Just bought a 2012 Fit Base and love it so far! Have searched the threads for break in on the 2012 have not seen much. Any advice? Also, my dealer told me the 2012 uses new high tech synthetic oil and that all oil changes in the future will be more expensive that I am used due to the synthetic oil the Fit uses, that sound right to you guys?

Thanks!

 

I can't speak authoritatively on break-in, but as to the oil, Honda requires 0w-20 oil for the 2012 fit. It's available only in full synthetic and synthetic blend, but it is a bit more expensive than conventional oil.

 

1) Break-in oil
the manual says the break-in oil is different, and you should not change it early. You may go the entire MaintenanceMonitor interval on it.
There is debate and different points of view in this forum about when the actual break-in "completes" and if it's better to get whatever brokein out sooner, versus how much of the manual's recommendation is just a dumbing down of the complete oil interval . That being said, it seems no matter if people dumped the oil "early "(like at 1k miles) or later (up to the full MM interval) people's cars were OK.
The actual break-in itself, just drive normally. Don't baby it, don't thrash it, don't worry so much about it. You should be more worried when you get your first scratch or ding compared to the engine.

2)Synthetic oil
car requires 0w-20. It is synthetic, and is somewhat more expensive then conventional oil, but not extravagantly so. The dealership is feeding you partial truth and partial lies.
If you go to a parts store, off the shelf regular prices, you can find 5w-20 (conventional) for maybe $4/quart. You will find 0w-20 for $6-8/quart. Our car takes about 4 quarts, so at worse it is a $8 increase in price for the oilchange. If they are buying synthetic in bulk, the price difference is equally as low. If the dealer only buys conv. oil in bulk, perhaps yes there is a higher difference.

If you wait for sales, you will periodically find high quality namebrand 0w-20 synthetic for about $4-$5/quart perhaps bundled together with filter (so about than $30 for highquality oilchange package). Fair market price for oilchange labor-only should be around $20. So this puts your total at around $50 instead of $40 or so.

You should feel entitled to the option to take such parts to a mechanic and they will perform the oilchanges using your parts and charge you just labor.
Many oil change places will charge you excessively for the "upgrade" then what the parts costs them. On the other hand there are also "honest" mechanics who will only charge you the true difference in parts cost. (not to say the other mechanics are dishonest, but just more transparent about costs and profits).

Example: a mechanic around me is also an amsoil affliate garage; and buys amsoil by the barrel. Amsoil is a boutique oil that is even pricier than the namebrands you get at parts store. (I'm not commenting anything about quality differences, just purely prices and costs). However, he offers this "boutique" amosoil oil change for a fair price ($52 for 5qts) which is almost the same as his cost..

BTW upchages for upgrades is standard practice, don't feel you're getting fleeced. Apple does it- (an extra 8GB of RAM which has a parts costs of $20 can command a $150 premium). Same with a beer, it costs $1 at the supermarket, but $4 at a restaurant.

 

Changed our oil @ 5000 miles. 1st oil change used petroleum based 0-20. 2nd oil change used 0-20 syn. 3rd oil change went to 5-30 syn. Car is a 2012. I ran the car hard for the first 500 miles.

 

many other threads on this but as a point of reference, I change at the Maintenance Minder and have the Dealer use Mobil1 synthetic. Average Oil change is just under 10K miles. Cost per oil change at the dealer with M1 used to be $39, now $41. I'm almost to 40K miles on the Fit, the MM just came on and I will have spent a total of $160 for oil changes. Comes down to $.01 for every 2.5 miles driven.

~SB

 

i did not go to the maintenance minder.... because at 9,000 miles, i was still at 30% oil life.... no way im going 12k before an oil change. i bet the reason is i drive essentially nothing but highway. also, i work at acura, so oil changes are real cheap for me even for 0-20. and PS::: at acura, we do regular oil in bulk, then do quarts of 0-20 which ends up being an extra $20 to the customer for a 5qt change

 

I find the manual to be vague about when the first oil change should occur. Service manager at my dealer has repeatedly stated the first oil change should be at 3500 miles. Since I made it clear that I was "just asking" and would have my independent mechanic doing the oil change, I must conclude that he had no reason to feed me a line.

