A banner image with a Honda on a lift being repaired.

Honda service & Repair in Berkeley – Art’s Automotive

At Art’s Automotive, our goal is to keep your Honda running reliably and your costs low by providing an intelligent service plan and fairly priced repair. On this page, you’ll find our insights into Honda’s Maintenance Minder system, our approach to the Honda maintenance schedule, and an overview of our advanced diagnostic and repair services.

Questions? Appt? Call us!

We’ll also show off some of our advanced Honda diagnostic and repair capabilities; services normally only provided by Honda dealership service departments. Unlike dealership service departments, our main goal is to provide service and repair at a fair price, not to make repair so expensive that you’ll want to trade your car in. We have been servicing and repairing Honda vehicles in Berkeley for over 40 years in the same location under the same ownership. If you think we might be a good fit for your and your Honda, please give us a call.

Chart with the meaning of Honda Maintenance Minder items A, B, 1 (rotate tires), 2 (replace air filters), 3 (replace transmission fluid), 4 (spark plugs and valve adjustment), 5 (replace coolant), 6 (differential), and 7 (brake fluid flush).

Table of contents

Why Art’s Automotive?

While there are many shops that service Honda vehicles in Berkeley, we specialize and are better equipped than most. We own the Honda factory scan tool and subscribe to Honda service information, so we can do all the same Honda service and repairs as a Honda dealership, but without the high prices.

Another reason to choose Art’s is our culture. We try to treat our customers as if they were family or friends. Fair charges, honest advice, and we’ll treat your car like we’d want someone to treat ours. It’s not all about profit. We actually like what we do and are proud of our work.

Honda services we offer

We offer the following services for Honda vehicles:

About the Honda Maintenance Minder system

In the mid-2000s Honda moved away from the service schedule and switched to the “Maintenance Minder” system. A letter (A or B) is combined with a number (1 – 7) to create a Honda Maintenance Minder code describing the service your Honda is due for. Honda no longer uses a service schedule based on mileage (5K, 15K, 30K, etc.). Instead, there is an engine oil life % and maintenance code like A1 or B1.

This system has both good and bad aspects. What’s good? For one thing, the system looks at more than mileage. It used to be that Honda said to change the motor oil every 5,000 miles, but not all 5,000 miles driven are equal. With plenty of freeway driving, a 5K oil change is plenty. However, if a car is idling or chugging along in stop and go traffic it will need more frequent service. The maintenance minder system addresses this issue.

Another good thing about the maintenance minder services is that it alerts the driver to more than just oil changes. The old reminder system only alerted the driver their Honda needed an oil change. There was only one “Maint Req” light and it meant the car needs an oil change. However, it was the owner’s responsibility to figure out whether his Honda needed other service as well. The maintenance minder system alerts the driver to all of the service requirements.

Honda Maintenance Codes

Honda maintenance minder codes describe the type of maintenance needed. There is always one letter (either an A or B) combined with one or more numbers (currently 1 – 7).

You can have many different combinations of Honda service codes, but there are a couple of rules. Any time the engine oil life % gets low and a maintenance minder code appears, a letter will be in the code – either an A or a B. Second, Honda letter codes will always appear with a 1. So, you can have a Honda A1 service or a Honda B1 service, but never a just an A or B.

What Do The Honda Maintenance Minder Codes Mean?

Main Items

Honda’s “main” maintenance minder items A and B are always paired with the sub-item “1” (tire rotation and brake inspection). So, even though the main items A and B don’t technically include tire rotation and brake inspection, I’ve chosen to represent them with the

Honda A1 Service (Every 5K miles / minor service)
Honda B1 Service (Every 15K miles / intermediate service)
  • Full vehicle inspection
  • Replace engine oil
  • Replace engine oil filter
  • Tire rotation
Sub-Items
Maintenance Minder Code 1 (Every 5K Miles)
  • Rotate the tires
  • Inspect the brake linings
Maintenance Minder Code 2 (Every 30K Miles)
  • Replace the engine air filter
  • Replace the cabin air filter
  • Check the drive belt
Maintenance Minder Code 3
  • Replace the transmission oil or fluid (Every 30K to 60K Miles)
Maintenance Minder Code 4 (Every 105K to 110K)
  • Replace spark plugs
  • Check / Adjust intake and exhaust valve clearance
  • Replace timing belt (if equipped)
Maintenance Minder Code 5 (Every 120K miles)
  • Replace engine coolant
  • Replace hybrid inverter coolant (if equipped)
Maintenance Minder Code 6 (Every 30K to 60K miles)
  • Replace differential fluid / oil
  • Replace transfer case fluid / oil (if equipped)
Maintenance Minder Code 7 (Every 3 Years – Around 30K mile for most people)
  • Replace / Flush brake fluid
  • Replace / Flush clutch fluid (if equipped)

Honda service code combination examples

So, what you end up with an oil life % and an alpha-numeric code. Here are some examples:

  • Honda B12 service – Full inspection, oil change, rotate tires, change engine air filter and cabin air filter.
  • Honda A12 service – Oil change, check brakes, rotate tires, change engine air filter and cabin air filter.
  • Honda B13 service – Full inspection, oil change, rotate tires, Honda transmission service.
  • Honda A13 service – Oil change, check brakes, rotate tires, replace manual transmission oil.

