My wife once went to the dealer for an oil change and was told she needed new wiper blades after I changed her wiper blades literally that same week with brand new top of the line Bosch blades 😂

This man is right on the money I do everything that he does preventative maintenance is the key to a reliable vehicle. I also have three Hondas. My cars all go high miles with very few problems. I have a 2007 Honda fit sport with 260,000 miles on it now it’s still very reliable and everything thing works as it should. Still drives like a brand new car. Goes through about a half a quart of oil between oil changes still has no leaks anywhere on engine or transmission.

Great video! I agree with you. 2018 Honda Civic EX-Hs with CVT. Oil changed every 5,000 miles and CVT fluid changed at 30,000. 46,000 miles on her now.

In this case I don’t have a Honda - have a Toyota - but I highly rate your approach to maintenance and inspection and general advice and I learn something valuable every video. Thank you. Wish I lived nearer to you. Northumberland is a fair hike!

Im in Canada...oil change every 8000km (4971 miles) Honda CRV owner...2.4 litre N/A motor & last year of the 5 speed transmission. Im keeping it forever.

Very clear sincere humble advise.. God Bless. More power to you Shadetree

James from Kenya 🇰🇪 like your Honda explaining safety in engine very much

Thanks again. I follow your advice & insight. Excellent.

100% spot on sir 👍🏼 knowledge is power

Awesome! Appreciate you sharing the proper way to maintain a reliable Honda! 👍👍👍

That’s a bad Honda Dealership. The one I got to tells me to change the transmission fluid every 25k-30k miles to change my transmission fluid. Even the manual says to change it at 25k

I love this . Its worth knowing, GOD bless you Chief

Very good video and channel as well. I have a Honda Accord 4 cyl 2012 with 190,000 miles. Used to have 5-6k miles intervals, but the older the got, I switched to 3K mile intervals. I used Mobil1 EP and Pennzoil UP 0w20 since their cSt Viscosity @100C which is 8.8 matches with Honda Ultimate Full Syn viscosity and other aftermartket are too thin. Also, after 3K miles/3 months oil just gets too dirty and I dont like the look of it when draining. With high mileage vehicles I recommend 3K mi intervals too all car owners. I extract and refill a full tank of power steering fluid and brake fluid every second oil change that is every 6k miles in my case. Coolant stays good for very long time so I change it every 3-4 years or about 50K miles. Air filter gets dirty close to 10k miles and I change it basically every 3rd oil change. Cabin filter is changed in my vehicle twice a year as it gets dirty pretty fast in the city, so I change it before summer and before winter. I change spark plugs every 60k miles and every time I do it I feel a great improvement in the way the car responds to the accelerator and also get better gas mileage immediately.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience! I have found your channel to be very informative! Also, it is very rare that a shop has loaner cars for its customers. That definitely elevates your shop and I'm sure your customers appreciate that courtesy.

I have a few Hondas in my stable. I just put new Koni shocks on the front of my 01 Prelude the other day in my garage. It was a lot cheaper than getting a shop to do it,easier than I thought but it’s a drag doing it on the ground and not on a lift, I still have to do the rears as well. I like the older cars I have as they are easier to work on. Greetings from British Columbia 😊

Just found this channel and I love it ! If I need a mechanic, I’ll be going to your shop ! Thanks for the content and keep it up !

Great, great video…thanks so much for sharing.

Great advice, no BS. Wish you guys had a shop here in Charleston SC.

Excellent advice. I own a 2017 honda CRV. I change my own oil every 4000 miles. Cvt fluid once each year and differential fluid once a year. Car runs like brand new.

Honda can keep their "free" oil changes. I just bought a new Ridgeline and they will never touch my truck unless it's a warranty repair

Thank you for your honesty.

Same with the newer Toyota vehicles with these long oil change intervals. I get my oil change done very 5,000 miles or 6 months whichever comes first. I get it done at an independent garage.

