A service light has been coming on at startup in our 2010 Honda Insight EX since Tuesday night. Checking the owner's manual, I learned that the "Service Due Now" message indicates that estimated oil life is somewhere between 1 and 5 percent (and come to think of it, I've been seeing a "5% oil life" message flash before the above alert comes on steady). If the car perceives that its oil quality has dropped to 0 percent, you'd see a "Service Past Due" message.
Honda uses letter and number codes in the Insight to indicate what type of service the car requires. "A" indicates a basic oil change with no oil filter change. "1" indicates a tire rotation.
When I dropped our Insight off for service this morning, the service advisor was slightly dismayed that we were seeing "A" rather than "B." The latter indicates a more major service (with an oil filter change among other things), and he thought the car should be asking for "B" given that it's nearing the 10,000-mile mark. But it's not, so we're doing the cheaper "A1" service.
I'll give you a rundown of the final costs after we pick the car up later today.
Erin Riches, Senior Editor @ 9,641 miles
7driver says:
12:01 PM, 12/ 4/09
Changing the oil without changing the filter just seems odd to me.
tommister2 says:
12:06 PM, 12/ 4/09
I agree with 7driver. I don't know why Honda recommends this. I am surprised any dealer would do it. Why would you not change the filter?
lowmilelude says:
12:14 PM, 12/ 4/09
I'm surprised you're surprised.
Why would the dealer recommend changing them seperately?? Because it's yet another reason to come to the service dept, of course! Let's put our thinkin' caps on and remember that these dealerships probably make quite a hefty chunk of their profit margins charging twice the price of a regular mechanic to do things like routine maintenance, not to mention simple tasks like change your oil and filter.
carguy622 says:
01:13 PM, 12/ 4/09
On my Acura, A1 means the oil AND the filter need to be changed. Are you guys sure about this?
thegraduate says:
01:17 PM, 12/ 4/09
IIRC, A1 on my '06 Accord is Oil/Filter change. B1 is Oil/Filter change & Tire Rotation.
On my car you can't have an "A" or "B" without a corresponding number (1-6). I've seen A1, B1, maybe B2, and B4 (which involved the Air Filter being changed at 28k miles).
txmatt1 says:
01:27 PM, 12/ 4/09
Hadn't really been paying attention to the Insight dash, but noticed the Charge/Assist display in this photo.
Funny because there's a very similar gauge on the '66 Mustang for Charge/Discharge. It's actually a pretty informative little gauge, letting you know what's going on with the charging system. Immediately after starting it will lean over into the C (charge) section as the alternator provides charge to the battery. If there is a large electrical load or alternator problem, it will be over on the D side indicating that the battery is discharging. Normally it stays pretty stable right in the center. I guess everything old is new again.
saxdogg says:
01:30 PM, 12/ 4/09
The dealer was dismayed that they couldn't charge you more for the same service.
kingkhalas says:
03:22 PM, 12/ 4/09
I still want to know why Edmunds insists on going to the dealer when they could try some cheaper independent shops and then rate them for those of us living in Los Angeles.
crackheadalley says:
05:46 PM, 12/ 4/09
A semi-used oil filter will perform slightly better filtration that a brand new one out of the box. But not an old one. An oil change in-between oil filter changes is common practice in commercial fleet operations. This is how you need to look at it, instead of 'missing an oil filter change every oil change'. Only when severe application conditions are observed (dust, high humidity, short cycles, high temperature, high load) a filter change within every oil change is necessary.
If you use good quality filters (oem or better) there is nothing to worry about. If you use any other el-cheapo... then changing your oem filter for crap on this first oil change is actually a step backwards.