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Hello!

I just spent about 30 minutes at a honda service center frantically searching up maintenance schedules. I am always suspicious of the sales people, especially after they tried to sell me 100+ canadian dollars to replace my cabin filters, which I did myself for 30 for parts.

I was just wondering if any civic experts could share their opinion on the best way to maintain my vehicle without overpaying for service. The sales people at my service center seem to push services ahead of time to squeeze out extra dollars.

I am not much of a car guy, but I want my 2019 civic to last 200k+ kilometers, so your advice would be appreciated!

I have a preference to just get serviced with honda because they do general inspections even when I come in to just swap winter tires. They found a sweating engine gasket and are replacing it under warranty for me today.

My 2019 civic was bought in 2019 and has 48,000 kilometers driven. I am more of a stop and go city driver although I do take 3hr plus trips often during the summer and winter for beach/ski trips in Canada.

Here is my mindset with various maintenance items:

1. Engine oil and filter I just follow the A service schedule by the book when the vehicle computer tells me my oil life is up. This seems to be the most important to change frequently. I don't mind paying for this frequently as draining the oil is a hassle, and the price is decent at 70+.

2. B service's break service and inspection: the sales people always try to push me to do this annually and it is a hefty 300+ dollars... Is this really necessary? I drive my car regularly and I wash my car every 2 weeks to a month in the winter to be careful of salt corrosion. I am suspicious of doing this service annually... What do you guys think about how often I should do this?

3. Brake fluid was last done 2 years ago, and I have driven less than 20,000 km since then. How often should I do this? is this simple enough for me to watch on youtube and do myself? Dealer charges 130+ for it.

4. Transmission fluid never done since bought, so almost 5 years now and 48,000 km driven. Sales guy was really pushy on doing this but it seems transmission fluid can last a bit longer before I do it... What do you guys think is the optimal frequency? Is this also simple enough for me to watch on youtube and do? I am just kind of scared of amateurly doing something wrong following some random person on youtube and messing up my vehicle. Dealer charges 200+ for it.

5. They never bug me about engine coolant but I see it in checklists online. How often should I do this and is it something simple enough for me to do?

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Rep Power: 512

If you paid more than just parts for this, I would giggle to myself and judge you silently. lol. As you learned, it's stupidly easy to swap out

Yeah, this one, stick to the maintenance minder. My first oil change (I have a 2018 turbo hatch) I took it down to 5% oil life remaining, subsequent oil changes have all been between 10-15% oil life remaining

Service sales guys are always going to push services. If you're pretty **** retentive about attention to sale corrosion, I think you'll be fine. Every now and again, pull the wheels and take a look at brake pad thickness (both inboard and outboard). That's essentially what they're going to do, and maybe look at your brake fluid (color and level in the reservoir). I never noticed any braking issues in my car, but I pulled my wheels at about 70k miles (112k km) to get a visual of pad life, and I still had a solid 5-6mm pad thickness. I know the pads have the squeal indicators, but I've had those break off before. If thickness gets down to like ~3mm, swap the pads (and resurface the rotors). If you notice very noticeable vibration in the pedal upon braking, definitely do a visual inspection, and perhaps run your fingernail across the rotor surface (or straight up take your car in to get the rotors resurfaced).

Not going to lie, My 2002 Civic never had a brake fluid change over 215k miles (~350k km). Just a thorough bleed when I did a rear disc swap at like.. 60k miles (96k km). Manual says to do it every 3 years though so.. yeah.

The manual says to do it every 25k-30k miles (40-48k km). If you want the CVT to last, def keep up with that. I did mine at 43k miles (~70k km).

I'd just wait until maintenance code 5 pops up. Should be a simple drain and fill. It's about as intrusive as an oil change, just doesn't stain as much if you spill on concrete.
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Rep Power: 222

When you do the brakes just get new rotors, they're usually pretty rust choked amd not worth resurfacing.