We were past due for an oil
change, for which I try my best to keep a decent record of for warranty
purposes. It’s complicated because with Honda Fits, they use synthetic oil, and
the changes are much farther apart. I’m used to every 3000 miles, but now
they’re saying you can go 7000 miles. Our mechanic says 5000 miles, and I’ve
been told by people in the know that you can go as much as 10,000 miles with
synthetic. I’ll stick with every 3000-5000.
Now with all the craziness in our
lives, I sort of lost track of the due date, and next thing I know, we’re a
little overdue for an oil change. I arranged for an oil change, tire rotation,
and tire repair (slow leak), but our mechanic couldn’t see us for another week.
I was bummed, and wanted to get the oil changed ASAP, so I called another
mechanic and they could see me in a couple of days. Then I felt guilty because
I really like our mechanic, even though the other guys are fairly trustworthy.
I came up with a compromise by being a real man and taking matters into my own
hands. I decided to change the oil myself, thus allowing me to do it ASAP, and
then have our mechanic do the tire work. Everyone wins, right?
I will say this, changing the oil
on the Fit is easy, much more so than the Mazda. I’ve changed the oil several
times in the past, I just prefer for our mechanic to do it because he keeps an
official record. They designed the Fit for easy access to the drain plug and filter.
When I did the Mazda, I had to jack up one end, drain the oil, then jack up the
other end to get to the filter, which was hard to access. With the Fit, I can
just jack up one end, and get under there and to go work. Plus, the drain plug
is situated to drain properly when one side is lifted. Beautiful.
Anyway, I was feeling all good
about myself, and several days passed when A commented on smelling gas. I could
smell it, too. It wasn’t gas, but smelled like burning oil. I opened the hood
and saw that I had forgotten to put the darn cap back on the engine, allowing
for some oil to splatter out and burn. It has been incredibly rainy, as well,
and suddenly I had this huge anxiety that water had gotten into the engine and
ruined our car. I was so bummed, and my anxiety kicked into overdrive. My first
impulse was to drain the oil, replace the filter, and put fresh oil in
immediately.
Of course, not before consulting
with a person who knows everything there is to know about anything and
everything, the Amazing PR Man. He set my mind at ease by telling me it would
be fine, I didn’t need to change the oil and that I was not the first person to
forget to put the cap back on. Any water that gets in will burn off when the
engine gets hot, so I should just take it out for a spin. He also mentioned
water forms all the time as a result of heating and cooling of the block.
Any normal person would have
listened to the expert (and believe me, when it comes to engines (airplanes,
cars, space shuttles), nobody can touch the Amazing PR Man), but being the
neurotic anal retentive person that I am, of course I wasn’t going to listen.
It’s better to regret what you have done than what you haven’t done, right? I
went right out and changed the oil (sorry Amazing PR Man). I figure $25 of
neurotic effort was worth the peace of mind when it involves your car’s engine.
Besides, as I mentioned, changing
the oil on the Fit is a breeze, especially when it’s the second time in a week.
This time around, I remembered to put the cap back on, and I feel this enormous
weight lifted off my shoulders. You just can’t put a price on that.
Until the next time, thanks for
reading.
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