My Clarity PHEV is about a year old and has about 8000 miles--almost all in electric mode. The maintenance light came on, so I made a service appointment with the dealer I bought it from. The receptionist seemed confused by the service codes that came up on her computer, so she asked two other guys what they meant. They mentioned service codes "0" and "1, but then one of the guys told the other that he was looking at the fuel cell model. I finally came to feel that maybe they didn't know what they were doing, so I Left. When I got home I checked the Maintenance Minder, and it said to change engine oil and filter, rotate tires, and check various items. Should I take it to a different dealer or give the first dealer another chance? Or can I just use a regular mechanic for this type of routine service? I got the feeling that neither of the guys had ever dealt with a Clarity.
You can go to a regular mechanic or if you know how even do it yourself. It's just an oil change. Rotating the tires is more labor intensive but still doable. Half the oil change places where I live will rotate your tires for free while they are changing the oil.
The oil change is very easy, took me maybe 15 minutes start to finish. I used 3.3 qts of Mobil 1 0w-20 and a Bosch 3323 oil filter. If you have a Discount Tire near you, they do free tire rotations.
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act keeps any manufacturer from requiring you to use their parts or their services to maintain your warranty. All you have to do is use parts that meet their requirements. It would be wise, however, to keep records and receipts since none of what you do outside the dealership will be in Honda’s data base. Attached is a form that I use to record all maintenance since I am too frugal (nice word for cheap-a**) to use the dealership. I adapted it from a form in the owner's manual from my old CR-V. It also has all the maintenance codes and inspection points. Just make sure when it’s time for new tires that they know about the plastic noise attenuating resonance chambers located on the inside middle circumference of the wheels. It’s not a serviceable/repairable part and if damaged requires replacement of the wheel at around $1K. Hope this is helpful.
Ah, KentuckyKen, so helpful again. I printed this form for my maintenance records. I have owned several Hondas over the years and found the company rather difficult to deal with on warranty work. As I have a 5-year, 125,000 mile extended warranty this form should serve me well as I expect I'll need the evidence to boop the service rep on the nose.
