zacher88

Hi i was wondering if someone could help me figure out the best maintenance schedule, best oil to use, for my 2004 Honda Civic Ex with 39000 miles. Sorry I'm new to the forum and any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated because I want my car to last as long as possible and drive well.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

as for oil, just use regular oil. no need for synthetic oil like Mobil1 and spending 50+ bucks on an oil change... every 5000miles change it. valvoline oils are great. use 5w-20 if u can. if not use 5w-30

when you hit 50k miles, change ur automatic/manual tranmission oil.

wannaBstuntin

+1 Regular oil will work fine. Especially for an unmodified Honda. If you REALLY want your car to last forever, spare no expense, then synthetics like Mobil1 are always a plus.

Transmission fluid is actually only recommended at the 60K mark, and every 40K after that.

Other than that, just keep an eye on things like coolant, air filters, tire inflation, brakes, suspension, exhaust.

Spark plugs, timing belt, water pump at 110K.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

^using m1 doesnt mean ur engine is gonna last forever...

for a d17 maxlife is probably the best bet after ur car hits 75k miles. alot better than M1 since it is deisgned for higher milages car. and thus it contains more moly

zacher88

All right I 've heard that 10w-30 can be bad for the engine in the long run is this true? And could someone recommend a good oil filter to use and is penzoil platinum full synthetic good to use? Is it really worth going synthetic?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

thats way too thick for a civic. 5w30 is the heaviest i would use and even that will break down over time to w20. not worth going synthetic, stay with regular and put some LC20 additive. K&N makes great oil filters.

Silvership05

whats the deal with synthetic? ive had some oil change places say once you go synthetic you can never go back that you always have to use synthetic, and some that say thats a myth.

cwo715

iTrader: (13)

You cant go back if its full synthetic because well regular oil is mineral based, whilst synthetic has nothing from the ground - oil, its made in a chemical lab from no ingredients based on oil, well maybe genetically altered but its like saying you wanna buy sand for your sand box instead you buy glass beads..

anyways, if you havent used synthetic yet, dont. Just use Synthetic Blended Oil (40% synthetic and 60% regular oil, doesnt matter by who, oil is oil), youll get the same benefits of synthetic oil but you wont be limited to just using synthetic. Also for maint schedule, change your oil ever 5-7k miles depending on your driving, sooner for longer driving, later on if your just driving it every other day. As for oil filters, just use purolator, napa, or even Honda filters, stay away from FRAM. Your at 39,000 miles; for a honda thats like still nothing, just 5w-20. As far as ATF or MTF, ATF should be changed sooner, say every 40k miles, as for MTF every 70k or so, again depending on how you drive. For fluid, just use basic MTF or ATF fluid. Change your spark plugs every 45k miles, I know honda says at 110k but seriously, if your driving it hard all over the place do it anyways.

Air Filters, go out and spend 40 bucks and pick up a Drop In AEM Dry Flow or a Drop in K&N you should change the air filter every 15k miles (again, depends on how you drive and where you drive), i just changed my timing belt, and waterpump at 70k miles, just because i do alot of commuter stop and go stuff. Everything is common knowledge, if you think you need to do something differently then do it, its not gonna hurt unless you put gasoline in your crankcase (dont do that), remember it just matters where you live and how you drive.