[mikepaynter11]

Today my car tells me I will need service soon. Two problems, one the car only has 3350 miles since new. Second I have only driven the car about 300 mile on gad. No way the gas motor needs new oil yet. Even though I only had the car 4 months, could the age of the oil be the reason for the A 0 1 showed up on my dash. The dealer has no idea yet. My clarity plug in is there only sale of this model. The A is for oil and the 0 is for checking the car over, with the 1 being a tire rotation. With insight, civic hybrid, accord hybrid and even a Acura TLX, the first oil change is at least 7000 miles. What gives ?

 

[The Gadgeteer]

Mike,

Could be the age of the oil. You may have had the car 4 months but the oil might be over a year old since the car was manufactured and the engine first started. If I was a betting man I would wager it is the age of the oil. Perhaps you can talk your dealer into a free oil change since it probably sat with them for several months. I believe the door jam has the manufacture date. Please check and report back. Every data point on these enigmatic cars is helpful. Thank you.

-Alex

 

[mikepaynter11]

oil

Alex: good idea, thanks, mike

 

[Leabhras]

Similar issue with oil change

My Plug-in hybrid Clarity has the same issue.
I've had it for 10 months, 15k miles.
I just had my second oil change even though, based on my records of gas purchases and mpg, I only have ~5k miles on the gas engine.
This is the most frustrating thing about my Clarity.

A related issue is that the trip computer can't tell me how many miles the engine has on it. That seems like important information for engine maintenance.
Does anyone know how to access this info?

 

[4sallypat]

Haven't you heard that a gas engine that hardly runs or runs for very short time is the worst way to kill a car ?

Not only is the super lightweight oil aging and breaking down from non use, but not running thru the engine creates sludge on the bottom of the oil pan; but the biggest enemy: water vapor condensation inside the engine for long periods of time is a corrosion killer from the inside.

That's the reason for the short "mileage" oil changes- the engine never gets hot enough to burn off the water condensation !

Similarly, my government work van that I drive daily (2,500 miles per YEAR) gets an oil change every year no matter how many miles.

OTOH, my other personal daily driver car which is a traditional ICE 4 cylinder 2L engine uses 0W20 oil and runs the same miles per day/month as the Clarity but does not need an oil change for at least 10,000 miles.

I can clearly see that not running the gas engine daily and with enough run time requires frequent oil changes....

 

[tom]

Same experience. I have had it serviced 2 times in the first year (20,000 miles, probably 3,000 on gas). One person at the dealer researched it and informed me that as long as I change the oil 1x per year the warranty won't be invalidated. He said if I get the oil changed elsewhere to keep the receipts. I decided not to worry about it and just service it when it says (during warranty). I love this car!