This week my HCH oil life dropped to 15% and on popped the yellow wrench everytime I start the car and I get the A1 indication and 15% oil life reading till I hit the odometer select button. Took it to the dealer today (they do the first oil change for free) and they said all I needed was oil change, as I did not have enough miles (~4500) for a tire rotate.

My dealer has this "great" (ya great for them !) program called "Tires for Life" where they will replace your tires, as they wear out, for Life. One hitch is you must have your car serviced according to the maintenance Minders that pop up and must have ALL suggested maintenance be done at thier dealership. So that means my first maintenace, which I thought was just going to be oil change and tire rotation, now turned into those items PLUS check the brakes and tighten something (forgot what the service advisor told me) and is going to cost ~$150.00. I think the $$ I save by omitting the recommended but not required maintenance items or have the work done at my local garage and not at the dealership, would more then pay for tires when they wear out

Most of the maintenance recommendations are good things I would do, but was wondering if and how you can "reset" the Maintenance Minder' for the items you don't have done, as if I had all the service done? Iknow the owner manual outlines a proces to reset the Oil Life, but have not seen anything on the maintenance minders.

Any input would be appreciated.

 

Your assessment on the 'tires for life' program is accurate. They more than make up the cost of tires with the additional maintainence and 'premium services' that they offer you.

Also, when you reset the oil life, the maintainence minders are also reset at the same time. IE the vehicle is not aware of which services preformed and which are not. The maintainence minder simply indicates which services need to be performed at each interval.

I also find it interesting that you hit 15% oil life @ 4500mi. My mileage is at 4900 and oil life is still @ 60%. Apparently the maintainence minder actually monitors the number of engine revolutions along with other use characteristics and determines service interval based on these...

 

Aye... I'm almost at 8000mi, and my oil is at 20%

 

Yeah it has to be doing some monitoring my car was at 5% with this same mileage. Guess my wondering is over.

 

Dear Lord, Ikewin, I'm at 5,000 miles and 50% oil life. How on earth were you able to get yours to 15% at 4,500 miles!?!? Do you hit a lot of stop-and-go traffic in the suburbs or something? From what I've sene on the list you are hitting your reminder very early as most others are getting their reminder at 6,000-9,000 miles. I'm glad I live on the other side of the state I guess. =)

 

I am at 7800 and 15% and my dealer wants $122 for the A1 service.

 

The maintenance reminder is the same thing based on my first oil change. Instructions are in the owners manual for reseting it as after I did my first oil change recently at a Non-Honda dealer. After the service oil change and I reset this myself. Its something like holding down the select/reset button until the percentage starts to blink. Then let go and then push for an additional period until it resets to 100%. This will solve both the oil change display back to 100% and the tool that comes and stays. I left out the part about needing to keep the key turned to the second position but, the directions are in the manual.

 

I just had my second oil change today at Saccucci Honda in Middletown, RI. I have 16950 on the odometer and the first oil change was at around 7600 miles with 15% remaining oil life. I had 10% remaining this time when I went in to have it changed. I bought this car at Herb Chambers Honda in Seekonk,MA and they want around $60 for the oil/filter change with the Honda Synthetic oil for hybrids. Saccucci only charged me $36.95 plus tax.

 

I just hit 6300 miles and the oil life is at 20%. I've now had the car one year, so I changed the oil like it says to in the manual.

My question is, should I also reset the maintenance minder now or wait until it gets closer to zero? Not sure how resetting it at 20% will affect all the other maintenance items later on.

I only drive around 6 to 7 thousand miles a year. So I don't think I'll ever get to zero oil life left.

It's a GREAT car.

Thanks for any advise you could give me.

 

You should definitely reset the maintenance minder every time you service the vehicle, regardless of mileage or % of oil life remaining. This is how the MM knows the vehicle has been serviced, and oil life is reset to 100%.

As you have done here, make sure you always service the vehicle at least once a year, regardless of mileage.