Maintenance Minder is a Nag

[GeoUSA]

Minor complaint but maintenance minder nags me every time I start my car. If I want the fuel economy display to show, I need to press the Info button to dismiss the maintenance reminder. Since this begins at 20% oil life, it may be two months before it is actually time to change my oil! Does this annoy anyone else?

Previous cars I owned would flash a maintenance light for a few seconds after startup as I approached the service interval and keep the light lit within 500 miles of the interval.

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[calonzo]

Minor complaint but maintenance minder nags me every time I start my car. If I want the fuel economy display to show, I need to press the Info button to dismiss the maintenance reminder. Since this begins at 20% oil life, it may be two months before it is actually time to change my oil! Does this annoy anyone else?

Previous cars I owned would flash a maintenance light for a few seconds after startup as I approached the service interval and keep the light lit within 500 miles of the interval.

True. But it was this way in my 2007 Civic, too.

 

[invader]

Just change the oil at 20% oil life when your maintenance minder tells you to. Don't wait till your engine life blood is completely depleted and over-saturated with contaminants... This aint no Geo Metro. Take care of your ride, and it'll stop nagging you already.

 

[GeoUSA]

Just change the oil at 20% oil life when your maintenance minder tells you to. Don't wait till your engine life blood is completely depleted and over-saturated with contaminants... This aint no Geo Metro. Take care of your ride, and it'll stop nagging you already.

HaHa. I figured this was the answer for most and I cannot say I disagree with you, Invader. I have never had a car with an approximately 10,000 mile service interval so changing at 8,000 is not going to hurt too much. I checked yesterday and oil life is at 15% so I will change it this weekend. I use Penzoil Platinum Pure Syn so I am not abusing my awesome ride. Still, maybe Honda could relax on the notifications in the future. Part of me cannot believe I am not taking my dealership up on lifetime free oil changes. Dealer says they use synthetic oil but I like knowing what goes in my car and that it is done correctly. Free usually equates to nagging about unnecessary maintenance, right?

 

[josby]

Yeah it's SO annoying. I hate the waste of changing the oil early, since every used oil analysis that's been posted here has shown that the Civic is fine with driving the oil until 0%, but I may change mine at 20% next time just to not have to deal with two months of the nagging.

 

[josby]

Don't wait till your engine life blood is completely depleted and over-saturated with contaminants

What makes you think the oil is depleted with the MM hits 0%? You think Honda's not going to build in some buffer? I mean, the gas tank's not empty when the range display gets to 0 miles - why would the oil be worn out when the oil life gets to 0%?

 

[Design]

Based on the available UOAs to date, the MM is definitely on the conservative side. We'll probably see things normalize as the powertrains wear in (+100K).

 

[invader]

What makes you think the oil is depleted with the MM hits 0%? You think Honda's not going to build in some buffer? I mean, the gas tank's not empty when the range display gets to 0 miles - why would the oil be worn out when the oil life gets to 0%?

0% at 8000 miles on the oil change... How much use are you trying to wring out of your slight 3.5 quarts of oil? What exactly do you hope to achieve by stretching out your oil changes to the maximum?

 

[josby]

0% at 8000 miles on the oil change... How much use are you trying to wring out of your slight 3.5 quarts of oil? What exactly do you hope to achieve by stretching out your oil changes to the maximum?

0% is not the maximum, just like 0 miles remaining on the range estimator does not mean you've gone the maximum distance possible. Again I ask, what is your basis for thinking that at 0%, the oil "is completely depleted and over-saturated with contaminants". Do you have any facts to back that up?

 

[Swordfish]

i have not changed my oil yet, but when the maintenance minder comes on it says oil life plus some kind of code like A1 or something. When you clear the maintenance minder does it clear out the little letter codes as well ?

 

[josby]

When you clear the maintenance minder does it clear out the little letter codes as well ?

It switches to the code of what the next service is going to be. That way, you can look into the future and see what you're going to need. After you reset it from A1, it will be A2 which means oil + filter. After you've owned the car a while, the next code may be other codes, like ones telling you to change the air filter or spark plugs. Being able to see the next code in advance lets you anticipate the upcoming expense of the next service.

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