The maintenance minder codes above are by far the most common. Service codes 4, 5, 6 and 7 don’t occur frequently. For instance, Honda service code B14 will usually occur every 105K to 110K miles. Service code 4 indicates it’s time to replace the timing belt (if your Honda has one), spark plugs, and adjust the valves.

Service code B15 usually appears around 120K miles and indicates it’s time for coolant service.

Honda service code B16 only applies to all wheel drive Honda vehicles like the Acura MDX, Honda Pilot, Honda CR-V, or Honda Ridgeline. Service code 6 indicates it’s time to replace the rear differential fluid, which is always a Honda specialty fluid like VTM4 or Dual Pump fluid. Only use the correct fluid in Honda differentials!

Service code B17 will appear every 3 years on a newer Honda. However, on older Honda cars you’re expected to read the service manual and remember to replace the brake fluid at least every 3 years.

Problems with Honda’s Maintenance Minder System

The Maintenance Minder system is nice. However, things can and do go wrong. For instance, let’s say you take your Honda in for service and the mechanic does an oil change and rotates the tires, then resets the maintenance minder.

That’s all well and good, unless the code displayed was B13. The car was due for a transmission service and inspections, but it didn’t get that, and now the reminder has been cleared. This happens a lot at quick lube shops and auto repair shops that don’t specialize in Honda.

We have a Honda factory scan tool, so we can accurately enter data into your Honda’s maintenance minder system.

Honda repair Services

Why Choose Us?

Maintaining your Honda is the best way to avoid expensive repairs, but even if you do a great job with maintenance, things will still eventually wear out and your Honda will need repairs. There are a lot of shops in Berkeley that repair Honda. Why choose Art’s?

Experience in Honda Repair

There are a few reasons. The first is experience. We’ve been fixing Honda cars for over 40 years. We only fix three other makes so we do a lot of Honda repairs. Our technicians are some of the best in the industry, not just Berkeley. We have two automotive tech writers, a trade school teacher, and one of our techs helped to write the ASE test mechanics take to prove competency.

Next is tools and equipment. We buy our tools through the Honda Tool and Equipment Program, just like the Honda dealerships. Having the tools Honda specifies in the service manual makes the difference between a repair properly done and a compromise in either time or quality. Longer repair times cost the consumer money. The problems with a compromise in quality are obvious.

Quality

The third reason is quality. We’ve been in business for a long time and our reputation is important to us. We do everything we can to do a good job and create a long-lasting repair. Do we sometimes fail? Yes. We are human. But we’re always working toward the goal of perfection. To that end, we only purchase parts we know will perform well. Most of the time that means buying our Honda parts from a dealership, but in some cases we can find OEM parts at lower prices and we’ll use them when there’s an opportunity for a win-win for us and our customer. If we can’t find a quality part for the repair, as sometimes happens with older cars, we’ll call our customer to discuss before doing anything.

Culture

Business culture is a real thing, and it’s arguably one of the most important aspects of a business. In a business every employee needs to make many decisions daily. You can’t micro-manage 13 people. A shop culture is what helps guide those decisions in a way that ensures uniform outcomes at the end of the decision tree. Some automotive repair shops and dealerships have rotten cultures. Here are some examples:

  • A chain store that pays mechanics minimum wage plus bonuses for recommendations leading to sales
  • A dealership that breaks techs into “teams” and pays the highest producing team a bonus and the others nothing
  • An independent shop with a hothead boss that yells and fires anyone who makes a mistake
  • A dealership that hires more flat-rate techs than they have business to support, then gives each tech a couple services a day to “make their own fortune with” or make nothing for the rest of the day.

As a consumer you wouldn’t want to go to a shop with any of these situations. In three examples the techs are being pressured to rip you off to make a living and in one a tech might hide a mistake, leading to a potentially unsafe condition.

At Art’s Automotive our techs are paid by the hour. Mistakes are allowed, and reporting mistakes is mandatory. If we ding your car or screw something up, you’re not going to discover it on your own. We’ll own up to it and fix it. We’re busy all the time and if you don’t need a repair we don’t want to sell it to you.

Honda Service information

If you don’t know how something works, you’ll have a very hard time repairing. The days when cars were all similar enough and relatively simple are long gone. No mechanic knows enough work without reference material. Mechanics these days are more like librarians than technicians. The most important tool when diagnosing a Honda is service information and the most important skill is the ability to search for and find information.

We subscribe to Honda SIS (service information system) as well as 7 other information services (and we only work on 4 makes).

Honda service & Repair near you!

If you’re new to Honda or new to Berkeley (or the East Bay), please give us a try. We want to be your Honda shop! Give us a call at 510-540-7093 to request a quote for a service or book an appointment. Whether you have an Accord, Civic, CR-V, Pilot, or Fit, we’re willing and able to provide you with excellent service. Thanks for reading. We hope to see you soon.