I have 2009 fit sport
purchased in august 2009
current miles 8200
oil life 40%

I thought it would have told me to change it by now.

 

I would change it now.

 

Well, I just got my Fit, and the head tech and several salespeople said it's completely safe going by the oil life reminder. If you're worried about it, rather than change your oil immediately (which probably won't hurt), just take your Fit to the dealership and ask them to check and make sure you don't have a problem causing your reminder to report falsely. (sensor?)

You're not supposed to change your oil until around 15% oil life (even that's only supposed to be an up-and-coming change reminder). But it seems to me 8200 miles and still at 40% oil life is a little generous of the system.

Then again, if you mainly baby your Fit I suppose it's possible. With every car I've owned I've always changed the oil at 3000 miles... certainly no more than 5000 miles. I guess maybe that doesn't apply to the Honda Fit, or maybe all Hondas in general. Honda seems to recommend long periods of time between oil changes.

I would have it checked out. Regardless, I would want to make sure my oil life function was working properly.

 

There are at least a gazillion threads about this on this forum, and everyone seems to have a different opinion. I've always changed my oil every 3,000 miles, but the dealer told me in no uncertain terms NOT to change the break-in oil early. I worried a lot about it but then decided that maybe Honda knows more about this than I do, so I followed the MM.

I finally did my first oil change at 10,000 miles, when the MM said 20%. Depending on how you drive, 40% at 8200 is not unreasonable. If you want the MM to drop faster, you need to do more of this:

 

First oil change I changed mine around 7K. Switched to full synthetic. Now I go by the MM. Just changed mine for the second time at 11K oil was 15%.

 

thanks guys, bye the way i forgot to mention, all of my miles are highway miles, and i pretty much drive it conservative due to so many speed traps..

 

I am driving nearly all highway, about 4800 miles, 60% life left...I am wondering the same thing!

 

Got my Fit last August as well. I'm driving mostly suburbs and some highway. At about 5,500, I'm at 30%. This perfectly reflects how my car is driven- not so much how I drive, but the typical trips I drive it on. You drive mostly highway and that is easier on the oil/engine, hence your numbers at better. Don't fret- your car appreciates your typical trips. In my experience, the oil life meter reflects quite accurately the typical trips you put it through, and I don't believe it has a whole lot to do with how you drive it but more so, typical distances, terrain, and average temperatures for your area.

Have faith and don't sweat it. You're doing fine. Like I said, I'm at 30% and my Fit is just getting better and better, INCLUDING gas mileage. All on my brake in oil. I'll change it when I'm supposed to and not feel bad about following the gauge.

Dan

 

Just to show you the other extreme, here's my story.

Bought my 2009 new in August, driving almost all city miles. The meter hit 15% at just under 3500 miles, so I changed it.

Currently I am just under 5000 miles and it is already down to 80%.

 

The mm in my Fit went to 15% at 6k, primarily suburban driving. It was deducting 10%/1,000 miles until winter hit, then it began deducting at a faster rate. Also, long idling will also seem to deduct oil life faster.

To me, the mm is operating as it should.

 

We just changed ours at the bottom end of 30%. It would have dropped down to the next percentage level during our trip so we decided to change it before we left. the car had around 9500 miles on it, was still reading 30% and we switched to full Synthetic. winters here can be cold and Synthetic on my integra smoothed out the engine. Dealer charged $38 for a full synth oil change and tire rotation.

~SB

 

I'll remember that "more of this: " thing!

Otherwise, it's amazing to me people are going so long between oil canges, and it would seem Honda is alright with it. I just hope the oil reminder isn't as false as the fuel economy readout reported before Honda gave an update for it.

Don't get me wrong... I don't doubt or assume it's wrong to wait that long. I'm just having a hard time with the ol' standard of changing your oil every 3000 miles, 5000 miles at the most. It was drilled into me by my dad when I was 16 and started driving.

What can I say... old habits are hard to break.

Maybe with the Fit I'll just stick to what the manual says to do.

 

IIRC the worst case scenarios of the fuel economy readings were like what? 10% off? So you can just err on the high side and still follow what's recommended in the manual and you'll be fine. Besides, somehow I think that Honda erred on the safe side with this where as reporting higher mileage does not cause any mechanical problems and improves the reputation of the car as more fuel efficient. OTOH, if properly serviced Hondas start needing major engine work before 200K miles, that would be very bad for their reputation. So I'd think they have that covered.

 

Just remember, your grandfather is probably the one that burned the "every 3000 miles" into your father's head. Engine (including oil) technology has most certainly improved over the last 20 or 40 years. The cars of the 1950's and 1960's needed a 3k oil change but today things are different. Remember back in the day when a tune-up was at 30K miles, now it's at 100K miles.

There's alot of people here and elsewhere that are stuck on the 3K miles. I think Honda knows better than they as Honda IS the largest manufacturer of engines. They also aren't going to jeopardize the reputation they've built in assembling the most reliable engines... bar none!

No actual facts here, just common sense... or my $.02

~SB

 

That's what I figured, as our Fit, also purchased August 2009, hit 15% @ 8300 miles. Don't worry about it; 15% or 12 months, whichever comes first. I bought from a dealer in Delaware, had the first change done by a dealer in Atlanta, and it was still a freebie. Enjoy, don't obsess.

 

Bought my 09 Fit Sport last July with 18 miles on the odometer and I just changed the oil today at around 8800 miles when the MM hit 15%. People who have never owned a newer car are the ones worried about keeping the 3K mile oil change intervals because it's just what they've always done. This isn't uncommon for newer cars, my friend's BMW gets oil changes every 8-10K miles and he drives the hell out of it so I'm not worried about our little 1.5 needing fresh oil that soon.

 

I got my 09 Fit on January 31st, 2009 and after a year of driving at 10,300 miles the MM read 30%. I was concerned about this and posted about it and was informed that regardless of what the MM says, Honda says you should change the oil if it's been in there for more than a year. So, I changed it at 10,500.

I really don't know why some people hit 15% after six months and someone like me it was taking forever? I guess it has to do with driving style, but even that is suspect because I do not drive this car like a granny. It's almost like the MM has a mind of its own. Well, I followed the recommendation due to Honda saying to keep the original oil in until 15% for purposes of engine break-in, but now that I'm past that period I'm going back to 7,500 mile oil change intervals, regardless of what the MM says.

 

So, I am worrying about this too. I have about 2.5k miles on my 2010 Fit sports and it says 80% still. When I got my 06 Nissan Xterra (the first brand new car) back in 2005, the dealer told me to come to the dealer for an oil change at no later than 3k miles because break in oil has to be out by then. Now the Xterra has about 70k miles and never had a single problem using 0w40 with premium gas (changing oil every 5k) But then every engine is different so...