New Honda run on 1 Qt of oil - how bad??
 

Took my new Honda Fit to the dealership for it's first oil change. It had 3000 or so miles on it (total-it's 2 months old) and I wanted to make sure I had Honda service oil changes so if ever there was a problem, it was documented that I had done things by the book. That was two days ago. Today, after driving 60 miles, I noticed an oil on exhaust smell. I figured they maybe dripped some on the exhaust manifold. However, I also noticed that the rear window was fogged with oil! I checked the dipstick. Nothing! I called the service center and they advised me to get to a oil change facility to see if something came loose underneath. We drove 3 blocks to the Valvoline center and found that the rubber gasket on the oil filter had been out of wack. Out of the 3.8 liter oil capacity, we had 1.2 liters left in the engine. I'm not sure how long we drove on how much oil, but we put 60 miles on from the oil change and upon returning home, I found about half a liter on my garage floor (I'm looking backwards backing out of my garage so I didn't notice it).

The Fit has very few gauges so no oil or temp gauge. No idiot lights went on and the car ran fine. So...how bad is it to run it on so little oil? Is there a potential long term issue with the engine now? Should I ask anything from the dealer other than reimbursement for the new oil change? Diagnostics? New car?? I highly doubt they'll do more than pay for the oil change, but what would you do?

TIA

If it were me, I say the idiot light not coming on means you had pressure, probably not full pressure, but some, and that lubrication saved you from crank/rod bearing damage. Glad you found it when you did.

But then, I'm an optimist.

I like those cars. My nephew is sold on Honda's.

I had a 95 Geo metro the 4 cylinder model. It leaked oil and occasionally it would find that I have been driving it with only a quart of oil in it give or take. It still runs good with almost 200k. If the transmission didn't die I would be still driving it to work.

If you didn't have a low oil pressure light then you didn't do any damage in that short of a time.

Just get documentation in case you have premature failure which will be one week after the warranty runs out.

Document as SM says, but I think you're fine.

No idiot light means o.k. oil pressure which means you're fine...

Just have the dealership document to your satisfaction as others have said.

BTW, almost every little Honda I've ever seen (even my Civic Si at 25k mi) has a soot black exhaust pipe and uses some oil...I'm probably one of those in the minority that's not all that impressed with their smaller engines.

After seeing the oil fogged rear window the first thing I checked was the exhaust pipe. Clean as a whistle so far but agin, it only has 3k miles. I've had a number of Hondas and I don't recall any oil consumption, but maybe I got lucky.

So far, I have the receipt from Valvoline stating what they found. It just says the oil filter gasket was not correctly installed and therefore leaked heavily. Also that the car had only 1.2 liters of oil when they drained it. What should I ask the dealer for as far as documentation? Just a summary of events?

track your oil consumption and document any and all weird noises.........

with that low of oil it could have caused intermittent pressure drops.

sorry to pee in your cheerios.

rjp

The oil pickup will be in the bottom of the sump, so even if there is only a cup full of oil it will get circulated and adequate lubrication given. It would however mean the small amount of oil would be "working harder" and break down sooner. But in your case you had driven it very few miles. So your Honda shgould be just fine :)

As other's mentioned, I would get it documented and signed by the GM of the dealer that did the service.

Losing 2/3 of the oil is not good, fortunately you didn't drive long this way. Without specs, it's hard to say how much oil it takes to fill engines oil passages and filter. It's also impossible to know how low the pickup is inside the pan and at what level does starvation and cavitation start? Assuming a cup or even a quart in the pan is enough is a big stretch when accellerating or stopping could cause the pickup to go dry at that level. Does the idiot light work? Does it only come on at <1 psi? Lots of unknowns.

New motors are expensive, cover your butt!! And while your at it, get lifetime free oil changes from that dealer for the stress they've caused. They likely already give their best customers free oil service.