With the sudden and unexpected demise of my tired old 1994 Chevy Corsica, I've been in the market for a good used vehicle for a few days. After some shopping around, I've purchased a 2004 Honda Accord. Actually, this will be the wife's car- I'll inherit her trusty 2001 Chevy Lumina.
I'm impressed with the car so far. It has the 2.4L 4 cylinder, but is A LOT faster than our V6 Lumina. A little faster than the V6 Corsica. It's the EX model... lots of fancy gadgets to break IMO, but the wife likes it. Has 85,000 miles. Normally I'm FAR too cheap to purchase a vehicle like this, but I got a screamin' deal. Long story... involves a salvage title. Not for the faint of heart... but for about 60% of KBB value (less $$ than a comparable GM with a clear title), I'm willing to give it a try.
So my question is about maintenance. I've never owned an import before, and have rarely worked on them. I'm a diesel mechanic by day, and a mechanical engineering student by night... so I'm not afraid to work on this thing- but I'm pretty clueless when it comes to imports. So bear with me.
I know from having spend way too much time on the BITOG site that I need to run Honda-specific ATF and p/s fluid in the car.
I know that I can no longer just dump 15W40 into the engine like I've done for so many years with my domestic vehicles. The oil cap says 5w20. Pretty thin by my standards, but I know lots of people use it with good results.
How important is it that I run 5w20? Will 5w30 work just as well, or had I better stick with what Honda recommends in this case?
What about oil change intervals? I've been changing the Lumina's conventional 15W40 at 5000 (mostly highway) miles with good results... and I changed the Corsica's oil at 3000 (mostly city) miles. I've seen people on BITOG talk about some ridiculously long OCI's with Hondas... what is the standard? I'll look all this up in the owner's manual eventually, but it's in the car- and I won't have the car until Tuesday.
I seem to recall that the transmissions on these vehicles have a rather small fluid capacity, and that SOME Hondas do not have a serviceable filter. Although I've heard elsewhere that Accords DO have a serviceable filter. Can anybody correct me where I'm wrong here? How does one change the filter (if it exists)? What's the usual interval? Is Honda ATF strictly necessary... or will some aftermarket brands work?
Other questions:
Timing belt?
Coolant flush?
Brake fluid specs?
Thanks for any and all advice. I think this will be a good vehicle, but there's gonna be a steep learning curve.
I'm impressed with the car so far. It has the 2.4L 4 cylinder, but is A LOT faster than our V6 Lumina. A little faster than the V6 Corsica. It's the EX model... lots of fancy gadgets to break IMO, but the wife likes it. Has 85,000 miles. Normally I'm FAR too cheap to purchase a vehicle like this, but I got a screamin' deal. Long story... involves a salvage title. Not for the faint of heart... but for about 60% of KBB value (less $$ than a comparable GM with a clear title), I'm willing to give it a try.
So my question is about maintenance. I've never owned an import before, and have rarely worked on them. I'm a diesel mechanic by day, and a mechanical engineering student by night... so I'm not afraid to work on this thing- but I'm pretty clueless when it comes to imports. So bear with me.
I know from having spend way too much time on the BITOG site that I need to run Honda-specific ATF and p/s fluid in the car.
I know that I can no longer just dump 15W40 into the engine like I've done for so many years with my domestic vehicles. The oil cap says 5w20. Pretty thin by my standards, but I know lots of people use it with good results.
How important is it that I run 5w20? Will 5w30 work just as well, or had I better stick with what Honda recommends in this case?
What about oil change intervals? I've been changing the Lumina's conventional 15W40 at 5000 (mostly highway) miles with good results... and I changed the Corsica's oil at 3000 (mostly city) miles. I've seen people on BITOG talk about some ridiculously long OCI's with Hondas... what is the standard? I'll look all this up in the owner's manual eventually, but it's in the car- and I won't have the car until Tuesday.
I seem to recall that the transmissions on these vehicles have a rather small fluid capacity, and that SOME Hondas do not have a serviceable filter. Although I've heard elsewhere that Accords DO have a serviceable filter. Can anybody correct me where I'm wrong here? How does one change the filter (if it exists)? What's the usual interval? Is Honda ATF strictly necessary... or will some aftermarket brands work?
Other questions:
Timing belt?
Coolant flush?
Brake fluid specs?
Thanks for any and all advice. I think this will be a good vehicle, but there's gonna be a steep learning curve.