Amsoil and oil filter question
 

Hello all,
I have a Fit 2009 sport model manual with 65,000 miles on it, mostly driving the highway in Florida.

The car still is running great and I did not have any issues with it. I do my own oil change and I currently use Mobil 1 5w20 oil with K&N filter which I change when the car computer states so (~10,000 miles).

I would like to switch to Amsoil signature oil and do only one oil change per year. Below are my questions:

1- what type of oil. Amsoil recommends 5w20, but some are using 0W20 (should be OK for Florida), 0W30 and 5W30. What oil would you recommend?

2- For the filter, Amsoil recommend Ea15K13 but this filter is rated for 15K miles. Does that mean that I need to empty my oil into a clean container, change the filter and then pour back the oil in the engine?

3- There used to be the Amsoil filter EaO-13 good for 25,000 miles but it has been discontinued as well as the EaO-20 (discontinued in 2010). Is there an equivalent filter out there? Would the K&N do the job?


As for things I had to change on my Fit: changing gear knob that fell apart and skirt.

Thanks guys!
Hydro

As far as the oil is concerned, there really isn't much of a difference between 0W-30 and 5W-30. They both have the characteristics of a 30W oil so you won't see any change.

except better protection on start up and marginally better fuel economy.

all are fine. I don't think you'll notice a difference. Up north, in sub freezing weather I'd probably go with 0W20. In Fl I'd go with either 0W20 or 5W20. Honda recommends 5W20 in 09s and started using 0W20 in later years, probably as the price of synthetic went down. Here in GA I switched to 0W20 in my 09 and noticed a bump in MPG (but this coincided with new tires, so it's hard to say if the oil viscosity had an effect).

Not sure I understand, but I would never ever consider changing an oil filter and not changing the oil. That would be silly. Honda recommends a filter change every other oil change (but filters are cheap, and easy to change. I change mine every oil change).

Any quality oil filter will do the job for 20K miles. The rest is just marketing. But change it every oil change. Why leave more dirty oil in there than you have to for a few dollars?

Answer to Steve244:

There is a discrepancy between the amsoil signature recommended oil change which is 25,000 miles and the current filter Ea15K13 rated for 15,000 miles.

There is a truck driver who drove 400,000 miles without changing the Amsoil oil and its engine after inspection showed normal wear compared to the other engines of the fleet that had regular oil changes. Only the oil filter was changed. This makes me think that the oil was drained in a clean container and then put back in the engine to change the filter... Although, I recall now that for diesel engines, the filter is high and there is no oil drain when removed.

Most people who had their Amsoil oil analyzed after a year had their oil perfectly fine and not needed to be changed. The color of the oil has nothing to do with the fact that you can still use it.


Since Amsoil discontinued its 25k miles rated filter the EaO-13, we are left with no other alternatives. The reason of the change was because of some pressure built up in the filter with some Toyota engines. Amsoil thus removed the EaO-13 and alternative EaO-20 from the market in 2010. Several threads on the Internet discuss about that.

I do not want to throw away perfectly good oil just because I make an oil change.

Please advise. But look on the Internet the oil analyses, the amsoil signature oil after a year (and some had 35,000 miles of used oil) showed no problem at all with the oil. Amsoil really put some great additives to their oil.

Also, you guys want to check this oil comparison. The results with Mobil One are abysmal! Scary.

http://www.animegame.com/cars/Oil%20Tests.pdf

I'm afraid I have no explanation for Amsoil's marketing hype and disconnect between filter and oil change intervals. Try emailing them.

No car manufacturer is going to honor your warranty if you don't change the oil according to their recommendations (that of the MM or 1 year, whichever occurs first).

Since you're out of warranty (drive train > 60K), do whatever you please with your oil and filter. I'll follow the MM...

i only use factory filter and mobil1 silver cap on my cars. never had an issue.

i suppose if you do a lot of track events it's worth getting fancy oil and filter, but for those that track their cars they also change oil more frequently...

just stick to normal and spend your money elsewhere.

Filter cost is not really an issue here. I want the best filtration for a total of one year or 25,000 miles on one filter. If the filter gets all clogged and by passed at some point because it is clogged, then I can actually damage my engine.

As for warranty, yes, I do not care. The car was all paid for after two years and the warranty expired at the same time (after two years).

I am obliged to drive that much per year (~25,000/year) and want to eventually improve mpg (I already have done everything possible for that including driving at no more than 65mph on the highway, the right tires and inflation ==> 37 mpg calculated), decrease my engine wear and oil change.

Amsoil signature with the right filter seems to fit the bill. Maybe I will stick to my K&N filter then.

Best.
Hydro.

Well then, good luck to you sir, looks like you've got it under control after all. :wavey:



PS you don't need to drain the oil if you're only changing the filter. Just take the filter off. You will need to top off the oil slightly because you will lose the oil already in the filter when the pump shut off, but it will not drain out of the filter location without the oil pump running.

yah, really. the guy sounds like an advertisement.

Not at all. Ph.D. limnologist. Thank you all!
Best.
Hydro.

ahhhh, thanks for keeping our waters clean. :D so that's why you're the Hydro.

i was thinking you were a Prima Hydro fan like me. :rotfl: hahaha.

Glad you checked out what a limnologist is. :vtec:
Best,
hydro

why are you quoting a source from an anime game site for an online magazine? The actual magazine retracts what they said in a later article. link and took down the original (which I guess explains your cite).

Here's a quote:

Use what ever oil you like, they all meet or exceed manufacturers' specs. Ditto for filters.

Change whenever you want. It's your car.

I'll go with the Honda engineers that wrote the maintenance minder's logic.

filter and oil change update
 

All. I am reviving this thread to let you know that I have now been using exclusively amsoil oil with one oil change a year with an average mileage per year of about 22500 miles. My car is now 6 years old and it still runs very good and does not burn any oil. Very pleased with Amsoil. I now use their filters as well. Cheers to all.

Out of interest, were you able to establish whether you could swap filters without draining the oil? I have been able to do this without difficulty in my Saturn S-Series (Red Line in the crankcase for about 8000 miles, currently on its third filter), but the filter mount seems rather low on the Fit.

Over 200,000 miles and still running strong with Amsoil
 

Just wanted to share for the skeptics out there that I just have over 200,000 miles on my Honda Fit sport 2009 using the one year or 25,0000 miles oil change using amsoil oil. I still lose about 1/4 of the oil over a year and the engine still sounds great. I do not feel I have lost compression much.
Overall, and besides oil and filter changes as well as tires, I have changed my shocks and break pads (and I tow). The AC also had to be replaced once (I live in Florida). I hope to drive another 100,000 miles and will drive it until it dies. I will be buying another Honda (and likely a fit) again. Great investment and car overall.

Nice. I did over 30k on Mobil 1 and a fram filter. No issues either.