Hi guys i have had my Fit for a few months now and so far I love it. My problem is that I only live about 4.5 miles from work and about 5 miles away from my school. I am worried that on my short drives the oil never reaches operating temperature and I am shortening the life of my engine. Exactly how bad is this for my engine and is there anything I can do to help offset the negative affects from my driving habits?

 

...bad for engine, transmission, exhaust system........ The good news is that you have a Fit. I wouldn't sweat the things you can't change, like your short driving distances. Try riding your bike to work and school instead since they are only 5 miles away

 

Don't worry, there are people with far shorter drives than you.

If you don't accumulate enough miles in a years time to experience the oil change reminder (maintenance minder), change oil at minimum once per year (per owners manual) and follow time based services wherever necessary, you will be ok.

On the plus side, the engine oils we use these days are able to handle short trip driving and still protect the engine very well.




My daily is a 12 Civic with less than 30k on it. I live in the salt and rust belt. My work commute is only 5.6 miles each way, so it rarely gets to stay at operating temp for any extended periods. At this rate I'm sure if I keep my car long enough it will rust away before I could ever mile it out.
My GF is in an 07 Fit with around 225k or so and I went through the engine at 200k so I'm not worried about that in the least. It has rust along the bottom of all the doors already. I don't worry about that car having a problem near as much as I worried about her previous car leaving her stranded, it was a 2000 Saturn that used a lot of oil.

 

Thanks for the replies I will definitely be changing the oil very frequently. I guess im just being a little paranoid but I will probably get an oil analysis from Blackstone after my next change. My fit only has 75k miles on it but I plan to keep it for a very long time.

 

You will most likely need exhaust system components replaced sooner than most. This is due to the fact that the exhaust doesn't get hot enough long enough to boil the moisture off. Overall, go as long as you feel comfortable on the oil change and get a UOA from Black Stone. After that, base your oil change intervals off that.

 

Get you a 500 dollar knock around car, drive that to work, Keep the Fit in the garage. I also agree with bigdeezy.

 

@ bigdeezy I did read that premature exhaust corrosion is something that is more likely to happen to me but if that did happen I would probably just upgrade to aftermarket. @Corsair A 500 dollar beater would probably end up being a lot more trouble than its worth.

 

Maybe, but ive had some pretty good old cars, I realize I probably wasn't considering that the OP may not want or have the money for an extra car nor the mechanical skills to upkeep. Its just what I do.

 

Just take it out once a month all the way around I-285! That will get everything well warmed up and lubricated.

 

The short trips will also reduce the battery life and the longer weekend drives will help charge it fully.

Go out for an hour drive at least @ 60 mph every couple weeks and that will help offset the damage done by all your short trips.

I sometimes do this even without any destination, just cruising on the open roads outside my city. It's a tiny bit of gas money and personal time spent slowly over time rather than dealing with an expensive engine or exhaust system repair, and the cost of a rental car during during the repair.

I would recommend you only use full synthetic 0W20 oil due to the short trips.

PS:

DO NOT LET YOUR ENGINE IDLE in order to reach the operating temperature, hoping to solve your short trips.
An idling engine is considered severe running conditions, same as short trips, stop'n'go traffic, below freezing, trailer towing, dusty roads, etc.

 

I wouldn't idle for extended periods but a minute or so to get the oil circulated (especially if cold outside) sounds like a good idea to me.

 

Don't drive yourself nuts about this.

It takes only a few seconds to get oil circulating. In a mile your car is pretty well warmed up. (don't believe me? Turn on the heat in the wintertime after a mile's drive and you'll see)
I know the exhaust system isn't fully hot by then but so what? If you have to replace something in six years, you'll deal with it then.

Taking the car out for extra drives isn't a good use of money or time. But I'm sure that in any case every once in a while you'll drive somewhere ten or twenty miles away anyhow.

 

Sound advice. I am almost 8 years old with and HKS Exhaust which is still like new. Besides most of you will not keep the car that long.

 

Not for nothing but I kept my last new car for 17 years (90 Geo Prizm). It still ran great. I might have kept it even longer but someone gave me a 96 Camry. I kept THAT until I bought my 2010 Fit new. I hope to keep it for at least another 5 years.

 

The Jazz manual has time based maintenance recommendations that I tend to follow more than the MM on the car these days. Maintenance is cheap, lost time/aggravation from a breakdown is not.