Honda Fit Oil Change: 1.5 Liters, 0W-20 and a Small Sump

Honda sold the Fit in the U.S. through the 2020 model year, and there are still plenty around the University of Nevada and in the apartment lots off Kietzke and Plumas, often on their second or third owner. It is a small engine with a small oil sump, and that is the point worth knowing. A 1.5-liter engine holds only a few quarts, so every quart it burns or leaks is a bigger share of the total than it would be in a V6. A Fit that is a quart low is running on a lot less oil than its owner thinks.

At a glance

• 2015-2020 Fit: 1.5-liter i-VTEC four, CVT or a six-speed manual on some trims
• Oil grade: 0W-20 as printed on the filler cap, per Honda's recommended-oil guidance
• Interval: the Maintenance Minder, and at least once a year
• Minder code 3 on a CVT car means transmission fluid

Why a small sump changes the advice

On a small engine, a slow leak or a little oil burned on the highway takes a bigger bite out of the total. Honda's manuals tell owners to check the oil level regularly, and on an older Fit that is good advice to take literally. We look at the level on arrival and tell you what we found before we drain it, because a low reading is useful information about the engine.

Honda's owner's manuals recommend a premium-grade 0W-20 detergent oil with the API Certification Seal, and allow synthetic with that seal and grade. The oil change capacity, with and without the filter, is on the Specifications page of the manual. We did not find a Honda-published figure we could cite for every Fit year, so we fill to your manual's number and finish on the dipstick rather than pouring a round figure.

Short trips, freezing mornings and the Minder

A Fit that only drives from Midtown to campus and back never fully warms its oil. Reno averages about 122 nights a year at or below freezing on the NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals, and a cold start on a short trip leaves moisture and fuel in the crankcase. The Maintenance Minder accounts for engine operating conditions, which is why a short-trip Fit can show a service code sooner than the mileage suggests.

The once-a-year rule catches the Fit that barely moves. If it has been 12 months since the last change and the Minder still shows plenty of life, Honda's manuals say to change the oil anyway.

CVT fluid and the codes after B

Most Fits of this generation have a continuously variable transmission. When the Minder adds code 3, it is asking for transmission fluid, and Honda's manuals add a 25,000-mile CVT fluid interval for cars driven regularly in mountainous areas, which is a fair description of any Fit that climbs to Tahoe on the Mount Rose Highway. Ask about a transmission fluid service with Honda's specified CVT fluid when that code shows up.

Code 2 covers the air filters. Honda moves the engine air cleaner to every 15,000 miles in dusty conditions.

A Fit at our lane

1. Drive in, no appointment. We note the Minder code and check the oil level first.
2. Drain, new filter, refill with 0W-20 to your manual's figure.
3. Air filter and cabin filter pulled and shown, fluids topped off, battery tested.
4. Minder reset, and a plain-English rundown of anything else we saw. You decide.