[Mr. Natural]

Ok, I haven’t owned any car that doesn’t call for a filter change on every oil change. I’d like to believe that Honda knows what’s best for their engines. But skipping the filter change feels wrong to me. Does anyone know the science behind it?

 

[hasarad]

Ok, I haven’t owned any car that doesn’t call for a filter change on every oil change. I’d like to believe that Honda knows what’s best for their engines. But skipping the filter change feels wrong to me. Does anyone know the science behind it?

The only science I can think of the the cost saving of not replacing the filter. I plan on replacing the filter at every oil change.

 

[dr_glenn]

I had two used Acuras before this and my trusted mechanic said it was OK to not change filter every time. But I would think it is mandatory on the first oil change.
I've got a question about "maintenance minder". My Insight now has 5600 miles and so far no maintenance reminder has appeared. But I purchased the service contract and I can bring it in at 5,000 miles. So I'm planning to do that.
Please tell me at what mileage did you see the maintenance reminder appear?
On my last car (Acura TSX 2007), there was a display item that showed me percent of oil (that is, you now only have 15% life on the oil). I haven't found such a display on this car.

 

[dj1anddt2]

I had two used Acuras before this and my trusted mechanic said it was OK to not change filter every time. But I would think it is mandatory on the first oil change.
I've got a question about "maintenance minder". My Insight now has 5600 miles and so far no maintenance reminder has appeared. But I purchased the service contract and I can bring it in at 5,000 miles. So I'm planning to do that.
Please tell me at what mileage did you see the maintenance reminder appear?
On my last car (Acura TSX 2007), there was a display item that showed me percent of oil (that is, you now only have 15% life on the oil). I haven't found such a display on this car.

There is an option to show you oil life on the car on the driver information interface on the left side the dash under maintenance.

Also oil life is displayed on the Honda link app if you have it installed on your phone.

 

[Mr. Natural]

You can also see the oil life, etc. and reset on the Display Audio. System > Vehicle > Maintenance Info

 

[highmiler]

I had two used Acuras before this and my trusted mechanic said it was OK to not change filter every time. But I would think it is mandatory on the first oil change.
I've got a question about "maintenance minder". My Insight now has 5600 miles and so far no maintenance reminder has appeared. But I purchased the service contract and I can bring it in at 5,000 miles. So I'm planning to do that.
Please tell me at what mileage did you see the maintenance reminder appear?
On my last car (Acura TSX 2007), there was a display item that showed me percent of oil (that is, you now only have 15% life on the oil). I haven't found such a display on this car.

during the break in period when you're going through the first few rounds of oil I suggest starting with a fresh filter. Metal shavings are common in those first oil changes and getting more of them out the system will do you a lot of good.

 

[Insight'nAround]

Funny enough, I just received my first Maintenance Minder message this morning at 15% oil life left. Considering I'm at over 10,000 miles on the original oil/filter I'm impressed. I'm used to oil/filter changes at 5,000 or 7,500 miles.

Also, my gas mileage has started to dip a bit now that its' getting colder :-/

 

[dr_glenn]

Funny enough, I just received my first Maintenance Minder message this morning at 15% oil life left. Considering I'm at over 10,000 miles on the original oil/filter I'm impressed. I'm used to oil/filter changes at 5,000 or 7,500 miles.

Brought my car in today for first maintenance with 5800 miles, even though I had no indicator show up. Service guy told me that Honda calculates percent "remaining" on the engine oil based on how it is driven - no surprise. He also said that the algorithm was probably less than perfect, since number of miles between changes seems to vary quite a lot. Even my 2007 Acura TSX did something like this. I also wonder if this hybrid engine has a lot less stress on it, since it doesn't often rev to high speed and doesn't always have the stress of driving the wheels directly.

In any case, I have maintenance contract and I get service every 5,000 miles for 3 years (or did I buy 5 years?).

 

[mgldan]

Funny enough, I just received my first Maintenance Minder message this morning at 15% oil life left. Considering I'm at over 10,000 miles on the original oil/filter I'm impressed. I'm used to oil/filter changes at 5,000 or 7,500 miles.

Also, my gas mileage has started to dip a bit now that its' getting colder :-/

Hey, thanks for the photo! This shows that you drove 477 miles at 45.8 MPG, so that's 10.4 gallons of gas. Very close to the spec'd 10.6 gallon tank. You must have gotten a low fuel reminder well before you filled up, right? I've been trying to figure out how is really left when it reports low range. Mr. Natural pointed out on another thread that the manual says the low fuel notice appears at 1.59 gallons left in the tank.

 

[Mr. Natural]

Hey, thanks for the photo! This shows that you drove 477 miles at 45.8 MPG, so that's 10.4 gallons of gas. Very close to the spec'd 10.6 gallon tank. You must have gotten a low fuel reminder well before you filled up, right? I've been trying to figure out how is really left when it reports low range. Mr. Natural pointed out on another thread that the manual says the low fuel notice appears at 1.59 gallons left in the tank.

That’s assuming Trip A got reset at fill up, right? I don’t always reset my Trip A if I’m trying to track a longer trip. But I do have Trip B automatically resetting at fill up. I don’t think I’ve ever put more than nine gallons in mine.

 

[Alex]

I have the free lifetime oil change offer from the dealership. They can do it once my oil life is 20% or lower.
I took my car for the first time at 9500 miles to dealership (20% oil life remaining). Plus I did the tire rotation (10$).
My maintenance indicator is changed from A to B now.

 

[Mr. Natural]

I have the free lifetime oil change offer from the dealership. They can do it once my oil life is 20% or lower.
I took my car for the first time at 9500 miles to dealership (20% oil life remaining). Plus I did the tire rotation (10$).
My maintenance indicator is changed from A to B now.

Out of curiosity, did they change the oil filter too? Even though A doesn’t call for it, I’m betting most dealers change it anyhow.

 

[mgldan]

That’s assuming Trip A got reset at fill up, right? I don’t always reset my Trip A if I’m trying to track a longer trip. But I do have Trip B automatically resetting at fill up. I don’t think I’ve ever put more than nine gallons in mine.

Yeah, good point. My assumption is faulty. My personal record is 9.15 gallons to fill the tank.

 

[Alex]

Out of curiosity, did they change the oil filter too? Even though A doesn’t call for it, I’m betting most dealers change it anyhow.

Yes they changed filter as well

 

[Insight'nAround]

Hey, thanks for the photo! This shows that you drove 477 miles at 45.8 MPG, so that's 10.4 gallons of gas. Very close to the spec'd 10.6 gallon tank. You must have gotten a low fuel reminder well before you filled up, right? I've been trying to figure out how is really left when it reports low range. Mr. Natural pointed out on another thread that the manual says the low fuel notice appears at 1.59 gallons left in the tank.

Yes, I got the low fuel reminder well before I filled up. That tank was a 10.15 gallon fill-up. I have my trip odometer set to reset at each refuel

 

[dr_glenn]

I checked the vehicle maintenance page. With 6200 miles on the odometer, it told me I had 50% life remaining on the oil!!!
Nevertheless, I brought it in for the 5K service that I get for "free" on the maintenance contract. Asked them to rotate tires too.
I figured that if I brought my car in every 5K miles, which I think is the timing stated in the contract, then I was getting a reasonable deal. But the dealer will clearly make out well on these contracts if people only bring in the car when the maintenance minder tells them.