First oil change

Richard;

Your salesman is absolutely wrong. :mad:

If the service department ever offers this same recommendation please report them to your Honda regional or national office. These types of recommendations are ill-informed and contradict Honda engineering service directives.

As an owner, please follow the directions that Honda provides in your car's owners manual.
The oil change should only be performed when the maintenance minder indicates an oil life of 15% or less. When this threshold is reached, you'll see additional indicators and display information informing you of the upcoming types of service the vehicle is expecting. At this point, it is time to book your vehicle for the service shown in the display.

Again, follow Honda's recommendation, your car's instrumentation and save your money. :)

The recommended oil for your vehicle is 0W20. Honda's brand name oil for your vehicle is also 0W20, BUT you may also replace it with any synthetic as long as it has the same SAE rating of 0W20.
Many folks buy Mobil 1 synthetic and have their dealership put it in instead of their brand name oil. Either way is perfect and just the way it is supposed to be.

Cheers;

MSantos

Thanks for the good advice. I will adhere to the Honda guidelines for this first oil change and all other scheduled service. We are enjoying the new car and like it better and better with time. Thanks again. :)

My dealer's service Department told me specifically that my first service was due at 8000 kms/ 5000 miles... and the 2nd one at 16, 000 kms or 10, 000 miles. That's exactly what I have followed. I take them to be experts... but now I know better. They told me I would be negating my warranty to do otherwise, as all cars need to be serviced at the same intervals, hybrids included. Who the hell is one to believe? This is the same dealer that told me FIRMLY to warm the car up in the mornings. A service tech just told me 2 weeks ago, that the car is only "electric" on the highway??? I think our service techs and depts need to be educated first before they fooling around under the hoods of the hybrids. Is this why my gas mileage is so terrible... after each service... the MPG's go way down... My drivers window is still screwed up, yet there's nothing wrong with it???

Thanks MSantos. I am still working with the same dealer... and after this week, I should have some answers. They have a Honda Tech brought in from Toronto to look at my car (Although I wasn't able to see him???) I'll keep you posted.

Jarrod, if you dig out your Owners Manual, all your questions are addressed. Anyway:

I'd say just take it into the dealer, at least for the first one. You won't save much, the 0W20 (spec'd in the manual) is expensive, and the dealer charge isn't that much more. Also, there may be extra service notices and/or software updates for your car, as MSantos ofen mentions. After maintenance, you need to push a few buttons to reset the maintenance minder (as explained in the manual).

If you've changed oil in the past, by jacking up the front end and putting in jack stands, be forwarned that the plastic undershield on the civic hybrid requires you to raise the car a little more than usual, to swing the shield out of the way.

2007 HCH

My first type A service just came up at 8000 km - 15% life remaining on oil.

Fuel economy so far has been about 7.2 Litres/100km which is a pathetic 32-33 mpg.

What factors affect oil life? I just hit the 15% mark and I am at 7,300 miles. This seems a lot less that what someone else was saying (I think it was 10 K miles).

By the way, love the car. (2008 HCH). I average 48 - 50 MPG. Changed my driving style quite a bit. I used to drive a Subaru Outback, and would usually do 80 to 90 mph on the highway. I stay around 65 now. I actually find that I don't really lose any time. A 43 mile trip to work that used to take me 55 minutes now takes exactly 1 hour. The only draw back is that I do feel like I am going much slower than the speed of traffic. Even though the speed limit is 55 most people go 75. I know in many places 65 is the speed limit ( and in some rural areas it is even higher), and the traffic speed gets close to 80 mph. There is no way to get the advertised 45 MPG at over 70 mph. I don't think that's a big deal, but for some people this is something to consider.

kdunaev:

The oil life is computed from several real-time operational metrics. Among these metrics, the maintenance minder feature takes into account the average engine RPMs, engine operating temperatures as well as other "pattern" data to produce a percentage estimate of the engine's oil life.

You are quite right in your observations regarding speed and fuel economy. After a certain speed (namely 55-60 MPH), fuel economy really falls victim to the basic laws of physics... and there's very little the low drag coefficient design of the HCH or Prius can do about it.

In the end, the biggest change happens within each of us...

...And the car? Heck, the car is just the enabling tool. As Jim says, just imagine what this world would be like if all people drove hybrids vehicles?

Cheers;

MSantos

Oops sorry, just realized I'm in the oil questions commentaries. But I do have an oil change question. Should I wait for the oil change indicator to reach 15% and change it then even If the odometer says 4000 miles? This would be less than the 5000mi, and far less than 10000mi that I've heard as a recommended change time.