 

The manual says to change the oil when the car's maintenance minder says to. If the first oil change were supposed to be early (i.e. at 3500 miles), then the MM would say that.

 

who's got the manual handy?

I recall it being fairly explicit saying don't change the oil earlier then MM and not vague. although there are interpretations on the reasoning why and that's where the vagueness comes in.

actually, there's no real point in revisiting this horse, i'm sure it was all covered in previous discussion. change/don't change, people end up ok either way.

btw my service/sales advisor said exact opposite, During delivery, went over a few bits of the manual with us, and said schedule at 15%, don't come back until MM gets down to 0%, we like you, but we don't need to see you. Does this mean they're more honest? i dunno.

 

Break-in Period,

Help assure your vehicle's future reliability and performance by paying extra attention to how you drive during the first 600 miles (1,000 km). During this period:
● Avoid full-throttle starts and rapid acceleration.
We recommend using quality gasolines containing detergent additives that help prevent fuel system and engine deposits.
● Avoid hard braking for the first 200 miles (300 km).
If you notice any undesirable operating symptoms, try another service station or switch to another brand of gasoline.
● Do not change the oil until the scheduled maintenance time.

You should also follow these recommendations with an overhauled or exchanged engine, or when the brakes are replaced.

pg 198.

its only vague in that it doesn't call out a different schedule in the way that other cars do. But if honda thought that a 3000 mile first oil change were important, it would be pretty trivial to integrate that into the MM.

 

Just floor it

 

The prior comment is not helpful I'm afraid.

I can second all the comments about not changing the oil early, since it's in the manual. Honda wants to make sure the breakin oil has had a chance to deposit ... magnesium? ... on the inside of the engine and this won't be complete if an unscrupulous dealer takes advantage of you and convinces you to change it at 1500 miles. He might be just old fashioned, not unscrupulous, but either way Honda has a point.

Now .. EXCEPT in cases such as was referenced above where the driving is very easy and the MM is telling you to go far longer than you would expect. In that case I actually would recommend changing it before you get to 0%. That's my own personal opinion and my understanding of breakin oil - another function being to collect all the little tiny bits of metal that shave off the engine internally. I don't want that stuff running through the engine for TOO long. <Side note: VWs have magnetic oil pans to collect shards from the engine as it slowly self-destructs over the short life of the car - an indication of quality huh?>

I would personally be likely to change the oil after 7500 miles or so, if the MM hasn't asked me to yet. That's not what the manual says, so take that at your own risk. This is what I'll do, though.

 

Our Fit is 1 week old. We were told to bring it back at 5k for the first free oil change, window sticker too. I find this a good compromise.
It has extra moly in it and you will not find it except in Japan for initial motor assembly. I plan for another 5k till I move on to a full synthetic for 7.5k changes of a lot of local driving.

 

My 2012 Fit Sport has 5020 miles now. The vehicle is saying I have 40% oil life left. I called two Honda dealers and both told me different things. One was at 5k miles the other 10k miles for first oil change. I will contact Honda of North America to see what they have to say.

 

It's not like the manual doesn't cover this or isn't Honda's official word on the matter or anything.

 

Proving that cars are smarter than most dealers. Or at least more honest.

 

I did my first oil change at 15% on the MM and I was just under 5K

Hard break in for all my cars for the past 30 years.It all depends on how you drive and I do not baby my Fit.

I break in both new motorcycles and cars by driving in the canyons.It's fun and perfect for break in.Varying loads and not keeping a constant speed like on the hwy.

I always look at my oil on the dipstick when checking it.I can tell if it needs changing and this includes the almost clear full synthetic.

I just did my second oil change last week at just over 9K and again 15% MM

I will run it to 0% before my next change.My car feels quite a bit different then it did when new.I can tell it's breaking in and the adaptive learning is working it's magic lol

 

moly. Thank you not magnesium. Glad I put a "?" after it!

 

Amazon sells 0-20 Synthetic for $29 for 6qts and free shipping, for anyone that changes their own and wants to save some dough.