Hi Forum. I just bought my very first Civic and had a couple of questions.

Just bought a Used 2002 Honda Civic LX 2 door (auto) Coupe without an Owners Manual.

1) What gasoline does this car take?

2) And also, the car is at 113,000 mileage. So Do I need to do anything special when getting oil changes and do I need to buy the stuff at the store to put in the gasoline tank when filling up because I'm at that mileage?

I appreciate it and I'm sorry for the n00b in me, not used to a Honda.

 

Just regular (87) and no to the second question.

 

All 1984-2005 Honda civics (except '99/'00 Si) are rated to use not just 87 but actually 86 octane fuel! That's means you should pretty much never have an issue with 87 unless the car is running like **** or you've modified it to run at a higher compression ratio. You can download the owner's manual from the Honda website. All you have to do is create an account (free) and provide them with a VIN so they can lookup your vehicle and give you the correct manual. The owner's manual is in PDF format. Oh and if you're tempted to print out the manual, don't because it's cheaper to just buy the thing than to print it.

 

So maybe wait till about 150,000+ mileage to do any special oil changes ect???

I'm looking on Honda.com and I can't find anything on Owners Manual. If you could give me a link I would so appreciate it.

Thanks guys!

 

Here's a link to purchase the owner's manual: http://www.helminc.com/helm/product2...610&itemtype=N

Has the timing belt and water pump been replaced yet? If not, you're due for them at 100,000 miles. Unless the car has been running on synthetic oil since day one, I'd suggest keeping standardized oil and running Honda oil filters (both items are available at the service desk of most Honda dealerships for rather cheap). Changing now could actually cause seals to leak, due to the change in oil composition.

 

Thanks for the link..

I'm not sure about the timing belt and water pump. I think I'm going to take it to Honda and get it all checked to be safe so I can have this car for a long time lol. LOVING this car!!!

 

If you take it to Honda the cost of the service repairs will probably exceed what you paid for the car. Honda technicians work from the service manual and thats what they base their recommendations on, they never deviate regardless of the actual condition of the car. Take it to an independent, but trustworthy mechanic to check the condition of the timing belt.

Otherwise, when I buy a new car if I don't have the complete service history I give it a good tune up.

Change the oil; stick with nothing but standard dino oil, like Matt said, switching to synthetic late in the cars life is often detrimental.

Change the transmission fluid; only use OEM fluid and change it gradually, drain the fluid out and replace it once with each oil change three times in a row. From then on do a change every 15k miles or so. It's also a very good idea to change the dipstick at this point, the plastic Honda used isn't very good quality and tends to shrink not holding the fluid in properly.

Change the air filters; oem is best of course, but NAPA gold are also very good quality if you want to save some cash.

Change the O2 sensor; stick with OEM, they're relatively inexpensive and it will dramatically improve mileage if it's never been changed.