On the maintenance sticker on my windshield Honda put 15%. I guess they want me to change my oil when the meter gets down to 15%. Seems easy enough for me. Less oil changes than my prelude mean less $$ spent FTW!!

 

You know what i've had my fit for almost 2 years and it doesn't matter how i drive the "maintenance minder" ALWAYS tells me to change my oil at 8000km, i know Honda says that it "senses" how you drive the car and adjusts accordingly, personally I think that's all just BS. If you look at the maintenance schedule of a Honda car that didn't come with the "maintenance minder" you'll see that all Honda cars are scheduled for oil changes every 8000km/5000miles.

 

I have right around 4500 miles on the car and am still at 70%.

 

The reason for not using cruise is to avoid long periods at constant rpm, which is not good for ring breakin. Variable rpm and long drives are best.

I have no idea why 3500 miles instead of 3000. If you want to get the majority of 'assembly debris' out of the engine as quickly as possible do the first oil change at 1500 miles. thereafter 6k or meter for synthetics, 3000 miles for hydrocarbon oil and always with new filter.
good luck

 

So I guess the good ole days of changing at 3K or 3 months are over?

Looks like it's 5K miles or 15% oil life, whichever comes first?

 

I just hit 2000km's after a 800km trip yesterday, I plan to go full dyn as soon as it hits 5000km's

 

If you're using hydrocarbon oil the main reason is to change oil filter as normal hydrocarbon oil breaks down quicker into sludge.

 

This although the same rpm is really within the first 400-500 miles at most.

 

I don't understand.
Any time in the first 1000 miles you drive at a steady rpm for more than 15 minutes the cylinder wall wear is uneven and takes on a profile specific to that rpm. If you rev up to higher rpm the rings are bashed against the rib on the cylinder wall left by the lower rpm. Engines are made of metal and metal stretches and deforms under acceleration and combustion forces. At 3600 rpm steady enough the end of the stroke will leave a rib there. At higher rpm the extension of the stroke is further up and down the cylinder wall so suddelny increasing the rpm means the rings hit that rib, which can damage the piston ring and/or cylinder wall. That of course leads to less power and oil loss. This very microscopic of course and only great magnification sees anything but broken rings.
When competition or rebuilt street engines are 'broken-in' they are programmed to be run over a range of rpm, but not steady rpm. The range, and the rate at which rpm is changed, depends on the service intended. And in most cases the range is increased over time so that at the end of break-in the full range is covered, usually with less time at the extremes of rpm but fully covered.
Manufacturers don't have that luxury of time so they do a quick check and depend on the customer to finish breakling in the engine, mostly rings and bearings.
As far as flushing the assembly debris is concerned by time you've driven 1500 miles you've pretty well flushed any debris out into the oil pan or filter. Unless you let it idle and did drive the car reasonably the rpm doesn't matter than much.

 

Thanks to all the folks who replied. I understand the need/requirements for breaking in an engine properly. But IIRC, the manual says 600 miles (965km), not 3,000 (4,800km). Can't remember what my 1982 Civic needed, but I think it was at least 1,000 to 1,500miles (1,600 to 2,400km)...

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as the stroke being longer at high RPMs, unless you have some sort of variable stroke (length) engine, the difference (IMHO) is probably on the order of a few hundred-thousandths of an inch, at most.

Cheers,

-JerryGTD

 

The longer strokes at higher RPM doesn't make sense to me. higher rpm just means the engine doing the same thing faster for a given time. There may be a slightly more momentum as the pistons swing up due to the faster velocity. But it's all metal so it shouldn't stretch that much if any(we're talking microscopic levels). I believe recent cars don't have break in periods because of the better manufacturing precision.

 

I'm at a little over 5K and 40% oil life... would a trip to Jiffy Lube void my warranty?

 

The stroke has nothing to do with break-in. Its the number of times the rings 'file' away on the cylinder wall. Higher rpm = more strokes of the 'sandpaper'. Eventually the cylinder wall and ring get a more perfect match that no manufacuring technique can duplicate. And why after a good break-in, the engine has less friction and gets both better speed and mpg, though not necessarily simultaneously.
Metals under thrust forces indeed do stretch. Though yo cant see the change in the stroke with the naked eye, the microscope can. And so does the piston ring when its asked to travel a tiny bit farther. The ring has to hammer its way thru the ridge. And it doesn't like doing it.

 

i chaged my oil at 12,xxx miles i when to dealership when it had 5,000 they wont let me change oil...lol so i just wait till 15% something??? lol

 

changed oil at 8000 miles (mobil 1 0w-20) oil meter at 40%.
blackstone lab anaylsis, said to try another 3000 miles,as oil life looked vary good.

 

It occurs to me that Honda Fit owners are the most paranoid group of people I've ever met (don't get me wrong, i hope to be a Honda Fit owner shortly).

If people are changing their oil every 3k miles it's because there is a conspiracy among oil manufactures to sell more oil. If the oil is changed ever 10k+ miles then it is a conspiracy among the car manufacturers to make their cars look tougher and superior.

I say do whatever lets you sleep at night, when I get my 09 AT Sport w/Navi in the coming weeks I plan on just listening to the computer, because I've grown up being very dependent on technology and I trust it. If you don't then that's fine, I know a lot of people that don't.

I do have one question though: does changing your own oil (and oil filter and rotating your own tires, etc) void your factory warranty? Thanks guys.

 

Paranoid comes from designing & building technological devices that people trust.

Plenty of real world testing indicates hydrocarbon based oils wear out - lose their viscosity and shear strength - ion about 3000 miles enough to deteriorate lubrication. Synthetics last much longer, at least 10,000 miles in usual driving. However, the problem with synthetics is the limited capacity of the oil filter to hold all the crap generated from combustion and airborn contamination. So a good rule is to change hydrocarbon oils and filter every 3000 miles and syntheitics every 6000 miles. Those of us who have dismantlled engines to examine part wear and analyze oil samples after races can attest to those limits.

Changing your owen oil and filter and rotating tires should not affect your warranty providing you actually do what you say so save those receipts.
I've seen far too many cases of engine problems caused by poor lubrication where owners swore they changed oil and filter every 3000 miles but even cursory examination proved they were lying.

 

One more data point, mine was at 5100 miles and 60% oil life yesterday - before I went and had the oil changed. 5K, even for the break-in oil, is a good interval for me, especially if it only cost me $26 and took 20 minutes at the dealer.

 

Isn't racing condition a little different from normal driving? Not many people I know that red line their engine at every opportunity.

There are also used oil samples that show dino oil can last past 6000 miles and even longer for synthetics. It's all depend on driving conditions.

Most of my trips are on the highway. I have been changing my Mobil 1 every 10K miles and oil filter every 20K miles. My 04 Civic had over 90K+ miles when I traded in. The engine never had a problem and averaged over 42+mpg for the time I owned the car. If most of my driving were stops and gos. I would have changed the oil sooner.

 

I changed mine at 20%, and I had 9700 miles on it. However, I live in a remote area and drive 25 miles to and from work. If I have to go to town (groceries, shopping, etc.) it's a good 40+ miles to the stores. All my driving is on highways.

I suspect the meter is BS, but it does make sense that (to me) that highway miles are better than the stop and go in the cities.

Oh, I use Mobil 1 oil and filter.