Oil for 170,000+ mile 2009 Honda Fit Sport

D

DavidDoes

Joined
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
32
Location
Seattle, WA
Our commuter car, a 2009 Honda Fit Sport, has developed an oil leak or burn. No apparent leaks, but I haven't yet checked any of the gaskets that could cause this. Car is at just over 168,000 miles.

This oil change that I just did over the weekend, and the one before, were both done with Kirkland Signature 5w-20 full synthetic. I noticed oil consumption just before the first Kirkland oil change. That oil was Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 5w-20, and we added 1.5 qts before the next change. The latest oil change was 2.4 quarts short of the full 3.8 quart change, with an OCI of 6,814 miles.

I'm now looking for a new oil. It looks like Costco doesn't have their oil anymore. OCI are between 5,000 miles and 8,000 miles. I don't have a garage, so if it's the wet season, I wait till it starts drying up. I always do a change in the middle of the Fall to get us through winter.

Should I go back to PUP? PUP HM? M1 HM? Amazon Basics?! I noticed Costco has Castrol GTX HM pretty regularly, too. I don't know of any coupon offers for specific oils, so maybe that plays a role as well.

FWIW, I don't expect an oil or any additives to fix an oil leak, but mostly providing that information for context. Mostly, I want to get the most out of this car, and want to give it the best protection.

edit: Added last change's lab results

09 FIT-240811.webp
 
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Get it checked to see if it is a leak hopefully. If yes, then stick to Pennzoil Ultra. It is an excellent oil available at reasonable price. If it is an oil burner then I am not sure what can be done about it other then a costly motor surgery.
 
We got a Honda a 2011 Honda Fit as a business delivery vehicle. The purchase price new I think was 18000 dollars. It was pushed to the limit and sold at around 130000 miles. The only thing which seemed questionable was the transmission had some.signs that something was wrong. Engine still ran great and it was a high revving 4 cylinder paint shaker.

I wouldnt even bother putting Valvoline EP or PUP into it. Its a cheap economy vehicle. Probably not worth more than 5000 dollars as is.

Just go to Walmart and get some high mileage Quaker State or SuperTech.
 
Thats funny, I just saw and heard one running in a parking lot and thought sheesh , it doesn’t sound too healthy for a Honda (Ticking and clicking).Assume 5w20 all its life as per cap.

I’d run a euro w30 in it and see where that takes it.
 
Navi said:
We got a Honda a 2011 Honda Fit as a business delivery vehicle. The purchase price new I think was 18000 dollars. It was pushed to the limit and sold at around 130000 miles. The only thing which seemed questionable was the transmission had some.signs that something was wrong. Engine still ran great and it was a high revving 4 cylinder paint shaker.

I wouldnt even bother putting Valvoline EP or PUP into it. Its a cheap economy vehicle. Probably not worth more than 5000 dollars as is.

Just go to Walmart and get some high mileage Quaker State or SuperTech.
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Folks push these things multiple hundreds of thousands of miles. And sure, maybe not “worth” much, but I don’t like buying new vehicles when I don’t have to.

SiRDOHC said:
Thats funny, I just saw and heard one running in a parking lot and thought sheesh , it doesn’t sound too healthy for a Honda (Ticking and clicking).Assume 5w20 all its life as per cap.

I’d run a euro w30 in it and see where that takes it.
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Yeah, that just means the car needs a valve adjustment is all. Pretty regular thing.
 
DavidDoes said:
Folks push these things multiple hundreds of thousands of miles. And sure, maybe not “worth” much, but I don’t like buying new vehicles when I don’t have to.


Yeah, that just means the car needs a valve adjustment is all. Pretty regular thing.
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I was thinking this vehicle is a good candidate for Valvoline Restore and Protect 5W30. The engine probably needs a good cleaning by now.
 
