Civic maintenance

Hi guys, I have recently purchased a brand new honda civic VTI, couldn't be happier. :)

Anyway I was reading the manual and it was recommended that I buy Honda range of motor oil, transmission fluid, coolant, power steering oil etc to properly maintain the civic.

I just wana get some opinions on this, are people on this forum mostly use Honda's product or do they just get products off autoshops like Castrol etc. If so, are there specific 3rd party products made for Civic lines. (sorry I have very little knowledge of car and let alone maintenance).


thanks people

well....they also say dont mod yer car..
and are you gonna mod it?

if you are gonna mod yer civic, then what the manual says would be BS
you can use their products, but that'll be doubling or triple the cost you get for a similar quality aftermarket product

mate, you can really use anything. oil is oil, as long as its the correct type of oil, having a honda logo on the bottle of oil wont make a difference, as well as transmission fluid etc. may i ask why you ask these questions? if you dont know anything about maintaining cars etc, then surely you yourself wont be conducting the services... and if you got a cheaper shop to do it then that would be fine, so long as its not some really dodgy place which would void your warranty, otherwise just get honda to service it, they usually cost me below $200 a service, so its not as much a rip off as say Audi and BMW as when we get those serviced, they are around the $600 mark

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Originally Posted by Fung

well....they also say dont mod yer car..
and are you gonna mod it?

if you are gonna mod yer civic, then what the manual says would be BS
you can use their products, but that'll be doubling or triple the cost you get for a similar quality aftermarket product

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Point noted however please do not mislead. Honda OEM power steering fluid for one is a must as everything damages the seals and eventually the pump itself will fail, not sure what vehicle it was but if it has CVT transmission another Honda only fluid there or the start clutch will require replacing. And usual fluids such as Oil and coolant you may use aftermarket as long as you stay within the specifications usually found in the service manual.

I use Castrol Magnetic for my moms car and stick with OEM filters.

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Originally Posted by Sherweeeny

oil is oil, as long as its the correct type of oil, having a honda logo on the bottle of oil wont make a difference, as well as transmission fluid etc.

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Not what Castrol thinks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj5ms9PJDNY

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Originally Posted by shadou

Point noted however please do not mislead. Honda OEM power steering fluid for one is a must as everything damages the seals and eventually the pump itself will fail, not sure what vehicle it was but if it has CVT transmission another Honda only fluid there or the start clutch will require replacing. And usual fluids such as Oil and coolant you may use aftermarket as long as you stay within the specifications usually found in the service manual.

I use Castrol Magnetic for my moms car and stick with OEM filters.

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true that, but yeah i am a noob, ive still got a lot to learn =P i dont know whats necessary yet for a OEM product, but my point was, everything you buy, they recommend you should buy genuine products after.... Its like buying authentic DVDs to watch...its a should, but who really does it, every1 ended up watching them online, downloading them...

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Originally Posted by Fung

true that, but yeah i am a noob, ive still got a lot to learn =P i dont know whats necessary yet for a OEM product, but my point was, everything you buy, they recommend you should buy genuine products after.... Its like buying authentic DVDs to watch...its a should, but who really does it, every1 ended up watching them online, downloading them...

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I don't want to be one on specifics but digital data is pretty much 100% of what source it came from and engine oils and digital media aren't exactly the same boat =P . In terms of your car oils are different and thats where there are differences, just stick to whats within the requirements and there are people who have had different experiences with different oils so just keep ur eye out on what everyone thinks. I think you should just be happy that car is running hehehe.

LOL~~ then i guess i shouldnt be surprised if my car blew up one day XD

For brake fluid, clutch fluid (manual), gearbox fluid (auto and manual), power steering fluid and coolant, you should use Honda OEM stuff. For engine oil, you can use any engine oil as long as the viscosity is correct, and the quality is better than Honda FEO engine oil. So stuff like Mobil Synth S (Mobil 2000) or Castrol Edge 5w-30 will be good, while others like Castrol GTX3 15w-40 is not so good.

Hahaah engine oil, refer to my first post XD

If I buy the engine oil from autoshops, is there like a chart or table what tells you what engine oil goes with honda cars? or just stick with the Mobil Synth S (Mobil 2000) or Castrol Edge 5w-30. But I don't actually see any specifications for engine oil in the manual like someone suggested.

