EX-Dave

Greetings.

I have a 2012 Civic and I'm wondering when to do the fluid change.

I quickly read the owner's manual and I only found that it shows how to change the fluids and not when to change them.

The salesman said every 30k miles. I'm at 30k right now.

What generally does the dealer get for this service? I'd imagine they might also change that inline filter too.

Thanks!

ezone

Yes it (sorta) does, it's under the maintenance minder. Starts on p.243 in your owners manual, and trans fluid service is minder item #3 on the display.
It's not listed by mileage interval anymore, the minder is supposed to tell you when (and which) services are due.
There isn't really anything that tells when the minder thinks anything will be due, other than dialing up the reset screen in the IMID, and past experiences. (Experience says it always wants air filters somewhere between 20k and 30k)
When the minder tells you to change it is when they expected people to change it. (I guess nobody figured that anyone would do maintenance stuff differently.)

We also recommend transmission service every 30k to customers, simply due to our experiences and Hondas track record with automatic transmissions in the past.

I personally change the ATF in my 12 Civic more often, just because I can.Call your dealer and ask. Prices can vary greatly from shop to shop.

But if you can change your own oil, you can DIY the ATF too.
Seriously doubt it, but ask about it while asking about the prices.

We (at my dealer) don't change it during routine fluid service, and I don't know of any other dealers near me that do.

If someone specifically requests it to be replaced, that's not a problem as long as they are willing to pay.




Another thing: If you do the service early, the minder system has no clue (unless a dealer can reset a single maint menu item). It will still pop up the minder number when the car thinks it is due. It's up to YOU to keep track of what services have really been done so you don't get sold stuff you don't need.

I see this a lot with air filters and such because the oil changers check and upsell them regularly, then when the minder says the filters are due and the service writer puts that line on the ticket, it might get the already clean filters replaced again 5000 miles later.

Same deal when people mix the minder recommended services along with the traditional 30/60/90k maintenance services. There's a lot of unnecessary repeating that can be done because people don't know or bother to keep track of their own stuff.

HTH