Oil Change already?

I have been learning quite a bit from this forum. Thanks! Our Clarity has 7,222 miles and MM indicates that the A1 service is due "now". The car was manufactured in December 2017, we bought it at the end of February 2018 with 7 miles in the odometer. We have put in about 36 gallons of gasoline. We have an service appointment tomorrow.
 
I'm certain that MM on Honda Clarity only uses total miles to call for oil change. I have 7500 mileages but only burnt 24 gallons of gas (3 fill-up and one pre-filled tank), MM prompted A01 service.
It doesn't make sense at all. Chevy Volt would consider ICE operation time/mileage. Honda should borrow a page from them.;)

If we ignore this nonsense MM reminder, would it void the warranty?
 
JoeN said:
I have been learning quite a bit from this forum. Thanks! Our Clarity has 7,222 miles and MM indicates that the A1 service is due "now". The car was manufactured in December 2017, we bought it at the end of February 2018 with 7 miles in the odometer. We have put in about 36 gallons of gasoline. We have an service appointment tomorrow.
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My car is 2 months newer than yours and the A01 service is due "now" as well. Could you please ask the dealer how to justify the oil change by burning only 36 gallons of gas? If we only change oil once per year, would that void the warranty? We all buy PHEV trying to reduce carbon footprint and waste (used oil). Unnecessary oil change defeats that purpose. Many Chevy Volt owners change oil once every 2 years while the MM asks us to change once every few months. We need to push Honda to fix the stupid software.

Many thanks!
 
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@EV Fan and @JoeN, I couldn’t agree with you more. Even with Joe’s 36 gal at an average speed of 60 (being generous here) that’s under 2,100 miles and 8 months, so it’s way early on time and miles as far as oil life is concerned. If HV miles are under 5,000 (being generous here too) then we should be changing by time as in every year.
Definitely looks like a software error or omission like the HV range bug.
We got the HV range bug fixed by making enough official tickets wirh Honda to get them to take notice. Let’s do the same with this bug. I will start a thread similar to the one that helped get the HV range bug by making it easy to make official tickets with Honda.
 
EV Fan said:
My car is 2 months newer than yours and the A01 service is due "now" as well. Could you please ask the dealer how to justify the oil change by burning only 36 gallons of gas? If we only change oil once per year, would that void the warranty? We all buy PHEV trying to reduce carbon footprint and waste (used oil). Unnecessary oil change defeats that purpose. Many Chevy Volt owners change oil once every 2 years while the MM asks us to change once every few months. We need to push Honda to fix the stupid software.

Many thanks!
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I tried but I did not get an answer for you. The service advisor appeared to be not very familiar with the Clarity Plug-In at all. He just said, in general, these "hybrid cars" sometimes need service around 9000 miles, sometimes around 4000 miles. Huh?

I took the car back to the dealer that I bought it from. They could not install the HV range (software) fix because their HDS was inoperative. They checked using a computer and it said there was no service bulletin needed. I asked them to install the missing body plugs and they installed them. When I checked this evening, it looked like they put on some old, used body plugs -- guessing they pulled them off another car (maybe?). It has not rained for a while and it has been beautiful and sunny all day. I am sure that I did not run over any puddles (see pictures). I believe I will try another dealership in the future.
 

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Michael Borquez said:
I drive 36k miles a year, I don’t plan on changing the oil until 10k miles. There is obviously a software glitch. You should wait as long as possible for your first oil change because all of the break in oils are in the engine from the factory.
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KentuckyKen said:
It does seem that for some the MM calls for oil changes long before overall time or ICE operation time/milage would warrant. It almost seems like it’s using total miles instead of HV miles.
However in my case of low miles ~4,200 in 6 months and an 85/15 EV/HV split, it’s calling for the oil change at 11 months which seems reasonable. But that may be because my total miles are so low that it’s timing out at 1 year or ~8,000 total miles.

I have researched as much as I can on the oil issue. What I’ve found is that Honda used to specify that the Factory Fill (FF) oil not be change early since it was beneficial in breaking in the engine. However now all Honda says is to “avoid full throttle starts and rapid acceleration” (Honda.owners.com) when engine is new and says nothing about oil change frequency other than following the MM.
On the Honda tech forum (not official
Honda) the consensus is that there is no special break in oil used. However the assembly lubricants used have a large mount of molybdenum additives that mix with the FF and make it like a break in oil with additional properties. This may be why Honda used to say don’t change the FF early.
Bottom line is just using any quailty oil that meets Honda’s viscosity and API requirements and following the owner’s manual will be fine. That means a synthetic or semi-synthetic since that’s all you can find in 0W20.
Since the first oil change has to be with in 1 year now matter how low the miles on the ICE, I will use the Honda full syn (rather pricey IMHO) since it has been reported (but not verified) to have a higher moly content that their synthetic blend or Mobile 1. But that’s because I will only have ~500 miles on the ICE by then . After that, it’s whatever I can find on sale.
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Hey guys, does FF look any differently on oil stick? I checked my oil stick today, and the oil is colorless. But Moly should be shinny gray or black, right?
I'm concerned if the stupid delaer changed oil before delivery, because mine is a test drive with ~80mi on odometer. (I got a price break instead)
 
Not the Clarity specifically but interesting CBC News "how often to change your oil"? On the same note, maybe Honda needs to see the car more often so the dealer can check and update the Service Bulletin for you automatically without you having to remind them </sacasm>
 
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ryd994 said:
Hey guys, does FF look any differently on oil stick? I checked my oil stick today, and the oil is colorless. But Moly should be shinny gray or black, right?
I'm concerned if the stupid delaer changed oil before delivery, because mine is a test drive with ~80mi on odometer. (I got a price break instead)
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Having built a lot of engines, Moly lube does have a color to it. HOWEVER, you'd be hard pressed to see it when it's mixed in with 3.5 quarts of oil on a dipstick check. I'm sure the seller dealer didn't change it before sale - they wouldn't get paid for it and it's extra work for them.

-Skip
 
Just got A1 service indicator at 5147 miles. I drive quite a bit of long distance, so I use the Hybrid mode a lot. So it appears that the car is taking ICE usage into consideration when prompting for service, based on other responses on this thread.
 
stanigu said:
Just got A1 service indicator at 5147 miles. I drive quite a bit of long distance, so I use the Hybrid mode a lot. So it appears that the car is taking ICE usage into consideration when prompting for service, based on other responses on this thread.
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could it be time triggered if your car was sitting on the lot for months?
 
ryd994 said:
could it be time triggered if your car was sitting on the lot for months?
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If time is one of the MM triggers, then it is not the reason some are getting oil change intervals at 6 months or less. I drive 90/10 EV/HV (4,200 m in 6 months) and my MM is showing 1st service at 13 months from build and 10 months from purchase.
I think it’s using total miles for the milage part of the calculation like the HV range did before the update.
It’s definitely not as good as my old
08 CR-V that counted down the % oil life base on time, temp, and miles. At least that one returned results that were believable.
 
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