Did you recently rush to buy a new vehicle before tariff-related price hikes? A reporter is looking to speak with shoppers who felt pressure to act quickly due to expected cost increases; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com for more details by 4/24.
Honda Civic Care and Maintenance
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Your vehicle originally had P185/60R14 82H's on 5.5" wheels inflated to 29 front and rear.
Hope this helps.
I have a 01honda civic LX, 5-speed. My dealer keeps telling me I should do 30k miles maintenance. His service includes:
1. replace oil and filter
2. replace air filter
3. rotate tires
4. replace spark plugs
5. replace transmission fluids.
6. service brake(?)
7. inspect this, check that, etc.
And he charges around $300 for all the above.
I don't know whether all is necessary. Because the manual only suggested to do 1, 2, 3, in addition, the air condition filter should be replaced. I am not sure whether I should do all the dealer suggested, or follow the manual, and do just item 1, 2, 3.
What you guys usually do at 30k miles?
Thanks!
Frank
Just curious, snarks, you mean you follow the manual to the letter? oil changed every 10k miles? I think it is enough although my deal always pursuade me to do it every 3500 miles.
good luck
Nick
Leeann
I have a '03 Civic EX Sedan. I take my own oil (Castrol GTX 5-20 regular) to my mechanic because 1) he doesn't carry 5W-20 and says it's OK to put 10W-30 which makes me uneasy; 2) becomes cheaper that way.
I want to cut the cost further and take my own oil filter, but I don't know what to buy. Does it come in different types like engine oil comes in different viscosities? What brand would you recommend for an average driver? I'd prefer something not expensive as long as it does a good job.
Thanks!
Nick
Anyway, you may want to buy Honda branded filter just for the sake of warranty. I do my own changes with Exxon superflo 5W-20 and Honda filter. That way if there is a problem with the engine, they can not deny warranty because I did not use Honda filter with the "special anti drain back valving"
I did Mobil 1 oil change, but did not see the benfit, for 4 times the price, I can only go twice as long between changes.
back valve for years. That's not a Honda exclusive.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Thanks a lot for the responses to the oil filter question.
Nick gave me a furher cost cutting idea. Using synthetic saves money in addition to time. Yes, it is 2.5 times more expensive than Castrol GTX, but that pays off for the labor I pay my mechanic for changing the oil.
My question is can I use the Purolator filter that Nick has suggested on synthetic oil? Or do I need the Mobil brand to get the 7-8K milage? The PepBoys shop here only carries Purolator.
Oh, BTW, I have 11K on my '03 Civic EX. Changed oil twice so far at 5K and 8K. Is it OK to switch to synthetic or is it too late now?
Also, how do you figure out if your car needs an oil change? For me, I feel I should when my engine sounds diesel-like, and it happens after 3.5K miles.
Thanks again!
Baris
If you keep using regular oil, I would still extend the interval to at least 5,000 miles as the owners manual states, as you are wasting your money if you change it in shorter intervals. (Unless your normal driving includes sitting in a parking lot on a local expressway or driving through a constant duststorm, you get the idea...) The newer engines are a lot more clean and efficient and therefore do not need an oil change as often.
I have used synthetic oil in my previous vehicle, (a 95 civic) as well with a Purolator filter and have never had a problem. In fact I actually went on 15,000 mile intervals with the synthetic oil for about 80,000 miles just changing the filter every 7,500 and then changing the oil every other time I changed the filter. I would look inside the valve cover occasionally for buildup and never found anything. Basically synthetic oil does not break down nearly as fast as regular oil, as long as you keep it clean.
Last comment, go with Dudka's advice and change the oil yourself!!! I change my own oil and I only do about 20 minutes of actual labor. The rest of the time spent is letting the oil drain out of the car. I usually let it drain for a good hour to let out as much as possible. Your Pepboys store will help you get the proper filter socket, and thats the only special tool you need. Once you raise the car up on a jack or a lift the filter is very accessable. It will save you a lot in the long run.
Nick
While I have you here, could you also tell me one last thing : Do you do front wheel or all wheel alignment for your Civics?
The owner's manual has specs for rear as well, so I thought it is 4W alignable. My mechanic disagrees (BTW, he's a German car passionate and I am starting to think that he has a grudge against me because I sold my 95 Golf to get the Civic).
Many thanks! Again!
Baris
The owner's manual says change at 5000mi. I drive my car pretty nicely but rev it up occasionally. Also the roads are really bad here. I'm just concerned about making sure my car stays as nice as possible.
One more thing. I was told NOT to use Armor All on the dash. Has anybody heard about this?
Thanks!
MattPDX
You don't get auto up/down windows on both windows because even though the Honda Civic is very well executed, it is still Honda's economy car. Do you have a M/T or A/T? If you have a manual transmission, you will always find in any M/T first gear is always a little stubborn to shift into, especially when you are moving. You will get used to the HVAC system in the car. It took me a little getting used to going from a slider to a knob. Follow the owners manual recommendation of changing the oil in 5,000 mile intervals. You are wasting time and money if you do it in shorter intervals. I put a set of Pilot fog lights on my car in the spot where the dealer installs them and they look great under there. I found that those were the only size that would really fit well under there unless you go with the factory option. I also have the factory spoiler on it and it looks great on there! IMO, MUCH MUCH better than those aftermarket ones that stick up higher than the car itself. I've got a few other things done to it to just let me know if you want any other tips or advice and I'll answer them the best I can.
