New fit owner. Got some Q's
 

Hi everyone my names Alex.

two days ago I bought a 2010 honda fit dx standard.
it's got 143,xxx km on it.
I really enjoy driving it.
My last drive I used a quarter tank of gas for 157km

I'm looking for advice on how to tell if I have an oil burn happening and anything else I should look out for.

it had an oil change 3000km ago and the mm says oil life is 80%

should I follow it's maintenance schedule for oil?

It also has some kind of vent attached under the hood on the right side above the battery. Any idea what it's for?

Alex

Alex:
1.) Attach a picture of the vent you are asking about.
2.) Do you see smoke coming out the tailpipe (engine running)? Do you see smoke in the review mirror when you downshift while driving? Do you smell oil in the exhaust gases? With high mileage, it is possible for some oil burning but might not be too bad if at all.
3.) Oil is a funny thing and following the MM depends on the oil that was used. MM assumes you are using the recommended 0W-20 full synthetic but MM doesn't know if you used regular oil, which may need changed at 3000 - 5000 miles versus 8000 - 10000 miles (numbers vary depending how you drive and the driving conditions).

Park the car somewhere where you will be able to see if it is leaking oil. Check the oil level regularly using the oil dipstick in the engine compartment; Once a month or so is probably ok if you don't think there are any problems. But if you think there is a problem, check it every time you put gas in the tank.

If the car is consuming oil and you don't see any evidence of oil leaking out, then most likely it is burning oil.

From what I understand (I'm a recent fit owner myself) the mm does not measure the oil level or chemically measure the oil in any way. It simply gives a computer estimation of when you should change the oil, based on the computers assessment of how you operate your car.

In order to give a correct estimation, the mm needs to be reset after every oil change.

Probably the "cooling duct", the fresh air/cool air duct for the engine. If you look at the back of the engine bay, you should see where the air filter intake is located. The duct under the hood routes cooler, fresher air back to that air intake.

https://www.hondapartsnow.com/parts-...ling-duct.html

Edit: You can see the cooling duct here: http://cdn3.volusion.com/mwmrj.hkpfq...jpg?1456661951

That would be my guess too. Alex, you may want to wipe the inside of the duct. It's probably not necessary, but the inside of it on my used 2013 with only 55,000 Miles was black with road crud.

Thanks for the replies. That is definitely the air duct I spoke of. As for oil it just had a change and 5w-20 was put in. The last owner also had the same type installed. It's cold here in Ontario now. Is 0w-20 still better for my engine?

Technically, 0W-20 would flow / pump easier / quicker around inside the engine on start up, thereby replenishing the coating of oil on all metal surfaces, especially in cold weather but 0W-20 and 5W-20 are so close, I wouldn't worry about. If you lived in Texas, I would run 5W-20 year round but I'd recommend going with 0W-20 year round in Ontario.

On the back-end, either oil's lubrication properties should last as long as the other's, so follow the "% remaining" display reading in Maintenance Minder on future oil changes intervals.

While parked on a flat surface, check the oil level (dipstick) and start checking it every month (if you had someone else change your oil, I would never drive the car off of the lot without checking the oil level first - too many horror stories about someone forgetting to finish the job and the engine gets ruined). You can then see if you are losing oil to burning it in the engine. Check the ground where you park to see if there are any leaks.

Best of Luck

I would also recommend you get the 0W-20 at next oil change and always get that for our awesome Canadian winters. Maybe for the summer time, and if you plan to drive it really hard or carry heavy loads you can put higher density oils, but I'm sticking with 0W-20 year round in mine.
Also if you notice that indeed it's burning oil, you can try 5W-30 (but not in the winter months).

As far as following the oil life % you still haven't said if you got full synthetic, blend, or dino oil.
BTW - the % is an estimated oil life remained. It's not the oil level - for that you check the dip-stick.
You might think you're burning oil cause it showed 80%. :)

At my last oil change I had driven 16,000 km (10K miles) on full synthetic and the MM showed 20% oil life. I sent a sample to Blackstone Labs for testing and the results showed I could have driven it up to 20,000 km. So in my case I'm getting about 2,000 km for every 10% oil life. I avoid idling and short trips. If I ever need to do a short trip, I'll just drive around another 5-10 min to fully warm up the engine.

My advice is this:
1) full synthetic - follow the MM down to 0-10%, or max 20,000 km.
2) synthetic blend - change the oil around 20-30% or about 15,000 km.
3) dino oil - change at 40-50% or 10,000 km.

* change the oil filter every time. Honda says you can change the filter at every 2nd oil change, but that's crazy IMO.

* if you drive on dusty roads, lots of short city trips, or rev it hard all the time, then change the oil more often.

To be honest I really don't know if it's synthetic or not. The sticker he put in the top left corner of my window says 4k from now I require a change which tells me it's not synthetic.

I only brought it to a shop the first time for all of this because my temp plate sticker was running out of days and it needed to be safetied and e tested so I had him do all the work together.

my plan is do so all required maintenance from now on myself for reasons relating to labor cost, trust of mechanics.

I will need to buy required tools I'm sure but an oil
change / filter change can't be too complicated.

I'll put 0w-20 synthetic in once I have reached the number listed on the sticker.

I'll search the forums for the stuff I'll need to change oil

Can you check your receipt and see how much the oil change costed?
In the $20-30 range, its dino for sure.
In the $30-50 for blend.
And $50-70 for full syn.

If you have a Costco membership in Ontario, you can get full Castrol synthetic & filter for $40+tax. You will pay more to buy syn oil & filter separately from Canadian Tire...

PS:
What kinda fishtank do you have?
I used to work in the fish department at a petstore for about 5 years, and had tanks for the last 20 years.

Low 20 for 38 yrs different fish by now

I don't have any fishtanks. Just a name I've used online for years

The owner's manual for my US 2010 sport doesn't seem to indicate they recommend or require synthetic oil - it just says "You may use a synthetic motor oil if it meets the same requirements given for a conventional motor oil". So I assumed the maintenance minder is accurate for dino oil. Is this different on Canadian Fits?

I get scared when following the Maint Minder (MM). I can go about 10,000 miles between oil changes. At that distance, I have to believe my 2011 Sport is thinking that I'm running synthetic oil. I'm thinking that dino oil wouldn't last that long.

The algorythm used with the maintenance minder takes into consideration the number of start stop cycles, length of time between the start and stop, engine temperatures, and a few more operating parameters. Frequent short trips without getting the engine good and hot will lessen the time between changes. Long highway trip cycles will extend the time between changes. The engine and math cannot determine if it is conventional or synthetic that is placed within. The factory math were based upon conventional 5w-20 motor oils. 0w-20 is a synthetic, and can offer better fuel economy, and a "safety factor" over 5w-20 conventional oils. Either will serve you and the car well if you follow the minder, and check the level regularly.