Ive seen more honda oil burners (mainly civics though) than any other make on the road... maybe its because people love to keep them so long... so, here are my suggestions:
-even though hondas are, IMO overpriced in the secondary market, Ill bet you got a good deal on it, given that the age and mileage probably don't make it all that popular to the keeping up with the jonses crowd. You need to check first that the transmission is in excellent shape (drop the pan, examine the filter, etc.) and that the engine is in great shape and doesnt burn oil. Drive behind the vehicle, with the car in the whole range from full cold to full hot, and check for smoke during accelerating, etc. If either of these are the case, nurse it for a while to get some utility, but its not a million miler anyway.
-if all checks out OK, diagnise if there is a need for cleaning. Oil turning brown is not a need for cleaning, as additive packages change color when expoised to heat. Optimally, remove the valve cover/drop the oil pan, but at least open the filler cap and look for deposits, check the dipstick, etc.
-if you see what looks like deposits, get auto-rx and run it with a cheap dino oil (maybe havoline?) per the instructions. If you dont see deposits, you might consider using it anyway, given the age of the vehicle, but also consider changing the oil, and doing the Lubecontrol flush.
-purchase lube control one way or another, and use it - it seems to do great with respect to wear rates in engines. Also consider fuel power to keep the fuel system lubricated and clean.
-use a good oil, like chevron, havoline, pennzoil, motorcraft, troparctic, mobil or castrol GTX. Consider changing to a synthetic - use mobil 1 or mobil 1 EP.
-use used oil analysis (UOA) to ensure that all is well with the engine. If wear rates are low (because you use a good oil and lube control), consider extended drain intervals, provided lube control and/or synthetic oil is utilized. If youre not interested in extended drains, just use a good dino.
-replace coolant and ATF with OEM (dealer) fluids (not necessary if transmission fluid is dexron III or antifreeze is standard green, but otherwise stick with OE fluids) yearly, coolant could be done every other year if you like.
-remember that "change your oil hot and change it often" is a pretty good way to keep an engine healthy... Hot is always good... often if youre not using UOA/syn oil/LC.
-Avoid most all additives. The ones that IMO are good, based upon results seen here are: LC, FP, Auto-RX, schaeffers #132 oil suppliment, schaeffers neutra, specialty formulations SX-UP, valvoline oil suppliment, redline fuel injector cleaner, gumout regane fuel system cleaner, chevron techron cleaner, lucas upper cylinder lubricant... most others are worthless, useless, snake oil, or even harmful.
-drive gently! Nothing will help your car last better than driving it gently, to reduce stress on all systems.
I hope this helps
