Honda Civic GX Regular Service

dejapoohdejapooh Member Posts: 40
edited March 2014 in Honda
Hi all,

I have a 2007 Civic GX and I am just over 5000 miles. They recommend 7500 before oil changes, but my neighbor said I should stick to 5000 miles. I was thinking that at 5000 miles, I can also get the filter work done when it needed to be done when needed. Also, the 15,000 mile oil change involved more than just oil and such. When I bought my car, they gave me 4 major oil changes (the 15000 mile kind). Also, what kind of oil should I have them use? Synthetic or natural? Weight?

Finally, Do you have to buy the new filters from Honda, or is there another place to get them for less? I've seen recommendations on here that said the filters do not need to be changed, except to keep the guarantee valid... are there any final thoughts on that?

Comments

  • epnfrnepnfrn Member Posts: 87
    dejapooh .... if you have not already done so, go read your owner's manual! the owner's manual was written by the same engineers that built the car. not the salespeople, not the advertisers, ... the people who know the car best - the engineers. unless your neighbor was one of these folks, i would pass on their advice. the GX is a special car (as you know) and thus has different schedules. therefore the old 3k/5k/7.5k debate doesn't apply. this type of information can be found directly in the manual.

    in fact, i don't think 5000mi or 7500mi is suggested, but rather ~10k (rather they say that your car's cpu will tell you, and estimate 10k'ish). i don't have it in front of me, so forgive me if i'm wrong on that. b/c this car uses CNG, which of course is much much cleaner, the oil actually maintains it's integrity much longer. one of the regulars here has quoted a honda study that showed excellent oil integrity after 50k.

    we're glad to have you among the enlightened CNG few! if you have more questions after reading the manual, let me know!

    epi
  • bank1avpbank1avp Member Posts: 78
    Not sure if Honda automible filters are the same as motorcycle filters, but back in the day we always bought Honda filters for our bikes because of a 1 way valve in the filter. Without getting technical once the engine is turned off the valve closes to keep the oil in the heads and prevent seapage back into the pan. If this is still true then I would recommend the Honda filter.
  • lakewood90712lakewood90712 Member Posts: 108
    On oil changes the cost per mile is very small for 5k or 7.5 k . At $ 35 for a dealer oil change , at 5 k thats $0.007 per mile , at 7.5 k thats 0.0047 per mile. The real large cost is cng fuel filter changes. try about $0.025
    per mile. thats about $ 250.00 per 10,000 miles driven. Check your GX Owner supplement and call the dealer for cng fuel filter prices. Be sure you are sitting in the car with seat belt fastened when you make the call ! Some posters on this board have stated that changing the gas filters is not needed. I have never seen HONDA specify service too often. Example , coolant 120,000 miles , spark plugs 105,000 miles.
    At list prices, honda cng components are not cheap. Fuel injectors are close to $800.00 each and the high pressure regulator assy is about $2800.00 , plus labor !. so if you want to risk voiding the warranty by skipping fuel filter changes, go ahead. If you are using the Phill , no chance of an oil contamination. At the public stations I once got a real big slug of oil in the CNG. (the station had a bad compressor and it was sending out a lot of oil with the fuel).Just my 2 cents worth from 2 car / 5 year of cng vehicle ownership
  • bank1avpbank1avp Member Posts: 78
    GX injectors should retail for $500-$600 even my dealer cost on them is $397. Was curious if anyone has tried to replace the CNG filter themselves and what the dealer wanted for the part? And if theres an aftermarket replacement for it like a NAPA filter. The CNG filter is right above the oil filter and appears to spin on and looks similar to the oil filter only it's red. For those of you who haven't dont it a may want to try BEWARE it's under pressure. I've seen the filter but haven't taken it off yet or gotten the #'s off the filter.
  • lakewood90712lakewood90712 Member Posts: 108
    Hi Murphy. The spin on is the low pressure filter on the 01 and later. List is about $125 . You can get them for about $87 by mail order. I have cut one open and it is like an oil filter with a thicker shell. At 10,000 miles it was very clean inside. The high pressure filter is more like a strainer. It list's for about $45. My dealer charges about .5 labor for the low pressure and about 1.0 hrs for the high pressure. The last time I had the spin on changed, the part # on the box was 16230-PMS-A03. It also has an alternate #. The filter says mfg by Toyo Roki Mfg. trngf-6A18
  • adeaadea Member Posts: 44
    Murphy...I just changed my fuel filter (only one) on my '00 GX. The filter from Honda costs about $36 and from AutoZone $27 including tax. I bought the Honda one this time (salesperson recommended me to) until I can compare the two. Previous to installing it, I bought the supplemental manual from Helminc. I bought the car with 75K miles on it and I don't think the fuel filter was ever changed, but it didn't look that bad actually considering it probably had 118K on it.
    adea
  • azcivicgxazcivicgx Member Posts: 2
    On the 2006 and newer Civic GX, the low pressure CNG fuel filter is much more expensive, $253.80 at Majestic Honda which is 30% off retail price. I'm not sure why a fuel filter cost so much, but changing it every 10-15k miles will eat up a lot of the maintenance savings typically afforded by natural gas combustion. FYI- part number 16905-RNE-A00.

