I lease a 2013Honda Fit. I went to my local Honda dealership this past Saturday for an oil change because my car’s mileage was very close to 6,000 but the computer indicator for the fuel check in the car said my oil check was at 40%. Anyway, the customer service rep in the Service Department at Honda looked at me like I had two heads for requesting an oil change. He said my warranty would not cover it because the percentage is not 15% or below. I told him that was very low - too low in fact. But I had the change done anyway. From here on in, I will be doing the oil change at 15%. The car’s mileage would be about 8,000 miles at that point. Is that good for the car? I know I don’t own the car and I shouldn’t care…but it seems like following the warranty instructions, I’d be driving the car into the ground. Am I wrong?..I live in New Jersey…no extreme weather conditions here, I drive on the highway to work - but there is a lot of stop and go because of traffic…
If Honda is recommending an oil change at 8,000 miles then they have lost all respect from me. That plan is asinine even if they are using synthetic oil. It’s not good for the engine of the car and it’s value at the end of the lease will be lower. I recommend buying a vehicle and forget about leasing. You would be in the position then of changing your engine oil at around 5,000 miles which is far more reasonable.
“He said my warranty would not cover it”
Ummm…the OP REALLY needs to learn about what a warranty entails.
A warranty does not cover maintenance costs–regardless of what the odometer mileage factor might be.
A warranty does cover the cost of repairs, however.
The object of good maintenance is to avoid having to repair the car, as those repairs will likely take place after the expiration of the warranty.
Much of the decision about when to change oil–and to do other maintenance procedures–has to do with the elapsed time factor, in addition to the odometer mileage factor.
So, my suggestions for the OP are as follows:
>Read both the actual wording of the warranty, and the manufacturer’s Maintenance Schedule.
These are two entirely different entities, and the OP clearly needs to familiarize herself with both.
Tell us how many months the car has been driven in order to accumulate those 6k miles.
Your fit knows exactly how you drive and temp outside based on computer readings and adjust oil change interval accordingly. I’d follow it.
I find if I drive my 07 MDX with similar oil life thing in winter with many short trips/long warm ups in driveway it seems to last only 5500 miles between oil changes. However in summer with long highway road trips oil changes are 7500-8500 miles.
If you are leasing follow the oil monitor and drive on…
Do check the oil level every few thousand miles though. Your monitor has no idea level of oil and it gets beaten up much faster if less is in sump.
One other factoid. The oil life monitor has no concept of time. If a year passes no matter what it reads change the engine oil out.
It’s a lease. So unless you plan to buy it when it’s done, just follow Honda’s recommendation. If that oil change interval is actually a problem (opinions will vary) the problems won’t show up until after you’re done with it. And if it shows up before AND you have followed Honda’s recommendations on maintenance, then the problem falls in their lap.
I assume, btw, that the car came with, or you paid extra for a maintenance agreement where certain kinds of basic maintenance are included in the leasing deal, and that’s actually what you meant. If so, then it’s no surprise that they won’t provide optional services as part of it.
I have seen some new cars advertised with 2yr free maintnace and so on. So, if your free oil changes are only when computer sez so, than change it when you want too. If 3k miles makes you happy, do it. Than the dealer can do your 1 per yr free change.
I agree with @cig. It’s a lease and if you don’t plan buying the car, just have the less frequent changes and don’t worry about it. If instead you want to buy it and change it more often, just do up it at your expense.
Chances are the car’s various computers don’t know that the car has only 6000 miles, but 14 months have elapsed, for example
The oil life monitor (OLM) does take into consideration the type of driving you do (stop and go) as well as temperature, etc. So it can be reasonably trusted to know when a change is needed.
What it cannot do is monitor the oil LEVEL. Just check the level periodically before starting out in the morning.