My Fit's "maintenace minder" came on for the first time last week, and today I changed the oil (I used Mobil-1 Extended Performance 5-20W, and a M-110 Mobil-1 Filter). Odometer read 6251 miles.

I have to say - changing the oil on the Fit is the easiest I've ever experienced from any car - including many Hondas.

The oil filter is in the easiest to get to location I've eveer seen - even on a Honda. Better still - there is a grove on the block, near the filter, so when you take the filter off, any oil that comes out, flows freely down that grove, instead of all over the engine.

I also rotated the tires.

 

glad you like the ease of changing the fit's engine oil. when i first changed mine i didn't really notice it being significantly easier or harder than any other cars though.

 

Before we bought our car, I had the opportunity to see one on a hoist. The layout underneath is amazingly well planned. Everything looks easy to reach and easy to maintain. Props to Honda for getting this right.

 

Gotta ask a possibly dumb question, but I have an excuse - my used 07 Fit was missing the owner's manual (I'll be ordering one soon).

What's the oil capacity of the engine? And how does one reset the oil life gauge? I'll probably change the oil in my car in the next couple weeks, so that I can start it in MY maintenance regime.

 

you'll need about 4 quarts of 5W-20 Oil, and regarding reseting the oil life guage. It simple hold down your trip meter for about 10 seconds until the oil life thing starts flashing. When it starts flashing let go of the button and hold it down again, it should then turn off.

 

3.8 quarts.

 

i second that, ive changed it twice without having to jack the car up, just slid the oil tray under and i managed to squeeze myself under enough to do everything properly (im 5'11 168lbs) took about 5min

 

good to hear they put a groove on the housing.

i always wondered why engine manufacturers didn't do that.

 

waited 6k to change the oil? eek...

i always stick to the standard 3k miles every oil change...better safe then sorry...

 

I've read and researched a LOT about changing the oil on Hondas.

First of all, the factory "break-in" oil that the car comes with new, is the most important oil that the car comes with. It has been carefully designed to help the engine properly seat and seal, and is meant to be changed at the Fit's oil change notice.

Honda takes pride in their reputation for long lasting engines - believe me, the maintenance minder system is accurate, and adequate, and most of all - part of the economy of the car.

You have the oil manufacturers telling you to change the oil every 3,000 miles - and car manufacturers (that build the engines) - tellng you their requirements. Take your pick. I go with Honda.

Honda has focussed on reliability and low cost of ownership in the design of their cars. Making an extremely precise engine, that doesn't require the oil change interval of 1970's muscle cars is part of that magic. Some would even say that using synthetic oil is overkill, and a waste of money.

My overall point is this: the "3 month - 3000 miles" rule of thumb for changing oil is outdated, and not applicable to the Fit. It doesn't hurt the car to change it more often (except possibly with the factory fill) - but it does cost more money, and I believe there is no added benefit.

 

I thought the manual stated to wait 6k miles for the first oil change. What are the majority fitfreakers doing? I'm at 2500+ miles and need to do one soon.

 

for the first oil change i think mine was at 4k.

i wanted to wait till 5k...but i was like hm...ill just use the same oil that honda use and then ill change over to synthetic.

 

The honda maintenence minder is set to go off every 5000 miles,(trust me, I have over 18,000 miles on my fit.), so it doesn't really gauge how used your oil really is. It really depends on how you drive your car and what kind of traffic you're sitting in. I do a ton of stop and go, so I change my oil more than frequently. Sure, Honda tells you to change it at a certain interval for a reason, and yes, technology has come very far, but just remember this... If your car dies, Honda wants to sell a new car. Now I'm not saying Honda has bad cars, I'm just saying trust the way your car feels. A car driving on dirty oil just feels terrible. Just imagine what the inside looks like. A huge benefit of changing your oil frequently would be the prevention of gunk buildup in your engine. Honda has great, super reliable cars, but an ounce of prevention will keep your wallet in your back pocket. And the price of oil isn't that outrageous. I change my oil literally every 1000 miles. My first change was at 3000, but that's me breaking in the engine. Call me crazy, but I'm going to rack up 300,000 miles with no problems.

 

Mine goes on at 6,500 miles, (trust me I have over 33,000 miles on my Fit).

 

You're wrong - in several ways. I hope you at least take your oil to a recycling center.

Please folks - go to Honda's owner's link - and learn about your car. This explains the Maintenance Minder:


Maintenance Minder

The engine computer keeps up with several driving factors to determine when it suggests to change your oil. Everyone is going to get reminded at a different time.

 

people always say to me.. got that new car better keep it nice and change your oil ever 2500 miles- its the most important thing you can do!! i just agree and keep driving. you can do what you want with your car, but i will do what the car and honda tells me to do, if honda knew that changing your oil at 3k was needed to maintain the engine i think they would say to change it that much, obvioulsly they dont want to have broke cars out there so why whould they tell you to keep driving if you shouldnt be, or impliment a feature on all (pretty sure) new hondas that tells you whats going on under the hood

 

early changes are usually just a waste of time, money, and just polluting the environment.

just follow your maintenance schedule unless you track your cars.

i use synthetic, 10k mile change or once a year whichever comes first.
with 4 cars, usually the year comes first. lol

 

try doing one on a new civic!!! easy if not easier than the fit! screw hybrids tho >

 

i have to agree with kenchan. there's no need in changing the oil earlier than what honda thinks. unless you really abuse your engine, the factory schedule should be good....the environment thanks you!

good to hear its easy to do. i'm still at 1200 miles but i was already hoping it wasn't going to be harder than on my ep3...oh and on the ep3 and my GTI VR6 i used synthetic and changed every 7k miles...never a problem.

 

The maintenance minder has no way of measuring the viscosity of the oil...it just guesses when it is time for an oil change, if you dont believe me then next time your oil life has expired reset it without changing the oil...it will magically be 100% again, if it truely worked then it would not be able to reset with the old oil still in the motor.