Yep, I would idle for a minute though unless car is garage kept.

 

No need to feel stupid. 0w-30 will work fine but you might lose 1 mpg compared to 5w20 synthetic but still better than conventional 5w20 oil.

When you start the car it uses 1 gallon an hour and slowly leans out to about .45 gallons after 10-15 minutes. You have to be easy on the gas because it can richen up to 5 gallons or more and hour when accelerating. Ive seen it on the scangauge and have to be very careful not to give to much gas. You will notice that you dont have to press down on pedal that hard to accelerate normally. Most people just nail it and complain about bad gas mileage but dont understand how the engine and ecu works. I like the Scan gauge for that reason, just wish it showed more engine perimeters.

 

Next oil change I'll be making another change, the correct weight, 20 but with the effective 0w at start up AND the Royal Purple oil filter. While I'm at I'll be changing out the trans fluid too, anyone know how much trans fluid comes out when you drain it out

BTW, even notice that when you change the oil in the Fit it goes above the second dot on the dipstick? Why don't they just have a simple, criss-cross area like most other companies do?

 

I would use Honda trans fluid, after warranty's expired you can investigate synthetic trans fluid. I would wait till spring to change trans fluid, but its good until the MM says so. If you change it too soon the additives dont work protecting the trans. I heard the MM says around 50000-60000 miles so changing it at 30000 would be OK.

The dipstick must be a JDM thing.

 

Thanks Silver Bullet, the additive thing makes sense and with all my highway mileage I wonder if I should just wait it out but the service advisor at Honda said about 3-4 quarts comes out, that's kinda low to me

I remember when the dealership did my first oil change and I checked it the next day it was above the 2nd dot w/o an actual line to show you where its full. I'm just going to use a nail and make my own full line.

 

Links, data to back that claim up? ATF can and does wear out. Given Honda's track record with automatic transmissions in other cars, I'd err on the side of caution.

And a little tiny bit over the full mark won't hurt anything. Having a dry dipstick is what hurts things.

 

I had a 2004 Honda auto with over 50,000 miles before I trade it in. I had no problems and got a sold 38mpg life time, the only thing I did was change the oil and adjust valves once but didnt need it. I have over 30 years working and talking to mechanics about cars that my job takes me to. You should check the fluid levels every fill up, and only use Honda Z1 trans fluid. If you change the fluid too often it can harm the trans just as leaving it in to long.


Honda trans problems are more from higher output motors that run on the wrong gasoline and not developing a trans for the extra torque. The MM will tell when to change the fluid and if you go past 30000 miles and feel you should change it go ahead. Heres a link with the maintenance schedule http://www.williamsonhonda.com/Deale...nanceGuide.pdf . Keep in mind thats severe service and the dealer makes more money selling maintenance then when you bought the car.

Every situation is different and I doubt you tow anything with the Fit. Short Trips hurts the trans just like the motor oil, so that would mean shorter intervals and the person commute in question was 45 minutes which is long enough to heat up the trans and burn off any moisture in there which just like the oil allows long drain intervals. Oil related life experience, I knew some one and change his oil every 1000 miles and the engine seized up on the 3rd oil change and the mechanics at my work will leave the oil in longer than sooner.

 

What idiot changes his oil every 1k, can you get an empty gallon jug and collect that oil for me

The way I drive the car, drive 45 minutes to work everyday is probably just what the doctor ordered for a good, long life for my car. That being said though, at 30k, changing out my fluid in the trans, 3-5 quarts based on my other thread, really shouldn't hurt anything because if its 3 quarts that's what, 25% of the capacity of the trans roughly, right

I'm all about over maintaining my car, especially this car and to go a step further, the coolant is being changed out at 50k as well as the plugs.

 

He was doing that to flush the sludge that wasn't there. I was there at a stop when he changed the oil and talked to him. A few weeks later he told me it seized up. If you have a dirty motor changing the oil more frequently will help remove some of the dirt but you dont want to change it that soon.

30000 miles is a good time and keep all receipts because its then certified if you sell it. Save receipts for all maintenance and when you sell the car its worth a little more and its considered certified by dealer standards. I talk to my dealer about that and when I traded my Fit in they had one on the lot that was certified, same year just a little less miles. He got the same trade in for it but the dealer made 1500 more than when they sold mine.

 

I've heard putting in a little bit of trans fluid into the engine when its low right before you change the oil is good because of the degergents in the ATF, is this true? Also, when I was alot younger, I bought an 80' Cutlass that had sat for a long time and was told to run some diesel fuel in the engine and let it warm up and then change the oil, what do you think about that?

