Honda Civic 05 Maintenance

hi
I have a 2005 Honda Civic LX. the car has just passed its 36,000
mileage mark. According to the manual only the brake fluid needs to
be flushed and refilled.

What about the the transmission and coolant?. The manual states
110,000 miles but yet when i talked to the honda Serivice at the local
dealership they said i need to drain the cooland and transmission
every 30K miles.

Please advice who should i go with?
thanks

 

For the 846th time...do what's in the owner' manual. The dealer is an
independent businessman who is trying to sell you highly profitable service
which, while it won't hurt, isn't needed and therefore is not cost
effective.

But hey-- if it makes you feel good, change away!!

 

What the Honda dealership service people mean, is that it's time to
drain your wallet for unneeded services. Stick with the manual (#847).

Dan D
'07 Ody EX
Central NJ USA

 

Not to mention that "flushing" is the biggest scam. Drain and fill
fluids as specified by the owner's manual... period.

 

Honda contradicts its own franchised dealers: Honda, officially and very
specifically, warns against flushes of any kind.

 

Little aside: It seems to me that anytime a person or shop
uses some 32 oz. ( = 4 cups) of new brake fluid to
bleed-refill-yada their brake system, a flush has occurred.
By my calculations, and backed up by a few sources, the
typical car brake system holds less than half a cup of brake
fluid in all the lines and maybe another cup in the master
cylinder and reservoir.

 

each of the front calipers will hold at least half a cup if the pads
have any wear. unless you disassemble, all you're doing with calipers
is diluting the fluid, not really changing it - much like an automatic
transmission fluid change - and thus you need a larger volume of fluid
to achieve a decent degree of "refreshment".

 

What you're ultimately aiming for is the fluid to come out of the bleed
nipple the same color as what was in the new bottles of fluid you bought.
You put as much fluid through there until you achieve that end at each
wheel. It might take a quart, it might take less. This assures the fluid is
as fresh as it could reasonably be without a total rebuild.

I change our fluid every year, so there's not much color change from start
to finish. I just make sure about two full Master Cylinder's worth go
through for each rear wheel, and maybe one MC's worth for each front.
That's unscientific, I know, but it's easily and cheaply done and makes me
feel better.

 

You're right that the four front and rear cylinders are
holding what appears to be a fair amount of fluid, and that
they are not flushed like the main lines are when one does a
bleed. I would question what it is the dealer does when it
says it does a brake flush.

One aims for this, but how much insurance it is that the
cylinders are also flushed out is not clear to me. Not that
this is essential. I suppose pumping the brake pedal (as
dictated by some brake flush procedures) cleans out the
cylinders somewhat.

Probably splitting hairs at this point.

 

American Honda's recommendations, as you stated, are not conflicted. AHM's
positions are clearly stated, and are consistent.
Honda Dealers, are independent businesses, and choose to go their own way,
when it comes to superfluous additions to service.

The bottom line is the dealers are trying to maximize their profit.