1. What kind of vehicle you have:
2007 Honda Fit Sport with 27K miles, manual transmission, bought used a couple weeks ago.
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well:
5w-20 for all temps, API seal. No change interval listed, I have heard that it can take up to 7K miles before the Maintenance Minder says it's time for an oil change.
3. Where you live:
Western Pennsylvania
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?):
I would say easy because I drive mainly for gas mileage. If a dangerous situation is occurring around me, I will probably drive hard and fast to get out of it (for example, insane people that don't know how to merge), but generally try to press the gas as little as possible to maximize my fuel economy.
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
My daily drive is 50 miles round trip. Starting with 2 miles in my neighborhood, 8 miles on highway, then 15 more miles that are mostly rural/suburban into the city, almost no sitting in traffic stop and go, and mostly in 3rd and 4th gear, but with frequent stops at stop signs, just no real sitting.
6. Whether your car has any known problems:
It does not.
If you have any preferences -- synthetic vs. conventional, store-bought vs. ordered online, how long you'd like to go between oil changes, etc. -- or any other info you think might be important, let us know that as well.
Knowing that this car might not tell me to change the oil for 7K miles, I would prefer a synthetic. I do not care if it has to be mail-ordered. I'm not trying to maximize the time between changes, but I also don't plan on changing earlier than the Maintenance Minder tells me, since I will want to reset it each time, and I won't know if that will screw with other maintenance it plans on telling me.
I was told the oil was changed around 5K miles ago, and have heard that the maintenance minder will sometimes go as high as 7K, maybe more. I have always liked changing conventional oil at 3K, and for my turbo charged car, I changed the synthetic at Subaru's recommended 3750, even though Blackstone told me I could go farther and had more life left. I liked the added security of knowing my oil was good when I put the air pedal to the floor.
I would like this car to last a very long time, that is why I bought a Honda. I joke with my wife that I want to see 400K miles from it. I don't plan on doing any modifications in the near future, and it came with an excellent warranty (lifetime power-train, 7yr 100K bumper-bumper) but that doesn't mean I want to neglect it in any way.
From what I have researched, I guess it is between Mobil 1 5w-20, or one of Amsoil's 5w-20s, the OE or Extended Life. Obviously Mobil 1 would be more convenient, at all of my local stores, it is the least expensive synthetic, but I'd be worried that it would shear to thin to protect in 7K miles. I stopped using M1 in my Subaru and switched to Rotella for that very reason. On the other hand, I used to work in an auto research lab where I only changed the synthetic Mobil 1 15w-50 once a week, on a GM 350 that ran 24/7 at 3500 rpm pulling a dyno load of 1750 ft lbs per axle side. After 4000+ hours, I checked the compression and it was 165 across all cylinders... but I wouldn't expect 15w-50 to get to thin.
Which brings me here! Maybe you guys can help point me in a nice safe direction towards getting the most out of this Fit!
Sorry this got so long, but I wanted to try and cover all bases and throw in some of my own opinion and experience so you know where I'm coming from.
Thanks
2007 Honda Fit Sport with 27K miles, manual transmission, bought used a couple weeks ago.
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well:
5w-20 for all temps, API seal. No change interval listed, I have heard that it can take up to 7K miles before the Maintenance Minder says it's time for an oil change.
3. Where you live:
Western Pennsylvania
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?):
I would say easy because I drive mainly for gas mileage. If a dangerous situation is occurring around me, I will probably drive hard and fast to get out of it (for example, insane people that don't know how to merge), but generally try to press the gas as little as possible to maximize my fuel economy.
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
My daily drive is 50 miles round trip. Starting with 2 miles in my neighborhood, 8 miles on highway, then 15 more miles that are mostly rural/suburban into the city, almost no sitting in traffic stop and go, and mostly in 3rd and 4th gear, but with frequent stops at stop signs, just no real sitting.
6. Whether your car has any known problems:
It does not.
If you have any preferences -- synthetic vs. conventional, store-bought vs. ordered online, how long you'd like to go between oil changes, etc. -- or any other info you think might be important, let us know that as well.
Knowing that this car might not tell me to change the oil for 7K miles, I would prefer a synthetic. I do not care if it has to be mail-ordered. I'm not trying to maximize the time between changes, but I also don't plan on changing earlier than the Maintenance Minder tells me, since I will want to reset it each time, and I won't know if that will screw with other maintenance it plans on telling me.
I was told the oil was changed around 5K miles ago, and have heard that the maintenance minder will sometimes go as high as 7K, maybe more. I have always liked changing conventional oil at 3K, and for my turbo charged car, I changed the synthetic at Subaru's recommended 3750, even though Blackstone told me I could go farther and had more life left. I liked the added security of knowing my oil was good when I put the air pedal to the floor.
I would like this car to last a very long time, that is why I bought a Honda. I joke with my wife that I want to see 400K miles from it. I don't plan on doing any modifications in the near future, and it came with an excellent warranty (lifetime power-train, 7yr 100K bumper-bumper) but that doesn't mean I want to neglect it in any way.
From what I have researched, I guess it is between Mobil 1 5w-20, or one of Amsoil's 5w-20s, the OE or Extended Life. Obviously Mobil 1 would be more convenient, at all of my local stores, it is the least expensive synthetic, but I'd be worried that it would shear to thin to protect in 7K miles. I stopped using M1 in my Subaru and switched to Rotella for that very reason. On the other hand, I used to work in an auto research lab where I only changed the synthetic Mobil 1 15w-50 once a week, on a GM 350 that ran 24/7 at 3500 rpm pulling a dyno load of 1750 ft lbs per axle side. After 4000+ hours, I checked the compression and it was 165 across all cylinders... but I wouldn't expect 15w-50 to get to thin.
Which brings me here! Maybe you guys can help point me in a nice safe direction towards getting the most out of this Fit!
Sorry this got so long, but I wanted to try and cover all bases and throw in some of my own opinion and experience so you know where I'm coming from.
Thanks