I am at 700 miles on my new HCH, the oil light is saying 90%, and I am thinking ahead about how to handle my first oil change. Honda says to change the oil somewhere in the 8-10,000 mile range. I asked my independent Honda dealer Berkeley Mini Car, who superbly serviced my previous 2 Accords, and they recommended changing the oil at 5,000 miles. I have a car enthusiast friend who says that performance drivers suggest the first oil change should happen at 1,000 miles. Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences on this topic?

 

I don't have a choic here in Singapore. It is a requirement that I change the oil at 1000km or I loose my car warrenty. My next oil change is at 11000km. Sometimes I wonder how they derive this figures since 1km is not equal to 1 mile

 

There has been much written about this topic. Most say that the CHC has special break-in oil and the first change should be done at the interval the maintenance minder says on the onboard computer. My service dealer sent me an email saying to come in at 5,000 miles but after I reminded them I had a hybrid, they said to follow the cars computer or closer to 10,000.

Matt

 

Thanks for the quick response...Barbara

 

I agree with sixpak. Search on here and you'll find plenty of reading material!

Welcome aboard!

 

Helicraz
That is very strange! What does your handbook say? It is certainly not what Honda intended. As I wrote elsewhere, European cars are - 1 Year or 12,500 miles whichever comes first, and US cars are about 10,000 miles. Same engines for yours and theirs. Take it up with Honda on www.world.honda.com or your importers, not the local dealer.

 

"Refer to local dealer"

Norm here is 1000km, and thereafter 10k/6mth whichever comes 1st.

It is sole dealership for Honda Hybrid here.. only 1 importer/dealer.

Perhaps it is because of the driving conditions here that requires more frequent servicing. Cars average around 20000km per year here, and trips are fairly short, 20-30kms is already considered as a long trip.

There is a clause somewhere in the manual that states something like: "more frequent servicing is needed pending on some driving conditions".... I need to refer to my handbook for the exact wordings.

 

I used to live at the southern end of the Bukit Timah Road so I do understand your local conditions, however a New Yorker would have similar ones? Either way it is not a life threatening matter. What oil I wonder did they replace the original with? Certainly you have a lot of stop-start motoring but then Bangkok is a great deal worse....I suspect that your dealer/importer has failed to provide revised schedules for the hybid engine. How many are there on the Island?
More frequent changes in difficult driving conditions are certainly understandable and, as you say, mentioned in the handbook. It is the first change at 1000kms or 625miles which I was questioning where Honda wanted you to run-in the engine a lot longer with their original fill.

 

I'm in Singapore so I did my 1st servicing at 1000km (621miles) too if not the warranty gets voided. I filled her up with Castrol Longtec 0w30, I don't know if that's better or worse than the factory oil, YET!

 

Hey UncleO... you brought your own oil to Kah? What was the service charge like? I was thinking of bringing my own Mobile1 oil