2nd Oil and Filter Change (11215km)

First oil change was done at the dealership because I had a free one with the purchase of the car. But for the second and future oil changes, I am going to my regular mechanic/friend. I had my second oil and filter changed today with genuine Honda oil filter and the recommended 5W20 weight motor oil. As soon as my mechanic started to remove the old oil filter and it started creaking, he knew the dealership service guys did not put oil on the filter before threading it in. Just more reason why I'd rather bring my car to someone I know and trust. They also checked my air filter, antifreeze strength, and adjusted my tire pressure for the now colder temperatures. I was a little late on this oil change because my parents were visiting, and since we only have one vehicle in the family, I waited until they left.

And of course, I forgot to reset the oil life reminder in the dash until just now. So when I go out later, I will reset it. For those who don't want to dig out the owner's manual from storage, or the bottom of the drawer, the procedure for resetting the service reminder on your Honda Fit can be found here.

Happy Birthday Fitty!

Fitty? It just seemed more personal than just calling it the Fit. Especially for such an occasion. I don't really name my cars... actually, that's not entirely true. I called my Mustang "Bob", and my Mazda "K.I.T.T." due to all the gadgets and the digital dash, but do not use the names on a regular basis.

Anyways, where were we? Oh yes. I had to renew my car insurance yesterday, so that means I've now officially had the Fit for a year. During this time, I have been very happy with it. It's a great in-town hopper, can swallow a lot of cargo, and has been worry-free (just gas-and-go). Sometimes I miss having a more powerful engine (which is any other car I had to pick from at the time), but as you can see from the last post, it's already enough power to get me into trouble.

I also had a look at the odometer, and it's reading just over 10,500km. So time to stop by Honda and pick up a new oil filter and do an oil change again. It's treated me nice. So it's only fair I keep up my end of the deal.

Speeding Ticket? In a Fit?!

I have not had a single entry in my driving record for over 6 or 7 years, but today the streak was ended.

I had crossed the Peach Arch Crossing into Blaine, WA in the morning, on my way down to visit a friend from high school and her new daughter in Renton for a couple of days. I planned to stop by a mail receiving company on the way down as I had ordered some motorcycle gear online in the US, and took advantage of their free shipping within the US offer. However, because I got to the border so early trying to avoid the lineup, The depot wasn't opened yet. So I drove down further and had some breakfast before coming back on the local surface street to pick up my items.

There was a school zone on the street, and so I slowed and follow a couple of cars along the street before they turned off a side street to stop and drop off their kids. As soon as they turned off, I saw the cruiser parked in the school's driveway at the end. I had already slowed down, and was following two other cars through most of the school zone. But I checked my speed anyways. Unfortunately for me, it took me a while to figure out my actual speed because my car's main dial is in KM/H, and the much smaller, and indigo-on-blue MPH markings were difficult to read in the morning light. Sure enough, as I was passing the pullout at the end of the school, the cruiser had put its lights on and was pulling out behind me.

When asked why I was speeding, I tried to explain that it was difficult for me to read the numbers on the gauge. The officer took a look and said that he could read it perfectly even from outside of the car. I don't think he understood I was talking about the MPH markings, but I'm not gonna argue at that point, and I'm not going to bother saying I had followed the two other vehicles (local, Washington plates) through most of the school zone already. He took my license and registration, and came back with a VERY HEFTY fine for speeding in a school zone.

Oh well. I suppose I was speeding, so I'll get a US Dollar bank draft and pay the ticket. But when I mentioned the fine to my friend in Renton, he said it was quite excessive. But since the officer knows very well I'm not likely to get a court date and wait at the border just to get my fine reduced in court, he probably tacked on the maximum fine. So, all the money saved buying my gear in the US versus locally, has gone out the window (and then some).

I'd like to think I'm a safe driver. And my driving record shows it. I wonder if the officer had access to my driving record in BC, and saw my clean record, maybe he would have cut me some slack?

JDM Passenger Sun Visor Installed

Before picking my wife up at work today, I stopped in my mechanic's garage to say hi. He was not too busy at the time, so we walked around the complex to A&J Racing and I picked up a JDM passenger sun visor, while he inquired about the LED daylights for his own vehicle.

The difference between the stock North American one and the JDM visor is that the JDM one has a flip up mirror on the underside of the visor, as well as two pockets in the front for business cards and/or parking passes, etc. The mirror is a big plus as the wife can now fix her makeup easily. The lack of this mirror was a big pet peeve I had about the Fit from the beginning.

Installation of this item is a cinch. There are two exposed torx screws holding the sun visor in place. Remove these two screws and reinstall the new visor in its place. Easy as that. My wife used it as soon as I picked her up from work that day as we were heading straight to a friend's birthday dinner downtown, so it's definitely worth it.

It's Official, I'm a Licensed Rider

Well, It's official. I'm now a fully licensed rider in British Columbia. Thanks again to all the wonderful people at Pacific Riding School, and my family and friends for sending me there. I passed with only a single mark on the sheet for keeping my signal on too long once, and was told by the examiner that I was a very safe rider. That's really all that I was after.

Now I'm hooked and legally allowed to dive into yet another potentially expensive hobby. It's time to start playing the lotto.

My Lame Excuse for Not Updating

Wow, I haven't updated this blog for a while. The reason is, I have not spent any time online looking on Fit related information.