You are 100% right I don't even wait for 5000 miles because it is my car not dealer

Fellow Utahn here, please keep making these helpful videos 🙏🏽

Great info-My 2008 Ridgeline has only been dealer serviced and has 304K on it. They do everything you do, only thing I have not done are the struts, still original and truck drives the same as new

Good information and clearly right on the money. Your video outlines all the important schedules for maintenance I’m very grateful there’s still a few mechanics and business that are working hard to educate people about car maintenance. I’m a little surprised that you left the Honda dealership with a maintenance agreement but they can be persuasive you just got caught up in the moment. You should get a couple of magnetic sign’s and cover up your own wrap with a feed store sign or something innocuous so any casual observer might not recognize your car in the dealership quick lube for service.

I wish we had honest guys like you here in the UK. The wife has a 2020 Mazda 2 and just been caught out on the annual MOT check at the main dealer. It was OK when she took it in (I checked beforehand as I do regularly) but got stung when she went to collect. 😮

Really good advice being given here - this is how I look after our family's cars. Spending money on maintenance really saves you money in the long run and is critical if you plan on keeping your car a long time. There is no such thing as "lifetime" oil . . . if you don't change it the "life" of the transmission will be severely reduced (run away as fast as you can from anyone claiming otherwise). Change transmission oil at least every 50,000 miles with normal automatic gearboxes and more frequently with crappy CVT's - this is way cheaper than paying for a new transmission - a colleague of mine just had to replace the CVT in his Nissan and it was not a particularly high mileage car. I own a BMW in which the service manual recommends 12,000 mile oil change intervals which to me, as a mechanical engineer is asinine and simply a way to make the maintenance costs seem lower (at least until the engine coughs up is crank bearings). I reduced that interval interval by half. Air filters and cabin filters . . . every 18 - 24 months is usually okay and if you buy decent aftermarket parts from reputable parts companies these particular parts are not expensive and very easy to change yourself so even if you want to do it every 12 months its not going to break the bank.

Great advice no matter what you drive.

I agree with your recommendations. On my 12' Altima I have the CVT fluid changed every 2 years. To me years are just as important as miles.

In an online forum I found, a Honda technician in Japan confirmed that all Honda cars required scheduled transmission fluid flush. No exception. No such thing as life-time transmission fluid with Honda.

Thank you for this information. I just purchased a 2023 Passport at the end of last year and was wondering when things should be done.

We work on our Honda/Acura vehicles and maintain them religiously. This is especially true when it comes to the transmissions. We do a simple drain and fill once a year. This keeps our CVT, 5, 6, 9, & 10 speed transmissions very happy.

Thank you! Agree 100%

Great video! Our Subaru dealer told us the same thing about our 2017 Legacy. No shops will touch the car to change transmission fluid because the manual says not to touch it. The dealer wants to flush the transmission at 100k miles, but I've heard negative things about that as well. Very frustrating

Great advice! What If your car sits or just doesn’t even hit 5k miles easily? Would you recommend changing the oil every 6 months instead? I have a ‘20 Accord and I’m worried I’m not driving it enough and the oil may go bad over time.

I’m gonna follow this oil change recommendation! Also CVT fluid will be changed .

Great video thanks so much for take your time i make this kind of videos. I appreciate i have a honda civic si 2020 how long i have to change my pvc valve? Thanks for your answer

2020 Accord exl owner. Maintenance minder will let you know when to change oil based on a number of variables, besides mileage. I usually change my oil when it gets down to 40%, which is around 7,000 miles. So probably could do 12k and still be under manufacturer guidelines.

In Africa Ghana where I live with most untarred roads, I mostly change cabin filters & the Air elements every 5000km, sometimes every other oil servicing.

