# Honda Accord Sport **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [August 7, 2013, 8:00am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/honda-accord-sport/80768 "2013-08-07T08:00:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hcord13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/838e76/32.png) [@hcord13](https://community.cartalk.com/u/hcord13)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 8:00am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/honda-accord-sport/80768/1 "2013-08-07T08:00:47Z")
I just bought this great car and had some questions about maintenance. Does anyone own the same model? ---
**Author:** ![Docnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Docnick](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Docnick)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/honda-accord-sport/80768/2 "2013-08-07T18:10:42Z")
All great and not-so-great cars have maintenance manuals. Some are more complete than others. A Honda one may tell you to change oil and filter when the oil minder light comes on. All other maintenance will be listed in the manual. Please read it first and we would be pleased to answer any questions you may still have. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/honda-accord-sport/80768/3 "2013-08-07T18:18:36Z")
Only thing I’d add is that you have the CVT tranny, right? Make sure that NOBODY changes the transmission fluid except the Honda dealer, the wrong fluid (even if claimed to be a CVT fluid) could ruin the transmission. ---
**Author:** ![hcord13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/838e76/32.png) [@hcord13](https://community.cartalk.com/u/hcord13)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/honda-accord-sport/80768/4 "2013-08-07T18:33:53Z")
The manual seems very complicated as well. I’ll glance over it again. ---
**Author:** ![hcord13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/838e76/32.png) [@hcord13](https://community.cartalk.com/u/hcord13)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/honda-accord-sport/80768/5 "2013-08-07T18:50:04Z")
I just don’t know how the maintenance minder knows when certain fluids need to be changed. Coolant, brake fluid and trans fluid. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/honda-accord-sport/80768/6 "2013-08-07T18:52:03Z")
> Only thing I'd add is that you have the CVT tranny, right? Make sure that NOBODY changes the transmission fluid except the Honda dealer, the wrong fluid (even if claimed to be a CVT fluid) could ruin the transmission. I agree that you should be very careful with the fluid you use. But there are other places you can take your vehicle besides the dealer. I take my 4runner to a transmission specialist. My 4runner uses very special WS fluid. And the transmission specialist just buys it from Toyota. This shop also does most of the transmission rebuilds for the local Toyota/Nissan and Honda dealer. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/honda-accord-sport/80768/7 "2013-08-08T04:39:43Z")
The short answer is you don’t need to know how the Maintenance Minder works because the Honda engineers do. Honda doesn’t want to lose customers because they put an inaccurate maintenance minder in the car. But you may still want to know. Talk to the service desk at your dealer about it. The service writer may not know, but she can help you find out. In general terms, Honda monitored changes in fluids over time during their environmental tests. Over probably millions of miles, they deduced that certain conditions that they can monitor indicate when a fluid needs to be changed. And because they don’t want to lose customers, they are conservative in when they set the alert. GM has been doing this successfully since the late 1980s. That Honda is late to the party indicates to me that they wanted to be more than very sure that the Maintenance Minder would make repeat customers, not enemies. ---
**Author:** ![hcord13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/838e76/32.png) [@hcord13](https://community.cartalk.com/u/hcord13)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 4:41am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/honda-accord-sport/80768/8 "2013-08-08T04:41:20Z")
@jtsanders I suppose oil changes every 7,500 w/ synthetic oil allows them to keep an eye on stuff too. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/honda-accord-sport/80768/9 "2013-08-08T05:22:33Z")
Make sure you check the oil periodically, some folks seem to think the oil change interval is the oil check interval, or that some light will go off when a quart is needed (only true in a very few cars). ---
**Author:** ![hcord13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/838e76/32.png) [@hcord13](https://community.cartalk.com/u/hcord13)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 5:27am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/honda-accord-sport/80768/10 "2013-08-08T05:27:08Z")
Honda’s have something called maintenance minder. It gives the % oil life left and other maintenance that is needed. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 5:31am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/honda-accord-sport/80768/11 "2013-08-08T05:31:47Z")
Right. You can follow it, I would. Others might prefer to change the oil more often. Just make sure to check the oil.