    Does anyone know what the cost of the high pressure CNG filter is on the 2006 GX, or what the part number is? Hopefully it is not outrageous!
  • adeaadea Member Posts: 44
    I have a 2000 and only one fuel filter...high pressure. It costs $25 at AutoZone and $32 at Honda.
  • lakewood90712lakewood90712 Member Posts: 108
    On the Majestic website, "fuel pipe " it's part # 10, cost $21.14 , also get o - ring 34 and 38 for a few bucks more. I have no idea what honda is thinking on the price of the 06 - 07 low pressure element . To say it sucks is an understatement. At least the fuel injectors are down to under $150 on the 06-07. As to maintenance savings on a cng car,you don't have a fuel pump, but you have a lot of cng stuff instead $$$$.
    The internal engine components will last longer on CNG , but maintenance cost is not any less in general. And on a gasoline honda , 250,000 miles from an engine is easy as long as you don't overheat it or run it out of oil, and that will outlast everything else on the car.

    Did A Honda salesman tell you about Maintenance savings' ? if so , it's time to call Honda corporate about that guy.
  • kate_gkate_g Member Posts: 8
    "At the public stations I once got a real big slug of oil in the CNG. (the station had a bad compressor and it was sending out a lot of oil with the fuel)."

    Question: How could you tell? I mean, did you actually see the oil somehow? Or did the station tech just tell you the compressor was bad?

    And more generally, for anyone who might know... People have mentioned particular filling stations as being better or worse about how much compressor oil is in the gas... Again, how can you tell? Is it just that your fuel filter is dirtier after regular use of one station as opposed to another, or can you tell right away? I'll have a choice of a couple of stations on my regular route to work, and I'd obviously like to avoid "dirty" gas if possible. (I'm in CA, bay area, if that makes any difference.)
  • adeaadea Member Posts: 44
    Kate...I just had a repair bill over $600 on my 2000 GX with 120k miles because of 'dirty' fuel. The worst for oil is Trillium and next is CE. Never had ANY problems before I started using CE and Trillium. Now, I travel 30 miles just to get 'clean' fuel. (extra filtering so oil doesn't get in the fuel) I've been using CNG since '98 and when I used Trillium for one year in my Toyota Celica, the cng side didn't pass emissions! (gasoline passed with very low numbers)...I found out that all that oil going in with the fuel produced too many hydrocarbons and it didn't pass. Now, I was forced to use it again (less than 3 miles away), and this time major repairs! (injector, ignition control module, distributor cap, rotor, ignition coil, spark plugs, wires, and O2 sensor. I've also talked to drivers who told me that CE & Trillium caused problems for their vehicle too. So ask the station owners if they have extra filtering to keep the oil out and other contaminants...then ask other drivers that use that fuel to verify that they have had no problems.
    Garry
  • lakewood90712lakewood90712 Member Posts: 108
    It was with my 2000 cng crown vic , not my gx. the nozzle was a little oily , but the next clue was over 16 gge showing on the dispenser on a car with 10 gge total capacity. The station went down for major maint. (compressor shortly after that day) . Then my plugs fouled and a catalytic converter went bad . I do not recall if ford uses a filter or just a strainer.
  • kate_gkate_g Member Posts: 8
    Thanks for the tips, Garry. Who's clean, in your opinion? My only convenient options are going to be the Trillium station in Berkeley (which sounds like it should be my last choice) and a bunch of PG&E stations north of there. Looks like I could go a bit out of my way and get Pinnacle.

