I took my HCHII (an 06) for it's second oil change today. It was at 10% oil life and has about 15,600 miles on it. For the first oil change I took it to the Honda Dealership but as they were unable to provide me with an appointment until the end of this week I took it to another trusted Honda mechanic. We were discussing exactly what I wanted them to do. I said that I had an A1 minder showing and wanted my oil changed and tires rotated and that they should look in the manual to see what else to do. They did the oil change and tire rotation and also their 15,000 mile service package (ended up costing 120 ). I mentioned that Honda's recommended services by mileage differed from the maintenance minder but that Honda had told me to follow the maintenance minder. The mechanic said that was true for everything but oil changes and that if I wanted the car to last I should get the oil changed every 3,000 miles. He said the maintenance minder will have you pushing 7500 between oil changes (which has been the case for me) and that that wasn't good for the car.

Now my understanding is that the maintenance minder should be accurate since it monitors your actual engine revolutions.

Usually these are VERY good mechanics and with my non Hybrid 98 Accord I would take their word over Honda's any day ...

Is he right or does he just not have a good enough understanding of Hybrids?

Irene

 

This mechanic gave you a line of pure and utter bull.
1. The 3000mi "rule" was obsolete years ago. Motor oils are far better than they were just ten years ago, especially the 0W-20 synthetic our cars use. Back in the days of unrefined dino and carbureators, sure. Today, anybody who says 3k is out to fleece you.
2. If running 7500mi or more was so incredibly bad for the engine, why would Honda recommend it if they knew it would cause them problems, especially when the engines are warranted beyond 3/36?

 

Well ... I think it is less likely that he is trying to fleece me than that he is just operating under outdated information. I say this because this particular shop has done stuff for me for free on numerous occassions. They are Honda specialists and do tend to be a <i>bit</i> more expensive in general than if I just took the car to Midas or whatever, but they do a great job in general and will do things like an oil change or a headlight for free sometimes. I am extremely paranoid about mechanics trying to get money out of me and have been burned so many times before but these guys have earned my trust over years of service on two different cars. There is also (obviously) more than one guy working there. Maybe this one dude just doesn't know what he's talking about.

And as for why Honda would recommend it given the engine warranty and all... well is it possible that going 7500 miles between oil changes won't hurt your engine in the "short term" ... but might it make a difference between your car lasting 150,000k and 300,000k?

 

Irene;

This conflict between Honda's documented maintenance recommendations and good (and experienced) mechanics is a perennial one.
However, Honda continues to be pretty explicit about the maintenance routines and any mechanic that receives the formal training (and accreditation) knows that. Unfortunately, some of the mechanics that most often resist executing the recommended best practices are also the most experienced and sadly not the most trained and current.

I would humbly recommend that you always insist on following Honda's recommendations. These recommendations were devised by the Honda's own engineers, and in the end, they are the ones who know best and are the most authoritative. If the engineers were ever to be at fault you would always have the higher moral grounds.

The primary obligation of any good Honda mechanic is to adhere and comply with the recommended maintenance routine as outlined by the manufacturer's own engineering group for each specific vehicle.

However, in the end it is still your choice.


Cheers;

MSantos

 

thanks to both of you.

I'm really glad to know that he was wrong. I've been so thrilled with only needing to change the oil every 6 months or so. So far I have been dutifully following my maintenance minder and it looks like I will continue to do so in the future even where oil changes are concerned.

 

I'm not completely up on Honda's oil recs, but maybe your mechanic assumed that you did mainly city driving with lots of short trips,and stop and go driving?
The severe schedule(or dusty area schedule) interval is usually 1/2 the miles of the normal schedule.
In any case, it certainly won't hurt the car to change the oil more often; it will make a minor dent in your wallet, of course, but if you are aiming for 200,000 miles-60 changes instead of 30 is about $700 more.
Luck,
Charlie

 

The maint minder (theoretically) should take everything except 'dusty conditions' into account. I would not characterize any of my driving in the 'severe schedule' category, and I have seen exactly 10000 miles between each service with my HCH... 10000 miles between services does not bother me at all because it comes along every four months anyway!

My benz only requires service every 13000 miles or 1 year, whichever comes first!

I do understand that to each his own though, I can certainly respect the fact that one may choose to service his or her vehicle as often as they wish...

 

Indeed.

The HCH-II has the Maintenance Minder feature that takes the operating conditions of the vehicle into account when calculating the remaining oil life.

There are some mechanics (and even dealerships) who either do not know about the feature or simply do not understand it enough to trust it. In many cases it boils down to education (or lack of).

Honda recommends against changing the oil sooner than 15%, especially the original factory oil. Any good dealership will turn you away if you request an oil change from them at 20% or higher.

Cheers;

MSantos

 

I am running 10K oil change intervals on my HCHII, and am having the oil tested at each change.

There is nothing wrong with a 10K change interval. Some of my other cars that run synthetic oil have 15K, and one even has a 20K change.

None of these cars has ever had a problem, and the oil has always tested excellent.

 

The manufacturers of motor oil would like us all to change oil at 3000 miles. I am sure that the Spiffy Lubes would also like everyone to go on a 3000 mile oil change schedule.

The reality is even the worst oils can easily give you 5000 miles.