Buying a used Civic - owner did ~10K OCI's

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

BrianL

Joined
Nov 6, 2005
Messages
128
Location
TN
I'm looking at an '04 Civic with 25K. The owner (female) says it's only had 2 OC's (and claims Honda recommends every 10K). I don't know at what mileages it was changed, but she says she's due for another OC, so maybe it wasn't as long as 10K OCI's. I'll assume it's dino oil with regular filters.

Anyway, would you buy or pass for this reason? Or do I need to find out at what mileages and what kind of oil?
 
I think you'll be ok at only 25K at this level of (neglect?) If she'd never changed the oil, I'd have a different answer for you.

Snag it, drive it home and change it over to a diet of Mobil 1 EP 5w30 and you'll be good until it's time to change the timing belt. ;-)
 
Honda does recommend 10k mile OCIs for some of their vehicles. I believe the Civic is included in this. I would agree with your assumption that dino oil was used especially since changed by the dealer. However, I would always encourage more data gathering. Does she have any receipts?
I would be more interested in her driving style to determine oil condition. It's very possible everything is still fine. You could run a bottle of ARX & you should be fine in any case.
Why is she wanting to sell?
How is the rest of the car?
 
If she doesn't have the service receipts/records, the dealership can provide a copy (assuming the work was performed by the dealer).
 
10,000 miles on conventional is a long way. But if the car runs good and the price is right with only 25,000 miles everything might be okay.

Take a close look at the oil on the dipstick. If it looks like tar you might want to look at another vehicle. Does it smoke or run poorly? Can you manage to get a look at the spark plugs? Spark plugs tell a story about engine condition.

There are a lot of women who abuse oil changes. I am not trying to say anything negative about women (there are also women who are some of the best mechanics) and there are men who are worthless maintaining a vehicle. But I have met a lot of women in my life who could not tell you the last time they changed the oil in their cars.

If you do buy the car I highly recommend an Auto-RX cleaning just to be safe. And if you want to do 10,000 mile oil changes I would recommend synthetic oil like Mobil 1 after you get done with the Auto-RX cleaning.
 
No reason to do anything to this car except change the oil after you buy it. This is the recommended oil change and Honda's are easy on oil. With this low of mileage, nothing bad has happened.
 
I would have issues with a 10,000 mile oil change using conventional, no matter what the car maker says. 10,000 miles with Mobil 1-okay. 10,000 miles with any conventional oil-not for me. 5000 miles with conventional oil okay.

Also, this is a two year old car, and that 2004 probably actually was sold in 2003. Time is important also. What oil change did she say she was on?

In any case, if I checked that dipstick and the oil looked like tar from a roof, I would walk away.
 
I ran 7500-10k drains with Texaco/Chevron 5w30 and Fram filters for the last 50-60k miles on the Saturn. Mostly 1-3 mi trips, but then again, I added a quart every 2500 miles on average, and I kept it topped-off.

Absolutely no signs of sludge, only varnish from what I can see from the oil filler cap.

Valve cover is coming off in the next few weeks so stay tuned for pics.
 
If a 2004 civic which has had 2 oil changes, and has 25k shows any signs of sludge at all with the valve cover removed.. I will videotape my best friend kicking me as hard as possible in the family jewels. That's my way of saying i highly, highly doubt this engine has any problems.
 
By way of comparison... pics from my 2005 civic DX/VP coupe. I ran the factory fill to 10K, and now running Havoline 5w20 SM:

9,522 miles on oil (19,522 miles on car):
-


-
 
quote:
Originally posted by BrianL:
...but she says she's due for another OC...
Click to expand...
This might be a good thing. You can send a sample overnight for a quick UOA. It'll should tell you if there's any major issues with the engine.

A couple of 10K OCIs would not of hurt this engine significantly, if at all.
 
the bigger question is, is it a good deal... with hondas this can be a very iffy subject.

Are you sure you cant get a similar new one for $1-3k more? Might be a better deal in the long run. The premiums that Hondas pull in the secondary market make them arguable as 'good deals'.

If you are getting a good deal, then I would not worry about it much. You'll have wanted her to have left the factory fill in for 10k (perhaps what she is alluding to), and then at that point, it has had the oil changed every 7500 miles, which ifthe experience in our toyota and accura say anything... means that the engine will still work like new at 200k.

JMH
 
JHZR2 brings up a good point - I purchased my 05 civic new off the lot for less than folks were asking for 2-3 year old civics with 20K+ miles...

Have you checked into end-of-model-year deals on 06 civics at your local dealership(s)?
 
quote:
Originally posted by lindermant:
Have you checked into end-of-model-year deals on 06 civics at your local dealership(s)?
Click to expand...
As far as I know, demand is still high and supply is still tight on the new model Civic. I doubt he'll be getting "significant" discounts on year-end models.

In past years, around this time, I would see a mountain of Civic specials in the newspaper. To date, I've seen zero.
 
Plus don't forget the all-new Civics are out this year. I'd go with a model that's been in production a couple years like what you're asking about. Me, I bit on the 2001 (First year) because the wife had to have it. Those engines are indeed spec'd for 10k changes. If all 5w20 is somewhat synthetic (am I wrong on that?), I wouldn't sweat it. I wouldn't sweat it even if I'm wrong on my syn belief. Money engine.
 
Yes indeed a lot of woman are big on not changing oil. These woman could be great champions of the Mobil 1 Extended Performance 15,000 mile oil.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

cammyfive79
K24 and 10k OCIs
4 5 6
Replies
119
Views
7K
Spring Break '92
N
Ford EcoBoost 2.0 - What off the shelf oil for "longer" OCIs?
2
Replies
28
Views
1K
50yr Street Mech
N
Back down this road again: 0w-20 Civic 2.0 NA highway commuter car
2
Replies
33
Views
1K
Glenda W.
Hohn
2011 GX460: first HPL drain
Replies
3
Views
589
Hohn
N
2.0 Civic: Extended Protection oils in 0W-20
Replies
18
Views
2K
buster
Back
Top Bottom