Why doesn't my car's manual have a chart of maintenance vs. mileage?

Maintenance/Repairs
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I think what people are having trouble reconciling is what exactly you’re upset about. How did you plan before? The window sticker giving you the date/mileage of your last oil change? That’s how most people plan it, and that sticker always tells you to take it to whereever you got the oil change last.

The manual tells you things like “change the oil every 3k at your (marque)-authorized dealer service center,” so that’s really enforcing the dealer/customer relationship while at the same time being inaccurate because they have to assume that everyone’s car experiences the worst-case-scenario conditions and therefore they bring everyone in for an oil change every 3k miles whether the car needs it or not.

The only thing that’s changed is that the car monitors the actual conditions it’s being operated under, and tells you to bring it in only when it’s actually necessary and not thousands of miles early.

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I understand your preference. You’ve made that clear. I’m not disputing it, and I can accept it.

I do not feel I know better than you what you should have or do

Frankly, I don’t even know where you got that idea :confused:

I can’t agree with your interpretation of Twinturbo’s paragraph

I don’t see where you’re coming from . . . exactly why are you attributing all these negative attributes to us?

If twinturbo’s comments were directed at me, I wouldn’t feel as if I was being talked down to or insulted

I truly feel you may be reading too much into it, perhaps seeing something that isn’t there

I don’t have a beef with you, but I read the same thing as you, and I simply don’t see any problem

All I see is that one person was making some harmless and factual statements, and the other person seemed to overreact

But that is just one man’s interpretation

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23

I don’t know yet on this one but on past Acuras, when you hit the higher level maintenance minders, the dealer had to plug in the computer to reset them. You couldn’t reset the computer yourself like in an oil change. So I just waited until I was in there for something else and asked them to reset it. But really what’s the point if the minder doesn’t know when the service was done?

I still find it hard to believe that the maintenance minder knows the real condition of my oil, can determine the condition of the transmission fluid, and the transfer case fluid, and the differential fluid, and so on. The answer is it really can’t unless it is monitoring how often the front wheels spin and the rear differential engages. Maybe its that sophisticated but I doubt it. Does the maintenance minder know the condition of my air filter? Naw.

I don’t mind the thing as a comparison or a reminder to people that never open their hood, but let’s be a little realistic on what they actually are measuring. For a few hundred dollars of maybe extra services, I’ll continue on.

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Honda has been using this maintenance computer for 12 years, I don’t think it can be called “new” anymore. Vehicle owners prefer less maintenance over planned maintenance so I believe it is here to stay.

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25

Maybe there’s a work-a-round. If OP can determine what % of the usage before maintenance is due by pressing a button, OP could keep track of the mileage and get a recommended mileage between service estimate that way. Say 1,000 miles had gone by since the last oil change, and the button method reported the oil is at 20% of the usage, that’d yield an estimate of 5,000 miles between recommended oil services.

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OP here. I missed a lot since I made the original post!

I notice me and another poster both have a big T for an avatar.

I can understand the explanation that there is software that determines when an oil change is needed based on usage.

I guess my main beef then is that they didn’t really explain all of this in the manual. If they had taken the time to describe a dynamic system, I would have been satisfied or even impressed. Yet they spent 47 pages on the smart phone stuff.

I did check the onscreen menu tonight and found a maintenance screen that says I have 90% on my oil, which makes sense as it was changed by the dealer a month ago. I will keep an eye on this and act accordingly - i.e. change my own when the time comes. The only other thing it says is tire rotation and it’s not set up with any input so there is no % left.

I still think stuff like lubrication or anything that’s not dynamic like the oil and tires should be in the manual. JMHO

Thanks so much for all the replies.

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Yes, you can. The manual tells you how to do it

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Nobody “told you what to do”. I was refuting the ridiculous assertion that somehow you’re being forced into a relationship with the dealer that you do not want. I gave a step by step comparison to illustrate it’s no different.

If you don’t like it, don’t read it and don’t respond. That’s your choice. Last I checked, this is a discussion board and I’ll respond to any posts I choose as I see fit. You’re not going to bully your way into stopping me from responding to what I see as a ridiculous conspiracy theories. Your approach seems to be to complain about someone who challenges your ideas rather than engage in meaningful discussion. If all you want is to state your opinions and not have people challenge them, then this is probably the wrong venue for you…

Goodbye?
Goodriddance.

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The information you’re looking for starts on page 353. The code chart is on page 359.

BTW, the oil is dynamic. If your car spends most of its life cruising down the highway, it’s going to be a lot easier on the oil and everything else than if your car spends most of its life starting and stopping in city traffic and only doing 2 mile trips at a time before you turn it off again

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30

I don’t think those who like maintenance schedules vs. those who are OK with the computer maintenance prompts are going to change their minds today. No need to ding the other side.

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