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1. every 6 months
2. every 5,000 miles
3. the oil life calculation shown on the odometer
What say you?
IMHO, Honda's maintenance minder system works well. I change mine when it reaches 15%. That usually works out to 5k - 7k. If you drive less than that... then you should change it at least once a year.
When the oil life minder hits 15% or after 12 months, whichever comes first.
That said, if I'm (still) getting free dinosaur oil changes from Honda, I make sure to change it every six months, regardless of mileage. However, if I have switched over to synthetic oil (Mobil 1) then I feel that a year between changes is OK as long as I haven't driven more than 7000-8000 miles or so. If I put on more miles, then I change it sooner.
I suspect many people who were brought up on the "change your oil every 3,000 miles mantra change the oil between 5,000 and 8,000 miles though.
Today's engines have much tighter tollerances (from what I hear) and the oil quality has improved (not sure about this one) - hence the longer oil change intervals.
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Please be sure to read that recall notice from HMC carefully, as it really describes a substantial breakdown in Honda's Quality Assurance procedures. Why do I say that? Because the notice states that programming changes were made in July, but no one bothered to test, verify and validate that the changes were correct and worked as designed.
As a former QA and process consultant/specialist, I wonder who's driving the Honda train these days? Looks like they totally dropped the ball on this one for almost 11,000 cars to be built on defective machinery, and this was never detected. It makes me wonder if Honda laid-off their QA people, or somehow determined that it was acceptable for software changes to be made without any testing done to ensure no errors were injected/created by the changes?
This is truly frightening, and I hope that Honda comes clean and tells us HOW this happened, and what they have done to ensure it can't happen again. In the meantime, I'll hold my breath.
I changed the lock/unlock settings on my 2011 Honda CRZ using its multi information display, however the Accord models should be able to be altered using a combination of button presses on the fob (so check with your dealer). Good luck.
I have Honda accord EX-L of 2010.I started noticing this problem even when the mileage is about 18000.
- The "Oil Change warning Indicator" flashes intermittently ( when I accelerate/apply brake)even when the OIL LIFE indicator is about 60%.
- At times, all of sudden. I hear roaring engine noise.,
When reported it (during warranty period), the dealer said - the oil level is very low and that's the reason for the engine noise also. When I countered him how could the indicator (oil low) is on when OIL LIFE is is well withing range, he argued that I should not pay attention to OIL LIFE indicator and should change the oil every 5k miles. Though not convinced, I did not have any other option. But after the oil change, everything looked OK
When the mileage was between 20k and 40K, the above problem has surfaced 2 times and the same argument from the dealer.
Now my mileage is 50K. I have done the oil change about 2 months back and my current OIL LIFE indicator value is 80%.
Now I see the 'oil change' warning starts flashing again intermittently and hear more roaring engine noise. When I took the issue again, my dealer now argues: It is out of warranty. You have to pay diag fees and subsequent repair charge
My argument is: This issue was reported even at 18K, 28k,34K intervals well within the warranty period. He did not diag it properly and fixed it. Now the issue started coming up much early before the next oil change
Did any of you have this issue? Any suggestions how to take up this issue?
The dealer with whom I have not satisfied: Steven Creek Honda dealer, San Jose , CA
Thanks in advance
-Senthil
I had the same problem and after having the TSB done my oil level did not drop much at all.
Good Luck
I was adding 3 quarts of oil between 7500-8000 mile oil changes. After having the TSB performed I now add 1/2 quart between oil changes.
Good Luck
I replaced my 2008 V6 Accord because of the dreaded VCM with an almost identical 2010 EX 4 cyl. It's been a pretty good car but for a couple of nagging issues.
It's got about 45k miles on it and about 6 mos ago I noticed that there was considerable shake and shimmy all of a sudden. I could really feel it in the steering wheel and also in my legs. I was going in for service that week and asked the tech to add a tire balance and rotation in.
Well, it was worse going home. I immediately called back in and told the tech. He said to bring it back and I said I would. But I thought better of it and decided to take it to my regular tire guy. He said that Honda had rebalanced the tires but never removed the old wheel weights. He said he took care of the problem (for $50). But it still wasn't right and I brought it back to him to recheck and sure enough, he said that they weren't balanced and redid them--or so he said.
I decided to take the car to an import specialist who had a "Road Force" balancing system. It would simulate the weight of the car during the computer balancing process. All to the tune of $25/tire.
That didn't work either. I took it back and the import special guy said the tires were getting old and that was the problem. I still had at least 15k worth of tread life and decided to just let it go. If new tires don't fix the ride I don't know what I'll do, other than trade cars. I can't stand the ride but everything else is ok except for...
The noise coming out of the rear of the car. I think is on the passenger side but the wife on the passenger side says it's on the drive's side. When I get behind a large truck the noise sounds like sheet metal flapping in the wind. Which it very well could be. I have splash guards all around and thought they might be working loose causing the noise and helping catch the wind which would make the flimsy rear quarterpanel flap around. Anyway, the self-tapping screws for the splash guards were a little loose so I tightened them down, to no avail. The noise is still there and quite perceptible.
I wonder if there is a relationship between the bad ride and the noise?
Don't know if this one has been covered, but it is lighting up the Accord Forums. Honda released a TSB for it 12-082. The problem is a loud knocking sound from the front suspension when slowing to stop or starting up from a stop. The knock is almost rotational sounding. This started on my 2010 LX last year. I brought it in to be looked at, and they couldn't find anything wrong, at the time the car was under warranty. Now that the car is out of warranty, Honda released the TSB, which states that both lower ball joints should be replaced with new updated parts. The old ball joints created a "stick-slip" knocking noise.
This year the noise in my 2010 has gotten real bad. It is now so loud that it drowns out conversation in the car. It sounds as if the entire wheel is going to come off and you can feel vibration in the floor and steering wheel. I can't believe it's not a safety recall.
Anyhow, seems a lot of people are having this issue so I thought I would pass it along in case someone was wondering what it is. Looks like after having just spent $1k on four rotors and pads I am going to have to cough up another $400 or so I don't go insane listening to this knocking noise. All before 80k miles. Yippee!
Heck, some cars can almost go 16K miles on an OIL CHANGE these days, if you use synthetic oil and have a large enough oil pan... :confuse: :confuse: