I had to have the oil changed at 2900 miles in my Honda CRZ. The dealership was incredulous and wanted to reset the maintenance minder as they said the oil should last 5 to 10 thousand miles. I didn’t want to take a chance so I did have it changed at a cost of $88. Has anyone else experienced such an early initial oil change with this car?
What happened that you had to have the oil changed so early??
$88 seems quite a bit for the conventional oil change to me.
I wonder if something is goofy with the oil life monitor. $88 for an oil change?! Good lord! That would send me running to buy ramps and tools if I didn’t have them already! That sounds expensive even for a synthetic oil change.
Please tell us how many months it took to accumulate those 2,900 miles.
If it took only…let’s say…3 or 4 months, then the oil change was premature and there is likely to be something amiss with the Oil Life Monitor.
On the other hand, if it took 6 months or more to accumulate less than 3k miles, then that is a pretty good indication that your driving is mostly short-trip, local driving. In that type of scenario, oil changes should be done on the basis of elaped time, rather than on the basis of odometer mileage, and the Oil Life Monitor was correct.
How long did it take you to drive 2,900 miles?
And, more importantly–When you start your car, how far do you typically drive it before shutting off the engine?
$88 for an oil change?! I get 6qt. full synthetic and it only runs me $60~70. Are they using some kind of special recycled oil or something?
I would never, ever go 10k miles between oil changes no matter what. Five thousand is acceptable if most of the driving is highway use, extended trips, etc.
Those maintenance minder widgets are causing car owners a lot of grief so the best thing is to ignore that gimmick and the people you talked to at the dealership. The one you likely talked with was a service writer. Very, and I mean very, few of them have a clue when it comes to automotive knowledge.
There’s also a likely reason for the pricy oil change. Some dealers use a lower paid lube guy who will perform basic oil changes and things of that nature. You may see ads or signs for a “29.95 oil change special” at a dealer and that usually means the above.
With some dealers the regular mechanics perform the oil changes and at the ones I worked for we got paid .2 or .3 hours for this. If the shop rate is 100 dollars an hour this means you’re already into it for 20-30 dollars in labor. Factor in the oil, a higher priced factory oil filter, the obligatory shop supplies charge, taxes, enviro fees, etc. and it can hit 88 bucks real quick. Hope that explains it.
Find the owner’s manual for your car. It should list oil change schedules.
Oil should be changed based on miles and/or time. So if you drive 10,000 miles in a month, it may be time for a change, or if you have not driven 1,000 miles in the last year it is past due for a change.
Some cars today have a computer checking your driving habits and decide when you should change oil based on a more complex model. Personally I like the idea, but I am not sure I would trust it yet. I would change it based on miles, months or the computer. The one thing I would not count on would be the guy changing the oil.
Good Luck
Did they refine the oil right there at the dealership? If not, how do they justify $88 for an oil change?
The maintenance minder measures MANY parameters, not just time and mileage. If the light came on the oil should be changed, but $88 is ridiculous.
When we got our 2010 Civic last year the salesman at the dealership told us “the computer in this car will monitor the oil for change intervals . . . it measures running time, miles, how often the car was driven on short trips vs. long trips, mpg and oil quality, how often the engine was operated at high rpm’s” . . . and he went on and on. Although I believe that this new gimmick may measure miles traveled or hours of operation, there is no way there is an oil diagnostic lab in our Honda Civic. You got screwed by the dealer. Find a good independent mechanic and change your oil as per hi recommendations. The 2010 Civic owners manual doesn’t list actual miles or months for oil changes anymore . . it says to rely on the gimmick. I’m with Joe . . . it’s a good idea but bot there yet. Rocketman
FWIW, I know a fair number of Fit owners who follow the Maintenance Minder (ending up with ~10,000 mile intervals) but have sent oil off to Blackstone to be tested. The tests all show that the oil would still be ok for even longer intervals.
Also, the CRZ should be using 0w-20, which is a synthetic, so the change should be a bit more than just $29.99
Some may remember this lengthy discussion about whether to put their faith into a maintenance minder gimmick.
http://community.cartalk.com/discussion/2213992/liability-of-sludge-in-engine/p1
Note in this case the car owner pretty much kept this vehicle on the open highway. Factor in short hop and/or city driving and the problem becomes much worse.