So, I was curious about scheduled maintenance and saw that there isn't any. I guess your car tells you. It'd be nice to have some idea. Has anyone found anything describing when/what?

 

The manual says to check your tire pressure monthly.


I haven't owned a car since 1978 so that's all I can add.

 

The car does tell you. If you want to have some idea of how much longer you have, toggle the dash display using the little stick button (press it in -- don't hold) until you get to the % (I think it says something like "Oil Life"?) -- when that gets to 15%, you should start thinking about making an appointment. Get it serviced sometime between then and when it gets to 5%. You can guesstimate your time to service by looking at the current percent and seeing how many miles you've driven since it was reset to 100%, and extrapolating that to the percentage which you'll probably go in (15%, 10%, 5%...). There are other threads on this, but basically, whenever it does indicate service due, it also offers codes which indicate what all will need to be done. There is a chart somewhere of what those mean.

I had gone through the same uneasiness about relying on the indicator rather than having a predetermined number of miles, but I've come to terms with this and accepted that this is how it works. In the long run, this can save you money as you will be getting it serviced when it really needs it (the car uses a lot of variables to figure this out, including average engine RPM and many others), and many people are going significant distances between service intervals. Mine is currently looking as if it'll get somewhere over 10,000 before I need anything, vs. my last car which I had done every 7,500 in accordance with the manufacturer's "normal" schedule -- though the dealership was constantly trying to go with the "severe" schedule (including putting a sticker on that advised me to be back in 3,250 miles) despite the fact that I repeatedly told them that I do NOT meet the definition of "severe".

 

Here is the Subaru Maintenance guide
Maintenance Guide - Subaru Canada

It gives a beginner some ideas of what to check for.

 

What about brakes, tune-ups and such? Does this car even have spark plugs? LOL! It has been a long time since I've bought a new car, so I might be out-of-date with the technology.

 

It does have spark plugs, which I believe are included in one of the indicators and would be done when indicated by the car. Same with all of the other things such as various filters, radiator flushes, other fluids, etc. Something like brakes is probably not indicated by the car, but rather would be inspected each time you take it in and worked as needed depending on the wear.

I, too, and a newcomer to the idea of the car telling me when it needs service (and what it believes should be done) rather than living off a mileage-based schedule, and for full disclosure, I haven't even had the car long enough to have it in for the first service. I'm sitting at 80% on the maintenance minder with over 2,500 miles on the odometer, which given when it hit 80%, I'm expecting to reach somewhere around 10,000-11,000 miles before it needs maintenance. As far as I can tell, this isn't unusual (they're also using a very long-life synthetic blend 0w-20 oil) and one report from an oil analysis shows that the car indeed goes this long. Anyway, what I'm repeating here is what I've learned from reading the threads and some other external information about Honda's maintenance scheme. I've been persuaded that they have it reliably covered and intend to just take it in each time it indicates service, but you may find information by searching the forums for keywords such as maintenance, maintenance minder, and service. If you're doing some or all of the work yourself, you'll need to get a list of the codes (also found in the forums and elsewhere) and what each of the codes is indicating to do.

I've also gathered that if you use an independent mechanic, the mechanic needs to be very well acquainted with Honda's maintenance scheme and that they do everything properly -- which includes using the right oil weight (0w20, and many will think it is OK to put 10w30 or something else in) and using a new crush gasket on the drain plug with each change which most also do not know to do.

 

Page 359 of the Manual. The car will tell you what it needs.

 

Mine has only 500 miles on it, and oil life indicators says 90% left. If that is true, oil will need changing at around 5,000 miles. A lot less than the 09/10 Fits. ( I will do it before that, just out of principles)

 

The indicator, at least on the older Fits, drops by jumps rather than individual percentage points. 90% IIRC means anything from 99% to 90% in real life. I wouldn't expect the new model to have vastly different oil life, but who knows.

The initial oil fill that Honda puts in contains some break-in additives, so it's best not to change it out all that soon.

 

Maintenance is done with maint minder on all new Honda vehicles. The car will tell you what maintenance is due based on your driving conditions. The "oil life indicator" will trigger a yellow wrench light to come on at 15% oil life giving you time to get your maintenance done. Try to not get to 0% oil life without taking care of what is due.
Note the "oil life" % indicator is just that a % indication of the estimated usable life of the oil in the car. It does not mean you only have ..% of the liquid amount of oil needed in your engine.
The oil life display will also show a combination of the letters A and B as well as the numbers 1,2,3,4,5 as different maintenances are due to your car. The numbers/letters break down as follows.

A= oil change only no filter ( I personally change filter no matter what. For <$10 for a oil filter it's a no brainier). Top off washer fluid and coolant, adjust tire pressures.

B= oil and oil filter change, top off fluids, adj tire pressures and a bunch of inspections.

1= Tire rotation.

2= Engine air and cabin pollen filters replacement, inspect drive belt.

3= Trans fluid service (drain and refill only which is about 4.5 to 5 quarts in the trans pan, Honda does NOT recommend Trans flushes).

4= Spark plugs replacement and adjustment of the valves.

5= Coolant replacement (again drain and fill not flush).

Only exception to the maintenance light is if you are a low mileage driver and you do not get a maintenance reminder light in a year, bring car in for a oil change at the 1 year mark.
The oil used is semisynthetic and can take the possible extended mileage/time between replacements.

Some advisors/dealers will still recommend mileage interval services (eg. 30,000 mile service). If they do runaway as fast as possible, they are trying to pad their pockets with your money.
I'm a Honda service advisor and work with these cars daily. I see what happens when you do and when you don't follow the maintenance minder guide. In the long run you will spend a lot more money fixing issues that arise from lack of maintenance so do yourself a favor and follow what the car tells you to do.hope this helps...

 

Would anyone here recommend going ahead and changing the oil even before the meter gets to 15% if it's been a year or so since the oil was last changed? With my 09 Fit, I used to take it in about once a year for an oil change and tire rotation. Even after a year, my oil meter would still be at about 50% because I only drove it about 7500 miles a year. I'm just worried about oil breaking down over time.

 

Sheep if you are a low mileage driver and you do not get to 15% oil live on the indicator perform a oil change.this will maintain the car as per honda.
The requirements to maintain your factory warranty on the motor internals hing on it.

 

The manual says to do an oil change after a year even if the maintenance minder hasn't said its due yet, so you're very much on the right track with that. It's not so much a concern with oil breaking down over time (modern oils don't really, at least not in that sort of timeframe), but rather with contamination from condensation or whatever. Not that it really matters in terms of what maintenance should be done....

 

This would be my dealer, who as I was driving off said, "we'll see you at 5,000 miles. Bring it in then for your first oil change." I also later noticed a sticker inside the gas door which has the dealership's name and a "friendly reminder" that oil should be changed every 5,000 miles. This is a sticker which I intend to absolutely ignore.

Again, I appreciate your reiteration of how the Maintenance Minder works and why we are better off following it rather than a bogus mileage-based schedule. Based on the current percentage and miles driven, I'd guess I'll get to around 10,000 before mine is in need of its first service. My dealer would have been doing the second oil change at that point were I to follow their advice.

 

NP always willing to help....