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Hey what up? I'm new to this forum but not to cars. My girlfriend bought a 2003 Civic LX a few weeks ago.

She got a great deal imo I think she paid close to wholesale, car has 165,000km's(100k miles) the timing belt was replaced at 150k , also had an alignment done(done by honda, guy gave me a $800 receipt for the work) also new wheels/tires put on at the same time. She also got the stock set of steelies and hub caps but the tires are junk. The car came with really nice rubber floor mats too which is a bonus.

It was a long day of trying to pick out a car for her though and I missed a couple things. The car is clean on the outside really there is only 1 door ding and a small tear in the front bumper, so I'm happy with that. The interior has a few blemishes the car was smoked in and there's a small burn in the driver seat and rear bottom cushion, also there was something spilled into the passenger seat and the trunk smells like vinegar. There's something stuck to the lid of the cup holder(like silicone or something). Yesterday she picked me up at night time and I noticed that the back lighting on the a/c button and the air recirculate button are burned out. The maint req light was on as well. But for a used car that's not to bad at all.

So far I've done the following to get it back into top shape for her.
- oil change, i used 5w20 maxlife and a honda filter
- oem air filter
- replaced cabin filters(soooo dirty!! def glad I did this) also when I had them out I put just the cases back in and ran a lot of antibacterial fabreeze through the heat and a/c from the outside air vent.
- rented a rugdoctor and cleaned all the upholstery, the seats cleaned up pretty nice and there was only 1 stain in the driver side foot well but its not very noticeable.

So now the car is starting to look pretty good. I still would like to do a few things to it though and would appricate some insight on the following.

- air box (there was 1 missing screw and 1 broken screw when took the cover off, I broke a screw putting it back together ) I'm thinking I'll have to replace the bottom part of the air box and put new screws in, any better or cheaper way to do this?
- replace the back lights for the a/c and recirculate. I searched and all I can find is how to put blue led's in, I want to keep it factory. Where would I buy replacement bulbs? is there a write up on how to replace these somewhere?
- how does the cup holder lid come off? If I cant get the silicone off I'll replace the lid. Is there a good source online for finding used parts like this?
- What other maintenance should I be doing at 160k(100k miles)? I'm thinking about doing the o2 sensor and possibly change the manual transmission fluid, whats the best oil to run in the trans?


So as you can tell I'm a little excited for the new toy. I plan to do all or most of the work on it myself to save her money and she likes when I do **** like that for her. I just kinda like cars though so win win.

end rant/
I'll be around. haha
Cheers Dudes!

 
Rep Power: 208

Welcome. The maintinence required light can be reset. I am sure you can find out how by doing a search in here. Your local parts store can help you find a compatible fluid otherwise use Honda fluid.

Remember. The search function is your friend. All of the stuff you mentioned has been discussed already, you just have to find it.

 
Rep Power: 229

i'm pretty sure the stock "bulbs" behind all the switchs are just red LEDs. no biggy, instead of using the "blue" ones use red and fallow the DIY.

if they already did the timing belt then they also probably did the

water pump
o2 sensors

you could check and if they're not in good condition, replace them. the o2 sensor might be hard to know.

as for the bottom of the airbox, probabley a waste of money to buy a used one. you could try craigslist or ebay, or a scrap yard. i'd just make sure the other three screws are in good and call it a day if you want to keep it stock.


if you really want to get dirty you could look up how to change the fuel filter.

i'd also advise these handy tips from gearbox

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...e-up-mods.html

 
Rep Power: 208

^ Fuel filter is a often neglected item and I highly reccomend replacing it!

Good one mac25!

 
Rep Power: 234

-First 2 questions: Use the new-oem links and compare prices to find the best. Pull those bulbs and replace at any autoparts store.

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/8...ead-first.html

-Take out #41 and pry up from the back. You may have to take the whole console out to do it tho (this is one of the links mentioned above): http://www.hondapartscheap.com/south...t=0&quantity=0

-O2 sensor isn't a bad idea if you don't know if it's ever been changed as it can severely affect gas mileage. How is the mpg? If it's not bad, don't worry about it now. Check the tranny fluid first- if it's dark or burnt smelling, don't change it. If it seems ok, use Honda Manual Transmission Fluid ONLY.

-Just as a precaution check all the rubber parts of the suspension and motor mounts. Stock springs tend to sag and the struts tend to wear prematurely too.

 
Rep Power: 285

You could also just buy three matching screws from an auto-parts store, paint the heads black with some spray paint and you'll never know the difference.

The lights behind the climate controls are LEDs, just remove them and replace them its simple.You'll be able to find the DIY here under climate controls.

I'm not sure if the 02 sensors design changed in 03 or 04, but the later ones in 7thgens are around $700.

+1 on Gearbox's forgotten tune-up mods.

 
Rep Power: 229

sorry, i also forgot

spark plugs
plug wires
plug tubes

check the battery

tire pressure

if you havn't already, you sound like you would have already.

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks for the response guys, very helpful. I'm liking the fact that you can find all these parts catalogs and stuff online for the car.

Checked the tire pressures, didn't check the plugs or wires. I think they will be fine for now.

I think my plan will be to replace the trans fluid, evap filter and possibly o2 sensor at the next oil change. She gets decent mileage, got about 600+km to 7/8 tank on the way home and a bit of running around. Its hard to tell what gas mileage she'll get though she's still trying to figure out how to drive the car. She knows how to drive manual but she leaves it in 5th to climb hills at WOT and stuff which is going to eat her mileage like crazy so I hopefully got her figuring it out now. I'll probably look for a used air box somewhere to.

I didn't check ball joints or anything just pretty much had a look at the cv boots and steering rack boots and they were in good shape so I stopped there. There shouldn't be any worn suspension parts right now with an alignment being done 15k ago and none of the tires are wearing weird so I'm not to worried about this for now.

Do these cars have any grease zerks?

Replacing the dash bulbs looks like it will be kind of a pain in the *** though. Might attempt this on Sunday. One of her backup lights is out too but that one should be real easy.

I'll let you guys know how it goes, might post some pics too.

 
Rep Power: 511

The LEDs, are you talking about the idicator lights or the ones that light the buttons uP at night? The indictator lights are LEDs soldered to the circuit board. A bit time consuming to get to, and you gotta be careful with a soldering iron. The dash lights to light em up at night are small incandescent bulbs, 2 bulbs for the 3 buttons.

Plugs, yes to check. We don't have spark plug wires like an engine with a distributor, so no need to check those. We have a distributor-less coil-on-plug system.

 
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They don't light up at night, the defrost lights up but the other two buttons don't. But the green light for the a/c come on when you press the button.

I need to search how to change those lights, looks like I have to pull the cd player out or take the dash apart and then pull the button assembly out from the back? Something like that anyways, haven't put much thought into it yet haha. It'd be nice if I knew what bulbs to get so I could do it all without having to run to the store to get one.

Anyone know a part number for the bulbs?

Edit: found this thread - https://www.civicforums.com/forums/3...ton-bulbs.html

bulb numbers included, might not be as bad as I thought. To bad Honda will be closed tomorrow, I'll have to hold off til next week to do it.