Honda insight error code A1 help

[Semidevil]

ok, my car is about at 10k miles now, and an A1 code popped up. so according to my manual, an A1 error code means to it is time to rotate the tires and change the oil. It also says that my car has 10% oil life.

The problem is that I had my oil changed at 7k a while back. Does the code pop up based on a set number of miles, or does it actually read my oil somehow and tells me that I really do have 10% oil life? And when they say '10% oil life,' it's the quality of the oil, not the amount of the oil right?

 

[nedfunnell]

Yes, it actually has a way to measure your oil's useful life. If I recall correctly, it's based on the history of how the engine's been driven (babied driving = longer oil life) and may actually be taking some measurement of viscosity or pressure drop as well.

 

[LTC8K6]

Also, Honda likes you to keep the factory oil in for a long time for engine break in, I believe, so that may be why the code popped up now.

 

[NutBucket]

And you do need to reset the oil life monitor manually This probably why it popped up now. I got service code A1 at 15% oil life after putting about 8500 miles on my CR-Z.

It also bugs me that Honda would actually specify that only the oil needs to be changed, not the filter. That's crazy! Code A is oil only, B is oil and filter. Just seems like recipe for disaster.

 

[Semidevil]

So is it because my oil needs to be changed or is it because the monitor was not reset?

The center that did my oil change says its good for 7k, so technically have about 2k left.

 

[NutBucket]

They did not reset it. There's really nothing wrong with changing oil too frequently except wasting money. On my car I plan on changing it when the ECU tells me with synthetic oil and replacing the filter every time.

 

[bbs lm-r]

Lol, yea it's supposed to mean the quality of the oil, not the quantity. You'd have some serious problems if you were running with only a tenth of the normal amount of oil.

 

[vshah]

the system in my civic is definitely only based on miles/engine rotations/rpm, not any sort of actual measurement of the oil. i know bmws do have more advanced oil life sensors.

whether i beat on it or do 5000 miles highway, it always lights up around 4000 miles.