My 2010 Honda Fit recommends changing the oil every 10,000 miles. Is this really the best way to take care of my car?
Does it say every 10K miles or 6 months whichever comes first? There should be a time element to the recommendation, either every 6 months or every 12 months.
Personally I wouldn’t go that far…but it may be fine…
Nothing wrong with changing it sooner (say 5k miles) if it makes you feel better. I know that’s what I’d do.
Personally I’m uncomfortable with these new 10,000 mile recommendations. Oil is cheap. Engines are expensive. The goal is to make the engine last, not to make the oil last. I’d change it every 5,000 miles.
Based on the Oil Life Monitor (OLM), my 2010 Cobalt can go 9-10k between changes. I’m more comfortable with a 5k/6 month interval.
Whatever the interval, the oil level needs to be checked on a regular basis. More than a few engines are toast because the OP’s neglected to open the hood between oil changes.
Ed B.
I agree with the others. The manufacturers seem to think this is okay, and it may be, but the manufacturers also want to lower the “true cost of ownership” factor to encourage people to buy their cars. They are obviously confident that 10k mile oil changes will definitely get their cars past the warranty period, but I wouldn’t do that to my cars. I personally go with 3k mile oil changes, but I also drive old junk and keep it running till it’s too rusty to safely drive any more. I subscribe to the “oil is cheap, engines are expensive” school of thought. My sister’s car has an OLM, but I reset it every time she brings it to me for an oil change and it has never come on for her. She’s a little paranoid, though, and will never let it go past 3k miles, even if I tell her it’s okay to do so.
Final note: Neither I nor any other regular on this board can emphasize this enough: you have to check your oil level regularly. Many people don’t and come on here wondering why their engine ran out of oil and failed catastrophically, and why the manufacturer won’t fix it for free under warranty. Oil usage between changes is common (more common with today’s lighter weights like 0W20 and 5W20) and acceptable to a point. At least get an idea as to how much your engine will normally use, then check it more often than needed according to that schedule just to make sure nothing has changed, because things can change.
Im with “oil is cheap” Just out of curiosity what does the oil look like at 10,000 miles???
I’d love to go 10k miles before an oil change. Only 5900 miles to go and I’d be on my first oil change. So lets see, may 2010…4,100 miles…15 months… So it’d take me 3 or 4 years before I needed my first oil change just going by miles. Heck, the manual recommends 5k miles or 4 months, whichever comes first, so I’ve had 4 oil changes already, almost due for my 5th.
Yes I do drive just about every day, just about 6 miles total each day though, more on the weekend or my days off it seems like
Does your Fit have an oil life monitor?
I’m still on the fence about 10K oil changes, but am convinced there are some valid reasons the industry is moving in that direction.
If you do a google search for “Europe 10K oil changes”, you’ll find 10k intervals are often on the low side. They’ve been doing that for at least the last 5+ years. While they do have strict specs on their oil, the car driving population hasn’t rebelled over millions of damaged engines.
I would make sure you do the first oil change exactly as specified, Honda uses a specific break in oil, don’t change it early. After that, I guess I’d do it a bit more often, say every 7,500 miles. And do change the filter every change, some Hondas have an ‘oil only’ change - I do NOT get that!
Do check your oil every 1000 miles or so, we get folks who ask ‘why was my oil low after 5000 miles?’ Don’t be one of those people!
When I was 16 and working in a gas station, we had a customer who would keep his cars for 100,000 miles. He would only change the filters every 25,000 miles and would never change his oil. He would add oil when needed.
I remember checking his oil, and it was very thick and black.
He wanted to do things his own way and it worked for him. All of us who worked at the gas station were amazed his engines lasted that long.
That would much tougher to do with today’s hotter running engines.
My wife has a 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid. The owners manual calls for an oil change every 10,000 miles. I talked to the dealer about this as I was concerned (I am used to changing the oil every 4,000). They advised that we stick to the manual. We have had no problems with it so far, I have 48,000 miles on it. I used to rotate tires every other oil change, but with this car I rotate every oil change. I check fluids and tire pressure often though, so that I do not have any “unexpected” issues happen!
I think a 10k miles oil change interval is the wrong thing to do and I also feel that way about many other factory recommendations including and not limited to permanent fuel filters, “lifetime transmission fluid”, 100k miles spark plug intervals, and so on.
Follow this forum regularly and you will see a fair number of people who adhered to that regimen and who are now up the proverbial creek without a paddle or an engine.
Probably my all time favorite, and totally asinine, factory recommendation is the one made by Honda Motor Company about valve lash inspections. Not only do they recommend that procedure at well over a 100k miles but they recommend this be done with an “audible inspection”. It can’t be done; period.
That recommendation is asinine beyond belief and the sad part is that several other car makers also make the same equally ridiculous assertion.
Does your owner’s manual recommend special expensive oil that is formulated for long life use? Is that oil simply recommended or is it required?
Having not read the owner’s manual for a 2010 Honda Fit, I can’t give you informed advice, but I can give you my general take on the situation.
If you buy the Honda brand oil recommended or required in the owner’s manual, and it is special “long life” oil, I might go 10,000 miles between oil changes.
If special oil is only recommended, and you decide to use something cheaper that meets Honda’s minimum standards, I would change it every 5,000 miles.
If your owner’s manual has two maintenance schedules, one for normal conditions, and one for severe conditions, consider that almost all of us live places where there is at least one trait or condition that makes us qualify for the “severe conditions” maintenance schedule, and I am willing to bet your “severe conditions” maintenance schedule has an oil change interval shorter than 10,000 miles.
I think that the simple answer to the question depends on how long you intend to keep the car. If the car is leased, or if you typically keep your cars for only 2 or 3 years, then you (and the car) will not suffer from a 10k oil change interval.
On the other hand, if you keep your cars for 7 years or more–as I do–then I think you would be wise to change the oil every 5k miles or 6 months, whichever comes first. The extremely long oil change intervals that are now common in Europe are “doable” simply because of the different, more stringent, specification for European motor oils. Going 10k miles with the typical US-spec motor oil is likely to lead to damaging engine sludge–IMHO.
As our friend, TSMB, likes to say–Oil is relatively cheap, and engines are very expensive…and…The idea is to extend the life of the engine, not the life of the oil!
Please give some thought to these valid statements.
I can’t tell you what dino oil looks like at 10,000 miles. But, I can tell you what Mobil-1 EP looks like at 8800 miles of highway driving. Pretty much like when it was new, with only a slight color change. And, Blackstone report showed all parameters good to 10,000 miles, my own mathematic projection from 8800 miles.
I don’t like 10K oil changes for the simple fact that oil sludging is very possible. If an engine is prone to oil sludging then it’s even more possible to ruin an engine. I like the 5k oil change and I consider it preventative maintenance as well as regular maintenance.
I’m with IRLANDES above. Own a 2001 Silverado 4.8L P/U with 280,934 mi. I do my own oil changes every 8-10K mi. Use Mobil 1 5W-30W EP oil ever since I got the truck, don’t need to add 1 qt at 9K. Oil does look black!
Still get 17-18MPG on Hwy and 16 around town, oh need a tuneup 2nd since I got the truck. Even at $6/qt oil is cheap vs buying a new car/truck. My $0.02 worth.
I spend time on a fit centric forum (fitfreak.net). Several people, following the oil life monitor, have run ~10k or more and then had the oil checked by blackstone. None have come back with a result that the oil should have been changed sooner. So yeah, 10k intervals or 1 year which ever is first, seems to be fine. As mentioned, you should still check the dip stick regularly. The MM doesn’t know about oil leaks