New to 16yr old duaghter 03 Civic EX Coupe 220,000 service
 

BN to this forum, Daughter jsut bought with her own money a 2003 Civic EX 1.7L it has 217,000 miles. OUR first ever experience with Honda. I can not believe how well it runs and drives for a car with that many miles on it. In the next month I want to perform:
-timing belt, tensioner, H2O pump seal change Plan on getting Honda OEM kit offered by ebay.
-Will put in new plugs
-change tranny oil and engine oil.
-set lash
-SRS light is on the dash and will not go out.

We do our own work not a fan of dealers at all. I notice there is a Recall on airbags so will be calling the dealer on that.

What is the best manual to get to perform work on this car ? Any good sources of info on doing this.

She loves this car. It was one she could afford all on her own and it fits her.

Re: New to 16yr old duaghter 03 Civic EX Coupe 220,000 service
 

I would check to see if the car went in for the airbag recall.
Good luck with the car. Let me know if you need any small pieces, I am parting out a sedan and would be happy to send you whatever odds and ends at shipping cost.

Re: New to 16yr old duaghter 03 Civic EX Coupe 220,000 service
 

Re: New to 16yr old duaghter 03 Civic EX Coupe 220,000 service
 

Longisland4door sent you a PM with list : ) NOT sure what parts match up Sedan vs Coupe.

Per Honda site both driver side and passenger side air bags are on recall per VIN of the car. Not sure if that is why the SRS light is on, given it was a to high pressure issue when deployed. I am not an expert but just suspecting the worse. DO you suspect the SRS light is on and part of the recall issues ? OR will the dealer soak us for a lot more money to fix the light issue ?

-If tranny bad any forwarning. SO far it shifts real nice.
-engine has very slight tick only hear outside of car when idle, thinking the rockers need adjusting. I want to do the timing belt and as mentioned above.
Any ideas on the best manuals?
thanks in advance
Jim

Re: New to 16yr old duaghter 03 Civic EX Coupe 220,000 service
 

SRS light is not part of the airbag recall.

It will not be fixed for free unless somehow one of the recalled airbags were causing it.

Needs further diagnosis to see why the light is on in the first place.
The most common cause (but certainly not the only possible cause) is a bad seat belt buckle switch. If so, some dealers may cover it under a warranty, other dealers may not do so. It's up to the dealer if they will warranty it.


Somewhere in this site is a DIY guide for reading codes from the SRS system. Search?

Re: New to 16yr old duaghter 03 Civic EX Coupe 220,000 service
 

Your plans sound good. As far as the SRS light, it is most likely the seat belt buckle. I had it repaired on my 2004 under warranty 2 months ago. There are a few videos on you tube showing how to test the instrument cluster using wire jumpers, and pull up the code. I did the check before I brought it to the Dealership and told the service rep. the code number. He verified it, and repaired it a few days later after ordering the part, no charge.

Re: New to 16yr old duaghter 03 Civic EX Coupe 220,000 service
 

I used the honda service manual, but they are pricey. Sometimes i use my old Haynes just because it is less important.

you can try to see if any of the most recent links are working. I checked all the links to see if any worked, before i bought the actual manual myself from Heim, Inc.

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

also, if you are going to do the timing belt, do the tests shown in here in the first post. the second video is ezone (who posted above) for the head gasket - very famous issue in these cars.

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/3...reference.html

here, a few items that are more civic 7th gen specific to look into:

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

and several other things that you can find in the sticky posts (they are stuck into the top of the pages to make them easy to find :)

Re: New to 16yr old duaghter 03 Civic EX Coupe 220,000 service
 

I've done most of my own maintenance/repairs using the Chilton's manual:

http://www.themotorbookstore.com/civ...JLKBoC5unw_wcB

That, plus filling in the gaps with Google has served me well.

For the timing belt specifically, use the DIY at the beginning of this thread:

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...t-diy-2-a.html