yea, so i just rolled over 8800 miles, n the consistancy measures 30% , never changed the oil, but im putting in mobile one full synth tomorrow morning
thts after a 2500 mile roadtrip from florida to sd as well. got wicked gas mileage for those 4 days.

 

Dont even look at that gauge as it isnt a true indicator of your oil life. It just counts revolutions and throttle position etc... Change it every 5000-7500 if your using synthetic.

 

So you have done an oil analysis at 5000-7500 miles and determined that that is the optimal time for changing your oil by comparing that to analyses from other mileage points?

Unless you have data to prove that the mileage you stated is the best time for the way the OP drives, Honda's Maintenance Minder is as good as your WAG.

Mark

 

From what I understand, is that the sensor measures the viscosity of the oil.

However, I'm gonna change mine about every 5-6k, just for the fact that I'll rotate my tires then too and kill 2 birds.

 

only girly men change their oil....

 

I'd be very surprised if the system was that complicated. I think it's based on ECU parameters such as total revolutions, etc. I bet there isn't any type of sensor physically sampling the oil in the crankcase, which would be required for what you suggest.

 

The maintenance minder is actually very complex and very accurate. It takes many things into account not just RPM. It does look at RPM and what the average RPM is (Always at high rpm, or low or in between), it looks at calculated load value (Is the vehicle driven hard or easy), fuel trim, operating temperature and time at those temps (short trips in cold weather, long highway trips, etc) as well as vehicle speed and distance. Those who are nay sayers obviously own stocks in oil companies and want people to drain oil sooner to make more money. I have seen Honda's come in with 200-300k using the maintenance minder system the way it is supposed to and there have been no major engine repairs related to oil issues. If in doubt start doing oil analysis' and see for yourself if Honda's system is on par. Blackstone Laboratories - Gas Engines

My Fit I went 17,000km before my maintenance minder showed 15%, I did change my oil when it said and will be using synthetic but still sing the maintenance minder system. The only different thing I do that is not is the guide is that EVERY oil change will be oil filter changes as well, Honda recommends MMA is just a drain and fill and MMB is oil and filter.

 

Not sure what you mean by "black box data recorder"...however there is a black box data recorder for the SRS system that generally only Honda engineers and Gov't officials have access to.

On most other systems (enigne, transmission, ABS, etc) there is an "onboard snapshot" feature that any time a DTC is set you can also see what happened 30sec before and after the code was set at intervals of roughly .2sec.

 

off topic:
Most cars do, I'm sure the Fit does, but from my understanding these recorders only record something like 8 second intervals, if there's no crash the previous data is deleted. When you do crash it saves the previous data leading to the crash. Which tells them throttle position, speed, if you braked. Things like that.
(The way I see if you're hauling a** and slam into someone without braking there should be something in your car that tells the cops to arrest you.)

As for the oil life, change it when the car says. Unless you run your engine really hard the oil life indicator will work just fine.

I put 105,000 miles on my Saturn in 3 years and only changed it when the car said to and never had any issues.

 

That's the thing with the Honda system....if you drive it hard the ECM see's that and adjusts the Maintenance Minder accordingly! It is more than just a mileage counter.

 

Here is a video i found from Honda regarding the Maintenance Minder system.

http://www.ahm-ownerlink.com/model/c...intminder.html

It states that the engine oil life depends on the temperatures and RPMs the engine is subjected to. Higher RPM's and tempers or at lower temps on short trips, the oil life depletes faster than at normal conditions.

 

he didn't, but someone else sent it off to a lab at 5000, and the lab said it was the prefect time to do it.

 

i took it to honda for the 5k oil change and it was at 60%
i went back at 10k at 60%, the guy said to come back when its closer to 15 to 20% (approximately 3000 more miles)

 

My point was that every single person has a different driving style and pattern. For that SINGLE person, perhaps 5000 was the appropriate mileage, while another might find 15k as the appropriate time. Giving a blanket number is completely useless.

Mark

 

oh yea, dripped in some mobile 1 full synth 5w20, n it drives like $18k again :P
um... does anyone kno how to reset the oil percentage display?...

 

Put the key to II mode... Like where it's on, but the engine isn't running and all the accessories work.

Press the select/reset knob until the Oil Life is displayed. Hold down the button for about 10 seconds or so, until the display starts flashing. Then release the button, and press it again for another five and it should reset back to 100%

 

Yeah I'm gonna trust the gauge in my car over some random unknown person online, no disrespect intended but I see all kinds of bad advice being given on all types of forums I frequent and this one is no exemption. You can't harm your car by doing an early oil change but I got this car to be economical and changing the oil 3-5k miles early just doesn't fall into that category for me.

 

Correct, these devices don't measure viscosity (not that that alone would indicate much). They look at driving style/conditions and use preset algorithms to determine oil life. Go take a look over on bitog and take a look at the UOAs by folks using the maint minder and GM OLM (oil life monitor). They are all fine. These things can actually be conservative, assuming there's no undiagnosed issue such as a leaky head gasket. Just use an API SM 20 weight oil and follow the MM.

BTW, I'm at 5500 miles at still at 60%.

 

COMPLETELY TRUE!!

GOOD GOD THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS!

i owned an 06 civic, drove it all the time in a hilly area in more stop and go traffic and it required me to change the oil much more often than in my fit now, which only sees mostly highway cruising.

PLEASE GUYS. DO WHAT HONDA SAYS!!!!! SIMPLE AS THAT! STOP OVERCOMPLICATING YOUR LIVES!

oil analysis...pfft! what the hell people? who does that? completley unnecessary. what? you think honda WANTS your engine to blow up prematurely and thats why they installed this system? if that were the case, engines would be going even before the rather short warranty that hondas have. use your brains people.

i say negative rep to anyone who hasn't read the countless threads on this subject and still wants to take granpa's advice/his engineering prowess/gut feeling/ enter other reason why you know more than honda here, over honda reccomendations.

/end rant.

 

i would just change it when the computer says its time (15%) unless you're going one year without a change.

so it's either 15% or within one year. and i too use synthetic...just the cheap stuff Mobile M1 silver cap.