I see in the upper corner of my windshield a Pennzoil 0W-20 sticker reminding me of an oil change due soon. I thought Honda put their own oil in their new cars. I'm assuming the dealership changed it to Pennzoil when it arrived on the lot. I'm curious as to why they would do that. I also have oil change coupons from the dealership and they state Pennzoil oil will be used.

Is Pennzoil 0w-20 considered a superior oil to Honda oil?

 

Honda does not make their oil. They buy the oil packaged in their "brand".
It most likely is Pennzoil in a Honda container.

I can state emphatically that VAG uses Quaker State full synthetic for their common rail TDI.

The thing to remember when it comes to engine oil that you use the weight/ grade of oil prescribed in your owners manual.
When it comes to my Fit I just had my first oil change and I had the "stealership" use the Honda full-synthetic. The service guy quipped.." You know that once to put in a synthetic that I can't go back to conventional oil "

I just politely told him that's what I plan on , thank you.

 

No dealership is gonna pay money to their techs and oil suppliers to dump perfectly good brand new fresh oil out of a brand new car.. That would be insane.

It's just a sticker. dealers can get them from many sources.
Would you prefer to see an oil sticker that says AutoZone in the windshield?



Some dealers spend money on special printers to make custom stickers with the dealers name and logo and whatever they want.
Some dealers use whatever stickers are the cheapest (FREE)...
("Whatever is cheapest" applies to an awful lot in the business)

My local dealer normally uses stickers that say 'Honda motor oil' on them but hand write everything else on it.


My dealer service mgr people just found a sticker printer that came from Pennzoil many years ago...all the stickers that came with it have their brand (Pennzoil) on them. They are exactly the same as a SpeedyLube sticker.
Because the stickers and machine were FREE guess what is getting used..
The Honda logo stickers don't fit in the printer.


Also.....Dealers can buy whatever flavor of oil from whomever they want and dump it in your car during a service. Maybe you should inquire about this prior to having an oil change performed there.
Even if their bulk supplier is a Pennzoil distributor, they should have Honda labeled bottled oil available upon request.

The distributor who delivers the bulk oil to my dealer has Conoco-Phillips on the side of the truck.

 

Pennzoil Platinum w/ Pure Plus synthetic 0w-20 is a very good oil . Use it in the '11 FIT since new . Honda oil is made by Kendall . MOBIL 1 A.F.E. 0w-20 is good choice too .

 

Honda certainly doesn't add a Pennzoil sticker to their cars. Dealers do, though.

On a new Fit, the sticker shouldn't remind you of anything. The Maintenance Minder does that. Dealers can recommend anything they like to pump profits, and oil changes are major profit for them since it gives them an opportunity to upsell you on other unneeded services.

 

Or if your like me and prefer to use oil analisys to find out how many mies are good on your car you can ignore the dealer and honda..

 

On my new car inspections I install a reminder sticker that simply says oil change is 'due at 15%'. The sales department might tell people 3000 miles, 5000 miles, or absolutely nothing for all I know (because half of them have no clue what the maintenance minder is either), my hope is that this way the buyer might have some sort of clue what to do when that mysterious wrench light finally pops on and the display says 15%.

Some dealers hit you hard every time, some don't. Some upsells are genuinely needed, some may not be (wallet flushes).

Caveat Emptor.

The oil change itself is typically priced as a 'break even' service or a loss leader.

And all the JizzyLube type places operate on the same principle: The profit is in the upsells, not the oil change.

 

Thanks for the info guys. Since my first oil change is free at the dealer, I'll go ahead and get it done there. Afterwards I'll do it myself plus any other minor maintenance issues. I'm an old fart but I can still twist a nut off.

 

First off, NO you don't need to follow the manufacture's weight spec for oil. You do though for the API grade level for oil, which currently is "SN".

The weight of oil that Honda specs is 5w-20. You can run any weight you want if the API is "SN" or the last API version "SM for 2010 and older". I would stick to 5w series though. 5w 30 and 5w 40. The ONLY reason they want you to run 5w 20 is for THEIR CAFE standard. Modern day oil is all good, but some still question long term wear (200,000 +) with the lighter oil. Most never get their and our oils are so much better now it is no real issue. I myself still run ONLY 5w 30 in all my cars when they are speced for 5w 20. I will give up the .003 in mileage.

Also there is no reason you can't go back to regular dino oil after synthetic with modern day synthetics. That was for the very first synthetic oils that had those problems.


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A blend is synthetic with conventional oil . They vary in ratio . Last I knew , Kendall and Motorcraft have a 50/50 or possibly 60 (syn) /40 ( conv.) blend . Honda has a blend , I think that's Conoco / Phillips ( Kendall , Mototcraft , etc. ) . Thus , you can switch from syn to conventional or other way around without consequences .