    Anyone in the PG&E service area with an opinion on their gas?
  • epnfrnepnfrn Member Posts: 87
    kate - i use the berkeley trillium on a regular basis. i have never had a problem, and i always worry about one person's problem at one station becoming a blanket statement of 'never go to trillium or CE or whatever'. clearly, if there is a castrophic problem, there is nothing you can do ... but if there is indeed some amount of oil coming through (and i personally don't have any reason to believe there is) then that is what those two filters are for!

    my neighbor works for PG&E and drives a CNG Camry. i brought this issue up with him once, and he reacted as if it is no longer a real concern. who knows for sure? it might be worth calling the Berkeley garbage folks down the street ... they have been filling up there for a long time, and their chief mechanic probably knows best what issues (if any) they've had.

    the one thing i really don't like about the trillium in berkeley is that ridiculous diesel engine that is used to pump up the pressure ... every time it fires up i think to myself 'yeah, CNG is better for the environment' ... too bad that ridiculous engine probably takes it back 2 steps for the 1 we're going forward.

    epi
  • 09gx09gx Member Posts: 3
    I'm at 10k miles right now and I've been reading that the high pressure fuel filter needs to be changed. Does anyone have the part # for this part?

    Also, does anyone know where or how to change this filter? I'm pretty knowledgeable about cars so I can probably change it myself, but I just don't know the location of the filter.

    thanks in advanced for your help
  • dejapoohdejapooh Member Posts: 40
    I have 40,000 (just turned it tonight). I have yet to change my fuel filters. From what I understand, The engine will begin to fail when they need to be replaced (water is the primary thing filtered). There will be no damage to the engine if you run until the filters are dirty. Because this is a gas fuel and not a liquid fuel, the filters work differently...

    Am I right here guys?
  • freedmlfreedml Member Posts: 43
    Where and how many fuel filters depends on the year.

    As far as the engine failing if you don't change the filters, that's correct, it will fail. If your fuel source has water and/or oil in it you can foul one or more of injectors which are expensive to diagnose and replace.

    I have a home compressor and utility gas, so I have virtually no chance of having oil or water in my gas. But, if you fill at commercial stations you are at greater risk. Or if your source is a home well you are at the greatest risk of problems from fuel contamination.
  • danamandanaman Member Posts: 5
    I am wondering where the fuel filters are located on my 1999 GX and any pointers you can give me on changing them.
  • venomous99venomous99 Member Posts: 1
    im the proud new owner of a 98 civic GX(124k miles), which i picked up over the weekend. the car was purchased by the previous owner from a fleet auction in sac so no maintenance records were provided to me at the time of sale.
    i tried to pull up more info on the specifics on the motor that are special for cng but couldnt find details online nor any helpful info from the user's manual, which basically is just a normal civic manual.
    question i have: in terms of maintenance what should i be looking at or better question is where can i find a maintenance schedule for these cars?
    ive read conflicting info about the fuel low and high filter replacement schedule. what is correct? low done at 10k mile and high at 30k?
    also as far as the oil filter, is this a normal civic filter or is there one specific for a gx? how difficult is it to change out the fuel filters? ive done routine maintenance on normal gas engines like changing out fuel pumps and filters but cng is a totally new world for me. i am mechanically inclined but definitely not a mechanic

    any other helpful info in terms of what i should look for on a car with this mileage will be helpful. i plan to do some of the normal tune-up items that are routine for a car w/ this mileage.

    does anyone know if its typical for gov agencies or pg&e to be on top of the maintenance for these cars? if so, is there anyway to pull-up records from honda if in fact the work was done there? it woudl be nice to not have to change out a timing belt if its not needed.
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