I haven't been driving much during these coronavirus times. So, I'm wondering if I can put off doing the service that is indicated on my dashboard. I'm guessing that the service alerts are based on calendar time and not mileage or oil quality. On my Odyssey, there is an oil life indicator, which triggers a service alert when it hits 15%. There's no such indicator on the Clarity, so I assume that service alert is not based on oil quality. And if I put off doing the indicated service, does that affect my warranty?
Is your Clarity still under warranty? Check out this thread and decide what you want to tell Honda if you have engine problems.
Technically there are things that can happen to the oil even if the engine doesn’t run much. Oxidation and moisture can have an effect on the oil that can eventually cause it to degrade. I don’t know if the degradation would be significant after a year but the general consensus seems to be that you should change it at least once a year even if the engine hasn’t run.
Yes, you can put if off quite easily. Just don’t change the oil when recommended. Yes, it can, may, will affect the warranty. For example, failure to follow the recommended oil change maintenance interval could result in denial of an engine related failure from being covered under warranty.
As mentioned, anything with an oil pan should be changed once a year, even if left idle in the garage.
