Mantenance intervals
 

I have been searching all night trying to figure out maintenance intervals for things like coolant flush, trans flush, brake flush, etc. I read my owners manual and maintenance book and the only thing that tells me is that the brake fluid needs to be flushed every 3 years. I have a 08 civic 1.8L. I have searched online and searched this forum with minimal results.

So what is recomended for how often to change brake fluid, coolant, trans fluid?

And what other things should I be doing to this car? It has just under 30,000 miles right now and I would like to stay on top of things!

Thanks for any advice you can share,
Scott

Re: Mantenance intervals
 

All your cars maintenance instruction are in the manual, but every time the oil life reachs 15% or less a code appears to the left of the screen its either A/B (meaning oil change) 1,2,3,4,5 or any combination A2 or B5 for example.

The meanings of the numbers are:
1) Tire rotation- Every 8-10k miles.
2) Air filters- Every 20k miles or annually.
3) Trans fluid- I believe Honda recommends every 30k miles, I would do it once every 15k miles at the minimum.
4) Spark plugs- Depending on the plugs minimum 25k miles.
5) Coolant- Every five years and you should change your rad cap on that cycle as well.

Brake fluid does not have an indicator, but it is every 3 years regardless of mileage.

It would be a good idea to clean out your throttle body at this mileage as well, which you can use either tb or carb cleaner.

Do you maintain your car yourself?

Re: Mantenance intervals
 

Thank you for the info Mindbomber. I read my owners manual and also the maintenance records book and could not find it in there, maybe I missed it but I looked pretty good, where in the manual is it? The only thing the manual said was when the dash indicators came on but I have always been told not to rely on the dash lights for things like oil change intervals and what not due to most of them not being accurate. Was always told that it was better to keep track of things and follow the recomended milage/time intervals. And the only thing I saw in the maintenance records book was the brake fluid every three years. So are the factory computers reliable and just follow what they say? I bought the car used with 27,000 miles so I'm right around the milage intervals to have some things done.

I plan to do some things myself. And have been reading around and searching about different things on here.

Thanks again for the info and any other advice you might have.

Re: Mantenance intervals
 

I'm not sure how reliable the Honda's factory computer is, since it's a feature exclusive to eight generation civics, many of the European makers have had similar systems for years though so it should be fairly reliable. I personally keep a little notebook in my glove box where I write down the date and mileage of anything thats done to the car.

At your current mileage I would clean out the egr with throttle body cleaner, clean out the throttle body, check the spark plugs, change the oil and the air filters. The engine produces the most carbon deposits while breaking in, and since your just past that change its a good point to do some preventative maintenance.

Re: Mantenance intervals
 

I called the dealership today and asked them about service intervals and this is what they told me-if you follow the computer for oil changes it tells you to get changed at 15% which he said was about 8000 miles, he recomended 50% which would be 4-5000 miles, or just watch the miles and changes every 5000 miles. He said brake fluid every 3 years, quoted me 55 dollars. Trans every 30 thousand miles, 65 to drain and fill. Coolant and plugs at 100,000. Cabin and air filter at 30 thousand miles.

I plan on draining and filling the trans fluid, flush the brake fluid(looking at the mityvac brake bleeder), cabin and air filters.

I have been reading about these things and found some DIY posts for the civics.

Re: Mantenance intervals
 

All maintenance can be done in the comfort of your garage (assuming you have one) at about 1/3 of the cost of stealerships.

Taking care of your car means doing it yourself, those techy's are paid to screw something up and coerce money out of your pocket.