Very good write up, What oil to you recommend and why? Is dino oil Good till 10000 miles mostly highway say 25 miles trips? Thanks in advance

 

Oil changes at 6456, 13030, 19880, 26563, 33360, 40727, 47339, 53787, 60180, 67486, 73783, and 80609. You can do the math.

 

Spoke to the service manager at my local Honda dealer and was told that although Honda does not officially push synthetic oil for the Fit. Considering it's higher rev's and temperatures, he encourages it for all Honda vehicles "at the second oil change." I asked him why not any sooner and he said that due to the tight tolerances on the engine, it takes 10-15K miles to completely set all of the moving parts.

By the way his dealership will put in synthetic for an additional $30 at each oil change.

 

How do they come up with $30 extra?

 

Sounds like an up charge beyond Honda dino oil of $7.50/qt, and I doubt that it is Royal Purple. More likely it is for the Mobil1 EP that Honda puts in the Acura RDX.

 

I changed my oil with Castrol Edge Synthetic and a Pure One oil filter. I also sent a sample of the oil for analysis and the results came back today with minimal contaminants and few traces of metal. I don't know if anyone has sent in oil to an oil test lab, but I thought it would be a good investment as well as a starting point for switching to synthetic.

2010 Taffeta White
Sport, 5 spd

 

GW folks have. Look here to get started, it's a good thread and this post links to analysis. Post yours in there some where. I, and many, would like to see the numbers.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...tml#post884794

 

Hmm..very interesting thread.
I'm at a little over 6000 miles and my oil life just dropped down to 20%. I had planned to switch directly over to synthetic but after reading some of the opinions I think I'll go one more round with Dino, then change.

My basic opinion is that as long as you are changing your oil, whatever your preference of belief is probably doesn't make a huge difference. Where people get into trouble, is when they simply do not change their oil or monitor oil levels.

That being said, one more Oil change interval should put me somewhere around 13000+ miles, and I plan to change to synthetic. Not because I necessarily believe it's going to magically offer me better gas mileage and/or protect my engine in a manner that will guarantee 100000's of miles but because I do think synthetics are a better product.

I'm admittedly anal. All my vehicles had oil changes at every 3000 miles. Which I now do believe is obssesive and unneeded. But I did it because IMO an oil change is relatively inexpensive and the peace of mind of knowing your oil isn't broken down, and your filter is relatively new...was worth it to me.

With the maintenance minder Oil Life monitor, it's actually been hard for me to keep driving so long without changing my oil. 6000+ is as long as I've ever gone. But after reading threads within here, and on the advice of The Dealership and Owners Manual, I'm keeping the break in Oil in until the maintenance minder lights up.

I don't think it really would make a world of difference whether I went from break in, directly to a high quality synthetic, but I also don't think it will hurt it, to go one more cycle on Dino. So just in case there is some "piston ring seating" advantage to going an additional 6000, 7000 miles? I'll be conservative and stay with Dino.

I think the advantages for most normal, daily drivers, with most "normal" vehicles of running a synthetic probably limited. I think for me? It's mostly psychological. I like the idea that I'm running a better product, that breaks down slower. Especially if I'm driving over twice as long as I used to in every other vehicle I've owned. Also, most high performance vehicles ARE coming with Synthetics and the recommendation of using synthetics....and part of me believes if it's beneficial for a $80,000+ sports car? Then Power to The People! I'm running it in my Fit.

So that's my admittedly flawed and unfounded approach. Guess it will be about 8, 9 more months before I'll be able to offer an empirical opinion on whether I believe my gas mileage, or engine performance has improved with the useage of synthetic. But even if I don't notice a difference, I do think synthetics are the way to go...so it's happening...just a little later...as opposed to a little sooner.

 

This debate has been done to death yet, is still going strong on the BITOG website which is probably the best place on the internet for information and debate. There should be no material difference in gas mileage between synthetic and dino, that's not the reason to go with synthetic. Consumer reports ran a test in NYC taxis, then tore the engines down to see if there was any noticeable wear between synth and dino - no material difference in engine wear. Here's the rub - once those taxi's engines were started, they were never shut off for the duration of the test.

IMO, the advantage of synth over dino is less sludging on short trips, less chance of coking during overheat (not normal) and, depending which brand and type you get, better detergent package (e.g. mobile 1 appears to have enough detergents to help clean a dirty engine, not just keep a clean one clean). Some engines are known for sludge buildup, but not the Fits AFAIK. On these, there might be an advantage with synth.

That said, I run synthetic on all my cars mostly because we do a lot of short trips here in suburbia and I like to keep my cars for 10+ years. Since I DIY my oil changes, the extra cost for synth is tolerable.

 

Same conclusions I'm coming to.

The L15 your running will be purring and, by the second oil change, you'll have washed that oil baggage out of your hair and topped it off with a nice syn. Life is good.

I'm getting close to the acceptance. I like it - rotate the tires before the first oil change.

 

To look to our future here's what should be a 'classic post' by pb and h: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/1st-...ual-sport.html

Amazing engine pictures.

 

Found a good link Oils: What motor oil should I use? Which oil is best for my Porsche or aircooled engine?

 

The high performance and highline import shops I know are all switching to Pennzoil Platinum full synthetic. Just so happens the dealer I bought my Fit from and will continue to use until they p*ss us off like all the Jacksonville dealers have, also uses the Pennzoil Platinum. I used it for the last three changes (5k miles each) in the Mazda I just treaded in on the Fit and it used about one third as much as it did with Mobil1. The Mazda was a CX7 with a turbo motor and it used abut 1 quart of Mobil1 in 5k miles.
My mid-engine german rocket fun car (06 Boxster S) uses Porsche spec Mobil1 and they go 20k miles on a change, although it has 12 quarts and triple filters.
I haven't decided for the Fit, but I have to say wifey's 02 Civic drives like new with 249k miles and daughter's 01 Prelude drives like new with 164k miles and both have had full synth since their first oil changes. The main reason to pay the extra for synthetic is the extra use range you get, but now, none of the manufacturers are allowing for it. Honda, Acura and Mazda all call for the same change schedule, regardless of oil used.
I've never seen anything that said synthetic was not as good as dino and with our experience using it in Hondas, I think it's not wise to try to fool mother nature.

 

I know that its a Porsche web site but the info is basically true about oil and cars in general. My dealer uses Mobil products and I used it for over 10 years in all my cars. In my new car I plan on using Dino oil for a while, the gf5 oils are coming out before I need to change the oil and might already be in cars made in 2010, so my 2010 Honda might already have it in there.

Oil companies make more money selling synthetic oil than selling dino oil made with some synthetics to get it to spec. They will use what ever base oil is on hand to get it into spec. so regular oil could be semi synthetic for the price of dino oil. I agree synthetics are worth the money for add security but regular oil has to be just as good for a lower price.

 

I found some info about Honda cars from the site in Japan. Need to have browser translate but you can see what Honda recommends. Honda | 純正パーツ＆アクセサリー | エンジンオイル | ウルトラ Green