I have a 2007 that started consuming oil around 200k miles. I have yet to confirm if it’s from worn rings or if trying Valvoline R&P will reduce consumption by cleaning them. (I plan to convert this fall if Amsoil Signature doesn’t improve that by then)

We ran ours for longer OCIs than yours. 8k was on the low end. It went 9k+ most of the time. Including several runs on M1 EP for 12.5k and going almost 15k on M1 AFE; which I now know despite good UOA results it has likely been the reason consumption increased (due to not running clean; i.e. the cause of partial stuck oil control rings)

High Mileage oils made no difference; leading me to think it’s got nothing really to do with seals leaking (tho ironically it does have a very slow rear main leak)

It uses about 1 Quart per 4k miles; so not quite as much as in your case which many consider negligible for the mileage. So, in lieu of any external leaks, yours could make a candidate for cleaning potentially stuck oil control rings. Couldn’t hurt.

I have upped to a 30 grade, given ours is well over 300k now and was hoping it would slow consumption. It didn’t change consumption for ours, but the longer I’ve ran Amsoil Signature (the oil I chose when upping the grade) the more peppy the car has become. Anecdotal. Who knows why that may be…

If you give VRP a try, yes go with the 5w30 as others recommend and also do the early filter change on your first run. Consider using it for the full “4 oil changes” in a row, as Valvoline recommends for the most cleaning to occur; as some users have reported it taking several changes to notice an improvement. IMO it’s a good idea to cap the intervals to 5k miles. It is for cleaning after all.

Hope this helps.
 
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start with VRP 5w-30 until consumption goes t down then transition to Valvoline EP HM 5w-30. if it’s starts burning the EP HM (My wife’s did) then go to PUP 5w-30. i run OCI’s on OTS oils @ 6k intervals.
 
Thanks, y'all!

I'll give Valvoline Restore & Protect 5w-30 a try for 4 full changes. I'll change the filter within the first few thousand miles of the first oil change, and then again at each change thereafter (I always do anyways). Using Premium Guard EP filters.

After those 4 changes, I'll move to Valvoline High Mileage 5w-30.

I've read that running heavier weight synthetics doesn't do anything for seals these days like it did when everything was conventional oil, but I also don't think it will hurt to try. Haven't seen evidence one way or the other.

edit: Our other vehicle, a 2008 FJ Cruiser with 207,000 miles on it, does not burn or leak any oil, and it runs 5w-30. Maybe I'll be able to purchase just one oil to use across both. Hah!
 
Other than the valve cover, the only other item that generally leaks is the timing cover.

Also, make it a habit to periodically check the spark plugs for tightness on the Fit. The plugs like to back out and destroy the cylinder head threads. More so on the first gen than the second, but it happens on both.
 
DavidDoes said:
After those 4 changes, I'll move to Valvoline High Mileage 5w-30.
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If VRP helps the oil loss considerably, I suggest using it perpetually. If it does, it indicates the piston rings got cleaned. Switching away from what does good work to a lower quality oil is not the best choice, in my opinion.
 
The Critic said:
Other than the valve cover, the only other item that generally leaks is the timing cover.

Also, make it a habit to periodically check the spark plugs for tightness on the Fit. The plugs like to back out and destroy the cylinder head threads. More so on the first gen than the second, but it happens on both.
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Yeah, when we adjusted valves, I forgot to replace the valve cover gasket. But I have it in my garage.

I did not know that about the plugs!

JAG said:
If VRP helps the oil loss considerably, I suggest using it perpetually. If it does, it indicates the piston rings got cleaned. Switching away from what does good work to a lower quality oil is not the best choice, in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Might do that. It's only a couple more bucks for a 5 quart jug, through Wal-Mart.com.
 
DavidDoes said:
Yeah, when we adjusted valves, I forgot to replace the valve cover gasket. But I have it in my garage.

I did not know that about the plugs!


Might do that. It's only a couple more bucks for a 5 quart jug, through Wal-Mart.com.
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I believe it’s the 2nd Gen that had updated spark plug torque values in a TSB. Original service manual called for 13 ft/lbs of torque. 20 is the new updated number for that gen.

That said, my GD3 has had a couple of plugs back out. That could have been installer error though.
 
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