why are you second guessing your manufacturer's maintenance schedule? But instead, you want opinions from a couple of strangers on an internet message board? None of this makes sense.

I'll be going in for my first oil change at 15%, worry free.

It is more likely that I will get in a wreck during my trip to the garage, than ever having an engine problem due to dirty oil (including all of the cars I will have in my life time ).

 

I know this is off topic, but...

I don't understand how the quick lube places get away with the lies about maintenance schedules. With the oil problems this world has, along with environmental impacts of wasting usable fluids, it should be illegal for a garage to recommend anything but what is printed in your car's manual.

 

Break in oil is a thing of the past from what I've heard, so I don't worry about it anymore. I will be changing over to full synthetic after my first oil change from the dealership, which is free BTW

 

If you are worried about metal shavings etc why not just change the filter early and level it back up with ~1/2 quart of dino? That way you can keep high moly oil in there for the whole first ~10k miles.

 

I wounder if I can buy the "break in oil" from Honda dealers... I would love to put that on my first change just to be safe...

 

well it is bs cuz i had 9k+ before i did my first oil change and of course the know it all service guys took advantage of my lack of carknowhow and they said I was way overdue and the oil was dirty so they offered a cleaning liquid that was like 60 bucks that was in addition to the oil change so I was like whatev but its obvious someones full of it cuz it says in the honda manual not till 15% oil life and thats exactly what I did..but the service guys said it should be 3k miles no matter what..why does life have to be so difficult

 

YOU NEED TO CALL Honda customer care RIGHT NOW and tell them your experience. Most likely the dealer will be corrected and you will get your 60 bucks back. That is not right!


What exactly is the description of the $60 part on your receipt?

 

This is one of those perpetual motion questions on this forum. We have a Honda service tech on the forum, and he has confirmed that Fits DO ship with special break-in oil with very high molybdenum levels (also confirmed by Blackstone Labs analysis). He also stated that most, if not all, of the Fits that had oil or gas mileage problems were ones that had "premature" first oil changes.

Bingo! I've been working with cars since 1962, and it went against everything I "knew" not to change the oil at 500 miles, then again at 3500, but I went by the book, and waited until the 15% mark (~8200 miles, 50/50 city/highway), and I plan to make future oil changes according to the mileage meter (which really gets in your face, if you ignore it). I will switch to synthetic, probably 5W-30, rather than 5W-20 (hot weather in the South), but other than that, I plan to go by the book.

You can second-guess Honda, and ignore Blackstone Labs, if you wish -- it's your money.

 

I changed mine at 10,250 when it got to 15%, I broke it in hard the first few hundred miles to make sure the rings seated good, used Mobil 1 0W20, and a Mobil 1 oil filter, it doesn't use any oil and it is fast when I punch it. I also am of the old school of changing oil every 3,500 miles but I went with Honda's recommendation. In my S-2000 I change it every 7,500 with Mobil 1 10W30.

 

"The maintenance minder is an important feature of the information display. Based on engine and transmission operating conditions, the Fit's onboard computer (ECM/PCM) calculates the remaining engine oil and the transmission fluid life. The system also displays the remaining engine oil life along with the code(s) for other scheduled maintenance items needing service."- taken from the Honda Interactive Network.
GO BY THE MAINTENANCE MINDER, THAT'S WHY YOU HAVE IT! No need to waste money on changing oil when you don't need to.

 

i plan to change at 15% my friend took his in at 20 and everything's all good and says it runs better

 

Honda's Motorcycle oil has moly in it.. it might be the same stuff. don't quote me tho.

 

I changed mine out @ 15% which was 10150 miles. I did reset the oil life meter to 100%, now if I had not done that, can the computer detect that the engine just had a fresh oil changed? and will it oil life meter changed by itself? just wondering if someone had this experience.

 

It seems the computer just monitors some sensor data and mileage to figure oil life, but it doesn't actually monitor the oil itself so it has no idea when you've changed it.

 

That is correct. You have to reset the oil life indicator manually. It won't reset to 100% automatically.

 

A little over 2K miles and still 90%. It's going to be hard to hold off until 15% but I am going to do my best. I am stupider than the Honda engineers so no way I am going to try and outsmart them. Maybe if I spend more time around the redline it will speed things up a bit

 

Ha!! I have the EXACT mileage now and I'm also changing it on Friday.

 

Hey, advice about Oil Changes is going to be so broad you are going to hear anything and everything.

I have no idea if this is the "perfect" advice. But bottom line? Do what you want, or what makes you feel most comfortable..because it's YOUR car.

I was advised by my local dealer, the owners manual...to leave the original oil in until the maintenance minder got down to 20% or less. Which I did. As someone used to quick and frequent oil changes it was hard for me to do. But I was told, that the factory oil did have additives designed to aid in break in of the engine.

I'm now on my 1st Oil Change...which was just regular Honda Oil and Filter. I'm going to change to synthetic at my next change.

So in short? I went with advice and kept original oil in...as recommended.

Do I think if you changed to a high quality oil immediately or quickly you would do anything massively damaging to your engine? No.

But I also have to think Honda knows their own engines...they know about metal shavings and early break in wear..and if THEY are saying keep the oil IN...then I'm going with that...

I personally think with modern engines "break in" has changed.

But again, bottom line....it's car maintenance but primarily just maintaining your own comfort level and peace of mind. If changing it, is going to make YOU feel better? Change it. Better to second guess what you want to do, than second guess what you didn't do...especially in this case where I think either scenario is perfectly plausible and probably will result in little ultimate difference in long term outcome.

The trick is simply to take care of your car....

 

I changed based on time at 1year, 7000miles (60%).

While i understand the manual first-fill warning and MM, I think there are 2 separate issues.
1) break in.
2) condition of oil

After 1year/7000miles (rough estimates of perhaps 150hours+ of operating time and perhaps 2million+ engine rotations), I think issue (1) should be thoroughly satisfied. I don't think it's going to break in any more.
So at that point it's just issue (2), the frugality to use up that last 60% of oil service life.

I changed also because I wanted to switch over sooner to mobil1 0w-20 AFE (AdvancedFuelEconomy). I think this oil would make up in fuel savings the difference of wasting the last 60% of life of the factory fill. Plus whatever mumbo-jumbo other benefits from synthetic.

If I were changing with dino oil, which would be the same as the original oil in terms of function, I would probably have just left the original oil in until 0% (not 15%).


All this being said, after the change to mobil1, the car did feel slightly smoother, but my butt dyno maybe lying.