I am just over 5K miles and the oil life meter is still at 60%. What does Honda recommend for the 1st oil change? I want to make sure the break in oil finish doing it's thing.

 

no milage, just 15% i think. but you might want to change it pretty soon.

in my case, i would change it once a year or at 15% which ever comes first... i dont drive my car that much these days.

 

I'm getting mine done this Friday. I'm at 7k miles and the meter still reads 50%. I told the dealership service depot that I'm taking a long road trip and they said it's fine to change it before it hit's 15%. They said as long as it's over 6500 miles it should be ok as that's long enough for proper break-in.

I was going to do it earlier when I was at 5500 miles and was going to take an earlier road trip and the meter was at 60% but the service depot said to wait.

 

i was going to do mine at 7500 but honda of Hopkinsville told me to do it when the mantice minder shows up at around 15% they told me some cars show up at 10,000 even as high as 16,000 miles i have over 8300 on mine right now and at 30% so ill just do what they tell me and if it hurts the fit thats ok because i have 100,000 miles to break it

 

now is probably a good time to do it.
check out this thread....
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...s-results.html

 

Wow, Mine will be changed at 5000km's max!

get that oil out sooner then later! It will be so dirty and full of shit by the time your talking it will do more damage then anything else.

 

I changed mine just yesterday, at 5900 miles. I don't believe in 3k, 3months thing unless ur car is a performance car. But I also don't believe in my maint. minder either. I guess it depends on the person. I personally feel more better changing my oil at every 5-6k miles.

 

Did mine at 1500 miles to clear debris from the manufacturing (namely motor casting) and initial break in. I'll likely change again at around the 5,000 mile mark, where I'll switch to synthetic and then follow the maintenance minder.

 

u can check ur oil % on ur car at any time ;
upto you if u want to wait 15% or almost 0% left
usually on new cars you dont have to get it done AS often as older cars

 

I'll change it at whatever Honda manufacture suggested (15%). They know better than any of us since they made the car and know what oil they are using. I think the oil analysis above doesn't convince me to change it any earlier since the break in oil might be working with shavings and debris to break in the engine. Again I believe the company that made the car knows best.

 

More than a few people in the past have found that manufacturer recommendations are not the best routine. Toyota had Camry engines sludge up. VW/Audi had sludge issue in the 1.8T since the manufacturer didn't recommend/require synthetic oil or shorter change intervals. Both of these happened to owners who used recommended oils and intervals.

Lots of things go into intervals/recommendations like these including cost of consumables, frequency of required maintenance, etc. Most owners like cheap and infrequent maintenance (no tuneups for 100k miles for instance), but that's not necessarily the best way to maintain the machine.

I think there's validity to running the assembly oil for a certain amount of time because of the high moly (in there for a reason I suspect). I think there's also validity to changing oil earlier than 7.5k-10k miles. If it's really early (less than 5k miles), I definitely go with another high-moly oil like Schaeffers. After 5k I think anything would do. I'm personally not comfortable running dino oil 8k-10k miles. As such, I ran the factory oil to 5k for breakin and changed to synthetic. YMMV... literally.

 

All good advice, just remember changing your engine oil frequently is cheap insurance.

First oil change between 5,000 to 6,500 Kms. should be fine, just make sure you check your oil level frequently. Some engines (for example, Porsche) burn quite a bit of oil during break-in period. Honda engines usually are pretty good, never had excessive oil consumption with Hondas.

I have had over 65 cars (no kidding) and never had any engine maintenance problems.

 

You're nuts to let a brand new engine go 5k before an oil change. I would change it at 1k, then 3k, then at 4 or 5k intervals.

When I put my engine back in my teg after getting it built, my builder recommended sending it through a heat cycle and then changing the oil. Then again at 500 miles, then 1k, then 3k. There's no way in hell I would go the first 5k on a new fit without changing the oil.

 

I don't think Honda wants our cars to break down and need engine replacements that would be covered by warranty since we followed the maintenance minders. It's in their best interest financially to have our cars last as long as possible following their guidelines.

 

Really, all this talk about oil chang intervals, break-ins, etc. is nearly pointless in this day in age.

Our motors were likely zinged to redline in every gear right off the assembly line (something that is not uncommon) to ensure both the quality of their construction and their claimed power output.

Working in an industry where fine tolerance are held in mechanical components, and where the level of quality both in materials and craftsmanship are quit amazing, I'm surprised we even worry about this anymore.

Change your oil early, cool. At 5k, fine. Want to wait longer? Do it. There's no way to quantify that anything we do is the right way. No one else's car has seen the conditions mine has, been broken in like mine, etc.

So long as you're on top of your maintenance in general, relax and enjoy the fact that manufacturing abilities have got to the point that if there was really something wrong, you would've known far before you worried about your first oil change.

 

Like MikeJet said Honda doesn't want to replace your motor under warranty so I'm pretty sure their suggestion of 1st oil change would be the ideal time to change.

txmatt, I've heard of those however, you would be surprised how many people don't pay attention to the suggested interval. I've heard so many people said "I had to change oil in the car?" OMG it's insane how people think that all they have to do is put gas in and drive it. I'm sure a lot of Toyota,VW/Audi sludge cars were neglected by their owner thinking it's doesn't need changing.

 

If Honda's powertrain warranty was 200k, I would buy that arguement.

At 36k, oil pretty much has nothing to do with it.

 

Honda drivetrain warranty, which includes the engine, is 60k 5 year. My wife and I have an extended warranty so it's not a big deal to me.