craze1cars
Well-Known Member
I'm a perpetual DIY'er and mechanically inclined enough to have done my own frame-off restorations on classic cars, etc.
After my 4,200 mile road trip, with car just short of 7,000 miles, car was calling for first maintenance so I did my oil change and tire rotation. A few posts have mentioned how-to, which frankly is quite basic for any oil change, so I won't get into great detail here, but want to add my comments on warming up the oil first, and testing for leaks after. This is pretty much oil change 101, but nobody mentions much about how you do this on a car that you can't conventionally "start" and warm up? Simple...put the car in maintenance mode. My step-by-step for a DIY oil change, assuming you've changed oil in other cars before:
1. Push start button twice WITHOUT touching brake to turn ignition on and Park symbol lights up in red.
2. Press brake, pump gas pedal to floor twice and release.
3. Press brake, shift to neutral.
4. Release brake, pump gas pedal twice.
5. Press brake, shift to Park.
6. Release brake, pump gas pedal twice. Release brake. Dash will now say "maintenance mode."
7. Press brake, push start button once. Engine will start and idle.
8. Let engine idle while getting your tools together, etc to warm up the oil. Shut down engine after it warms up enough by again just pressing start button like normal.
9. Jack/support car safely as needed for access, remove engine under cover shield, drain oil, replace plug and crush washer, change filter, refill with 3.5 quarts.
10. Repeat steps 1 thru 7 so the engine starts again and you can check for any leaks around your filter, etc before replacing under shield and lowering car from your jacks. Shut engine off. (Any time you shut engine off, maintenance mode is cancelled and the car goes back to normal mode.)
11. Replace engine under cover shield. Check oil level, should be correct.
12. Rotate tires like any other car, inspect everything as specified in owners manual, brakes, etc.
13. Reset maintenance minder and document what you did.
I'm a big fan of Honda filters (Ebay I buy them usually 6 at a time pretty cheap), and for oil I just buy any synthetic 0W20 that's on sale at local big box stores.
Going forward my plan is to change oil once per year, as our road trips will not be that frequent, the maintenance minder is kinda stupid about it, and I have a pretty solid idea of what I need to do since I'm a big-time car guy and just a few screws shy of being a certified mechanic. I won't go down the rabbit hole of freaking out about the stupidity of the maintenance minder -- I'll just maintain the car the way I think it should be maintained for my usage, which is likely change oil once per year.
Hopefully this helps someone who wants to do their own maintenance.
After my 4,200 mile road trip, with car just short of 7,000 miles, car was calling for first maintenance so I did my oil change and tire rotation. A few posts have mentioned how-to, which frankly is quite basic for any oil change, so I won't get into great detail here, but want to add my comments on warming up the oil first, and testing for leaks after. This is pretty much oil change 101, but nobody mentions much about how you do this on a car that you can't conventionally "start" and warm up? Simple...put the car in maintenance mode. My step-by-step for a DIY oil change, assuming you've changed oil in other cars before:
1. Push start button twice WITHOUT touching brake to turn ignition on and Park symbol lights up in red.
2. Press brake, pump gas pedal to floor twice and release.
3. Press brake, shift to neutral.
4. Release brake, pump gas pedal twice.
5. Press brake, shift to Park.
6. Release brake, pump gas pedal twice. Release brake. Dash will now say "maintenance mode."
7. Press brake, push start button once. Engine will start and idle.
8. Let engine idle while getting your tools together, etc to warm up the oil. Shut down engine after it warms up enough by again just pressing start button like normal.
9. Jack/support car safely as needed for access, remove engine under cover shield, drain oil, replace plug and crush washer, change filter, refill with 3.5 quarts.
10. Repeat steps 1 thru 7 so the engine starts again and you can check for any leaks around your filter, etc before replacing under shield and lowering car from your jacks. Shut engine off. (Any time you shut engine off, maintenance mode is cancelled and the car goes back to normal mode.)
11. Replace engine under cover shield. Check oil level, should be correct.
12. Rotate tires like any other car, inspect everything as specified in owners manual, brakes, etc.
13. Reset maintenance minder and document what you did.
I'm a big fan of Honda filters (Ebay I buy them usually 6 at a time pretty cheap), and for oil I just buy any synthetic 0W20 that's on sale at local big box stores.
Going forward my plan is to change oil once per year, as our road trips will not be that frequent, the maintenance minder is kinda stupid about it, and I have a pretty solid idea of what I need to do since I'm a big-time car guy and just a few screws shy of being a certified mechanic. I won't go down the rabbit hole of freaking out about the stupidity of the maintenance minder -- I'll just maintain the car the way I think it should be maintained for my usage, which is likely change oil once per year.
Hopefully this helps someone who wants to do their own maintenance.
