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I usually bring my car in for an oil change when the oil level indicator gets down to about 5%. However, my oil light on the dashboard has been on for a few weeks, and I was aware that it was getting low but I was really busy and didn't get around to bringing it in. When I went out to my car yesterday morning The oil level indicator said it was -2. I went and bought a quart of oil and put that in, but then the oil level said -5 so I bought 3 more quarts and poured those in and put it in, but now it is at -20. What does that mean? Shouldn't it have reset or something when I added the oil?

Elizabeth
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    Hello, can you provide the year of your Honda Fit? And a screenshot of this -20 displayed would be nice too. – Nick Feb 04 '19 at 14:46
  • It is a 2009, with only about 67,000 miles. I just went to look at the dashboard and it now reads -42 and it's blinking, FYI, the car is running absolutely fine. Before I started adding oil, the dipstick only showed about a 1/4 inch of oil and now it's at around 4 inches. – Elizabeth Feb 04 '19 at 15:01
  • Is there a chance that it means it's overfilled and wants you to remove 42% of the oil in the sump? (Just an educated guess based on the behaviour you're describing). – Steve Matthews Feb 04 '19 at 15:22
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    Well the dipstick is the final source of truth--I would trust that over the electronic indicator. Is the range on the disptick between the MIN and MAX markings? – Nick Feb 04 '19 at 15:24
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    DON'T ADD ANY MORE OIL. Just to be clear. If you've already added 4 quarts of oil, you could be damaging your car already. Take it to a shop ASAP! – JPhi1618 Feb 04 '19 at 16:51
  • The number of inches of oil on the dipstick is irrelevant. It's whether there's oil in the "safe" or "full" zone marked on the dipstick. You'll find a "Low" line etched on the dipstick, farthest from the handle; a "Full" line, closer to the handle, and often some hatch marks etched between them. You want the oil to be between these two marks. That way, it doesn't matter what vehicle you're checking oil in - if it's between those two marks, you're good. It doesn't matter how far the pair of marks are from the end of the dipstick, they'll be calibrated to this car. – FreeMan Feb 08 '24 at 18:15

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Uh oh, looks like you've been buying anti-oil, the kind that registers as negative oil! You better get some normal oil to replace all that negative oil!

Just kidding. Do not actually do that, you don't want to overfill your oil.

The "oil level indicator" you're talking about is most likely actually the oil life indicator, which is commonly referred to as part of Honda's Maintenance Minder system. In other words, it doesn't actually indicate the amount of oil in your engine, it actually provides an estimate on your oil life as a reminder for when you need to bring your car in for service. After the oil is refilled, the maintenance minder will need to be manually reset. You can read all about it on a Honda FAQ here.

From the FAQ you can see that when you run past 0% on the oil life indicator:

The display will start to show negative mileage. This indicates how many miles that the vehicle is past due for service.

Since you haven't reset the maintenance minder, it will continue to show a negative value until it is reset either by yourself, or by a mechanic who has serviced your car.

If you're not familiar with the process for draining and replacing the oil in your engine, then it is recommended that you keep an eye on the oil level from your dipstick, and bring your car in for service when you have the opportunity. Otherwise, you should replace your oil, and then follow these steps (from another Honda page) to reset the indicator:

  1. Turn the ignition to run (one click before starting the engine).
  2. Press the Select/Reset button located on either your steering wheel or as a knob on your dash. Depending on your model, either scroll through or press the knob repeatedly until "Engine Oil Life" or "Engine Oil Indicator %" is displayed.
  3. Press and hold the Select/Reset button for 10 seconds. The Engine Oil Indicator will begin to blink.
  4. If your display reads "Engine Oil Life", select the Reset mode by pressing the Info button on the steering wheel. Then press and hold the Select/Reset button for more than 5 seconds to return your oil life to 100%.

Those instructions are for general Honda models, so it may vary slightly for your car.

Kitsunemimi
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