[Amoocow421]

Hello. I called a couple of dealers who told me the A01 service includes an oil change and tire rotation...for $85 and $91, respectively. One of them only charges $37.95 for an oil change, and has a $5 coupon on their website.

That seems steep to me. A dealer a little farther away lists a $29.95 oil change.

Thoughts?

 

[4sallypat]

Hello. I called a couple of dealers who told me the A01 service includes an oil change and tire rotation...for $85 and $91, respectively. One of them only charges $37.95 for an oil change, and has a $5 coupon on their website.

That seems steep to me. A dealer a little farther away lists a $29.95 oil change.

Thoughts?

Tire rotation is steep - should only be done every 10K miles - go to America's Tire - they do it for free.

A Honda dealer has oil service for $29.95 - is that for a Clarity and not for a regular engined oil change ?

Remember, Clarity uses 0W synthetic oil which is pricey.

Can you double check if that dealer will do a Clarity oil change for $29.95 ???

 

[longfam18]

Remember, Clarity uses 0W synthetic oil which is pricey.

Around here a 0W-20 oil change is about $70 at every shop I've found, and the Honda dealerships charge $79.99 for A1. 6 qts. of 0W-20 are about $40 at costco, so you can save some money if you do it yourself, but you're not going to find a $20 oil change for any new Hondas anymore.

 

[4sallypat]

$80 for a dealer oil change using synthetic oil is very good!

My dealer charges $99.

At least it's a bargain compared to my BMW and Land Rover which costs over $400 per oil change...

 

[mowcowbell]

Tire rotation is steep - should only be done every 10K miles - go to America's Tire - they do it for free.

A Honda dealer has oil service for $29.95 - is that for a Clarity and not for a regular engined oil change ?

Remember, Clarity uses 0W synthetic oil which is pricey.

Can you double check if that dealer will do a Clarity oil change for $29.95 ???

0w-20 synthetic oil is no more expensive than any other weight of synthetic. It's $27 for a 5 qt jug at Wal-Mart for Mobil 1, and $23 for Pennzoil 0w-20. $9 for the oil filter at Amazon.

 

[4sallypat]

0w-20 synthetic oil is no more expensive than any other weight of synthetic. It's $27 for a 5 qt jug at Wal-Mart for Mobil 1, and $23 for Pennzoil 0w-20. $9 for the oil filter at Amazon.

Sounds like you need to do your own oil changes if synthetic oil is that cheap.

I am glad I don't have to worry because I bought the Honda Care maintenance that covers all dealer oil changes for the next 3 years....:smile_big:

 

[mowcowbell]

Sounds like you need to do your own oil changes if synthetic oil is that cheap.

I am glad I don't have to worry because I bought the Honda Care maintenance that covers all dealer oil changes for the next 3 years....:smile_big:

I plan to change my own oil. Watched a YouTube video of the Clarity oil change, very easy to remove the metal plate covering the underside of the engine. The oil filter points down at an angle, and the drain plug is easy to get to. I think it took 3.5 qts to fill it back up.

Checked further down the search results on the Wal Mart website, and Quaker State Ultimate Durability 0w-20 synthetic is only $19.97! Found the OEM Honda filter Filtech 15400-PLM-A01 on Amazon for $7.97. Bosch filter is $6.50.

The local AutoZone will take old engine oil for recycling.

 

[Leabhras]

Do you trust the "service needed" message?

One of my frustrations with my plug-in hybrid Clarity is that I can't tell how many miles the gas engine has on it.
I've used 80 gallons of gas to go 12k miles in the last 8 months. Even if my hybrid mileage were 50mpg that would mean only 4000 miles of gas engine driving, with the rest on battery.
Yet I'm getting the service message for a 2nd oil change. 2 oils changes in less than 4000 miles of engine use seems excessive.

Has anyone else seen this?

 

[mowcowbell]

One of my frustrations with my plug-in hybrid Clarity is that I can't tell how many miles the gas engine has on it.
I've used 80 gallons of gas to go 12k miles in the last 8 months. Even if my hybrid mileage were 50mpg that would mean only 4000 miles of gas engine driving, with the rest on battery.
Yet I'm getting the service message for a 2nd oil change. 2 oils changes in less than 4000 miles of engine use seems excessive.

Has anyone else seen this?

What PHEV's really need is an engine hour meter like what is on tractors and other devices that don't do many miles, but run a lot. Then, you would know exactly how much the engine is actually on.

 

[The Gadgeteer]

I believe the Volt gives far more statistics like miles on electricity and miles on gas. It would be nice to know.

As far as oil changes go, most automobile manuals will say a certain mileage like 5,000 or 7,500 miles then they will say something along the lines of “or 6 months, whichever is sooner”. That is because once oil is put into service it starts to collect contaminates and is less effective. If it’s been >6 months you should change your oil anyway regardless of miles/hours on the engine.

While we are on the road topic, it is a best practice to start engines and “excercise” them from time to time to keep things lubricated and running properly.

 

[mowcowbell]

I believe the Volt gives far more statistics like miles on electricity and miles on gas. It would be nice to know.

As far as oil changes go, most automobile manuals will say a certain mileage like 5,000 or 7,500 miles then they will say something along the lines of “or 6 months, whichever is sooner”. That is because once oil is put into service it starts to collect contaminates and is less effective. If it’s been >6 months you should change your oil anyway regardless of miles/hours on the engine.

While we are on the road topic, it is a best practice to start engines and “excercise” them from time to time to keep things lubricated and running properly.

Good advice about regularly using the ICE. I do the same thing with my home generator... every 60 days it gets connected to my house and ran for an hour or so to get it fully warmed up and under a electrical load.