oil used in the US version of Fiat 500.

[prima 109]

Hi Chris,
     I was wondering if the US version Fiat's will use synthetic oil or conventional oil?  Also if they will have a oil life monitor system like most cars have these days and what the maintainence schedules will be like?  Given that the cars will come with complementary maintainence for 3/36, just curious.  Thanks for you're feedback.

Craig

[CaliberSRT4]

I'm guessing they won't be giving out free synthetic oil changes every 3k miles. That doesn't seem economically viable for a sub-20k car.

[ciddyguy]

prima 109 wrote

Hi Chris,
     I was wondering if the US version Fiat's will use synthetic oil or conventional oil?  Also if they will have a oil life monitor system like most cars have these days and what the maintainence schedules will be like?  Given that the cars will come with complementary maintainence for 3/36, just curious.  Thanks for you're feedback.

Craig

My guess like most other cars now a days, somewhere between 7K-10K miles between oil changes and 50-100K on the plugs max. An example, an '03 Chevy S10 truck with the Vortec V6 gets between 60-80K on the plugs depending on usage.

If what I read on the Euro spec 500's, the maintenance intervals look to be similar to what we see here on most cars and that says a lot about Fiat's commitment to quality.

[Fiat500USA]

I'm curious as to what weight, etc will be recommended because MultiAir uses oil to operate. I just hope folks don't take shortcuts and use the wrong oil.

The sump doesn't hold much, so 4 qts of synthetic isn't that big a deal (my old Alfa hold almost 8 qts).

[einy]

Honda engines that have their VTEC system also use oil to actuate that mechanism, and I have had no issues using good quality conventional oil in them over 3 vehicles / 300k miles of combined usage.  I do, however, choose to use a 3k - 4k miles oil and filter change interval, and stick strictly with Honda's oil weight recommendation (5W-20 in my case).  I suspect the Multi-air system would be similar in this regard from details I have seen on it to date.  Oil passage sizes are very similar to the Honda cylinder heads'.

[ciddyguy]

Fiat500USA wrote

I'm curious as to what weight, etc will be recommended because MultiAir uses oil to operate. I just hope folks don't take shortcuts and use the wrong oil.

The sump doesn't hold much, so 4 qts of synthetic isn't that big a deal (my old Alfa hold almost 8 qts).

Chris,

I think I read that 5W-20 (or 5W-30) is the viscosity used and it seems it's much the same for most cars these days. My 1992 Ford Ranger truck with the 4.0L V6 uses 5W-30 oil in it and it's still going strong with over 232K miles on the clock.