Looking for how many miles you drive till your maintenance minder lets you know you oil life is at 15%. Also, what kind of driving you do. Mainly short trips, less then 5 miles, 5 to 10 miles, 10 to 30, over 30. This should have a bearing of how your maintenance minder keeps track of your oil life.

 

My trips are longer but it won't matter.
I will change the original oil at 3000km regardless what the indicator is reading.

 

I use the Maintenance Minder for my oil changes. So far, every oil change is around 7500 miles apart. I use Synthetic, my car is automatic transmission, and I don't treat it rough, so I do not worry for one minute that this is too far between. Some people will blast me for this, and I don't care. I am not a clueless kid. It's OK.

Edit: just got oil changed today. At current oil prices, and using Mobil1 synthetic, it was over $65 total. Geez! Wish I could go 20,000 miles.

 

i usually change my oil every 3000-5000 miles. yeah steeldog i remember this thread a while back as to why you wait so long to change your oil. It's pretty crazy man.

 

i change mine with every 2500 miles. free oil changes. so why not.

 

If someone gets bent out of shape because of how you treat your car - it sounds like they are the ones with the problem.

When I drove a 1962 Studebaker Lark daily, I did the 3 months/3000 miles thing - but oil I used was $1 a quart and you could catch it on sale sometimes for $.75. Then again it needed a quart about every 1500 so it was being topped off regularly.

My wife's previous daily (my "new" car) gets the Mobil 1 changed every 6000.

Still trying to figure out what I want to do on the Fit. Only has @500 miles on it so far so it is not a huge issue at this point. Thinking about changing just the filter at @1500 to 2000 - just for peace of mind...

Steeldog - did you start using sythetic on your first refill?

 

Your wasting your money changing oil every 3,000 km.

 

My oil changes are for free at my work. so i can change my oil whenever i want. right...?

 

I knew a guy in a classic car club that would change his oil everytime he drove his 50 year old classic car to a show. Sometimes the oil coming out of the oil pan had less than 50 miles on it - now that is a waste.

I think I remember reading somewhere that oil really starts doing its best job of lubricating once it has a few hundred (or maybe a 1000) miles on it. Then again, I am getting old...

 

Changing oil every 3,000 miles is stupid Why change the oil every 3,000 miles? It's not needed. Your using old guidance for this. The computer in the Maintenace minder is programed to remind you when to perform maintenance. There is NO BENEFIT to changing your oil early. But, if you want TO THROW AWAY YOUR MONEY, go ahead.

 

my vw rabbit used to go 10k between oil changes, and it was synthetic...so i'm guessing the mm doesn't or can't judge if you have synth oil? i don't think your oil changes are too far between for even regular oil (i'm a/t and i don't treat her that rough, and there are lots of highway miles.), as i usually go that far and i am not running synthetic.

but you know, do what the car says!

 

60/40 street/highway. I use Mobil-1 synthetic, go 9,000 - 10,000 miles between changes.

 

O_O $65??? how much is mobil1 by the quart?? I just recently changed my oil for the first time @ 3k and Fully synthetic here is ~6.50 per quart, after tax oil was about $28. Then add the filer which is about $6, that only comes out to be ~ $34...

 

Oops, sorry...I've been away from here for a few days.
My first oil change was free from the dealer, so it was a syn-blend (with Honda written on it). After that, I used synthetic every time, except once when the oil-jockey thought I said "5-W20 Mobil" and didn't hear the word "one", so he used dinosaur oil that time.

I believe the maintenance minder is perfectly cool. And the manual also says not to change the oil early the first time, due to extra moly in the break-in oil.

Best to ya.

 

Yes, it was $65.14 or something like that. I did not do it myself, had a Kwik Oil Change place do it. I sometimes do it, but it is sort of a PITA to take the oil in for recycling, so I go the easy route most of the time.

As a side note, when I was younger, I drove an old Cavalier 4-speed, an ok little car at the time. I didn't make very much money, and was divorced and paying child support. So I always changed my own oil, as well as doing any other car maintenance or repairs that needed to be done. I would change the oil when it got dark, not by a set number of miles. When it started to look a little burnt, so to speak. I developed a really good understanding of this car, sort of a gut-feeling thing. Well, my brother told me I should try Mobil1, and I did. The next time I changed that oil was over 20,000 miles later, and I swear I believe it didn't even need it then. It still looked gold. I only changed it because I felt guilty. Eventually, other parts started wearing out, so I sold that car, but the engine was still great. Never smoked, always ran strong, perfect. I wish I had the testicular fortitude to go that long in the Fit, truthfully. But I will just use the Maintenance Minder.

 

I'm with you, oils and engines are so good these days. I'll change the oil/filter when the minder says. FWIW, I'll switch to a synthetic once I'm through the initial break-in. I'm at 2900 miles right now.

 

Do you happen to remember how long you were at 20%??I have about 7200 miles on my Fit...And have been on 20% for about 4 days...Does that sound right??..........Perg

 

Could be a few days, depending on how much driving you do. When it gets to 15%, the "wrench" reminder will illuminate every time you turn the switch on, and you will have to press the knob on the odometer once to return the display to "Trip A". Any time after the wrench comes on, it's OK to change your oil (for the first time). Wait til it gets to 5% and the wrench will stay on all the time, indicating that it's time to do it right away. I always change the oil within a few days of hitting 15%, except for that first time, when I went to 5% in order to let the break-in oil do its job fully.

Now, if I remember correctly, the code that came up on my first oil change indicated that it was time to change only the oil. In other words, that a filter change would not be necessary. This either came from the code list, or from something else I read in the manual, or both. Since the dealership was doing the first (free) oil change, I was concerned that they would not change the filter, but they did. And of course, it would be just plain wrong to leave the dirty filter on when the crankcase is filled with new oil. This could be a memory error on my part, but I'm almost sure that's how it went down. In any event, I am 100% certain that I have never had an oil change and kept the dirty filter on there.

When you do your own oil changes, I recommend that you keep some proof that it was done. Being a photographer, I actually take some photos as well as keeping the receipts. Maybe that's being anal, but I want to keep there from being any question that everything was done by-the-book, just in case of future problems. There was a class-action suit involving Toyota in the last couple of years, wherein people who had done everything right had early engine failure (due to "sludge"), and Toyota has replaced and continues to replace a lot of engines. Without the proper records, the Toyota owners would probably just be out of luck. Toyota is a great car company, and if it can happen to them, it can happen to Honda. Just a caution to us all.

Best to you.

 

Thats a pretty good idea. Even though the theory of "break in" for today's engines is controversial, it can't hurt.

 

My 15% "oil light" came on last Sunday morning on the way home from work,at 7,327 miles...That was my first change so I went to the dealer because it was free...70% of my driving is to work and back-a 102 mile round trip is on the freeways at posted speed limits.getting 39-40 miles per..on the freeway and 34-36 around town[short trips]..Be well,Perg