The Maintenance Minder is a Joke

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Discussion Starter · Feb 20, 2019

The 10th Gen Accord Maintenance Minder is a joke.

I only have 2,185 miles on my Accord 2.0T Touring. Today the Maintenance Minder came on to say "Maintenance Due Soon". I drilled down and it said I need Schedule A service and that my oil life is at 15% ... WHAT! I haven't even gone anywhere. There's no way I need service already with only 2,185 miles on the odometer!!!

I'm beginning to think that Honda is using the BMW trick of sending a reminder based on dates versus mileage or wear. I believe this is what is going on because my Accord is close to a year old, built in March 2018 and purchased that same month. So, one year later ... up pops the Maintenance Minder, regardless of mileage.

If what I suspect is happening, then I cannot and will not depend of the Maintenance Minder to be an honest broker of my service needs.

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sp3ak

· #2 · Feb 20, 2019

It does say in the owners manual that it's per the minder or per time depending on which item. It very well may be due to that. My wife has a 2012 Accord and I had a 2013 Civic and we would always hit 5k miles and still have plenty of % left as far as oil changes. I'm not sure there is a way to set the minder back up to a certain %, just full, so you may just have to reset it to full and then do an oil change as some pre-determined mileage (5k maybe?), reset it again, then see what happens from there.

It's all relative though, so I wouldn't get too hung up on it. With my wifes car and my previous Civic we put so few miles on each year I think sometimes I was still at 40-50% oil life but I'm not quite at the point where I would say it's a good idea to get an oil change every 10k miles so I usually stuck to around 5k.

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Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 20, 2019

I'm not hung up on it. I'm just disappointed that Honda would use such a deceptive trick on their customers.

I've had several Honda's with Maintenance Minders that also "measured" oil life percentages. None of them went by date as far as I can tell. The 10th Gen Accord is the first that I noticed calculating maintenance needs by dates and not by mileage, usage, or wear. In other words, the Maintenance Minder is just assuming your maintenance needs based on some actuarial calendar statistics.

Now that I think about it, Honda isn't measuring "oil viscosity" or "oil volume", but "oil life" which is a measure of time.

I'm pretty good with doing my own maintenance, so I'll just reset the system and ignore their Maintenance Minder notices.

sp3ak

· #4 · Feb 20, 2019

Cool. Well I'm only 1 month in but I'll see what happens! Mine is an 07/2018 production date.

Fired00d

· #5 · Feb 20, 2019

Keyboard said:
The 10th Gen Accord Maintenance Minder is a joke.

I only have 2,185 miles on my Accord 2.0T Touring. Today the Maintenance Minder came on to say "Maintenance Due Soon". I drilled down and it said I need Schedule A service and that my oil life is at 15% ... WHAT! I haven't even gone anywhere. There's no way I need service already with only 2,185 miles on the odometer!!!

I'm beginning to think that Honda is using the BMW trick of sending a reminder based on dates versus mileage or wear. I believe this is what is going on because my Accord is close to a year old, built in March 2018 and purchased that same month. So, one year later ... up pops the Maintenance Minder, regardless of mileage.

If what I suspect is happening, then I cannot and will not depend of the Maintenance Minder to be an honest broker of my service needs.

That is odd.... purchased mine in March of last year, have 3,700 miles on it, and my service reminder is on w/10% life left. Like @sp3ak mentioned I'll probably have mine done @ 5k intervals and have tires rotated at the same time.

craig04c5

· #6 · Feb 21, 2019

Most Auto manuals recommend oil change at xxx miles or 1 year whichever comes first. The reason is the oil becomes acidic and eats at head gaskets and other internal engine parts. The only vehicle I had which did not require an oil change annually is my Harley and I think that is because it has no head gaskets since it is air cooled.

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Discussion Starter · #7 · Feb 21, 2019

craig04c5 said:
Most Auto manuals recommend oil change at xxx miles or 1 year whichever comes first. The reason is the oil becomes acidic and eats at head gaskets and other internal engine parts. The only vehicle I had which did not require an oil change annually is my Harley and I think that is because it has no head gaskets since it is air cooled.

