I got the oil changed on my 2020 Honda Fit a couple of weeks ago at the same garage where I've taken my car for all of its service. Today, as I was changing the settings on my dash, I noticed that the oil life reading was at 40%. Does the oil life indicator re-set automatically when the oil is changed or does the mechanic have to do it? I'm just wondering if the mechanic simply forgot to re-set the indicator, if they could have used "bad" oil, or if something else could be wrong with my car that should concern me.

 

The mechanic has to do it but if he's not a Honda mechanic he probably doesn't know how - or even that it has to be done. There is a procedure which can be found with a Google search. Might be in the owner's manual, can't remember. Varies depending on the Honda model and year.

There's no way for a car to do it automatically because how does it know you've changed the oil (or any other fluid for that matter). Cars don't have that intelligence.

 

Adding to what woof said, the maintenance meter doesn't know anything about the oil added to the car in terms of whether it's new or "bad," if too little or too much was added, what grade it is, or whether it's conventional, blend, or full synthetic.

Different folks have different opinions, but mine is that the maintenance meter is almost completely pointless. If a driver kept up on their maintenance in the "old days" using mileage and/or time recommendations they'll keep up on it now. If someone pushed their maintenance intervals too far in the past they'll continue doing the same and probably be reinforced in that behavior by the maintenance meter.

 

Thanks for the responses. Relieved to know that it's a matter of manually re-setting the meter.

Re: "There's no way for a car to do it automatically because how does it know you've changed the oil (or any other fluid for that matter). Cars don't have that intelligence."
My Fit automatically re-sets Odometer 1 whenever I get gas. I assume it's triggered by opening the fuel door or some kind of sensor. That's why I thought my car might also automatically know when the oil is changed.