06 MM - rant

[speedlever]

I know many of you love the MM feature of the Pilot. Personally, I despise it.

I change my oil and filter at 5k intervals and do tire rotations at 7500 mile intervals. If I reset the MM when I do an oil change, I have no idea if that resets the MM alerts for VTM etc.

Today, I changed the oil at 25k miles. The MM said 30 or 40% left. When I reset the MM, the codes B12 and 100% came up (oil and filter, tire rotation and air filter) before I did the final 5 second reset.

I reset the MM again just to see what would happen. This time it came up with just the A code. Who knows what it thinks now.

With scheduled intervals I can plan maintenance. With this stupid MM, there is no planning that I know of... which goes against my grain.

Sorry for the rant.

Anyone know if the MM was trying to tell me that B12 was due, overdue or just what?

I think I'll change the VTM fluid since it's been about 15k miles since the first change. But otherwise, I have no idea what intervals should be used in lieu of the MM alerts.

[GreenMachine]

Someone else here had the same problem. Don't reset the MM when you change your oil because it will assume you completed the other recommended services, VTM, trans, etc. Follow the MM for all the services you don't complete yourself. After they are done, reset the MM. If you have skipped any services, complete them now and reset for the next time.

Good luck.

[N_Jay]

Why don't you replace the oil at 50% and 0% and that way you get the advantage of the MM and still fulfill your need to change the oil too often.

[sjlee]

Originally posted by speedlever

With scheduled intervals I can plan maintenance. With this stupid MM, there is no planning that I know of... which goes against my grain.

The whole point of having the Maintenance Minder system is to allow it to tell you when to do your regular maintenance... including oil changes.

You're basically using it not as designed (for everything but oil changes). If you feel you know better and need to change your oil at a specific mileage, then do as GreenMachine says.

Otherwise, if your "grain" tells you that you need a predefined schedule that is not based on how the Pilot is actually being used, then I'd say use the maintenance schedule printed in the 2005 Pilot owner's manual. There's an online version that's stickied in the Maintenance section.

[speedlever]

Guys,

That 50% means nothing to me. I change oil and filter at 5000 mile intervals. That's easy to predict and easy to know how to work around when a lengthy trip is coming up.

Same for VTM changes... not when the wrench icon appears with the appropriate code... the day you leave for an extended trip. Now how are you gonna plan for that?

Sorry.. but I disagree with the supposed ease of use of the MM.

GreenMachine, Honda seems to interpret the reset procedure differently from you. Honda told me today (in so many words) that resetting the MM early and getting the codes like I did (after the 10 second - step 1) indicate upcoming mx that would have shown had I let the oil change interval reach the magic 15% level where the codes begin to show.

So if the air filter or VTM is due, what the heck does basing notification on an unrelated system (oil change) have to do with it? Makes no sense to me.

IAC, Honda said that the MM system retains the correct info since the code for, say, VTM hasn't shown yet. Thus it will not be reset when resetting the system after an oil change.

At least, that part sounds reasonable to me.

As far as the MM is concerned, since it doesn't evaluate the oil, how does it know it needs to be changed if not by mileage?

Does the MM evaluate the condition of the VTM fluid? I don't think it does. But it may be sophisticated enough to take speed, cycles, etc into account for things like the VTM fluid. I expect to see the VTM notification in the fairly near future if that is correct.

But who knows? Honda may have given me bad info. (mx at a local dealer is the source)

Honda could have been more helpful with better information about how the reset procedure works with the MM.

Better yet, provide a maintenance schedule as an alternative procedure.

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by speedlever
. . .As far as the MM is concerned, since it doesn't evaluate the oil, how does it know it needs to be changed if not by mileage? . . .

Mileage, total starts, cold starts, time at temp, time at RPM, etc.

There is a whole lot of good information that it uses that the old mileage method was just guessing it.