Remember back in my New Years post, I had mentioned that my family and friends were sending me to motorcycle riding school as my Christmas present. Well, I got my Learners in January, but since then, had not done much more about it. Anyways, I finally called up the school and booked myself in July.

I was picking between BCSC and Pacific for schools, mainly due to their proximity. Both had good reputations, but when I finally decided to book my class, BCSC had lost their use of Boundary Bay Airport, and wasn't sure where their lot sessions were going to be held yet. So I went with Pacific. After going through their course, I would highly recommend them. They didn't really teach you how to ride a bike, but how to think when you ride a bike. I had so much fun all the way through the course.

Anyways, Since I completed the course, all I've been looking at online are motorcycle related things. what type of bike, what kind of gear, etc.. I've already went to a few local shops trying out all brands and models of helmets trying to figure out which one fit my head, and sat on a few bikes and read up on what's best for a beginner. So far, I've narrowed my choices down to either a 2003+ Suzuki SV650, or a 2006+ Kawasaki Ninja 650R. I also know that aside from the expensive Shoei helmets, the HJCs fit me best.

Now comes the tough part, picking designs/colours. Motorcycling is all about looking good, let's be honest. If you don't want to be seen, you'd sit inside a car; it's much safer. So now that I know which helmet, I need to pick a design, then the rest of the gear like jacket, gloves, etc as well. It all has to be somewhat neutral in colour since I don't know what colour bike I will get yet, and don't want to have to buy new gear to match each new bike. But the gear still has to look good. Tough huh?

Anyways, my motorcycle road test is next Friday, and it will have been almost a month since I've been on a bike (I don't already have a bike to practice on, unlike some of my classmates), so I'm a bit nervous. We'll see.

And oh, I sold my old Mazda Today.

Taillamp Post Updated

I've fixed the broken picture links on my previous post Fit Taillamp Options. I've collaged the pictures and put them on my own webspace so that they are clean, easy to understand, and hopefully won't disappear again. Also added are a few more taillamp variations which I have later found.

Also added here are some other taillamps that have been customized by their owners, and are not readily available for sale:


Tinted OEM Taillamps:


These OEM bulb-style taillamps have been tinted by their owners. The left one has just the center clear portion tinted, and the right has the entire lamp tinted. I was actually considering doing the left version as well, as it would look similar to my sister's Euro-spec GTI taillamps on her MkIV Golf.


Mercedes Style Taillamps:


These taillamps were done by the Japanese tuner "Noblesse" for one of their project cars. They put a red strip across the center of the clear section on an OEM bulb-type taillamp to emulate the Mercedes-Benz taillamps. The goal I assume is to complement the VIP look of the car by making it appear more like a MB.


Custom JDM LED Ring Taillamp:


This again was customized by Noblesse of Japan for their project car. They bypassed three LEDs in the cluster and made the taillamp light up as a ring. Interesting concept. Would be cool if they could have wired it so that the ring acts as the taillamp and the centers lit up bright along with all others for brake lamps; Kind of Skyline-ish.


Honda Extreme Concept:


This car was done by Honda for the 2006 SEMA show. At first glance it just looks like the clear version of the JDM LED taillamps. However, look closer and you'll see that it is actually unique. The reflector sections were left alone while the rest of the inner housing has been darkened, similar to the OEM smoked clear or OEM bulb type LED smoked clear taillamps.

Resetting The Oil Life Reminder

As I mentioned in my first maintenance post, the dealer had forgot to reset the oil life reminder in the dash. So I finally remembered when I got in the car today and reset the reminder myself. The procedure is actually in your owners manual, but here's the quick and dirty of what you need to do:

• Press the trip meter select/reset pin until you the oil life reminder is displayed


• Press and hold the select/reset pin down for approximately 10 seconds until the oil life reminder is blinking


• Press and hold the select/reset pin down for another 5 seconds or so until the oil life reminder is reset to 100%

And that's it. It's that easy. This will be good news for people who change their own oil, or does not wait until the reminder tells them to before changing the oil and filter.

Animated Fit GIFs

I found a fun site called GifNinja where it will convert a 4 second WMV video file into a animated GIF right there on the website. So I decided to make a few quick animated GIFs for the Fit from the Honda quicky ads I had posted earlier.





I also made one from an edit of the Ferocious Dominator ad where the Fit swallows an SUV. GifNinja can also make animated GIFs from your pictures. Have fun.

First Maintenance Appointment (5487km)

I have finally reached 5000km on my Fit, after nearly 7 months of ownership. I called to setup a service appointment with my dealer via my salesperson because he had a parking light bulb he had ordered previously for me, and I wanted to replace the burnt out one the same time I did my first service to make things easier for me. He was able to fit me in the next afternoon.

Aside from the first oil change, which was free at my dealership, I also had them perform the SRS (airbag) software update as I had received the recall letter in the mail. And besides replacing the burnt out driver side parking light in the front (apparently a $10 bulb, but covered under warranty for the first year), I had them check for a rattle I've been experiencing under the car. Unfortunately, the service techs could not hear the rattle on their test drive. They did however tighten up my exhaust heat shield as another tech who owns a Fit had experienced a rattle from that area. Unfortunately, that wasn't the source of my rattle, as I can still hear it coming from underneath the car. I'm guessing a loose skid plate under the gas tank possibly.

One thing was that the dealer forgot to reset the service reminder in the dash. But the owners manual does tell you how to reset it yourself. Now I've just got to remember to do it next time I get in the car. Not that it really matters though, I plan to be changing my oil around every 5000km anyway.