"wastrel" <wastrel@nospam.com> wrote
snip for brevity
> I just bought a 2006 Civic LX AT sedan as well.
> The owner's manual does *not* contain a maintenance
schedule. What it does
> contain are the instructions for responding to the
"Maintenance Minder".

Unless you want to split hairs, that's essentially the same
thing.

Keep reading. You may know your new Honda a lot better after
this discussion.

> The Maintenance Minder is a system

From Honda's Owner's Link site, it seems to be simply a new
name for implementing a maintenance schedule, aided by
warning lamps on the dash, set off, for a number of common
maintenance items, according to a computing algorithm, using
a computer that has inputs from various sensors.

From one site that discusses the Maintenance Minder:

"The maintenance requirements for your [Honda] Ridgeline are
determined by an internal algorithm, which considers the
engine starting temperature, driving distance and engine
RPM. The onboard computer also judges your driving
conditions and habits, and then calculates the remaining
engine oil life, displaying it as a percentage."

> on the car itself which keeps track of the
> remaining oil life,

snip for brevity
> And that's it. Nowhere in the manual does it give an
indication of at what
> mileage these codes are likely to pop up. And
unfortunately, contrary to Elle's
> suggestion, all that the Honda's Owners Link gives you is
the same information
> in the manual.

The maintenance info at the Owner's Link site for the 2006
Civic appears to be about as detailed as that in my 91Civic
owner's manual. It's just presented differently and
incorporates the new technology I mention above for
identifying when maintenance is needed. In addition, it most
certainly does give the mileage at which certain maintenance
is required. But not for all maintenance. The approach for
modern Hondas is different.

Did you really dig in, clicking on the links for Maintenance
Minder A, Maintenance Minder B, etc.?

Log in, go to the Maintenance Minder section, and click on
and then read all these links before posting back.

snip
> I guess I just would prefer that I make the decisions
about my car, rather than
> meekly obeying my car when it deigns to tell me when it
needs something.

Study what exactly the Maintenance Minder system is. Spend
more time at the Owner's Link site and/or reading your
manual and/or googling. This evidently is new technology.
(Wikipedia suggests the Honda Maintenance Minder technology
may have been first introduced in its 2006 models, or
otherwise very recently.)

I will say I don't completely trust the American Honda site,
since I can't find anything on the timing belt for the 2006
Civic at the moment there either. This is not the first time
I've found its maintenance schedules incomplete.

Still, my first post was to encourage the OP to investigate
further, since it most certainly is customary for auto
manufacturers to make readily available to owners detailed
information on when and what maintenance is to be performed.
The glitch we're running into here is that the 2006 Honda
evidently has very new technology for optimal maintenance
(or so it's advertised). As a result old-timers will
initially tend to be turned off by it. Can't teach some old
dogs new tricks, etc.

Googling turns up sites like
http://www.spinellihonda.com/en/serv...nance/index.sp
y?cmd=menu&menuid=472&make=Honda&model=Ridgeline&t rim=&year=
2006 , which says at Maintenance Minder # yada, for a
Canadian yada Honda, replace the timing belt.

You may have to buy at least a Chilton's manual for the 2006
to get a good grasp of what exactly the new Honda system
uses to determine when maintenance is due. I am not
advocating or criticizing this approach to maintenance at
this time. I am saying this is so far the reality for a
layperson who wants to maintain his/her new 2006 Honda. I
expect in the coming years technicians will have more to say
on how astute this technology is.

http://www.hondanews.com/catID2013?m...041013&mime=as
c has a little more on how the Maintenance Minder works.