Preventive Maintenance: First time civic owner
 

Greetings everybody> New to this, everything that is (forum, honda civic, working on a car) I recently bought a 2000 Honda civic DX Hatchback with 182,000 miles on it & am looking for ideas to to keep it running strong. So far I'v done new front shocks, fuel filter, flushed my radiator & switched from green to Honda blue, new spark plugs, replaced both of my oxygen sensors, New rotors & pads, new shoes in the back & have changed the oil 4 times now. I did all this by my self & got through it (thanks youtube) though I was wondering what more could be done without going over kill. Any ideas? ATF change? Cheers

Re: Preventative Maintenance: First time civic owner
 

-ATF change is pretty easy. All you need is a 3/8" ratchet or breaker bar. Don't even need a socket!
-ignition wires (easy)
-distributor rotor/cap (if you have distributor that is) (easy)
-if you have oil leaks, very likely that it is leaking from valve cover gasket and/or oil pan gasket and/or distributor oil seal. Distro seal is easy, valve cover gasket is easy (change the ones around the spark plug tube seals too, they come as a kit), oil pan gasket is more involved as you have to remove the front exhaust pipe (I did it on my 97)
-Timing belt; if you do this, there are kits which include new tensioner and water pump. You can just do the belt but you are there anyway. Also, if changing the water pump, you're doing the coolant again... If doing the timing belt you have to remove all the drive belts, so they can be changed at the same time if so desired (most difficult of all these jobs)
- tie rod ends
-bushings

Don't get too carried away changing stuff if you don't really need to

Re: Preventive Maintenance: First time civic owner
 

i am also new to this too and their was some good stuff mentioned in the thread. U said something about timing belts? I know they are extremely important but how do different belts effect performance? Or does it effect performance at all?

Re: Preventive Maintenance: First time civic owner
 

With that many replacing all the bushings will be a good idea if they are still the ones from the factory. It makes a huge difference. Mine were almost gone and it was pretty much metal on metal. Everything tightened up nicely. I used Energy Suspension Bushings.