never owned a honda before and I dont have a manual...yet... what does the maint required" dash light indicate? other than some sort of maintenance is required, oil was changed recently fluids are all good... tranny flushed recently upon discovery of dark fluid, any thoughts , anyone?

 

as long as its not the check engine light its just that...regular maintenance reminder

They go off at different intervals depending on the car, push it in with a key (on the guage cluster), push a button or whatever. Look in the manual or do a SEARCH to find out how to get rid of it.

 

It's no more than a mechanical timer which counts in multiples of 7500m intervals. It will progressively go from Green to Yellow to Red.
And that's it.
It can be reset by using your key in that funky looking slot just to the side of the maintenance flag.
It IS important for your continued satisfaction with your purchase that you scare up AT LEAST the Owners Manual.
If you want a better understanding of how things work, or anticipate working on the car yourself, pick up a Repair Manual.

P

edited correction. Owners manual for 5th Gens calls out a 7500 mile interval


Modified by P_Adams at 3:52 AM 12/31/2005

 

Need year and model car. Hint: Put description of your car in your signature so you won't have to type it every time. Different years (generations) reset the light differently. The maintenance required light comes on every 7,000 miles or so to remind you to do the scheduled maint. on the car. Nothing is actually wrong with the car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by P_Adams &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's no more than a mechanical timer which counts in multiples of 7500m intervals. It will progressively go from Green to Yellow to Red.
And that's it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You don't know the green to yellow interval on a 5th gen do you? I was trying to find out until I got an alighnment and the guy did me the disfavor of clearing it. With any luck it'll be around 5k miles and reming me to change the oil/rotate tires.

 

As far as I know, It's 7500m / interval.
Actually, the 5th gen maintaince schedule' shortest interval is oil changes @ 7500 miles. Everything else is at 15,000 mile intervals.

This (of course) flys in the face of conventional wisdom where most of us would go no more than 3k per oil change (and their recommended interval for Transmission Fluid Changes is absolutely retarded)

But that's Honda

P

 

They're saying 7500 on an oil change? No way, not with 125k miles! I'll go 5k with synthetic and a K&N filter but not 7.5 as heavy as my right foot is. What would you suggest for changing tranny fluids in my manual (I think I used 10w30 synthetic, whatever a Honda mechanic said they use)?

 

Honda recommends Honda MTF in it's owners manuals. It doesn't specify what viscosity it is (however), they do state as an alternative either 10w30 or 10w40 motor oil can be substituted. They do state that the motor oil doesn't have the additives MTF has and can cause increased shifting effort.
Curiously, GM uses ATF in their Manual Transmissions,

Although they don't specify it, I'd think a synthetic 10w30 (as you use) has better high pressure performance; so you may be right where you want to be.

P