bobbart

Should I use synthetic oil in my new 2008 Honda Fit after the break-in period…stay after 1500 miles? I drive about 200 miles per week, half city/half highway.
The car is on order, should have it sometime next week.

Honda is saying ...I'm wasting my Money on synthetic oil.

Thanks,
bobbart

Fit4it

Hey, I am an auto mechanic who drives a Honda Fit, and the day I bought it I put Royal Purple in it. It is so much smoother plus a slight gain in horsepower, throttle response, and MPG. Doesn't get much better than that. I would say go with Royal Purple if you can get your hands on it because from my years of experience it simply is the best synthetic oil out there. Simply blows me away every time I put it in a car.

bobbart

Thanks for the feedback. What about <U>Mobil 1</U>?

Like I said in my last post.....the service manager and the service tech said to me
" I'm wasting my money by using synthetic oil in Honda cars "
Now why would they say that...is it because they want you to use Honda oil for your oil changes??????

bobbart

dank24

i think it is useless unless your motor is boosted or built na. I owned an accord with close to 300k miles and all i used was castrol

KamakuraKid

The service manager has an opinion, like everyone. I am certain Honda F1 cars run synthetic oil, so my money is on synthetic. All the data I have researched says synthetic is a smart move. I am keeping my Fit for at least five years, a solid motor/transmission/etc with synthetic oil and grease is the goal. As the service needs come due I will be replacing the factory fluids. Right now I have 13,000 km on my 08 Fit Sport, an oil change is due in a couple of weeks, it will be Mobil 1 or Amsoil, not decided which, as well a premium oil filter. Finding Royal Purple around here has been a bust.

Just because the guy is the manager in the service department does not make him an expert on oil, nor an idiot. An opinion, Google for another dozen opinions, plenty based on science which I will invest in with a change to synthetic oil.

My two cents.

bobbart

KamakuraKid, thanks for your feedback. I think your right, that's his opinion.
I will start to use synthetic after the break-in period; I would say between 1500 to 2500 miles on my 2008 Fit...do you think that's correct with the break-in period?
I will you Mobil 1, since I been using on my GMC truck for Five years and like it.
What weight of oil is needed for the 2008 Fit?

Thank,
bobbart

NATE92SI

I work at a Honda dealer and know for a fact our oil come directly from Exxon and is specifically formulated for Honda vehicles. This meaning that there are certain additives in the oil not found in other brands. The oil is also pretty cheap about 2.25 a quart. Royal purple is over 7 a quart. I personally use synthetic in my TURBO vehicle where it is important. The fit is Honda's economy car, I stress this very much. And if you are going to waste the money on synthetic, Mobil 1 5w20 does not void your warranty.

bobbart

NATE92SI, don't you think in the long run... my 2008 Honda Fit will last a longer time...engine wise that is.
My wife has a Accord 2007, I'm thinking of using synthetic oil for this car also, it has about 12,000 miles on it now.

Bobbarto

NATE92SI

Honda engines are great when you don't alter their performance and you follow the maintenance minder. Just do your oil changes and using the proper weight oil (5w20) and that engine will run forever. You don't need synthetic... it wont hurt, but it is a waste of money. I see old accord and civics come in the dealership using our pump oil with well over 200k. If there is anything to be concerned with the fluids it is the transmission if either car is an automatic. The auto transmissions are junk in accords, and we replace them quite frequently. Several a week.

bobbart

NATE92SI,
Thanks for the insight, I will take your advice.

Thanks Again,

Bobbart

dank24

see told yea lol. My accord has over 300k miles and still going on regular oil. Just kept everything in spec to date. 2 timing belts/waterpumps, 1 oil pump, 6 trans flushes and had to change the alternator once.

KamakuraKid

Hmmm the frugal boys might be right on this, giving the whole idea a new consideration. I wonder though, the winter weather outside my window today is -31C without the wind chill factored in, with the wind chill it is -43C. For those of you not using metric, the seven remaining rogue nations (look them up), it is real cold. And those not knowing what wind chill is, well you are in a sweet warm climate. I can hear from the inside of my 5th floor condo, a car creeping down the quiet residential street, what I hear is the creaking of the snow under his tires. The car is half a block away. That is cold.

So I am frugal, but also I am thinking I live in severe weather conditions in the winter. More to ponder me thinks. Time to start the car, let it warm up for 10 minutes and drive off on square tires, need a tire warmer as well. Consider this the start of a Canadian urban myth, we use tire warmers on our cars. It started here, remember this day.

KK

NATE92SI

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KamakuraKid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hmmm the frugal boys might be right on this, giving the whole idea a new consideration. I wonder though, the winter weather outside my window today is -31C without the wind chill factored in, with the wind chill it is -43C. For those of you not using metric, the seven remaining rogue nations (look them up), it is real cold. And those not knowing what wind chill is, well you are in a sweet warm climate. I can hear from the inside of my 5th floor condo, a car creeping down the quiet residential street, what I hear is the creaking of the snow under his tires. The car is half a block away. That is cold.

So I am frugal, but also I am thinking I live in severe weather conditions in the winter. More to ponder me thinks. Time to start the car, let it warm up for 10 minutes and drive off on square tires, need a tire warmer as well. Consider this the start of a Canadian urban myth, we use tire warmers on our cars. It started here, remember this day.