I will say, I had no issues with the car after that

 

Ive put trans fluid in place of oil in an emergency it wasn't much a half a quart and cleaned the engine good. My cousin still has the truck and is still running 20 years latter. I haven't done it to newer vehicles so dont know. Done the diesel too but not good in the results.

If you use good oil and gas, theres no need for ATF in the oil. Here is a good read about redline oil notes. Vintage Triumph Register - VTR

 

ATF doesn't have any detergents in it. It is a little bit thinner than old-school motor oils, so it seemed to work because it flowed better into the nooks and crannies that sludge built up in.

Diesel fuel in the oil also works for sludge. I've heard of running it for 5-10 minutes in heavily-sludged engines. It is followed by an oil change immediately after.

Changing the oil regularly is typically protection enough against sludge. If the sludge is serious, Marvel Mystery Oil or Auto-RX are two great products that will clean sludge.

With the Fit being so easy on oil, there is likely little chance of sludge unless you run the oil far longer than the maintenance minder tells you to, repeatedly.

I wouldn't put anything but 5w-20 or 0w-20 engine oil into your engine, unless you abuse the daylights out of it.

 

Heres what the additives in atf does. Automatic Transmission Fluid Additives - Driveline Additives - The Lubrizol Corporation

Automatic transmission fluid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It does work just like full synthetic oil and remember detergents cause knock because of ash over 1 percent. But you are only leaving it in for 5-10 minutes anyways at idle as a engine flush only using a half a quart.

I would not use it in car under warranty and only as last resort for an older car that might still be good. I agree the use of a good syn. oil is all you need.

 

Often even the best oil will "thin down" due to age or gasoline wash-down towards the end of it's time in your engine.

Check some of the Used Oil Analysis results for Hondas on BobIsTheOilGuy.Com

Used Oil Analysis - Gasoline - Bob Is The Oil Guy



So, I have used 0W-30 when it is on sale...no problems.

 

A forum to discuss oil, amazing and there's bashers about iron in the oil, even more amazing I read one thread where a guy with a Sequoia w/111k was told to go 22k on his Mobil 1 5w30 Extended Perf oil, maybe there is something to that EP stuff.

 

If your still under drive train warranty then I would stick to Honda ATF and if you change it yourself be sure to keep receipts and documentation. Just so they (Honda) can't be dicks about using another brand fluid and your transmission takes a crap for some coincidence.

On the bright side, Honda has recently came out with a synthetic automatic transmission fluid ( ATF DW-1) which is replacing the Z-1 and is backward compatible for automatics (except CVT's)

My first Fit ATF change is coming up at 30K so i will be using the new stuff.


ATF Z-1 is really not that bad as long as you change it every 20-25K miles, since it gets broken down by heat a lot quicker than other ATF.


My 94 Accord with 300k miles on original drive train can still spin tires at will.
Been using Mobil1 10w-30 (3-5k intervals) and ATF Z-1 (20k intervals) since i purchased it with 40k miles on it. No issues what so ever
Still get 25-30mpg regularly


Good luck



Clay

 

I just wish you could change out more than the 4 quarts that comes out when you drain it out, oh well, if that's what I gotta do, that's what I'm going to be doing

I do plan on getting the oil test kit from Blackstone Labs and seeing what they say when I do my oil change @10k.

 

Plus the quarter of a quart for the filter. I guess doing the Blackstone Labs is good once so you can see how your engine runs but what do you do if theres a problem at next sample. M1 is guaranteed up to the maintenance minder goes to 0. EP M1 is 15000 miles or 1 year. The price of the 2nd sampling you could have replace the oil. The old oil is recycled so it no wasted.

Doing the trans and getting it sampled would be good once to see how it wearing.

Having the oil sampled started with road trucks that use 44 quart plus (11 gallons) of oil and replacing it every 6-7 weeks costs alot on top of 4-5000 gallons of fuel in that time. So adding a bypass oil filter and sampling oil saved money and oil.

 

SB, when I said I wish more would come out I was referring to the trans service I will test this current oil that's in there, my first synthetic oil change and I will let them know that, along with the grade, oil and filter type, driving style and my road trips during this cycle, along with my daily trips. I will tell them of my intensions of my next oil change and what I plan on changing to also. I'm at 6,400 miles right now, so I've got a little while to go, my MM is at 40%.

 

It works for both so I left it. I was investigating UOA's and it seems the problem is with filtration, not filtering the soft metals out like cooper ,lead , iron(which should not be a problem in a Honda).

I am interested in more info about the new auto fluid honda came out with.

1st they came out with Gf-5 oil which you cant find and now dw-1 trans fluid and then E15 which can only be use 2007 and newer. What next?