How accurate is the oil life indicator?

I'm at about 3400 miles and my light came on. I'm running full synthetic 0W-20.

Talked to the Honda dealer and they told me the oil life indicator is determined by engine conditions, though I don't fully trust his opinion.

I'm used to 7-10k miles before needing an oil change on full synthetic. Could anyone clue me in?

 

is that a used car or tracking it often? i dont remember on any of my fits (all bought new) it coming on at only 3400 miles..

just go by the obd, it goes go by many factors including rpm.

 

Someone probably forgot to reset the minder when the last oil change was completed.
The system has to be reset by hand, every time.

The minder system cannot directly monitor the condition of ANY maintenance item it tells you about.
It's all based on a model.
Oil change interval suggestions can vary greatly depending on your driving conditions.

 

Oh, didn't know it had to be reset by hand. I do the oil change and this was my first one on this car. I remember the oil life indicator going to 100% after I changed it out.

 

The system cannot reset by itself, there is no way for it to know the oil was changed until you reset it.


If you go ahead and reset it to 100% now, it won't be accurate because you already went 3400 miles on this oil change........but if you don't reset it then it will keep giving you the wrench symbol and the remaining oil life (or miles past 0) until you do reset it.

If you know how many miles you normally go between oil changes, you're probably safe to go that same distance again. Just keep track, check oil level and condition regularly and remember to reset the minder the next time you change oil.

 

YIKES! Better keep a pencil & paper record!


(We finally succumbed, and resumed doing things the 'old fashioned way'.) LOL

I WILL say that the MM is responsive to driving conditions. eg, the monitor drops faster in cold operating conditions, and lasts longer when we do long trips (vacations).

 

The MM also responds to how hard the car is driven. I’ve heard of some drivers getting as little as 4,000 miles between alerts, while mine typically takes 10,000 miles to hit 20%, because I drive like the old man I am (most of the time).😉

 

This is true. I took a sojourn to hit the "Back of the Dragon" and the oil life definitely dropped compared to my routine driving.

 

I did one autocross event and my oil life dropped 20%. For sake of discussion, maybe it was on the verge of dropping 10% prior to the autocross event. At minimum it was a 10% drop for six approximately 1 minute runs at full throttle, with high RPM's in 2nd gear.

Personally, I believe the maintenance minder to be accurate. I would change the oil at minimum at what it said, or earlier. I wouldn't go past the recommendation. Oil is cheap.

 

My '01 BMW oil life indicator senses 680 gallons of gasoline passing through a flow sensor before the next oil change, usually 15K miles. Nothing sophisticated. I assume the Honda Fit has something similar, maybe add how many start/stops in the equation. I doubt it is doing some quality analysis and then come up with a percentage. I used to change every 5K miles, then 10K when the car got old and I got lazy, but still within maintenance schedule.

 

My mm comes on every 6k miles, very consistently. I let it run down to 0%. Maybe my philosophy of 'one red line a day keeps the mechanic away' is the culprit for the short mm intervals. But I don't change the oil at that time. Waaay too early. I change it every other interval with half quart top offs every 3100 miles.

 

Hate to keep flipflopping on this, but I just remembered that I did reset the oil life indicator when I changed out my oil. I do tend to drive my car pretty hard, the 3400 miles might be justified here.

Appreciate everyone's feedback. Is there any way for my to gauge how good the oil is by looking at it?

 

I mentally judge oil condition by color all the time.

Some say color is not a good indicator but unless you want to send a sample to a lab to analyze it, color is about the only visual indicator you've got.



If you know you reset the oil life and now it says to change it, just change it. Oil is cheap.

 

Precisely, especially since you do your own oil changes. Your only cost is the oil and filter. We're not talking big bucks here.

If you want to you can knock a few drops off the dip stick onto a small sheet of aluminum foil and then put a few drops next to it from a jug of fresh oil and then compare the two to see how the used oil looks in comparison to the fresh stuff.

 

Yes, change it at the interval and send a sample to either Blackstone Labs or Oil Analyziers and note you’re interested in extending your oil life. The oil analysis will give you some insight on what’s going on in your engine. IMO looking at the color of the oil is virtually useless

 

I did 2 samples of oil with WearCheck and due to my top offs every 3k miles or so, it looks like I can change out my oil every 25k miles with a filter swap in the middle. Running on Castrol Edge 5w20 EP at the moment. Shows these little engines got tight seals at the rings.