Bogus ! I've owned quite a few cars, trucks, and motorcycles. I've never had to do annual oil changes and my engines never failed me.

ZipZap

· #8 · Feb 21, 2019

Keyboard said:
Bogus ! I've owned quite a few cars, trucks, and motorcycles. I've never had to do annual oil changes and my engines never failed me.

If you are running oil for more than a year, then you're crazy.

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ptownoddy

· #9 · Feb 22, 2019

It works but It all depends upon driving patterns. If you have a lot of around town driving and jack rabbit stops starts that’s going to be a lot harder on your engine than highway, causing the oil life to shorten. Throw on sport mode and I’m sure it diminishes even more. I bought two new Honda’s recently at the same time. One needed an oil change at 4,000 miles while the other 7500. The 7500 were mostly highway whereas the other car is for mostly around town short trips with the kids.

sp3ak

· #10 · Feb 22, 2019

For reference I bought my car in January, it has a 06/18 production date, and had 20 miles on it when I bought it. I'm not at 1,100 miles and I'm still at 90% life on the oil. I do mostly in town driving, so will see what happens over the next few months.

Keyboard

Discussion Starter · #11 · Feb 22, 2019

ZipZap said:
If you are running oil for more than a year, then you're crazy.

You have nothing to contribute about the original subject, so you decide to give your expert diagnosis of my mental capacity ... Got it!

Keyboard

Discussion Starter · #12 · Feb 22, 2019

Before we get to far off track, the subject of the post is not about oil. It is a post about Honda's Maintenance Minder, which is suppose to reliably remind you when it is time to service fluids, plugs, valves, tires, belts and filters.

TheAsian

· #13 · Feb 22, 2019

Ill say this with the maintenance minder system it can be a little frusting and annoying to get used to. It takes into accound a lot of different data to calculate oil life, and oil breakdown rate, ambiant temp, engine temp, operating conditions, accumulated engine rev. Its constantly taking this data and calculating fluid life. It can be confusing as some dealers go by the maintence minder system, and other still go by the old system of miles (even though there is no publish mileage for service). I think overall its pretty accurate. My co worker and I bought our 16 accords at the same time, and I deffinatly am a more agressive driver, which I was always due about 1k before he was. I've never seen a 2K oil service before I'll say that much.

[email protected]

· #14 · Feb 23, 2019

Its a year old and you don't think it need service?
Do you think oil last forever? DUH!!!!

koretex

· #15 · Feb 24, 2019

Keyboard said:
You have nothing to contribute about the original subject, so you decide to give your expert diagnosis of my mental capacity ... Got it!

You obviously know nothing about cars or forums. Several people in this thread are trying to tell you the same, but apparently you are just not getting it.

To answer your initial question though, there is nothing wrong with the maintenance minder, in fact it's one of the most advanced ever made (according to Honda at least

and thus you should really follow it. You need to check out...

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

...and get educated.

Keyboard

Discussion Starter · #16 · Feb 24, 2019 (Edited)

koretex said:
You obviously know nothing about cars or forums. Several people in this thread are trying to tell you the same, but apparently you are just not getting it.

To answer your initial question though, there is nothing wrong with the maintenance minder, in fact it's one of the most advanced ever made (according to Honda at least and thus you should really follow it. You need to check out...

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

...and get educated.

Interesting 1st post! Remind me to never take advice from you.

TheAsian

· #17 · Feb 24, 2019

I just reread your initial post, oil most certainly breaks down over time. No manufacture without spending lots of money creating complex systems can perfectly monitor engine oil condition. One thing that happens over time with all fluids is they absorb moisture known as oil dilution. This is probably the most damaging things that occurs to an engine because it accelerates corrosion. Oil dilution occurs naturally since the engine is not a perfectly sealed system. So as a standard most every manufacture recommends changing oil after a certain time period. Its nothing shady its just a general guide to ensure oil quality. Here are three articals covering the matter, the last being an scholar analysis of physical and chemical changes with engine oil.