I think with coolant, brake fluid using third party products wouldnt be too bad.

With transmission fluid and power steering, I am not so sure on these two, anyway I just wanted to know what everyone is using, Honda OEM or aftermarket.

While your car is under warranty. OEM all the way..

Oem.. Mainly because i have it serviced at honda

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Originally Posted by Steven12

If I buy the engine oil from autoshops, is there like a chart or table what tells you what engine oil goes with honda cars? or just stick with the Mobil Synth S (Mobil 2000) or Castrol Edge 5w-30. But I don't actually see any specifications for engine oil in the manual like someone suggested.

I think with coolant, brake fluid using third party products wouldnt be too bad.

With transmission fluid and power steering, I am not so sure on these two, anyway I just wanted to know what everyone is using, Honda OEM or aftermarket.

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For engine oil, I'd stick to something good. Castrol Edge 5w-30 is great if it is within your budget. Going down a step, the Mobil Synth S is also reasonable for the asking price of $32.

For coolant and brake fluid, you'd be better off with OEM. They are fluids that you don't change often, so stick to OEM as you know they won't cause water pump corrosion or brake seal swelling. No point going with a cheaper aftermarket alternative.

For transmission fluid, as long as you use a 75w80 synchromesh fluid for the manual, that's fine. Again it is not a fluid that is changed often, so just use OEM and change it every 2-3 years. If you have an auto, you MUST use OEM Honda ATF.

Power steering is another one that you must use OEM Honda, just because of the seals. But again, you don't change this often so just use OEM Honda and leave it in there for the next 5-7 years.

In terms of motor oil consumption, does anyone here have a rough figure of oil replenishment for say every 10,000km?

er what the ? for a new vehicle oil consumption (burning or loss of) would be minimal and usually from factory it's overfilled by a touch (plus 1st service/1 month would've checked you oil). Your owners manual should state a regular oil check I think every month..
If that answers the question

like how many litres of motor oil per 10000 km?

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Originally Posted by aaronng

For coolant and brake fluid, you'd be better off with OEM. They are fluids that you don't change often, so stick to OEM as you know they won't cause water pump corrosion or brake seal swelling. No point going with a cheaper aftermarket alternative.
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I just changed over to MOTUL RBF400 DOT4. Brakes work way better than before, i think its better than the OEM stuff.

still no comprehending what you mean, but if it's the amount of oil your engine requires per 0-10,000km interval I think from scratch it's 3.8-4.2litres (include filter), can't remember the exact amount.

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Originally Posted by wokstar88

I just changed over to MOTUL RBF400 DOT4. Brakes work way better than before, i think its better than the OEM stuff.

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If you had changed over with OEM stuff, your brakes would still work way better than before. Your brake fluid was old and needed changing. The OEM brake fluid is almost like RBF400. If you wanted an upgrade for track to withstand high temperature, then RBF600 would be an option. But for street, you won't find a difference if you were comparing new OEM fluid to new RBF400 fluid.

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Originally Posted by Steven12

like how many litres of motor oil per 10000 km?

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Mine consumes 0L per 10000 km. The worst engines I've seen do 1L per 1000 km.

so for new vehicles the engine oil should remain the same level until the next oil change?


ohe yeah, another thing with the car is, sometime I get an unnatural feedback when my foot press the break pedal, sometimes when I am driving fast and break and sometimes not, is this ABS or whatever braking control system at work? ( I have driven cars with ABS or EBD).

er what kind of a feeling is it ? Unless hard braking ABS should not be kicking in under normal driving conditions.

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Originally Posted by Steven12

so for new vehicles the engine oil should remain the same level until the next oil change?


ohe yeah, another thing with the car is, sometime I get an unnatural feedback when my foot press the break pedal, sometimes when I am driving fast and break and sometimes not, is this ABS or whatever braking control system at work? ( I have driven cars with ABS or EBD).

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It depends on engine condition. My car has 82000km on it and is 5 years old but consumes 0L per 10000km. I let the engine idle for 30 seconds before driving off and also limit the amount of throttle and rpm to between 2000 and 3000 without lugging the engine until twice the time it takes for the coolant temperature to reach the middle.

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er what kind of a feeling is it ? Unless hard braking ABS should not be kicking in under normal driving conditions

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you press down the pedal, and the pedal reverberates abit, freaked me out a little the first time.