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I contacted Honda Customer Service again. The following is a compilation of my online chat conversation. It took some prying, but I think I finally got a clear answer from them.
Me: “I drive about 5,000 miles per year. I change the motor oil in my vehicle annually regardless of mileage (per the Owner’s manual), and consequently I am resetting the Oil Life Indicator long before it reaches 15%. My question is: will the Maintenance Minder continue display codes for needed maintenance, even though I am resetting the Oil Life Indicator before it reaches 15%?”
Honda: “We have received your correspondence and your vehicles maintenance minder is based off of your driving habits and it will provide you information when certain services are needed. If you have any concerns we recommend to take the vehicle to the local or preferred Honda dealership for further assistance.”
Me: “Thanks for the reply, but it doesn’t answer my specific question. Let me ask it a different way: does the Maintenance Minder display service codes only when the Oil Life Indicator gets down to 15%, or is the Maintenance Minder display independent of the Oil Change Indicator display? In other words, will the Maintenance Minder operate correctly regardless of how frequently the Oil is changed and the Oil Life Indicator is reset?”
Honda: “The maintenance minder will display every service code that is needed based off of the mileage of your vehicle, for example you may only drive the vehicle 5,000 miles a year but the maintenance minder will still tell you if you need to get the spark plugs changed or if you will need a transmission fluid change.”
Me: “Thank you. Just to confirm, the Maintenance Minder will display these codes regardless of how frequently I reset the Oil Life Indicator?”
Honda: “We would like to confirm the Maintenance Minder will display the codes no matter how many times the oil life is reset. If you have any other questions or concerns please feel free to reach out to us at your earliest convenience.”
my guess is, resetting the MM only affects service A (and B) since they are oil related, and "inspect things" related. it shouldnt affect things like, when you're due for an engine air filter, cabin air filter, etc
Service A
Engine Oil Drain & Refill
Notes: Reset the maintenance reminder light. If you do not see the maintenance reminder indicator or the message indicator more than 12 months after display is reset change the engine oil every year
so it says, if MM tells you "replace MTF", use the gauge cluster to reset the MM. if MM did not .... ask you a replace MTF and you did it because you felt like it.... owner should reset MM for MTF using an HDS tool. I think this is pretty definitive ..... this pretty much says, resetting MM does not affect things that have not yet needed maint (IE, in this example, MTF)
I just called my dealer. They said the Maintenance Minder codes will NOT display unless/until the oil life indicator reaches 15%. In my case, because I drive only about 5,500 miles a year, I am changing the oil annually (per the owners manual) and resetting the oil life indicator long before 15%. The Service Advisor said I should keep track of the other maintenance items either by mileage or time (e.g., every 3 years for brake fluid). This seems to be a pretty definitive answer.
Personally I do the engine oil when the maintenance minder is between 5-10%, I see anything before that as being pretty wasteful, unless you're tracking your car.
The CVT fluid I would ABSOLUTELY do every 30k. It's just as easy as doing the oil, just make sure you get the proper fluid for it. Going longer than that means you're recirculating contaminants/shavings. Not sure about lubrosity though, I'd refer anyone to do Blackstone lab reports on that to see if the interval could be pushed further.
07-16-2019, 09:31 AM
