Hi all,
I just bought my first car, it's an 07 Honda Fit with 175k miles on it. I'm doing an oil change first thing...because I know nothing about the maintenance history of the vehicle! I figured I'd mention that since maybe it has some bearing on what oil is best (I'm assuming the engine has been poorly treated).
I'm in the Midwest, it'll probably continue to be in the negatives (-16F yesterday!) for a while and it gets up into 110 occasionally during summer so I will be driving in extreme temps. I do a short drive around town (0.5-5 miles of stop and go) about once a day, and then a ~60 mile drive up to visit family every week or every other week. That long drive is on a freeway, ~70mph.
I'm not really sure how to characterize my driving but I'd probably say I drive fairly hard, I certainly don't have a super light foot.
Thank you so much for your help, BIOG!
Choosing an oil and filter...newbie
- Thread starter zaphod_b
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I would use Mobil-1 High Mileage, in the factory recommended weight. Probably 5w20 or 0w20.
The Valvoline MaxLife Semi Synthetic is good stuff also, if you wanna save $10.
I generally use M1 or Wix filters.
By the way, I would service all the fluids: trans, brake, power steering, atf.
Well first off 
. Sounds like you have a great car - I’ll second JeffKeryk suggestion on oil.
. Sounds like you have a great car - I’ll second JeffKeryk suggestion on oil.Originally Posted By: JeffKeryk
I would use Mobil-1 High Mileage, in the factory recommended weight. Probably 5w20 or 0w20.
The Valvoline MaxLife Semi Synthetic is good stuff also, if you wanna save $10.
I generally use M1 or Wix filters.
By the way, I would service all the fluids: trans, brake, power steering, atf.
Seeing as your from Minny, I'd also choose a "0" or "5" good quality synthetic.
So need to know more ... Any leaks, weeps, or seeps? What's the oil consumption? Any odd noises on cold start? What's it look like under the oil fill cap? Does Carfax show any maintenance records? Have you changed the PCV yet?
With that many miles, I would expect some normal bearing wear. Enough that a 30 grade would be a decent option at op temp. And seeing as you are in the frozen north, a 0W would be good for cold starts, etc. So I'd prolly try a 0W-30 and see what happens 
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If you don’t mind doing your own oil changes, then I would use dino or syn blend 5w20/30 w any jobber filter w 5k OCI. If u rather change the oil as seldom as possible, then use a full syn oil w a syn media filter like fram ultra w 10k OCIs. I prefer the 5k oci, it’s been working for me and I like getting under the vehicles to make sure all is well
Spun Micro Glass filters are extremely beneficial. They flow better, filter better, and last longer as they do not degrade. filter test Spun Microglass got top three spots, Royal Purple on top, Amsoil second a RP clone, or fram ultra, Wix XP is another spun microglass but didn't make the test. Look at these rectangles, whatever is on these filters is what makes it through the media. So the white rectangle on top, has nearly zero contamination at 30 microns, see rectangles below.
As for performance in the cold, nothing will beat ester/pao based stuff in the extremes, Redline will pour down a full ten degrees more then group 3 oil with the same 0 winter ratings. Read tech sheets, every oil has a pour point. M1 is also a pretty good choice, but not every oil is created equal in the cold, check this video out, really shows the benefits of 0 winter ratings. Also shows that with redline 5 winter rating is as good as group 3 oil with 0 winter ratings, and it even gets better if you use 0 winter rating redline. If you chose redline with a RP filter, that is a long oil change interval combo, you should be good for a year or around 15k miles, you should verify your own engine with a uoa if you want to extend OCI in an older engine like yours. Redline is that clear oil in the middle.
click expanded view on video to see oils. Not really super scientific, but the results are plain as day.
cold flow oil video
Another one shows similar flow, but two are cloudy and one is crystal clear.
another cool oil vid
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Pour point as a measure of winter performance was obsolete many, many years, ago, though. Do note that I can find you a 15w-40 with a very miraculous pour point of something like -45 C that you wouldn't want to try in our current temperatures. 15w- is 15w-, regardless of whether the pour point is -20 C or somewhere near absolute zero.
Burla, thanks for using my cold flow video! Minnesota winters can be a little extreme sometimes. I ended up using cheap $3 a quart Resolute oil from FleetFarm. Very cheap and flows very simular to fancy Mobil 1. Not worth paying a fancy price for M1.
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Originally Posted By: Serge
Minnesota winters can be a little extreme sometimes.
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....filter test
My vote: Valvoline Maxlife full-syn 0w20 from Walmart for cheap, rated to dexos1 Gen2 (high standard), and made to keep your old seals flexible to prevent future leaks.
Fram Ultra oil filter for best filtering and its silicon ADBV keeps working when super cold.
Blackstone Labs (the oil analysis folks) recently released a newsletter article that indicates that oil brand has zero effect on engine wear. For this reason, I use W-M SuperTech Full Synthetic in all my internal combustion engines; cars, trucks, lawn tractors, mud motors, etc. I run Honda HP Full Synthetic 4-stroke Motorcycle oil in my motorcycles because it has EP additives for the gearbox.
Filters? I've run Bosch oil filters for decades (and have had no problems) in everything except my Corvette; it gets AC Delco UltraGard Gold.
Changing the oil/filter regularly (I use 5000 mile intervals) is far more important than which brand or type. Just be sure to use the viscosity that your particular vehicle recommends.
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Originally Posted By: code5coupe
Blackstone Labs (the oil analysis folks) recently released a newsletter article that indicates that oil brand has zero effect on engine wear.
Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies
The study you mention, and here is the link to it: https://www.blackstone-labs.com/Newsletters/Gas-Diesel/July-1-2017.php , did show some differences in iron wear. See Figure 5 as one example in that article. Many times there was about a 30% difference in the PPM/mile figures, averaged over many UOA's.
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