Ask the Expert: Engine Oil Analysis
https://www.azic.com/moisture-in-oils-the-three-headedbeast/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335424/

Keyboard

Discussion Starter · #18 · Feb 24, 2019

TheAsian said:
I just reread your initial post, oil most certainly breaks down over time. No manufacture without spending lots of money creating complex systems can perfectly monitor engine oil condition. One thing that happens over time with all fluids is they absorb moisture known as oil dilution. This is probably the most damaging things that occurs to an engine because it accelerates corrosion. Oil dilution occurs naturally since the engine is not a perfectly sealed system. So as a standard most every manufacture recommends changing oil after a certain time period. Its nothing shady its just a general guide to ensure oil quality. Here are three articals covering the matter, the last being an scholar analysis of physical and chemical changes with engine oil.

Ask the Expert: Engine Oil Analysis
https://www.azic.com/moisture-in-oils-the-three-headedbeast/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335424/

Once again, I never asked for advice about oil and don't need to be lectured about it. This is not my first car!!!!

For some reason, folks want to turn my post about the Maintenance Minder into an oil debate.

gangmember

· #19 · Feb 24, 2019

Keyboard said:
Once again, I never asked for advice about oil and don't need to be lectured about it. This is not my first car!!!!

For some reason, folks want to turn my post about the Maintenance Minder into an oil debate.

In b4 new post "I spun a rod bearing, on my 50k mile accord, and honda claims its because of having 2 year old oil in the car"

Seriously... Lets get crackin'. You make a post claiming the Maintenance light(I hate the word 'Minder') is taking you for a fool, because its been a year since its been reset, and only 2k~ miles. THEN, after you're told that it DOES in fact take into account the TIME since the last oil change(for various reasons), AND the mileage, you still think you're being taken for a ride? On top of that, you think how many vehicles you've owned qualifies you to talk about oil, and oil breakdown? Lmao.

My girlfriend is on her 3rd Honda, maybe next time I decide to flush the trans fluid out of my TL, I'll ask her for some advice as well. She doesn't have a post count here though, so I dunno how well that's gonna go over.

EngTech1

· #20 · Feb 24, 2019

Wow - OK there have been many Complaints about Personal Likes & Dislikes on this New Design ~

I Agree to Point that Information on A and B Issues as to what those are ? should be more Clear ~
Honda is Attempting to take care of us ~ Humans in the Human Race - which everyone gets lost in Their Own way ~ Looses Track of Items .. so to those Humans
It's a Life ..saver as many Know Nothing about Cars or Service ability on New Oils , New Plugs , or 15K Filters - They just don't Know .

Us Older Wiser and maybe Retired Customers - Tend to have Life Time of Knowledge to Draw Upon ~ and ~ Rightfully Suspect items like this Maintenance Schedule Reminder .

Now due to Issues that have Cropped up on the 1.5T in small percentage ( Oil Dilution ) ( Proper Warm Cycle ) etc. ~ Those Unaware Items - this - Sensor system makes Sense .

If a Motor is Really Clean and it has 15K Oil and 15K Filter - yet Owner has only 4-5K it certainly Correct in Believing ~ Maintenance Minder is Wrong !
Honda is Reading & Plotting & Tallying the Items ~ on the Safe Side ( Yet I Believe there isn't to many on Any Enthusiast Site - that will Push First Oil to Far )
Mostly due to Filter being Loaded up with Debris ( Initial Break-In Period ) - this - Drop in Oil Pressure and Average will probably trigger - Earlier Change .

I for One never let 1st Oil Filter Go Past 5K as I have seen New Oil Filter weight 1lb more then New filter after Days of Draining ~ without Oil Pressure Gauge everyone is Guessing ~
If You have a Full Set of Gauges and Log Your Dates when everything is done - then It's NOT Needed ..

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