It's hard to get my son home during daylight hours, so I took advantage of his day off and performed the first, of many, oil changes. I used my big ramps. The only problem I had was with one of the plastic screws in the rear of the splash pan. It just turned and turned, so I had to pry it off. I'm hoping it works better after I put it back on. (It didn't) Why would they use metal Philips screws except for those two? And why was the oil filter so tight? They always say not to overtighten because that can crush the gasket and cause leaks. The rule it to turn it 3/4 of a turn after the gasket makes contact. I do like the fact that the filter is right out in front where it's easy to reach.

Anyway, I'm letting the oil drip out while I warm-up in the house. The car has 8,665 miles on it, with 20% oil life left. Not surprisingly, the oil was black. I'm putting in full synthetic.

Be careful of the washer separating from the drain bolt when you remove it. That happened to me. For some reason, they have a large-gauge strainer right at the top of the oil filler tube, so you have to hold a funnel in place with one hand while you pour with the other.

When the weather gets better, I'm going to dip the Philips screws from the splash pan in yellow paint to make them more visible.

 

Odd about the large-gauge strainer in the oil refill area. I always use a funnel so good to know when I do mine in a few months.

 

Yeah, I thought it might lift out, but it doesn't seem to, and I'm not going to cut it out. I wonder what they do at Honda service. The probably pump it in through a hose.

 

i did one oil change, and i didn't notice that last time. i am due for another shortly, so i will pay attention next time.

i have 5 funnels in the garage, so i guess i picked the one that fit fine and didn't think much of it.

 

Makes me wonder since when Honda started doing this and why? Did somebody dropped something in the engine and screwed it up?

I remember working on my 1992 Civic DX Hatchback engine to fix the oil leak in one of the spark plugs and while the valve cover was off I dropped a small rubber piece in one of the oil holes. I was like aww crap. It didn't hurt the engine. Figured it'll just stay down in the oil pan until the next oil change.

I'm always careful of making sure nothing gets dropped in the oil refill opening other than fresh oil.

 

Damn! That looks cold. I think I would make room in the Garage.
Nice ramps-did you fab them? Any clearance issues with the lower bumper hitting the ramp?

 

If you check a variety of oil bottles you might find one whose thread will mesh with the fill opening. Cut the top half off of the bottle and you now have a nice screw-in funnel that will support the oil bottle while it is draining. The advantage of this is that the funnel is secure and there is less risk of dripping oil on your nice new engine

 

I made those ramps when I had a Ford Expedition, a heavy vehicle. I wanted something wide and strong. I made them from 2 X 12 lumber - plenty strong. They're heavy, too, so I have little wheels on the end to move them around. When I'm not using them, they stand up in the garage.

There's no problem with the Fit's lip.

 

Clever. An alternative would be to buy another filler cap and cut it up, saving the threads for a funnel.

 

I haven't changed the oil yet on mine; I only have about 1700 miles on it. Do the back plastic screws need to be removed? Can the skid plate be flexed down out of the way to switch the filter of does it need to be completely removed to drain the oil?

That skid plate seems like a pain.

 

Likewise have about 2k but took the plastic pan out when I was doing my other mods.

The key is to get some ground clearance. So you can do it like the OP (w/ ramps) or lift up one side and put a solid jack stand (for safety). Used my 5 ton long chassis hydraulic jack. Locked it and still put a jack stand.

There are 6 metal screws and 2 plastic. YOu have to take them all off to access both the filter and oil drain plug. Twisting the pan may create cracks or damage. It was designed for removal.
It looks like a "pain" but its simple enough if you try it once. Post if you decide to give it a shot. You can do this!!!!

 

Yes, it is a pain. It takes longer to remove the pan than it does to remove the drain plug and filter. One of the plastic screws on mine refuses to loosen. I had to pry it out. When it stops holding the pan in place, I'll have to JB Weld a nut on there and use a metal screw.

I bet that was put on for streamlining for better MPG.

On the plus side, oil changes won't be as frequent. My son's car had 8,665 miles, and the oil still had 20% life left. That sure beats the old 3,000 miles, 3 months routine.

 

Could be aerodynamics. The filter seems vulnerable to debris in its forward position as well. Based on the other bigger pan structure I'm thinking aerodynamics.


I usually use ramps too but that might not be an option after I change springs. I'm not sure the front plastic will clear. I wonder how detrimental it would be just to leave the plastic skid plate thing off.

 

I doubt that you'd notice a difference in MPG, especially with the car being lowered anyway.

 

I think that you are correct about the aerodynamics. The leading edge of the vehicle is critical for maintaining smooth flow under the car. The further back on the vehicle you maintain this flow the less resistance it will offer. The abrupt transition of the front structure would definitely screw things up if the air wasn't guided around it.

There's also the issue of recirculating air from the radiator while the car is stationary on hot days. If it is too easy for the air to get back to the inlet the car can overheat so the shroud causes the air to exhaust further from the inlet.

As far as filter vulnerability, I've seen stock filters hanging much lower than this one with no protection and have never seen one get punctured by road debris. It would take a big rock at high speed to do that!

One alternative would be to convert all the fasteners to Dzus-style quarter-turn items.

this would at least make it possible to remove the panel without tools. Still, how often will this panel be removed in the life of a vehicle? The effort to make it quickly removable might be more than the effort of removing it!

 

I had a similar gripe about screws on computer cases. I bought a bag of brass thumb screws and used those instead. Worked great.

Not sure I'd do something like this on my car but least it should be easy without using tools.

 

I remember when computer cases were held together with several screws. Now they have one, at the most, and a thumb screw at that.

 

I remember reading about a car that had a major problem with debris hitting and damaging something up front. It was so common that there were aftermarket products available to protect it. It might have been an oil cooler or the trans cooler.

Does that sound like anything Fit-related?

EDIT: I did a search on Fit oil cooler and trans cooler damage and got nothing. No news is good news.

 

Heat exchangers are much more fragile than oil filter canisters.

The only thing of this sort that I've read recently is the Tesla titanium skid plates to protect the batteries from road debris.

 

I think that was for radiators. As I recall, it might have been for the Honda Odyssey. It sounds familiar, and I have a distinct memory of researching it. As I recall, I also remember the next model year changing the small grill located on the front air dam to help protect the car.