Honda Maintenance Minder codes
The codes Honda’s Maintenance Minder shows with the wrench: a main code for the oil service (A or B on a US car) and numbered sub-codes for other maintenance due at the same time.
How to read it
Honda’s 2024 Civic manual says the Maintenance Minder calculates the remaining engine oil life from the engine’s operating conditions and shows it as a percentage. Once the oil life is below 15%, Maintenance Minder messages appear each time the car is switched on, with codes for the maintenance items due at the next oil change. Jalopnik describes what drivers see as a little wrench with an alphanumeric code, usually an A or a B followed by at least one number.
Also searched as: Honda A1 code, Honda B12 service, Honda B1 code, Honda service codes, Honda wrench light, Maintenance Minder.
Honda lights vary by model and year. The owner’s manual for the vehicle says what each light means on it, and a Honda dealer or a qualified mechanic can say what it means for a particular car.
The codes in the 2024 Civic manual
These are the codes in the manual for US models:
| Code | Maintenance items the manual lists |
|---|---|
| A | Replace engine oil |
| B | Replace engine oil and oil filter, inspect front and rear brakes, and other inspections |
| 1 | Rotate tires |
| 2 | Replace air cleaner element and dust and pollen filter, inspect drive belt |
| 3 | Replace transmission fluid |
| 4 | Replace spark plugs, inspect valve clearance |
| 5 | Replace engine coolant |
| 7 | Replace brake fluid |
Canadian models
The manual for Canadian models uses A for the engine oil, 0 for the engine oil and oil filter, and 9 for servicing the front and rear brakes with other inspections. Jalopnik says a 2018 or newer Honda might display 0 instead of A, and that 0 and 9 together call for the work the old B code did.
Where the sources differ
Jalopnik gives A as an oil and filter change, 4 as spark plugs, timing belt, water pump and valves, 5 as low coolant, and 6 as the differential fluid. The 2024 Civic manual gives A as the engine oil only, with the filter under B; 4 as spark plugs and valve clearance; 5 as replacing the coolant; and has no code 6. Jalopnik itself sends owners to their manual for what the codes mean on their car.
Oil life and the messages
At 15% oil life (15 to 6 percent remaining) the message is Maintenance Due Soon; at 5% (5 to 1 percent), Maintenance Due Now. Once the oil life has passed, Maintenance Past Due appears with a negative distance. The system message indicator comes on with the Maintenance Minder message.
What the manual says to do
Honda’s manual says: “If a Maintenance Minder message does not appear more than 12 months after the display is reset, change the engine oil every year.”
The same idea on other makes
Other makers have their own maintenance reminder light.
Read next
- Next in Honda dashboard symbolsHonda ACC indicatorHonda’s Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) indicator: white when ACC is switched on, green when the RES/+/SET/− switch is pressed, and amber for a problem with the system.
- The service reminder on other makesMaintenance reminder lightA spanner-shaped light that shows scheduled maintenance, such as an oil change, is due.
More honda dashboard symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with curves and waves or letters and numbers.
Sources
- 2024 Honda Civic Sedan Owner’s Manual, American Honda Motor Co. (copy hosted by Dealer eProcess), Maintenance Minder, pp. 641, 644–648
- What Your Honda’s Maintenance Minder Codes Actually Mean, B. L. Johnson, 26 October 2025, Jalopnik
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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