Re: Excessive motor oil

Sorry. That's just silly. The instructions on resetting the oil change warning are in your owner's manual. Do it yourself before you take it in & tell them not to mess with it.

Of all the places I've had do oil changes in the past few years, the local Honda dealer has been the sloppiest and least competent. The (new) car came with three free oil changes. They didn't reset the maintenance monitor two of the three times and the car dripped oil on my garage floor for a week after every time. When I looked, the lower control arm was covered with oil from the filter change that they obviously didn't bother to wipe off. Unless its free, I always do it myself & guess what - no oil on the floor and no problems with the maintenance monitor.

If I am near a Toyota dealership, I will let them do the scheduled maintenance, to be sure there is a paper trail for the warranty. And they have not been excessive in price, BUT I had them leave the drain plug loose on our Avalon on one occasion.

On the Avalon, the filter (in this case a Napa gold) costs me $7.50 and 6.4 quarts of oil costs about $18-20. I use Valvoline or Castrol 5-w30, as specified. So, my oil change costs me just under $30. And I know that it is filled correctly, that the filter is installed correctly, and that the drain plug is tightened.

To reset the oil change function is very simple on this car.

I dont do this to save money. I do it so that I am sure that I get what I want and that it is done properly.

The last tire rotation, I did by hand with a floor jack, stands, and a torque wrench.

There will come a day when I am too old to do this. But not yet. .(67 years old now)

Arrrggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! So you ASS/U/ME that the mechanics will read the book? It has been a very long time since I screwed with my own cars mechanicaly. When I was in my 20's and racing I'd spend load of time under a car. Today I pay somebody else, who has the facilities to dump the oil in an environmentally proper way.

I'd find a different Honda dealer. There are two within a few minutes drive of me. Both offer excellent service. What year Honda do you have?

Ditto. Lat time I had my oil changed, my Honda dealer charged me $7. I brought the oil and filter. They also checked everything.

I am using the Castrol Edge. It's a bit pricey. Like $9 a quart. My CR-V takes, as I recall 4.5 quarts.

It is on the Honda too. But my wife had an oil change on the road with her Civic. She stopped at an oil change store. They had the sensors so TOTALLY screwed up she had to find a Honda dealer to straighten it all out.

If the dealer screws up Honda fixes it.

I had gthe dealer do that. PAPER TRAIL.

My time is worth more than the dealer charges. Did the oil change tire rotation and 4 wheel alignment (by appointment) and was out in an hour.

The point is that an independent shop can, and normally does, do a better job at a better price than the Honda stealership.

For every s***ty job I have had at an independent shop, I have had much worse at a dealership.

Do what you want, but the recommendation to go to a dealer, as if it were a cure all, is simply BS.

Yer a super-paranoid moron.

Resetting the maintenance minder on a Honda couldn't be easier, and has nothing to do with FRYING the complete system. That you think so, shows how little you know.

"HLS" wrote in news:FvWwl.21714$ snipped-for-privacy@nlpi065.nbdc.sbc.com:

My experience has been somewhat more nuanced.

I have suffered equally badly from ineptitude by both a Toyota dealership and an "import-specialist" independent.

Oddly, that same independent both rescued me from the dealership's ineptitude and committed their own episode of ineptitude soon afterwards (same car, different episode). Needless to say, I now patronize neither of them.

Unfortunately, 'tis true. Idiots populate all manner of auto repair outlets. Automaker/government certification is no guarantee of competence.

Maybe I am myself incompetent to identify good mechanics, I don't know. I do have available an absolute wizard of a man who knows exactly what he is doing. I've been going to him for 25 years. But he's now 50 miles away. I drive that that 50 miles when it's absolutely necessary. After numerous very bad experiences elsewhere, what else can I do? Besides DIY, that is...

In your opinion. My experience is different. With ONE exception. My wife took her Civic on a trip to visit friends from church in Idaho. She took it to a SMALL Honda dealer there. They did a terrible job. It was a TINY dealership. The Honda dealerships here are big and modern. If you are in a less populated area maybe a company owned Tire Store would be good. But if

Thank you for sharing that with us. It RFEALLY helps the conversation and elevates it to a great intellectual level.

Do you think that on new model Honda the computer that tracks oil life exists in a vacuum?

We all are in the pickle of "you pays yer money and you takes yer chances." I never said Dealers were perfect. The issue for me is that IF the dealer screws up the car - I have the manufacturer by the balls. If I go to "Smitty's Garage" and SMITTY or his Mechanic GOMER screws up my car, what am I left with? Smitty may or may not be ABLE to fix what they screwed up. The car manufacturer will likely VOID the warranty. Smitty may also tell me to POUND SAND.

I had a mechanic at a Pontiac garage leave a wrench inside the engine. The engine lunched when THEY tried to start it. Pontiac gave me a new engine. (Longblock) (1972) The original problem had them remove the intake manifold and valley cover. It was a LONG story. But I had the fallback with Pontiac. BTW, for another fact, Pontiac had the car towed to a different dealership who found the wrench. Dealer # 1 tried to blame me. Dealer #2 showed the Pontiac rep, who got the engine and billed dealer # 1. The car was out of service for 30 days. Pontiac also have me a loaner. A "zone car."

I usually do it myself. We have, in this small town, at least one mechanic who should be in a mechanic's hall of fame somewhere. He is an independent. ( Yes, David, Im talking about you:>)

We have a pretty good situation at the local Buick dealership, only because the service manager is bright and conscientious.

Some of the other dealership mechanics and shops are to be afraid of.

What are you trying to say, KRP?

Who said anything about the mechanic reading the book? Did you actually read my comment? Its not a highly technical mechanical task to turn the key and push a button on the dash. Sounds to me like you haven't bothered to read your owners manual either.

Currently, its an '06 CR-V. I feel absolutely no desire to find another dealer. Its not that hard to unscrew one bolt, let the oil out & refill it with the specific amount listed in the owner's manual. My point is that they can be just as incompetent as the Jiffy Lube places. Do you actually think the highly trained ASE certified mechanic at the dealership is the one doing oil changes? Dream on...

How many computers are in a Honda? Do they talk to each other?

On Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:56:09 GMT, "E. Meyer" wrote:

Haven't been to a Jiffy Lube in a while, but a few years ago I went into one in Florida to get a change while on a long driving trip. The guy in the pit was yelling out his every action, like "Draining!" "Plug In!" "Plug tight!" Somebody else was yelling "Check!" Stuff like that. Made me feel they were paying attention. Hope it wasn't a recording. I always pull over after somebody does a change for me anyway, and check the level and look at the plug and filter for leaks. Not ideal, since I'm not dressed to crawl under. But the worse problem I've had is the kid didn't put the hood rod in the retainer when he closed the hood and the hood wasn't straight. Fixed that in the parking lot when I pulled out. My kid, who's a pro with all the ASE certs does our oil changes now. In my garage. About a year ago he did some work on his car, and an oil change as the last thing. He uses Mobil 1. About half hour after he leaves to go home he calls me to bring him a new plug and oil. The plug had come out. He heard/spotted it right after it dropped out, but the oil was gone. He hadn't tightened the plug. Fatigue. Anybody can make a mistake. The good ones don't do it twice. Temps were about zero and he damn near froze before I got to him with the stuff. For me the bottom line is the quick change places don't scare me at all. And anybody who is susceptible to being sold a pair of windshield wipers they don't need can be sold a valve job they don't need by a local crook with ASE certs plastered all over his wall. Jiffy-Lube catches flak because they do so many oil changes. S*it happens everywhere.

--Vic