EliteCM.net

maintenance required light is basically a oil change light. you either need an oil change soon, or it wasnt reset the last time you changed your oil. at first it will stay on 5 seconds after the rest of the lights go out. then if you wait long enough without resetting it will stay on all the time.

to reset it:
turn the key to the off position
press in the odo/trip reset button
turn the key to on (dont start it) and continue to hold the odo/trip reset button for 10 seconds
the maintenance required light should flash a few times to show that it has been reset.

Johnny is correct, the Maintenance Required light is a reminder to change your oil basically.  At first the light will blink when you start your car, then go out.  After some more mileage has been put on the car it will stay lit.  Since I change my own oil, I just ignore the light and reset it whenever it comes on.

Correct me if i'm wrong but, this light is just triggered by an interval of time right?

Mike, you are correct.  The older maintenance required lighting system is purely based on mileage.  To my knowledge, it does not factor in how you drive.  The newer maintenance minder system for the Acura fleet and I believe the new hondas as well is a technological far cry from what we have.  The car is designed to take care of itself and ask for maintenance when it needs it.  The car analyzes your driving patterns and gives you a 0-100% gauge of your oil life.  It will start complaining at around 20% (If my memory serves me), and will even constantly display maintenance overdue when the oil life gauge hits zero.  The system is even programmed to recommend coolant changes, air filter/pollen filter changes, tranny fluid and differential fluid changes...it's simply amazing.  It relieves the customer of thinking about what they need to have done to the car, and it helps service writers because they don't need to rely on the older 30-60-90 plan of trying to sell maintenance items to customers.  I believe that a customer is more inclined to perform work if an impartial authority (their car) tells them to.  Great system.

I have seen the newer system, and thats what lead me to ask the question. I assume it's all done in the ecm?

Well, the answer to that question is not entirely simple.  The new maintenance minder system may have its encoding in the cluster because the new clusters are so advanced.  This all gets lumped into the idea of cluster swap technicalities.  Older gauge clusters used incandescent lamps for lights that would burn out, and if you needed to have a new cluster installed in that yearset, you needed to send out a virgin cluster and your existing cluster to a 3rd party to have the data transferred.  With newer clusters such as in the 04+ TL and others (which use LED lights and have integrated computing power), the reprogramming and transfer of mileage can be done at the dealership through the HDS.  This fact makes it unclear if the maintenance data is stored in the cluster or the ECM/PCM.  If you have maintenance done in advance, the dealer can reset certain triggers so that the ECM/PCM does not warn you to rotate your tires if you have already done so.  That sort of thing can only be done by the dealer though since the HDS is proprietary honda technology.  The end user is only able to reset the maintenance minder system in one shot.

So it allows for a cluster swap, and show the correct mileage, and information?

No, from a few experiences the new cluster will still display the mileage that is programmed into it from the previous ecu. Please correct me if im wrong. I swapped a cluster in an 03 cl and the mileage didn't adjust. I would assume the 7th gens are similar.

I do love the newer systems where it tells me to do anything that's needed without me guessing when to change shit. Although my cousins 2003 Lincoln ls had all those features, it would be nice to have them in my accord.

Our maint. required light is connected to mileage since mine turned on after 3000 or so miles of driving, but i have mobil1 synthetic in my car that i dont change for 5-7k depending on driving.

Thanks for showing me this thread Tim... I'll try it on my break.

So I can use this to change my oil life preset to 100% again?

It is the same process, but make sure you are on the oil percentage section.

^Yeah I just did that on the mother in law's Pilot last week.

kool I tired it but hmmm. I will keep trying ^^ TY guys

Ok Ken, this is what you do.

Scroll through til you get to the oil percentage section, hold down the trip odometer button until the oil percentage blinks, release the button and press and hold the button again until oil percentage resets too 100%.

Thanks Thien for the help. This crap is too high tech for me..

Haha, I do it on a daily basis.

LoL its all good. Feed me more of your knowledge!! I want to learn.

Whatever you want to learn, just ask. You can IM me if you want.