My car has just hit this, but its technically my parents. I asked them about getting this checkup on the 04 Civic, and he basically said to not get it and just get the oil changed because it'd be pretty expensive maintainence for a cheap car.

Yeah, this is going to sound stupid, but I'm not sure as of what to do - bring it in for the checkup or just get the oil changed (as I've yet to do that, but have about another 1000 miles until 5k for an oil change has been reached.

Thanks

 

Well, oil changes are every 3,000 miles, and I wouldn't skip a routine maintenance, regardless of who says it's unnecessary.

 

Trust me do the 30k. Thats the major service. Oil change tire rotation trans service coolant service all air filters replaced everything checked over and tightened, throttlebody cleaned etc... I worked for a dealership for two years and we had people come from the region and randomly look at peoples service records and then have the tech pull the valve cover to check the engine. people that did all their services their engine looked brand new the people with just oil changes yea.... Plus the records are what a dealership goes on when granting extended warranty coverage like when your outside the factory warranty by alittle if you do just oil changes most the time they will say nope but if you do the maintenences they will cover it. Sorry for the long paragraph but i know how this works i did my 30k . It does cost alot though usually around 400.Do the 15k 30k 45k 60k etc these are minor and major services. in between those just oil change tire rotation....

 

So now would be a good time for you to learn something about the car .

Maintenance is very important like stated above. Sometimes it might seem like the dealship is just trying to get some more money out of you, but in the long run, they're right. My uncle for example does all his routine maintenance on his 88 Chevrolet pickup. It has well over 300k miles on it, and shows no sign of giving in.

I have a helms right here, so I will list the things it mentions.

Valve Adjustment........................30k miles or 30 months
Manual Transmission Fluid............30k miles
ATF Filter ...................................30k miles or 6 years
Transfer Case Oil........................30k miles or 3 years
Brake Fluid.................................30k miles or 2years
Antilock Brake System Fluid.........30k miles or 2 years
Clutch Hydrualic Fluid..................30k miles or 2 years
Engine Coolant...........................30k miles or 2 years
Rotate & Balance tires.................30k miles or as needed
Inspect all drive belts..................30k miles or 2 years

You can do almost 100% of this in your driveway in a few hours. Things like a valve adjustment, and balancing tires should be left to a professional. I would suggest you go and search on how to do a few of these things. You may disreguard a few of these things depending on weather your car is an auto or manual.

Hope that helped. If you have any questions you can ask here, or PM me.

 

^^^ Great post.

 

I was looking at the sign last time i was in the dealership for parts, and I think it said valve adjustment was $350 alone... Im not too stoked on that. Im just not too sure how much crap theyre going to give me for mods and stuff when they do the maintenance.

 

A valve adjustment costed how much? Thats rediclous. Go somewhere else and see how much they charge. I wish you were closer .

 

Yea... It sounded pretty ridiculous. I wouldnt pay that much to have it done anyways. When i drop the vtec head on, ill make sure the clearances are all good.

 

I've never heard of a valve adjustment costing that much... retarded imo.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bioweapon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yea... It sounded pretty ridiculous. I wouldnt pay that much to have it done anyways. When i drop the vtec head on, ill make sure the clearances are all good.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Have fun. Make sure you do your homework before you go ripping $h!t apart.

 

Thanks for the posts guys - I'll at least look into those things that 93eg2james posted and see if I can get my dad to work with me on getting those done at least.


...and he's saying to not even touch those things well, he's no help...


Modified by Ming3r at 3:16 PM 5/27/2007