Very good information, purchased a 2017 Honda Accord Sport and plan on keeping it for a long time, it is ABSOLUTLEY insane for Honda and the dealships to recommend 10k oil changes and state the CVT transmission fluid as LIFETIME. This is totally wrong, most Honda vehicles use a very thin engine oil, 0-20 which as stated in the video breaks down in a much shorter time. It is IMPERATIVE that you stick to a 5k oil change schedule even with full synthetic oil and change your CVT transmission fluid every 30K, and ONLY use the Honda HCF-2 CVT transmission fluid.This will save you in the long run from huge costly repairs, I am just blown away the Honda dealerships/manufacturer would recommend such intervals, sounds to me like they want you to go by their intervals and make lots of $$$$

6:15 Exactly right. Inspect first then replace if needed. Just replacing based on mileage alone is lazy shop work.

I run Civic GX natural gas cars and I mirror your service recommendations. Though you didn't mention valve adjustments. My 2013 GX get adjusted every 30k miles instead of 60k as the nat gas explosion is twice as hot as gasoline and with no rocker arms it's critical to adjust to maintain motor performance, or so the cng crowd says.

Shade tree, good article and I do believe all you mention to be true. I do have a question for you. I have a 2016 pilot. It has 183k on the clock. All services have been done including its second timing belt. What I am having a hard time deciding on is a complete strut replacement brand to go with. Looking at Honda oem, they require individual purchase for all the strut components compared to the brands that offer a complete strut for the diy’er. Question for you is what brand of strut company that offers a complete strut assembly do you guys use there in your shop for customers that require struts? The cost between the oem and complete assemblies is rather dramatic. Thanks in advance if you decide to provide some guidance. Things are a bit tight for me but I do recognize the need to stay on top of my maintenance. It just must be on a tight budget.

I basically have to force my dealer to service my new odyssey at around 5k miles. They always fight and tell me it's not due yet. I insist

I am in New Zealand and I change my Honda Accord cabin filter every 20 to 30k kms. The NZ Honda recommend new spark plugs every 100k kms. We have found Honda wheel bearings only last 90 to 170k kms. I also found alternator and starter motor both needed to be replaced around 160 to 220 kms and it's common with 2.4 Honda Accord.... Just thought I would share my experience....

Everything on this vid is spot on! This guy knows what he is talking about.

I will only use Eneos brand for my '22 Civic Sport for its engine oil and CVT fluid. This brand is OEM for most Japanese cars. I find their engine oil lasting up to 6000 miles, and their CVT fluid still looks good after 30,000 miles but I change it before it reaches 40,000 miles with new CVT filters, pan gasket and o-ring seals in the CVT cooler housing.

Excellent advice. What service intervals do you recommend for the hybrid inverter fluid? I can't seem to get a straight answer from the dealership. They tell me the cars computer will let me know.

Toyota had an issue with piston design until about 2015 which was causing oil issues with the 10k mi oil changes, but this was since fixed. Other brands may not have caught it so early, hence the prevalence of problems with 10k mi oil change intervals. It was after the change to low tension piston rings where fuel could blow by and dilute the oil near where the rods connect. I know this affected some Audis until at least 2017 maybe longer too.

With the hybrid I noticed driving around town in a day that’s not too cold the engine will be off half the time so technically is half the miles that your engine is running. On the highway it does run like 90% of the time though.

Even Nissan CVTs can go farther if the fluid is changed every 30,000 miles. This is great advice. Also, 10,000 mile oil changes are a recipe for disaster, but that disaster will likely show it's face after 150,000 miles. This gets people into a newer car and they hope that customers can justify 150,000 as the "lifetime" of their car and move on without as much of a fight. The manufacturers care about them, not you.

