Honda Civic Fuel, Oil, Cleaners & Other MaintenanceExtending the life of your Honda Civic requires the proper fuel, oil, and cleaners, along with other regularly scheduled maintenance. Keep your Honda Civic fuel and oil at the right levels to keep your Civic on the road longer.
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This is probably a stupid question, but as my 2004 Civic is my first car and I don't know much about maintenance...
I brought the car in for oil changes at 3,000 and 6,000 miles, and I'll bring it in again soon for 9,000. I know I also have to bring it for maintenance at 10,000 miles.
Now, should I have the maintenance done at the same time as the 9,000 mile oil change? Have the oil change done at 9,000 and then bring it again at 10,000? Or even have it at the same time as the 12,000 mile oil change?
Thanks for the help.
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you should wait at least 5000 miles between oil changes.
also next time you buy a car, dont change the factory oil at 3000 miles. factory oil comes with a high concentration of soluble moly, which helps the breakin. wait 5000 miles for that.
I saw that in the manual (7500 actually, it said, to get the first oil change), but I talked to my mechanic and he said get the first oil change at 3,000.
Also, I've been using 93 octane fuel, as he said he wouldn't even put 87 in his lawnmower because it's that bad... I see people at this forum said the complete opposite is true.
3000 is too early IMO because of the moly factor. and he probably said 3000 because there is still the common misconception that 3000 is the "norm". unfortunately it is hard for people to understand that oil changes can be made in much larger intervals, even as high as 15,000 miles with some synthetics.
and the 93 vs 87 octane. i seriously question he even knows what the hell he's talking about. there is no benefit to putting 93 octane in, and in fact, will probably cause quicker carbon buildup and slight loss of power at worst. use 87. and dont listen to this mechanic anymore.
there are far more knowledgeable people than him who have gone over this time and time again. your mechanic is wrong and is obviously unaware of the facts. not that he's a bad guy, but he has been greatly misinformed.
As far as oil changes go though... while you say it's not necessary to do it before 5,000 miles, can it hurt to do it every 3,000 miles? (Other than hurting the wallet, of course)
plenty of reasons to wait till 5000, the biggest being that the detergents in the oil that break down things like carbon don't take effect until 3,000. SO if you change at 3,000 you won't give the oil a chance to break down the carbon. While we're on the topic, a couple other tips: don't use synthetic oil (big waste of money on a non turbo or not so high compression engine) and use 5w-20, not 10w-30 or anything like that.
If money is no object you could change the oil every week. One wouldn't do that because it's a waste of time and money ergo, let's strike a balance.
Iffy Lube is owned by Pennzoil and they'd love to see you every 3k for more than oil changes if you'd let them. 3k changes is a thing of the past along with toilet paper oil filters.
It's a complete and utter waste of time and money. Go to 5k because the technology is advanced enough to make that a minimum number of miles. 7.5k is also quite doable depending on your application.
The VTec system is a product of design evolution/technology and so is ABS. You don't poo-poo those so why do the same with the better oils.
3k mile change is directed at cars with bad compression(not compression ratio) aka fuel blow by, the richer the car runs the more blow by there is because the fuel isnt getting burned up like it should. Fuel gets into the oil and brakes it down. Thats what give oil the dark color over time, fuel. Our cars run around 16:1 a/f, which is very lean and very emissions likeable. which means we can go longer without changing the oil, although i personally wouldnt go more than 5k miles.
3k mile change is directed at cars with bad compression(not compression ratio) aka fuel blow by, the richer the car runs the more blow by there is because the fuel isnt getting burned up like it should. Fuel gets into the oil and brakes it down. Thats what give oil the dark color over time, fuel. Our cars run around 16:1 a/f, which is very lean and very emissions likeable. which means we can go longer without changing the oil, although i personally wouldnt go more than 5k miles.
Well, yeah, I just didn't want to get that technical. Generally speaking, a car with higher compression ratios have more blow by, look at the BMW M3 that literally eats oil until it is broken in (around 15-20k). But yeah, he's right. My point is simplely that you don't have a performance engine, don't waste money treating like it is a performance engine becasue you won't help it. Honda civic are by design low maintance cars.
My point was that auto performance technology improves year after year and we've embraced the changes i.e., Vtec and ABS as improvements in the safety, performance and quality of our rides.
Oil is better now than it was a few years ago and we should use the advanced oil technology in the ways it was designed for.
Hard driving, high RPMs, track time, lots of freeway driving at normal speeds and a desire for longer drain intervals suggests a quality syn.
Average driver with some blasts and thinner wallet suggests 5k changes with 5w-20 dino.
It's been my experience that with all things being equal, there isn't much of a difference in oil/engine cleanliness with either dino or syn changes at 5k. High temp operations or longer intervals is where syns shine.
Keep in mind that even syn oils are differerent. Some brands such as RL 5w-20 are nearly as thick as M1 5w-30 and M1 5w-20 is thinner at temp than RL. RL has good shear qualities and a solid TBN number but it isn't as easy to find as say, M1.
It all depends on your app but I wouldn't stress too much over it. M1 5w-20 would be my first recommendation if you wanted the benefits of syn without paying boutique oil prices but if you wanted to spend less any of the dino 5w-20's would be fine. Havoline, Motorcraft, Castrol or you pick 'em.
If you are running at max RPMs or high load/temp I'd suggest M1 5w-30 from Wally World in the economica 5 qt jugs.
Make sure you use a good filter such as K&N, M1, PureOne, Amsoil but nothing orange.
I see. We agree then, synthetic isn't going to give much benfit in a stock civic.
To the oil filter list, add Hondas OEM one. Not the rebagded FRAM one, Honda has two filters, one a rebadged Fram filter and one made by someone else I forget who, but the non fram one is good too.
Black 2004 Manual Coupe EX 
