15% oil life light came on @ mile 8260. Had the Fit for 53 weeks & now it lets me know - time for 1st oil change. Honda dealership 10 minutes from apartment. Calling in the morning for appt. Glad they start service dept @ 7:30am. I go to work @ 10am.

 

Just so you know... this is what the manual says.

 

That extra week kills ya.

 

I let my first change go over a year. I finally relented at 20% (9500 miles). I'm convinced Honda puts the year in there to cover against something going wrong with the MM and someone going 40k miles before they discover something is wrong, then suing Honda because the MM didn't tell them to change the oil. So 53 weeks? Yeah, I wouldn't sweat it.

 

oh wow.. i didnt know ur supose to wait that long until the first oil change.. ive been changin oil every 3k miles... and im not supose to do that :O .. .so how long can i last with out changin the oil ????? more than 3k miles ???????? and more than 3 months ????

 

read the manual. And read the numerous threads on oil changes... that should answer your question.

I went about 9K on the 1st oil change and 10k on the 2nd.

~SB

 

Some reading and various opinions.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...il-change.html

I just go by the manual. 15% or one year, whichever comes first.

 

thanx guys.. bt on that topic theyre talking about syntetic oil.. i dont use that i still go with the regular.. a mechanic told me that syntetic messes up ur engine lol

 

You know what can mess up an engine? An ignorant mechanic.

 

You all forgot the several months your car sat on a boat, and on the dealer lot...so the factory fill is WAY older than 53weeks if you are starting with the day you took it home.

But regardless, don't worry about it.

 

My dealer explained the MM and service intervals to me during car delivery (I suppose they are an honest dealer not trying to push 3k/3mo OCIs).

If your dealer did not do the same, I suggest you read your owner's manual cover-to-cover which may save you money from avoiding unneeded maintenance.

 

You're right about the boat time but it was at the dealer only a matter of days. But yeah, I'm not really concerned about the year thing anyway.

Btw, when the dealer changed the oil, they put one of those reminder stickers on the windshield and it had no mileage. Just said to come back when the MM is 15%.

 

Well, it was more like, I was worried she might let the car go two or three years or however long it takes to get to 15% without changing the oil.

53 wks, only because she saw the 15%, not because she thought "oh, one year is up, I'll go change it this weekend." There's a difference.

 

In my opinion, 8260 miles is wayyy too long to wait.

 

Why? 3000 mile changes are from the day when engines had major issues after 3 or 4 years, machining/manufacturing wasn't anywhere near as reliable and vehicles still ran on leaded gasoline. Oil & manufacturing technology have improved immensely and it's not like honda doesn't know what they are doing. They are the largest manufacture of engines world-wide.

I think we've yet to see an oil analysis that shows that 10k miles is too much. every one that i remember says the oil could have easily gone 12K or 15K miles.

This ain't Dad's Shelby GT500

~SB

 

reguardless i agree with him. i did my first oil change at 2.5k then again at 6k. you can't seriously sit there and tell someone their wrong for doing whatever prevenative maintance they feel they need when they need it. its call prevenative maintance for a reason. if as long as they do it before shit happens its always a thumbs up from me. Also just because its not the 60's doesn't mean engines no longer burn oil. i doubt honda's "maintance minders" actually have anything to do with actual oil level or oil conditions.

 

I am not looking to get too invested in these exchanges anymore but I will throw some fuel on the fire and say this.. I change my oil based on how much fuel it has consumed.

Anyone care to guess why?

 

If you plan to keep your car past 100-150k, then doing more aggressive preventive maintenance may be advisable. This would involve doing oil changes and transmission services more frequently.

Based on what I have read on here, I have reason to believe that the Maintenance Minder system on the Fit is less sophisticated than other models. Why? Because it seems like everyone gets about 10k before needing an oil change. On other Honda models, the intervals vary significantly. For instance, my friend's 2009 Fit currently has 4500+ miles since the last service, yet the Maintenance Minder shows 70% left. More than 1/2 of those miles are from short trips.

If you plan to keep the car for a long time and use conventional oil, then changing the oil about every 5,000 miles is probably a practice to consider. If you use a super-long-life full synthetic, then following the computer is probably OK...though even then I would still change it at least every six months to remove the contaminants.

 

Honda specifically states to leave the original break-in oil until the MM shows 15% or one year. By changing it at 2500 miles--when your MM is likely is what? 70%? You're not doing your engine any favors. And I'm listening to Honda on this over anonymous Internet posters, thank you very much.

 

A colonoscopy is also preventative maintenance too but I think there's rarely a need to have one done more often that the doctor recommends. Doing oil changes before the MM tells you is wasteful, bad for the environment, and is throwing money away and as nothin said, doing the first oil change soon can be detrimental to your engine's longevity. Also, this "feeling the need" to do an oil change is based upon how many years of training in the chemical field surrounding oil and oil analysis? why do people "felel the need" around 3k miles? because that's what we were told to do by our fathers & grandfathers. Engines don't burn oil at anywhere near the same rate as those cars from the 60's & 70's. The proof is in the oil analysis that have been done.

The engine doesn't monitor oil conditions as there are no sensors but Honda knows engines and they know oil. They also know likely 99.999999% of driving conditions and have programmed THAT to be monitored by the computer (MM). When you know all of the variables, you can determine the outcome and this is what the computer is doing.

There is a reason a number of us are around 10K. because we bought the car as an economy commuter and use it that way. There are also others (Evil - chime in here) who have had the MM drop to 15% at under 4K, 5K, or 6K miles due to their stop/go driving conditions or because the car has been tracked. This would be similar to stating being surprised that Prius drivers are averaging 50mpg. (that's why they bought the car). As for your friend's Fit. They may not as short of a trip as you'd think. The L15 doesn't take long to warm up. Our Ridgeline goes about 6K between changes and a number of the trips are less than a mile (2x-4x a day). My wife isn't hard on the vehicle and it does get to stretch it's legs weekly for about 10-15 miles.

~SB