KK</TD></TR></TABLE>


under your circumstances.... i would probably run a 0w20 syn, haha. thats pretty cold, any oil would be put to the test in those conditions. however, genuine honda motor oil in the states is specially formulated with the conditioners for our cars. Just giving your car time to warm up is about all you can do.

NW Classic Honda

I run Castrol (Mobile 1 as a back up) synthetics in all of my Hondas, it will cause no problems exept its more expensive.

Targa250R

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bobbart &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I will start to use synthetic after the break-in period; I would say between 1500 to 2500 miles on my 2008 Fit...do you think that's correct with the break-in period?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Do not drain your engine oil before your vehicle reaches 5000 miles. The factory break-in oil has a special additive package and should be run for at least 5000 miles. After that, resume oil changes as normal.

I personally feel that synthetic oil is a waste in a stock Fit, unless you live in an extreme cold climate and need the improved low temperature flow characteristics, or you run extended oil change intervals (longer than 5000 miles). Conventional oil is fine in all other cases. If you are using synthetic oil with the intention of changing it every 3000-4000 miles on your stock Fit, you are just throwing money away.

My D16A6 has 262,000 miles under its belt, all on conventional Castrol GTX. Had I used synthetic oil to rack up those miles, the only difference is that I would be $1200+ poorer by now, because the engine is in excellent shape. I have never seen a Honda engine fail due to using conventional oil, or one that could have been prevented by using synthetics. On the other hand, I have seen plenty of engines fail or be damaged due to lack of attention to oil level and/or neglect to use the correct oil change intervals for the particular oil or conditions.

SuzukaBlueAP2

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KamakuraKid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The service manager has an opinion, like everyone. I am certain Honda F1 cars run synthetic oil,

My two cents.</TD></TR></TABLE>

There's just one small problem, these engines in the Fit are not F1 engines.

LSVTEC 91 Civic

I run Amsoil.. It allows me to run extended OCIs, as I use my Fit for pizza delivery.. I put a lot of miles on it.

hybrid1224

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Targa250R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Do not drain your engine oil before your vehicle reaches 5000 miles. The factory break-in oil has a special additive package and should be run for at least 5000 miles. After that, resume oil changes as normal.

I personally feel that synthetic oil is a waste in a stock Fit, unless you live in an extreme cold climate and need the improved low temperature flow characteristics, or you run extended oil change intervals (longer than 5000 miles). Conventional oil is fine in all other cases. If you are using synthetic oil with the intention of changing it every 3000-4000 miles on your stock Fit, you are just throwing money away.

My D16A6 has 262,000 miles under its belt, all on conventional Castrol GTX. Had I used synthetic oil to rack up those miles, the only difference is that I would be $1200+ poorer by now, because the engine is in excellent shape. I have never seen a Honda engine fail due to using conventional oil, or one that could have been prevented by using synthetics. On the other hand, I have seen plenty of engines fail or be damaged due to lack of attention to oil level and/or neglect to use the correct oil change intervals for the particular oil or conditions.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Well put! I use Castrol GTX on my Fit.

bobbart

Thanks.............Targa250R,
I don't live in a extreme cold climate, so I'm going to stick to conventional oil.

bobbart

otisdog

Yea I was wondering about the break-in.
Then I read in the manual where it says to NOT change the oil till you hit 5000.
I think I'm just going to use Honda oil.
Jim

NATE92SI

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SuzukaBlueAP2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

There's just one small problem, these engines in the Fit are not F1 engines. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Haha, exactly... infact I believe the Fit has Honda's smallest and least HP engine.

Targa250R

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by otisdog &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think I'm just going to use Honda oil.</TD></TR></TABLE>
You could use the Honda branded oil if you'd like, but it's not really necessary. Honda oil is just conventional oil sourced from Exxon-Mobil. Most dealerships don't use the Honda oil for oil changes, but rather buy bulk oil from local distributors (brand could be Mobil, Castrol, Valvoline, etc.) - except in special cases, like the 0W-20 oil for hybrids.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NATE92SI &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Haha, exactly... infact I believe the Fit has Honda's smallest and least HP engine.</TD></TR></TABLE>
No, this does:



Honda GX25 SOHC 4-stroke. Displacement 0.025L (25cc), 1.0hp @ 7000 RPM, 0.74 lb-ft @ 5000 RPM, revs to 8000 RPM. It weighs 6.4 lbs.

NATE92SI

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Targa250R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
You could use the Honda branded oil if you'd like, but it's not really necessary. Honda oil is just conventional oil sourced from Exxon-Mobil. Most dealerships don't use the Honda oil for oil changes, but rather buy bulk oil from local distributors (brand could be Mobil, Castrol, Valvoline, etc.) - except in special cases, like the 0W-20 oil for hybrids.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I personally know for a fact that our oil (bottled) is an exxon-mobil product that is NOT conventional oil, but with actual additives for Honda engines.

Targa250R

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NATE92SI &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">additives for Honda engines.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Has anyone elaborated on this to you?

eL

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NATE92SI &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Haha, exactly... infact I believe the Fit has Honda's smallest and least HP engine.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Maybe as far as current engines go. There are 60hp D-series engines out there.