About the alignment, yes it is 4 wheel like bd21 said, however my family and I have owned 5 Hondas so far, a 1985 Accord which was totalled @ 192,000 miles, it never needed an alignment, a 1989 Accord which we retired with 260,000 miles, it never needed an alignment, a 1995 Civic, sold it with 140,000 miles, it never needed an alignment, you get the idea. Unless you do something on the road severe enough to throw off the alignment, Hondas generally never need to be aligned. And our family does drive on some pretty severe roads as we live in the pothole king of America....Michigan.
Nick
i'm buying a new 04 civic Lx in a few days.
any advice
The reason I do my own changes is because it is more economical, faster, and I don't have to schedule an appointment 2 weeks in advance. I use Exxon 5W-20 and Honda filter. Once my engine stops using oil I will switch to Mobil 1 5W-30 (the closests grade to 5W-20 availabe at Costco) and Honda filter.
I read the driver manual. It said "do not change oil until 5,000 miles". The maintance page said that oil change at 10,000 miles. So when is the time for the first time oil change? 5,000 or 10,000 miles? The manual also said oil change only at 10K, no oil filter require. It said oil filter only requires every 20K miles. Is that true or 2004 is different?
Thank you for the input.
As for the person with the 04 lx, you probably didn't lose any oil out of there unless you notice oil splash all over the inside of the engine compartment, and change the oil at 5,000 miles unless you are doing almost pure highway travel at a constant 65 mph which I wouldn't recommend anyhow during the break in period.
I am not very good for the cars. I want to know what will happen if the car running without the oil cap closed. Will the oil pumping out much? Thanks.
There is no reason to be alarmed. I knew for a fact that S2000 engines use quite a bit of oil, and since Si is a high perfomance engine it is only logical to allow some oil consumption. (some other cars come to mind, Mini, VW 1.8T, ect.)
Besides, every engine, no matter what they tell you, uses oil. If an engine is tight you will notice oil loss, if the seals are not very tight, the oil lost is replaced by the water condensation that is formed when the engine is off. So, when you check the oil it seems as the level is normal, but some portion of it is actually water. I may be wrong about it, but does make sence to me. This would explain why sometimes people see thier oil level go up.
The master key made by Honda has a computer chip build-in. Is the key can be duplicated easy by any Honda technician? Do they need an authorization to duplicate any honda key? I am thinking about the car's security. The technician who installed the alarm system knows the bypass code for the system, if he can duplicate the key very easy, then my car can be driven by any Honda technician on the street. Any idea?
Then when the car is driven on a longer drive, the positive crankcase ventilation system has enough time to drawn those condensates out of the oil after the oil is warm. This can cause the oil level, which had remained steady for weeks of cold weather driving, to drop an amount the owner notices. The owner may assume the car has started to use oil based on that one trip. But the water being evaporated out of the oil has allowed the volume or "real" oil left to shrink to what it should be without the contaminants.
Oil rising can be coolant leak, or in the old days, a fuel pump leaking into the oil.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
can i assume i will get 200k plus out of it,
like i have out of my current 87 civic si --even tho i treated it like a four wheel drive truck in our mutual youth?
the del sol im considering has 79k, asking 4000. auto tranny (not my preference, but ... )
will i get another 120k out of this purchase? i want something i can rely on to trek me 700m r/t once per month thru the desert for the next 5 years.
thanks so much.
Anyway the del Sol, it depends if not city miles before and also a major concern if any maintenance performed on a regular basis. If yes a likely answer is yes it probably can. Being that old though you will may have issues more to do with age than wear.
Christmas eve, after driving 5 hours to family, I oepn up my trunk and lo and behold, everything on the left side of the trunk is soaked! There's about 2 inches of water in the well where the jack and spare tire are. The carpeting is soaked on the left half of the trunk floor - and the bottoms of the left side trunk lining are soaked as well.
The car's only a year old and it certainly has rained before and I've never had this problem.
The interesting thing was that water did not seem to be 'dripping from above' as a leaky gasket might cause --- all my packages in the trunk were only soaked on the part that was resting on the trunk floor. Their tops were bone dry. So nothing was 'dripping down'.....
I tore apart the inside of the trunk and finally I found the source, though I can't figure out WHAT this part is for!
If you peel back the trunk liner on the left side wall, there's this mysterious black plastic vent-type thing that's about 6 in wide by 4 in high. It has a little moveable flap on it on the outside. I have no idea what it does, but it's completely falling out of its opening. It's not secured in any way into the wall of the car - you can move it all around without taking it out - and there are big gaps for water to come in since the plastic piece is not sealed down.
What does this part do? What is it called? I was driving through torrential downpours with LOTS of deep puddles - water was kicked up from the tire into this gap and soaked the trunk. How can this happen? Anyone have a similar situation? Im trying to get the dealer to fix it since it's still under warranty but no one can get me in anytime soon.
ALSO - second question - unrelated ---- is the maint required light set to go off at predetermined intervals? I hit about 20,900 and suddenly it comes on everytime i start the car. My last oil change was only about 1500 miles ago. Anyone had this happen???
In the meantime, does anyone know what that little black box thingy is FOR?? I just don't get it. I don't see how it can be 'ventilation' because it's carpeted on one side and car metal on the other (pretty close to it.)
i picked up my 04 civic lx. today
the oil cap was a little loose.
no highway noises and god a/t.
thanks for the past help.
now it's time to have some fun