maintenance on Toyota vs. Honda vs. Nissan

cardohdoh

I was having a discussion with a friend who swears that maintenance on Nissans and Toyotas are a lot easier than Hondas. He claims that its easier to get to most items on toyotas and nissans. I have an accord and do find that most parts are packed closely to others.

Does anyone else feel that toyotas and Nissans are easier to work on?

8u6hfd

V6's or not?

HOnda V6's are easier to change the spark plugs....much easier.

The Toyota V6's are easier to change the oil filter than Honda V6's.

Fuel filters are a pain to do on Toyotas.

mrdetailer

I would certainly not go beyond 3750 on oil changes. However, this is what Nissan recommends on its severe schedule.

bd21

I do all my own maintenance to include major work and I vote Toyota as the easiest, Nissan second and Honda Last. Honda makes it hard to do many of what I would consider easy maintenance tasks like changing a timing belt without getting very specialized tools that would normally not be needed. Also, Honda and Nissan parts have always cost me more than Toyota parts. They all build good cars, but I vote on Toyota as the overall best with my 25 years working on them. By the way I currently own a 91 Nissan Sentra and a 2001 Honda Accord. My next car will probably Toyota Camry or Nissan Altima.

eddie777

How do you think Mazda compares on parts costs?

bd21

I haven't owned a Mazda, but I have done some work on them. I think they make a pretty good car too. As far as quality and durability of their products I would put them about tied with Nissan which ranks third in my experience. They are made is smaller numbers, so I would expect prices to be more, because there are less choices to buy from parts manufacturers out there.

mrdetailer

becaue many of the parts can be obtained directly from Ford.

gsleve

Toyota, nissan and my brothers honda, I concur that honda's have things very tight and make it more difficult to access components, however toyota, nissan's are far easier to work on, maintenance without question is good too. Yet I think that with a good manual and a little time studying the procedure you'll usually succeed. Others are more straight forward. Interesting to note that when working on the brakes ie; calipers of my 89 toyota corrolla, the brakes mirrored my current 98 nissan maxima, it was a no brainer to replace pads grease pins and anti-seize the torque plate and caliper bolts

eddie777

I have heard Mazda parts costs were very high, much higher than the other Japanese makes. This is from several Mazda owners I know who were otherwise very satisfied with their cars. Interesting if Mazda were able to lower costs by snagging Ford parts . . . but would they pass the savings on to the consumer?

newcar31

They may be able to lower the cost with Ford parts, but would you really want that? Look at Mazda's vehicles with Ford content. The 626 4cyl with the Ford auto tranny has been horrible by Mazda standards. The Tribute hasn't been the greatest either. OTOH, the Miata, Millenia, and Protege are pretty much ALL Mazda and they have excellent track records.

hobieslug

don't know how much easier it could be working on toyotas or nissians.I have 5 hondas in my family that I take care of. All i basaclly do is change timing belts. I made a tool for the crank bolt removal which makes life so easy
I have 250,000 miles on my honda and did no work on it other than 4 belts and option to change water pump. my sons 89 prelude did take an alternator once [located on the top front came out in fifteen min
i have never had a drop of oil leak out of any of my veh. or do they burn oil
all i can do is wonder if toyota and nissian can hold up to these high standards in a test of time

bottgers

I can't speak for Nissans, but I can tell you Toyotas are much easier to work on than Hondas are. I had a Honda Accord and it was a nightmare to work on. If you were doing something other than changing plugs or air filter, you pratically had to pull the engine to get at anything. This car was obviously not designed with ease of maintenance in mind. My Toyota on the other hand is very easy to work on, everything is very accessable.

hobieslug, you're wondering if Toyotas and Nissans can withstand the test of time as well as Hondas do? I can tell you Toyotas will. I've seen plenty with over 200K, and a few with over 300K. In fact, a friend of mine still has his '78 Corolla, and the last time I saw him, it had over 375K on it, and the engine has never been apart. It may have over 400K by now. I can't speak for Nissans, I've never had one, and I don't anyone who has.

bd21

Hobieslug could you please describe in detail the tool you made so that you could change your Honda's timing belt. Also, was there anything out of the ordinary for the water pump change and how often did you actually change it.

Newcar31 I agree with you. If you buy a Mazda get one that still has a Mazda engine and transmission or you will be short changing yourself on durability.

bottgers

What type of engine and tranny would a Mazda have in it, other than a Mazda?

bd21

Mazda does several joint vehicles with Ford and Ford supplies the drive trains. The Mazda MPV is just one example that comes to mind.

hobieslug

bd21
don't think it would be worth it for you to make this tool,you would need access to a shop and some fairly expensive tools [3/4 drive]
if your still interested e mail me hobieslug96@peoplepc.com
water pumps on hondas are fairly easy
hardly any surface cleaning just make sure the o ring stays in its grove
I change it with every timing belt [thats every 90,000 miles] if you do a belt and you don't do the w/pump it could leak shortly after and that would mean doing the whole job over again
I did 7 belts which made the tool worth while

gsleve

bolt without air compressor is to us a 1/2 drive and corresponding socket attach a pipe to the end of the 1/2 drive remove all spark plugs, then note the rotation on how to loosen the bolt, you would position the ratchet with the attached pipe so that it extends beyond the front bumper, go into car and bump the key a few times and there you have it bolt is loosen.

To tighten position rachet with pipe extending underneath the car and bump the key once now it's tightend. This method is useful if one does not have access to a compressor

hobieslug

gsleve
all hondas are counter clock wise rotation
bumping the starter will only tighten the bolt or break it
there are a few ways to break this bolt freed but the crank bolt on hondas are so tight honda decided to make a hex cut out on their pulley's for a tool to fit in
on one honda I broke two snap-on impacts with a 1/2 in. drive I.R impact I have a 3/4 socket and gun using shop air with a larger air line[1/2 in. dia] there is no problem

gsleve

replacement on a honda just nissan's toyota's and volkswagen the above suggestion is not necessary on volkswagens