I to like Honda Accords - I had a 1990 and have a 2003 and a 2011 - I change the transmission fluid around 30,000 miles - there is a transmission fluid filter that I replace, but it’s never mentioned in the owners manual as to the interval

I have ordered a 2024 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport Touring with a 1.5 L turbo, it's supposed to be built between 11th & 17th of this month. I agree with you I would never follow the 10,000 mile oil change, my current car is a 2007 Pontiac G5 GT I'm trading in has a 157,300 miles & has always been change by the percentage gage which was around 7,500 miles. I've never had a problem with the car but a brake master cylinder went bad about 135,000 miles, The car has mainly been driven to work 60 highway miles a day 5 days a week running Mobil 1 5-30 full Synthetic since new after the 1st oil change at 3,000 miles. I believe Honda uses their brand full synthetic 0-20, what mileage do you recommend for my 1st oil change, I've always went 3,000 to get the break in oil out?

Great info

My last maintenance at a Honda dealership was when my Pilot had 22,000 miles on it to get the oil changed. The service person came out with $700.00 in recommended work to be done. The first item on the list was to replace the cabin filter and vacuum out the fan area for $180 I said no to everything and replaced and vacuumed for $12 And I have not gone back.

I do my every 25 thousand miles on my Honda Civic CVT fluid, 5 5,000 miles on engine oil! Serpentine belt at 90k miles now it is 99k miles have zero issues!

The reason why they implemented "lifetime fluids" in car engines is that when it breaks down and it will, your going to have to take the car to their mechanics to rectify/fix the issues....a manufacturer depends on after care....if the product was fault free then a large chunk of monies would be not available to them....

Thanks. This also applies to their non cvt hybrids? (eCVT) ?

GREAT GREAT STUFF!!!!

The oil change interval should be as follows 6 months or 5,000 miles period. Use full synthetic oil only! Nice feature that you offer loaner vehicles too!

I just bought a new 2024 Honda Pilot elite. At what mileage would you recommend the transmission oil change? 30,000 miles or 50,000 miles?

Thank you, couldn't have came out during a better time. I just purchased my 2024 accord last night. Question, so for the Accord EX 1.5, my dealer recommended 87 octaine. I was confused because I'm fairly certain it's 91. And I feel you on the topic of trust when it comes to dealers

Transmission fluid changes are recommended on all Honda's. The interval is built into the onboard maintenance minder and should occur at approx 80,000km. It's listed in the owners manual and is maintenance code #3

My cabin filter is easily accessible and i change it once a year. Its always quite dirty filled with debris. A lot depends on the enviroment you are driving in but every 2 years by default is not the best

I noticed one of your Civics has the 2.0 engine. Very smart choice. Not sure if the other one was the 1.5 Turbo which isn't too reliable.

I always replace trans fluid 40-50k miles , oil change 4-5k miles . Never fails on me and all of them reached over 200k miles with no issues .

Excellent advice. But, my dealership now wants to charge me for a cvtf re learn procedure. The price went up and they want to justify the increase with an unnecessary trans re learn after a cvtf change. Wow. I know better.

Same B/S From SUBARU, I've Had CVT Fluid Changed Twice, 140 Thousand On My 15 Outback No CVT Issues! I Change Engine Oil Every 4 To 5 Thousand. Small Local Independent Shop Does Competent Work!

What oil do you recommend for Honda manual gearboxes? Seems like the latest Honda brand MTF is really thin now - probably to improve fleet gas mileage. I was wondering if maybe 15W40 motor oil or GM synchromesh fluid might be a better choice.

My Honda dealer is really good with a maintenance minders we print out 5k oil stickers and all fluid are reccomended when they are actually due.

I wish you had an older car for sale. I would love to buy a car from you, You definitely take care of them for sure....

I just found out last service visit here in Calgary that the original owners of Honda sold to people who are not family oriented. The service guy told me things have really changed and that they are to go longer on oil changes . He said the tension is really bad there. So sad

The 10k service interval come from customers surveys done by automotive manufacturers. Since most cars are leased; the customers do not like going to the dealership for servicing often. This has led to 10k or one year oil changes by the new car dealership service departments

Good advice, I would and did follow, but now I lease my civic, so longevity falls on them. Correct or not

Well, I guess I'm lucky in my 13 Honda Accord Sport manual. I change the oil that is recommended in the Honda manual or whenever the indicator on my dash shows up change it. Every 16,000 km. I ignore what any garage says to replace your oil every 5,000 km. I've had no single issues so far with 476,000 km from new.

