A recent thread made me do some rethinking about the MM and its usefulness. Originally, I thought of the MM as just a stupid tool that does a hack job of trying to calculate how the oil should be holding up and suggesting its remaining life. However, In that thread I had to pull the usual ESM chart up to show that Honda officially did not in any way intend for the FIT to NEED an oil change every 3,000 miles. (although, I do understand it makes some people feel better doing it that way, which is totally cool if it is worth it to you) Here:



I also looked at the Severe Schedule:



Anyway, I realized that my MM was going down 10% almost exactly every 1250 miles. Probably because I drive 98% Highway with a 15 mile trip each way to work with exactly 2 stop lights. So because I was not driving in a way that would indicate to the MM that any extra strain is being placed on the engine (High Revs, Frequent Cold Starts, Short Trips, Frequent Hard Aceleration, Frequent Downshifts, High Engine Load, Air Temp, etc.) It simply follows the normal service interval. If a driver begins to exhibit any of the signs of high engine stress the MM simply adjust the intervals closer to the severe service interval - depending on how many factors apply and how severely.

So, its not supposed to be some super oil analyzing system. It's really just a driving analyzer.

Many drivers of older vehicles who only drive normally are conned by dealers and 'Quick-Lube' shops and their own families into believing that they should always change every 3,000 miles. Even my old 97 tBird was supposed to be changed every 5,000 miles under normal conditions and every 3,000 under severe.

Also, many drivers who do know the difference aren't able to accurately gauge which interval they should use. If i drive mostly Highway miles but do some canyon carving on the weekends does that make me Severe? probably not but it depends. Thats where the MM comes in. It never rationalizes and it is always watching. Everytime you gun it. Everytime you drive in bad traffic. Everytime you drive the engine hard while its cold or only drive 2 miles to the grocery store. It is quielty calculating and taking a tally to see if you should still follow the normal interval or if you should adjust it a bit. Something that we mortals could not do 100% of the time.

So the vast majority of us probably would have 0% at exactly 12,500 miles, because the vastly majority of drivers do not drive under severe conditions. This is likely why the MM shows a similar % at the same mileage for most FIT drivers before the first oil change.

When I realize how simple a function the MM serves it doesn't seem like such a stupid thing after all.

Alot of the people who trash the MM, I think, probably aren't really upset with the MM. It's that they do not believe in the 12,500 mile normal oil change interval itself. They see that the car is at 10,000 miles and think "Man, this MM is a joke it must be doing a shity job if it is letting me go this long without an oil change. This thing knows nothing about oil if it goes more than 5k" Which is actually a problem much greater than the MM (and this thread), since this is the actual interval that Honda recommends on its non-MM FITs. The MM is just doing what it does best, monitoring your driving habits and making a well informed recommendation.

 

Awesome explanation! +reps

 

Yay! Now I get it. +rep

 

Hopefully we'll see less threads about this in the future (haha yeah right). But thanks for taking the time to make a rational post about this, and for posting pics of the service intervals.

edit: Wow, I just noticed the antifreeze change interval for severe conditions. I'm surprised more people don't argue about that one. I hear a lot that it should be changed annually just before winter. I knew that's ridiculous but I didn't realize you could go 120,000 miles.

 

Very cool. Now I can stop worrying, and get back to driving.

 

its the old folks in general that think cars today still need 3k mile oil changes looking at the color of the oil. color doesnt say much. you really need to send it out to a lab to get how broken down oil is.

or the youngsters that think they need to change the oil at 500miles due to break-in shavings.

do yourselves and environment a favor and just follow the maintenance manual.

 

I think it's human nature to spend money on services/products that have no measurable effect other than as a placebo. Look at the vitamin industry.

My wife still obsessively changes her Camry's oil every couple months. She trusts the jiffy-lube guy more than me. hmmmm.

 

hahaha.

 

Sounds like he's lubing something else up in a jiffy!

 

I lol'd IRL.

 

I have never followed the 3k "rule" for oil changes, usually had it done at about 5k. Now with the maintenance minder, I let it tell me when. As the Fit is still under warranty, I figure that if something goes awry, then it will be on Honda's dime!

 

nice write up, I always figured it was just somthing like that. fyi I have 2800 on my 2010 right now and I'm at 40%. I'll prob hit 6k before I have to change though because of summer. either way I'm gonna change it when Oct comes around. 15% or 1 yr whichever comes first.

 

Nice all good info I trust the guy who dose mine and he said the matence minded is super accruet.

 

Second guessing HONDA, and dumping useful oil into the environment.. I don't understand anything that is "totally cool" about it. I'll be happy when that "every 3k mile" generation finally has their liscences revoked.

How many folks have died in the Oil Wars now? Imagine how much oil this country would save if all the vehicles simply underwent half as many oil changes as they do now.

I also don't appreciate the government letting the jiffy lube places get away with all out lying to customers about service intervals. A commodity valued more than a human life shouldn't be treated so carelessly.

 

Fact of the matter is, the 3000 mile oil change was always based on "guesswork"-sort of a "worst case scenario". I've come full circle on this, and have decided that I like the idea of knowing when I need to change the oil based on how I drive and the conditions I drive in. This is information I can actually use.

 

Great reasoning Gary!

 

+ reps. Everything you say makes sense based on my experience with my own Fit. Mine is looking like it will take me to right around 10K before I need the first oil change.

 

Honda has been using the MM on Acuras and its other models for years. The Fit should be no different.

 

One big factor is short trips. That is because cold engines run rich and fuel passes by the rings diluting your crank case oil. That I suspect is the biggest factor in the MM calculations. I do change my own oil at 20% sometimes if I know I am going to be busy, I hate looking at the dang wrench idiot light. Not sure why that is, maybe I was beaten with a wrench as a small child

 

Have you ever heard of a lady coming out of one of those places with Just an oil change? They get screwed on a regular basis.