Most people drive fairly consistently, so I bet you could very quickly determine about how many miles make up 50% so you could still adjust for big trips.

In addition, most big trips are highway, so unless you are really close to needing an oil change do it after the trip.

Some people are just too resistant to change.

[iivtecracerii]

get the maintenance schedule for 03-05. follow that. and just reset MM when it bugs you.

[speedlever]

Some people are just too resistant to change.

Perhaps.

For me, I find the pop-up alerts do not allow for any advance planning. So I prefer the old method.

So how would you plan for a VTM alert that pops up just before you leave on a long trip?

Just let it go 'til you get back?

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by speedlever


Perhaps.

For me, I find the pop-up alerts do not allow for any advance planning. So I prefer the old method.

So how would you plan for a VTM alert that pops up just before you leave on a long trip?

Just let it go 'til you get back?

Yep.

Well not really, since the alerts pop up with oil changes (so I understand) I would know when the next change was coming up by the percentage.

In reality there is little magic in the change interval.
VTM with a 15 k to 30 K intervals would not care if it went 2k or 3 K over.

Just how long are your trips?

[speedlever]

Oh maybe 1k to 1.5k. Depends. While it may not be critical, I like to be able to plan so that I don't run over like that.

I would like to confirm the reset info I got from Honda today. If it works like GreenMachine says, I would be even less happy with MM.

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by speedlever
Oh maybe 1k to 1.5k. Depends. While it may not be critical, I like to be able to plan so that I don't run over like that.

I would like to confirm the reset info I got from Honda today. If it works like GreenMachine says, I would be even less happy with MM.

I still don't get what the big deal is.

Just do the oil at 50% (probably between 4k and 5 k miles anyway), or just use the old schedule for everything.

[speedlever]

The big deal is that Honda has not explained the reset procedure very well in the manual and has not given an alternate schedule for those of us who are not comfortable with the MM.

If I'm not mistaken, there are some alternative intervals for those in the severe service category... but I don't put my usage in that category.

In my business, I deal with hard and fast maintenance intervals all the time. Some can be exceeded and others not. It takes careful planning to operate within the maintenance parameters... and I bring the methodology over to my vehicles.

It's served me well for many years.

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by speedlever
The big deal is that Honda has not explained the reset procedure very well in the manual and has not given an alternate schedule for those of us who are not comfortable with the MM.

If I'm not mistaken, there are some alternative intervals for those in the severe service category... but I don't put my usage in that category.

In my business, I deal with hard and fast maintenance intervals all the time. Some can be exceeded and others not. It takes careful planning to operate within the maintenance parameters... and I bring the methodology over to my vehicles.

It's served me well for many years.

The "hard and fast" maintenance requirements for planes are based on nothing more than "worst case" experience resulting in over maintenance for most applications (with the goal of safety).
Applying the same logic to automotive systems does not make sense.

[whizmo]

Originally posted by speedlever
So how would you plan for a VTM alert that pops up just before you leave on a long trip?

It really isn''t critical that you do the VTM exactly on the button when it is requested - just do it the next time it is convenient, before or after the trip. Whatever maintenance schedule or system you use, it's just an estimate of the best compromise time to do the maintenance - it's not a binary, do it before it reaches 21,781 miles or the thing will fail. When the VTM alert fires, you've typically got 1K+miles before it reaches 0% and if you go a thousand (or even two) over before you get a chance to do the service, it really doesn't matter. Are you leaving on 3K trips every month?

And as others have said, if it bugs you, just ignore it and use the fixed schedule for the 05 and earlier.

I'll say it again: This is NOT the space shuttle we're maintaining here folks. It's a common, everyday automobile that just needs some routine maintenance done now and then, more or less on the general schedule that Honda specifies, whether you use the MM or your own bookkeeping.

- Mark

[iivtecracerii]

i changed the VTM-4 fluid for the first time at 36k miles. fluid looked fine and system was running perfectly fine before the change.