I just received the Service B Due Soon message and am curious as to the criteria used by Acura to determine the need for tire rotation on my TL. I changed the oil at 4000 miles before the first service reminder and I now have just over 10,000 miles. I have owned the TL for just about 18 months (and loved every minute of it).

I certainly expected to have an oil change reminder but not a tire rotation reminder. A friend of mine has over 13,000 miles and has changed his oil twice, but he has not received the Service B reminder yet. He has owned his car for just over a year.

Is it because the TL looks to see if a tire rotation should be done before the next need for an oil change and since I just went below 15%, I get the Service B now even though my friend has more miles than me? I would think the logic for tire rotation would be more based upon miles than upon time.

Any ideas?

 

I am pretty sure the MID uses mileage when computing tire rotation. I don't know what mileage it uses, but people have reported getting it around 6,000 miles and higher.

You won't see it pop up separately, so the B maintenance, which includes the tire rotation, is the first you will see it when the B pops up because of the oil change, which I think takes precedence over most of the mileage items like filters and tire rotation.

If you do your own service and try to reset the MID before you actually got a reminder, and tire rotation was due, you would get a notice that other service items, if any, were due, but if you wait for the MID to tell you, then you would get it by way of the B reminder.

Hope this makes some sense to you; if not, post again or send me a PM.

Here's the official explanation from the service manual, which might explain it better.

This will explain what happens to the other services items when you reset the MID before the service due message appears.

From the service manual, page 3-6: (NOTE: This information is not in the owners manual.

So this means if you change your oil before the 15% Service Due Soon is displayed, and you go to reset the display, if there are other items to be serviced, they will show up on the display, and if you clear the display the MID will take this to mean that you performed the required service.

To clear the display:
After you get that service screen hold the reset/select for another 10 seconds.
It will then ask you if you want to reset.
Press the reset/select or the YES button (I forget which), and the MID will be reset

The statement from the service manual is a little vague, and I think they meant to say that if other items require service, the message "Service Due Soon" will be displayed, since if there is nothing else requiring service there would be no need for the message.

 

Thanks, Ron, that helps a little, but I am still curious about the actual logic used to determine when to notify the driver of service needed. Take the oil itself. Is it simply just based upon miles driven or does it also take into account time, average speed, number of starts, etc.

By the way, related to another similar thread, my local dealer quoted me $89.99 for the B service after I told him I had just passed the 10,000 mile mark. Seems overpriced for what you get, but I with my low miles I don't take it in very often anyway. And, my wife's Volvo costs $75 just for the oil change!

 

I think it would be simple to use the throttle position sensor versus road speed versus RPM versus VTEC signal, to determine how the car is being driven. The average speed should also be indicative of city or highway driving.

 

This was published in my local newspaper and pretty much describes the MID/oil life relationship.

The B service is primarily an oil change and tire rotation, plus just checking other stuff that they should check anyway. Figure $25-30 for oil change, and $40 for tire rotation, and you are paying the rest for just looking, so if you want to save some money ask them how much is just an oil change and just a tire rotation, and then decide which way you want to go.

 

$90 actually is pretty good from a dealer here in SoCal. Santa Monica Acura quoted me $145, about $130 with a discount coupon I got in the mail a little later.

I had my independent Honda/Acura service, S&S on La Cienega in L.A., do the "B" service; it charged $68 or so.