearing that up. i knew honda wasn't below other car manufactures... if other car manufactures doesn't ever recommend a MT transmission fluid change, why would honda?

the MT seems too basic for maintenance... theres no active cooling or hydraulic pump, OR torque converter... and a dip stick on a manual transmission???? therse no such thing... this MT fluid change isn't ment to be for maintenance, its for when you crack open the transmission for something or you had a leak and needed to refill it.

i don't think he ment anything by saying "unecessary" his reply was focused on correcting the assumption that manual transmissions needed regular interval maintenance, which he quotes that manual transmission fluid changes are not mentioned in the Honda fit user manual.. unless you can find something to prove him wrong..

I mean lets re-read this... theres no way that can be true..

 

And as I said, Honda's very own MTF is more like a 75W-80 gear oil. Gear oils are rated differently by the SAE and the higher number doesn't equate exactly as motor oil's numbers. So to tell people putting actual MTF fluids into their tranny they are doing them possible harm is completely FALSE.

Why do they say you can use a motor oil temporarily, because that motor oil if on the gear oil charts would come in at around a 75W-80 fluid, just as their MTF is, the motor oil just doesn't have all the properties of the gear oil to protect the synchros.

 

While most mfrs do not require periodic transmission fluid changes, the gears do eventually shear the viscosity index improver polymers that make it multigrade. Full synthetics are good for much longer intervals due to the high VI of the base oil. BMW used to require periodic changes of dino gear oils as does Toyota. VW also used to require transaxle oil changes every 30K. Redline MTL made the BMW shift better and that is what I will use in the Fit at about 30K miles. I leave full synthetic gear oils in for about 100k miles.

Many newer automatics no longer have a dipstick, but "lubed for life" often means a 100,000 mile "throw away" transmission. Those AT's and all MT's are just filled from a pipe plug on the side that prevents overfilling.


As has been stated by others, SAE J300 (motor oil) and J306 (gear oil) viscosity scales are different. Here is a chart comparing the two.

Viscosity Charts

MTL is 75W-80 which is also 10W-30 on the motor oil scale.