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My '03 Civic Si hatchback is at about 110k miles. I'm planning on doing a cross country trip soon and I'm wondering what you all would advise me to do as far as maintenance on my car before hand?

thanks

 
Rep Power: 353

for the trip:
1. oil change
2. inflate ur tires to the correct PSI
3. check ur coolant and change it if u havnt

and by 110k you should have already done:
your timing belt and all thats related to that (like water pump, the other 2 belts..etc)
spark plugs (if u havnt yet)

lastly, you should (by 110k) change ur manual transmission fluid (or at least change our 2L of it)

 
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I called the dealership to get some prices and the guy thought that my car has a chain, not a timing belt. Is he wrong?

 
Rep Power: 353

oh ****. i totally forgot you have a k20.

yes, you have a chain. you dont need a timing belt job. my mistake. sorry

 
Rep Power: 353

i would, however, still get ur power steering belt/AC compressor belt changed changed tho. they're due around 100k.

here is a list of the "timing belt job"

timing belt (doesn apply to you, but everything else here will)
powersteering & AC compressor belt
water pump
water pump gasket
tensioner

 
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Here's a run down of everything that he mentioned I should do on the phone:

manual trans. drain & fill
brake maintenance check
clutch brake fluid inspection
valve adjustment
replace spark plugs
serpentine belt check & replace if need
engine & cabin air filter check & replace if need

Is all this necessary? The car runs great but honestly I've been pretty lax on everything. The previous owner as well.

 
Rep Power: 353

manual trans drain and filll (very good idea)
brake inspection (you should bleed ur brakes to get rid of the bubbles)
valve adjustment (its always a good idea to do it. imma get mine done at 150k)
spark plugs (yes if u havnt already)
serpentine belt (thats the two belts i was talking about)
engine air filter (yes do this. its only like $12 bucks)
cabin filter (yes you should replace this, its cheap as well and easy to do)

 
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Which ones of these are easy enough for a total noob with a chiltons book and determination?

 
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you can leave the valve adjustment and the cabin filter, the others are very much recommended for a long trip.
replacing the brake fluid as well, not only bleeding (you need to bleed anyway when changing fluid - safety for you).
oil and coolant ok?

 
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I took it in to the dealership here and they told me the following were "important":

New battery - rating for my battery is 410 cca and it read 185 cca
Any certain kind of battery yall recommend?

Drive belt - said it's looking pretty worn, needs replacement.

Also "recommended"...

Valve adjustment and spark plugs
Transmission fluid service
Clutch and brake fluids
Oil switch, he said is wet, but not leaking yet.

 
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All of these are pretty easy and can be done yourself to save you a lot of money.

There should be DIY's for all of these around the forums.

 
Rep Power: 353

sa for battery, go to autozone and get their yellow top batteries. great batteries, amazing warranty.

 
Rep Power: 258

mehhh its a honda just drive it you will be fine.

 
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Are Truestart batteries decent? There is a shop around here putting them in as a special, for $87. Compared to $107 at Honda, or $115 + doing it myself with Autozone's gold top battery.