Does Honda recommend 5w-20 oil for the Fit, or 5w-30?

 

?????? i think most new honda motor use 5w-20. but i think you can put 5w-30 no problem

 

For sure, I run 15w-50 in the summer here and 0w-30 in the winter. (Not a Honda).

 

My guess is that Honda will recommend SAE 5W-30 SJ-certified motor oil for the engines on the Honda Fit.

 

Honda FEO is a multigrade SAE 10W-30 API SJ rated engine oil. This is the only Honda oil brought into Australia by Honda Australia and is recommended for the Jazz here.

 

Honda mandates 5w20 oil for all models except the S2000 in the US under all weather conditions. $5 bucks says the US Fit will also require 5w20. Thank you EPA.

 

I think it comes down to operating temperatures to a certain extent but how can you mandate the same oil spec with operating temperatures varying so much between places like Alaska and New Mexico or the Northern Territory and Tasmania. One size doesn't fit all.

Oil needs to protect the engine while not adversely impacting performance. The interval between oil changes means a more protective oil has to be recommended. If you change your oil more regularly then there is no problem using a higher performance oil.

Manufacturers are particularly conservative in the US because owners have a nasty habit of not following the maintenance schedules and then sueing the manufacturer if anything goes wrong. Alot of vehicles are detuned in the US market for this very reason. The BMW M3 is a very good example. In Australia people still take responsibility for their own actions and cop it fair and square on the chin if they are told "you've been an idiot (more likely a slightly harsher term) and failed to change your oil regularly and this is the resultant damage which you'll now have to pay to get fixed." They don't do it again.

 

Exactly! Its absolutely insane the mandate the same oil for all temps. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tests every car sold in the US in a standardized test to determine city and highway fuel consumption. When the EPA tests the car one of the control factors is the oil viscosity. If the manufacturer wants the engine to have 5w20 oil in the crank case during the test (because it gives 1 or 2% better fuel economy than say 5w30) then the EPA tells the manufacturer that they must do everything in their power to get the owners to also use that viscosity, no matter what the temperature. Ford in the US also mandates 5w20 in all its engines even very large V8s.
EPA letter outlining the use of 5w20 oil.
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/cert/dearmfr/ccd0112.pdf

 

The Honda shops here say 0w-40 is the best during the winter and 5w40 during the summer.

 

Couldn't find it anywhere else, How do you reset the oil maintenance minder after an oil change? My CRV was easy.

 

The info is in the owners manual. I don't have it close to me but its in there.

 

Thank you, I did find it.

 

OK, here is the information from the factory service manual but it is the same in the owners manual.

1. Turn the ignition switch ON (II)

2. If the oil life is more then 15%, press the Select/Reset Knob repeatedly until the engine oil life is displayed.

3. Press the Select/Reset Knob for about 10 seconds. The engine oil life and maintenance item code(s) will blink.

NOTE: If you are resetting the display when the oil life is more then 15%, make sure the maintenance items requiring service have been performed before resetting the display.

4. Press the Select/Reset Knob for another 5 seconds. The maintenance item code(s) will disappear, and the engine oil life will reset to 100%.

There are some other warnings in there about the car being stopped when you do this and about how the maintenance items must be done or the minder won't display the correct information. But otherwise, that is all there is to it.

 

ok so i did my first oil change at 3,750 (dealer said to come in at that time) and oil life was reading 50%

i go to dealership and it was packed so i went in and bought a filter and was gonna buy oil (Honda was charging almost 7.00 per quart!) 5-20 SynBlend Honda Oil...thats what was said to be used.

so i get the filter and grab good ole' Castrol SynBlend 5-20w (at wal mart of course) thinking it would be equivalent seeming there both synblend and weight.

im now 1,200 miles into the new oil and my oil life is reading 80%!!! that means at 50% i would have only driven 3,000 miles which is 750 less than before.....has anyone else experienced this drop in oil life?

and no my driving habits havent changed since we bought the car. should this be something to worry about or wait until next oil change to see if it stays, dips lower, or goes back up?

was planning on switching to Castrol Syntec at 3rd or 4th oil change (i dont care if peopl think its pointless or not but i had a miata with 280,000 miles on it running syntec for most of its life and it was still as good as new, including compression )

thanks in advance

 

I just did my first oil change at 7,100 miles. I was down to 15%. I put 0W-20 Mobile 1 in there. I'm at 8,000 miles now, and still at 100%.

 

I thought the first oil change was suppose to happen around 5-10% oil life remaining. Honda puts some thing extra in the first oil. Not to mention, I'm fairly sure that the first 3-4 oil changes had to be non-synthetic for the engine to break in correctly.

 

Did you reset the oil life indicator when you changed the oil? You have to do it yourself- the engine has no way of knowing otherwise.

Owners Manual: Maintenance Minder ->Resetting the Engine Oil Life Display (pg 170-171)

Hope that's the problem!

Note: Oil life indicator is affected by both miles and driving.

 

yeah i reset the indicator according to the manual. and the dealer only uses honda syn blend therefore thats the reason i opted for the Castrol SynBlend instead of "dino oil". didnt think id be making a mistake by using what the dealer was planning on using anyways.....

 

HOLY CRAP

ok i feel stupid now.....not sure if this makes a difference in oil life but would think so considering the long constant state of the car.....

during first 3750 miles 750 of them were on a trip to Las Vegas (Los Angeles to Vegas)....65mph whole way there without Cruise (so that the rpms stayed lower and more consistant). would this long trip play a difference in terms of oil life?

wow im a dork

 

You're supposed to vary speeds for the first 600 miles.. When you accelerate you're heating up rings, then when you let go of the pedal, the slowing down lubricates them.

As for oil, the engine has NO idea what oil you're using. If it were that sophisticated, it would drive away Oil Ana.lysis companies. The OLM just compares information from what the car is designed to already know. Such as fuel/air mixture, how wreckless one drives, etc. Then it extrapolates that information resulting with the estimated oil life.