Hi,
Ok, first off, I love my Fit (09 Sport), but I think the oil life computer is a joke. I was told at the dealership that it measures the viscosity of the oil and then adjusts the % of life left based accordingly. If that was true, that would be totally cool because I usually use synthetic. However, I think it's a little too coincidental that when I reached 1k miles, it dropped to 90%, 2k miles - 80%, 3k - 70% and now I just rolled over 4000 miles and guess what? Like my odometer, it automatically switched to 60%. That makes it worthless in my opinion. (I would rather have an outside temp gauge than this.)

Anyone else have the same experience?

 

Well, if you have driven 4K miles then sure, why would it not make sense? Question is, will you keep it in sync like that because I believe we have to reset the oil life meter ourselves. If you don't do that right away, then it'll be thrown off with how many miles you've done, but will still record accurately according to what you have described.

 

Mine worked nothing like you have stated, I was at 50% oil life with 6400 miles on the car. Went ahead and changed it while I had the car up on the stands.

 

The oil life meter doesn't count miles and doesn't measure anything in the oil. It keeps track of engine revolutions. you've most likely been driving the same way this whole time which is why your oil meter is going down consistently. Just change it at 5000 or 7500 with synthetic and your good. The oil life meter is pretty pointless, as well as the extremely optimistic mpg gauge.

 

were at 80% with 1300 miles.

/thread

 

Yup, what he said. Honda has a video about it and the maintenance minder system on the internet. I saw it when they e-mailed me with an online login for vehicle service. They specified that if run the car at higher RPMS, it will drop the % faster.

 

Hmmm, I'm not experiencing that. At 3k and now 4k miles, I've watched the oil life gauge switch at 2999->3k and 3999->4k...exactly. (I do mostly city driving, but have taken several trips on the highway so the RPMS vary.)

Maybe this is something I need to bring up to my service rep?

 

Stop doubting your faithful steed. Shoot, I wish mine would stay consistent lawlz. I want to change oil every flat number if it allows me :P

Instead, worry about rock chips and bugs. Keep her clean for everyone to drool about :P

 

I'd chaulk it up to bizarre coincidence for now. Just follow the maintenance guidlines and wait for a time that you take a road trip or something to break up the routine.

 

also remember that we're not in the early days where we had to change oil every 3k miles or 3months. that's more like propaganda by your local jiffy lube imho so they get more business.

just follow the car's oil indicator as manufactured. you're
just wasting good oil and increasing waste if you change it
more frequenty. i would either do this:

follow the indicator or change oil once a year using synthetic.

 

I don't think so. Although I agree that once every 3k miles might be a bit much, once a year is a bit of a stretch. In this car, I plan to change the oil whenever I see that it is dark-dark brown or black. In my other car which I drive much more aggressively, I change every 5k miles. Synthetic oil. Micron filter.

So far, I'm still on the factory oil at 5k miles. According to the gauge I'm at 60%, but it's still a nice brown color.

 

any real concern with oil % minder

send example too blackstone lab's. it's well worth the money

 

Not to start a debate on synthetic, but I used to have a Toyota Tacoma. I used to drive over 60 miles (highway) to work each day and I used nothing but AmsOil. I used to change my filter once a year and the oil twice a year. For 155,000 miles I NEVER had any engine issues. Ran like a charm from day one.

Now that I have my Fit, I was going to go back to AmsOil after this first oil change, but then if I change my oil once (or twice) a year, I void my "Free Tires for Life" plan. Not sure that it's worth the free tires to have to go back every three months or so and drop $$ on the dealer's oil changes.

 

50% with 6k miles... checked the oil a couple weeks ago, still looks fresh.

 

I also am at 50% with just over 6k miles.

 

I was told "free tires for life" as well.....as long as I do oil changes plus a few overzealous "routine" maintenance items at the dealer.

This is likely a dealer's attempt at establishing a "relationship" with us, so that they can get more opportunities to push other services as often as possible throughout ownership.

Adhering to all guidelines of the free tires for life program will almost certainly cost a lot more in the long run, any way you slice it. Bottom line is that if it were a good deal for us, they wouldn't offer it.

 

Conventional wisdom in days gone by was 'detergent oil color really doesn't signify'; it usually gets dark pretty quickly in any event.

Of course, conventional wisdom was also 'change at 3k'.
I've been trying to treat this car as an appliance, so I'll change when the electronic nanny says I should.
Moon

 

I once had a job doing an oil life trial for a major synthetic oil manufacturer. Unfortunately, most of the cars only made it 4000-5000 miles before it was time for a change (based on dispersancy, depletion of additives/cleaners, etc). We were hoping to demonstrate the 8-10k advertised life, so this was disappointing. It also varied significantly by engine--some older ones needed a change around 3k, and as best I can recall even the new ones were in the 4k-7k range. Granted, it was back in 1998, but given that the same oil life claims were being made back then, I am skeptical that life is anywhere close to the manufacturer claims that many now accept as truth.

 

there is a few people on here that think this meter
should be called a BSM instead. you all know what
I mean.
right now I'm at 7k miles and it says 50% lol
now thats a joke. at that rate it looks like
14k miles for first oil change.
this is the Biggest BSM i have ever saw. lol.

I'm so glad i did my oil change a long time ago.
just better off changing it sooner than later.
it is peace of mind.
just my .02 cent

 

I don't know about you guys but I am NOT going to follow the maintenance Minder for Oil Changes.

I am young, but still a little old school in my thinking. I do NOT believe that oil should only be changed once or twice a year the way many of us are driving. Worse, are asked to do this with just conventional oil.

Sorry, but I NEVER owned a car where I let it go past 3K miles on dino oil or 5K miles on synthetic. NEVER.

The oil in our Fits (like all other cars) is not sealed from the elements. It will develop moister and other contaminants just from sitting there let alone all the driving that we do and temps that we do it in.

I bought my Fit in November of 2008 as a daily driver and I already have 4K miles on her and the oil is still showing 70% life. At that rate, I wouldn't be asked to change the oil until I reach 8K or 9K miles which I believe is WAY beyond what conventional oil should be asked to do.

I honestly think that Honda just wanted to show that their cars produce so little waste in hopes of achieving a high rating with CAFE Standards.

At 5K miles, I will be switching to Royal Purple (like all my other cars) and changing it every 5K there after, even if the maintenance minder says that my oil life is still at 70%.

I don't lease my cars, I buy them and take REALLY good care of them and, so long as they treat me right, keep them for a long time so I have no problem doing a bit of "extra" maintenance for them.

Just my 2cents.