dem0nk1d

So I recently rebuilt the d17a1 from the bottom up. I know at the first 500 miles I will be draining the oil, and switching to synthetic. What do you guys recommend once the break in period is over on routine scheduled oil changes? Every 3k or 6k? Also I’m thinking I will install the inline oil filter for the auto transmission, and change auto trans fluid every 10k. Seems like over kill but then end result should be flawless I would like to think.

mikey1

ATF lasts forever, changing it every 10k is nuts,

i change my engine oil and filter about every 8,000km which i believe is what the manual recommends

dem0nk1d

Roughly 5,000 miles is what you're doing. And for the ATF you don't recommend changing it yearly. It's only about 2 qts that will drain out.

Artificial

iTrader: (1)

Depends on the oil. Conventional, I'd go 3,000mi-4,000mi. Full synthetic 5,000mi-6,000mi. And extended life full synthetic whatever it says, some are 7,500mi some are 9,000, some even more. If you get an extended life oil, make sure you get a filter that is extended life as well.

fsckewe

Well, if ya go by the book, I believe it says for oil changes every 5k for severe and 10k for normal conditions with the filter every other oil change. Changing your oil every 3,000 is dumber than **** and a waste of money. Unless of course you have sent your oil in for analysis and have some proof that the oil breaks down in your engine that soon.

As for the trans fluid. Normal is 120k, severe is 60k. Adding an external filter should help you out, though.

ezone

Oil changes for me would totally depend on conditions and the quality of the oil used.
A really loose set of guidelines might have to do with time, miles vs. conditions, condition of the engine, and color of the oil.

The best is by oil analysis.

I have written on this before, my own vehicles would appear to be all over the map on oil changes.

Most of the 7th gens can go 10,000 miles on easy service. Someone HAS to check the oil and keep it full though.
Most critical is keeping the oil full, establishing and knowing the consumption rate (through checking the oil regularly).

Oil life:
Extreme examples (general):
If you fire up the engine and drive 3000 miles non-stop from one coast to the other, that's like 3 days of service on the oil. I bet it would still look clean and new. You have a ton of driving left on that oil. You could go an easy 10k or more if you keep driving like that.

OTOH someone might go 3000 miles all driven in town, short trips 3 miles at a time, a cold start every time, winter driving, fuel dilution, condensation, acids.......that is very severe service and the oil might be toast at 3000 miles. Low quality oil would have been toast long before that 3k was reached. Great oil could still have life left.






ATF, I overkill on Hondas, mainly because of the crummy track record they have on crapping their transmissions (in general). If you can prolong the inevitable with frequent fluid services, I try to do just that.





This doesn't necessarily apply to 7th gens, but on some of the other cars I can guess pretty accurately by the timing of the failures what sort of service history the transmission has.

fsckewe

^^^^^ A much more elegant, professional and well thought out response. Please disregard my ignorant response.

ezone

That wasn't ignorant.
I was trying to point out that there is no single answer, blanket rules don't work for everyone. 3K is definitely overkill for most people though, but not everyone.

3K oil changes primarily benefit the Speedy oil change industry. (Follow the money.)
(Although there are vehicles that specify 3k oil changes right in the manual.)
JMHO. YMMV.

Civicnoobie

I do a drain and fill on my ATF every 6 months and i drive 13-14k KM a year. I do it because a single drain and fill only gets out 1/3 each time so to get it all new fluid, say replacing at a yearly drain and fill, that would take 3 years! 3 years for me = 45k km. too long.

rjones7755

I think the tranny fluid change killed my tranny....about 3k after i replaced the fluid it failed....Im thinking it could be similar to switching to synthetic oil, where the only thing holding your seals/gaskets together was engine sludge and once you eliminate it.....it goes bad. Lol just a wild theory.

pjb3

If all you did was replace 3 qts of fluid I doubt it had anything to do with the failure.

This probably does not apply to you but I think a lot of auto transmissions fail after they are serviced for the reason that most people ignore the AT until they start to suspect a problem and then they hope a fluid change will fix it.

fsckewe

I was calling my response (#5) ignorant, in that it was not very elegant nor polite.
I completely agree with your assessment and think it was well thought out and articulated. You've made the points I only wish I had. That is all.

I "inherited" my 2003 civic from my wife when it already at ~90k miles on it. Cold slippage had already occurred. I performed the first D&F it had ever seen. Wishing it would have been done earlier. I wouldn't say 45k km is too long, but that's just opinion. I'll probably do a D&F once a year from here on own in hopes I can baby the transmission for a few more years.

Probably a pretty good guess/generalization. 120k miles seems like an awful long time. With the early 7th gen civics showing some auto trans failures(albeit a very low percentage) it's probably good preventative maintenance to be a bit more diligent. A drain and fill once a year(every ~12k miles) wouldn't be the worst thing you could do.

ezone

^^^THIS.^^^

And some of these cars have a ticking time bomb for a transmission. Maybe it was just time for it to go.

rjones7755

I didnt have any trouble at all with my tranny, just replaced the fluid as routine maintenance. Then out of nowhere one day it slipped really bad leaving a stop light. Im not saying the tranny fluid change killed it, just might have taken the band aid off of an already faulty tranny.

Civicnoobie

I could go probably go a year in between drain and fills cause i dont drive much and i do more highway miles than stop and go to save the wear on the trans but is it worth the risk? The ATF is dirt cheap. Drain and fill has gotten easy, even though it still takes me a good hour to do cause I constantly check the dipstick after to get it right on the max line and just having to pull the dipstick out so many times to get an accurate reading is a real pain. A real nousense getting it right on the max line.

what year trans was that?

mikey1

a relative of mine has over 200,000km on their ORIGINAL ATF, i have advised them NOT to change the fluid for this exact reason, i think its to the point where a fluid change would do more harm then good, the tranny is working perfectly, and for the age of the fluid it still actually looks clean,