I believe that the main problem is customers going with cheap oil and filters. I'm with the camp that follows the maintenance minder but use high quality oil and filters. I have a 130K miles odyssey that follows the built in maintenance minder which is well known for long intervals between oil changes. No issues with oil consumption or anything related. I seen oil analysis done on Hondas that follow the MM recommendation and all metrics are within range. 🤷‍♂ Will continue to follow the MM no matter what in my new Acura too.

Quick question! If the recommended mileage interval for performing the transmission service is 30k miles, is there a recommended time interval as well? My wife only drives 6k miles a year on her '23 Honda HRV and we know that time is just as important as miles

My question is should I go by the oil life gauge in the car or by millage only? If it gets to 10% I then change the oil is what I have been doing in my 2020 Civic. Have done like 6 oil changes and its 30,000 miles on it right now. Also the CVT it has a transmission filter that needs to be changed.

I know we are talking Honda but the school van I am driving is a Ford 350 Transit 2023 and the mechanic that the van gets serviced at told me they are charging the oil at 15,000 miles.

Lol the shade tree automotive in the background is the cherry on top. But agreed, one dealership refused to service my transmission fluid insisting its lifetime. The other down the street agreed to flush & drain given the vehicle 5yrs age and mileage. Lifetime = Till it Breaks

I stay as close to 3K mile intervals as much as possible. 21 4Runner and 13 RDX.

Also please let me know I have 2013 honda crv ex awd on how many miles I have to change oil in transmission and and also rear differential please let me know and also timing change

Can you comment on the coolant? Should it be replaced at 100k, then every 60k as Honda says, or longer?

Honda technician here. Our dealership recommends 5k oil change service intervals and 30k for CVT transmissions. It varies from dealership to dealership. Manufacture recommendations aren’t the end all be all because most customers don’t even understand their maintenance minders. They rely on the oil change sticker and the service advisor telling them what they need.

I'm saving up to buy my mom's 2016 HRV from her and I do plan on doing a complete fluid change. The car has about 120,000 miles on it and I know with some cars if the transmission fluid hasn't been changed with that amount of miles on it it can cause the transmission to fail, but hers has the 6 speed manual. Should I be safe to change it?

