I would try a one year change interval -- and then pull an oil sample a send it to Blackstone for analysis. Based on their analysis of how the oil is holding up - you can make an educated call on what interval is best for your driving patterns.

 

yah, but for a fit? i wouldnt care honestly..

 

You have pronoun dyslexia - you've confused what you care about with what I care about.

 

Oh, oh, Conan the Grammarian strikes again. I don't think punctuation and pronouns fall in his bailiwick, but what the heck.

 

You made me chuckle - thx.

Actually, if you plan on keeping a vehicle for a good long time, $28 for an oil analysis is a great/inexpensive way to see what's actually going on with the motor. If you're running synth, you can EASILY pay back the $ with extended change intervals without risking any damage. Even for a Fit....

 

Are you suggesting changing the oil when the lab report says the oil has reach a threshold? It is a great strategy if the analysis were cheap enough. I wonder if some do-at-home oil tests would be informative enough.

Poor man's oil analysis

 

Precisely.....just like almost all fleets, especially diesel trucks, do. Analysis drives interval.

 

Here's the baseline report on mine -- the home kits don't really even come close to providing this kind of detail.

 

It's a personal decision.
And things have changed over the years.
When I was younger, and there was far less availability of good synthetic oils, nearly everyone changed their Oil every 3000 miles.
It was expensive and kind of a PIA to worry about so often.
Today?
I follow the maintenance minder. But I do follow it. And I don't cheap out when I finally do replace the oil.
The way I look at it, engines very, very expensive, Oil Changes comparatively cheap.

 

Lots of highway miles lately - I was 8300 when my 6 month/30% life left change occurred. With 0w-20 Mobil1 the analysis indicated viscosity and all other factors were just fine with the oil. Using the car this way with this oil - 1 year/12k mile changes wouldn't hurt a thing.

 

I've always gone by mindset of "the cheapest preventative maintenance you can do to an engine is changing your oil" I use synthetic myself and after popping the rocker cover off and looking at the engine (with over 195,000km) it looks brand new. I wouldn't consider it a waste of time to service it a couple times a year, or a waste of money. Oil does turn acidic and degrade after time sitting in an engine, but for $70/year... piece of mind comes free of charge. Don't let anyone tell you that you're wasting your money.

 

Send your oil in for analysis at 6 months if they say its good, do it again at 9 to 12 months, the labs can usually identify exactly how contaminated the oil is, once you've done it a couple times you'll know for sure how YOUR driving affects the motor.

Once oil runs it starts collecting the blow by from combustion, as long as the oil additives are in good shape its fine but it does age and all kinds of random stuff affects how fast, Humidity, temperatures, etc..

 

I don't know how cheap service is in the USA, but in Canada, an oil change with a quick global inspection costs about $70, so I'm suspicious that for $35 the dealer might not have changed the oil every time.

Otherwise, if it comforts you to have the tire pressure and battery checked every 6 months, I think it's worth the $35 even if the oil is still fine and the car won't fall apart any time soon since it's only about 2 years old.

What's odd is that although the common rule was to change oil every 3-4k miles back then, my old Civic Wagon 1987 actually had the oil service scheduled at every 6k miles, as per the user manual.

 

Same here. I never did the 3-4k interval oil change. I did what the manual said - every 7500 miles. My '96 Tacoma engine has 422k miles on it and it still runs like the day I bought it. Never had a problem with it.