I can tell you that these recommendations can easily vary wildly by dealership and honestly service advisor and technician. I work on cars and I tell people these things listed below Oil change every 5k check your oil level before changing the oil to make sure you’re not burning any. If you don’t then you will eventually get a P0341, it will jump time and potentially destroy your engine, or the timing chain tensioner/ VTC actuator will rattle on start up. Either one of these will result in a new chain, tensioner, guides, VTC actuator, and in the case of engine failure you trading in the car because you’re gonna say screw putting in a new engine. Trans drain and fill every 30k for CVT( 9/10 speed every 50k, 6 speed auto do a flush(Hondas main weak point honestly has always been their transmissions. I do a flush because the fluid in these pilots after 30k is usually pretty dark and the pilots like to get a P0741 which if that pops up then you’ll need a torque converter. DO NOT USE A FLUSH MACHINE. Drain and refill the transmission fluid and then drive the car to cycle the fluid through the torque converter and repeat this process until the fluid is cherry red. Trust me it works and sometimes if you have a P0741 then it’ll keep it away. This flush will work/help any Honda that takes ATF-DW1.) change the fluid sooner if you tow or haul anything frequently). Transfer case and rear differential fluid every 15k ( I know he said every 30k in the video but I’ve seen some cars come in with a vibration when making sharp turns and when I change the fluid it goes away. These customers waiting 30k instead of 15k. It’s not every car this happens to.) Brake fluid every 3 years or if it’s dark Multi point inspection and tire rotation every 5k. Power steering fluid I usually don’t change unless I’m fixing a leak and need to add some. Flushing it out usually causes a blockage and swelling of the inner tie rod boots. Forcing that fluid around just sometimes causes leaks that weren’t previously there due to aging seems so just leave it alone unless there is a leak. Spark plugs, timing belt w/ tensioner, drive belt, water pump, associated pulleys, and valve check and adjustment every 100k( only use NGK or Denso spark plugs. Not changing the plugs usually makes the coil packs work harder and eventually burns them out. Usually they’ll start to fail under load. If the coil pack does fail only use HONDA products because usually the aftermarket coil packs fail WAYYYYYYYYYY faster and customers are always in disbelief when I tell them the coil the just replaced at autozone has failed. Carbon cleaning every 50k if you have direct injection. All direct injection cars carb up on the valves unless they’re using a dual injection system like Toyota. Hope someone finds this useful and don’t let people talk you into those carbon cleaners where all they do is spray stuff into the throttle body. Half the time it’ll result you needing a catalytic converter sooner than you normally would. My dealer tries to push them but I purposely don’t sell them. The best way to remove carbon is to take the intake off and actually clean the valves manually so it doesn’t get in the catalytic converter. That spray shit barely works at all and just isn’t worth the hassles knowing that a new catalytic converter can be thousands of dollars. My Honda has over 270k on it and I follow these intervals and have had zero issues. Also adding half a quart to a quart of ATF-DW1 every oil change can help keep the engine clean as it does serve as a detergent inside the engine but that’s optional. I usually add about half a quart.

What do you recommend the Manual Trans Interval ( 2015 Accord 6 spd manual) ?

Haven't change trans fluid on my 120000 09 Honda accord 4cyl, do u recommend it at this point ?

I know this is blasphemy, but I drive a Lexus RX350, and this advice is good for all. My "Lifetime, non checkable auto transmission, is not going the distance Lexus says. So I pay up for the fluid to be replaced. Now that I'm retired, I drive less than 5000 miles a year, I still get engine oil replaced even if I am less than 5000 miles but at the one year interval. Pay attention or Pay the price.

Right on.

What about manual transmission oil change ? what would be the recommended mileage to change it ?

Any maintenance advice for Honda hybrids?

For Honda suspension components, do you use aftermarket or OEM? I would be interested to see a video on how you guys decide what you decide when to use aftermarket parts.

my local Honda stealership told me that I desperately need to change the spark plugs and get a valve lash adjustment. I did both of these less than 6 months and 2500 miles ago.

Bought a new 22 CRV in November of 22, in June it will go for its third oil change and will have less than 13,000 in June. Reason being, it only runs local, never more than 35 miles at the most, so oil and filter every 6 months.

All things considered , what is your take on the better 100% Synthetic Lubricants for modern vehicles?

Honda is following every other manufacturer. It’s something created back in the 80’s called cost of operation. Volvo does lifetime atf back in the early 2000’s. Remember it’s a race to the bottom.

I agree. I own a 2013 Accord EX w/CVT which I bought in 2017 and it had 20k mi. Years later, when I had added 50k to the odometer, I was trying to figure out when to change the CVT fluid. There was no maintenance schedule in the manuals so I called a Honda dealer and asked. I ended up calling several because they weren't too clear on when to do this, nor did they seem to agree with other dealerships' answers. I was given 30k, 50k, 60-100k so I finally asked my mechanic, who I have used for 20 years, and he said he would do it at 80k. So .. at 80k he did a flush for me. The only thing that worries me is should we have changed the fluid, rather than doing a flush? I've heard the machines they use can cause damage. This was 2 years ago, and I have 100k now. So I'm guessing no damage was done but for next time should I change or flush?

The Honda 9 speed transmission has expensive fluid, where do you get yours…from a 55 gal barrel?