Hi Friends,

After my warranty expired at 36K I stopped going to the dealer and have pretty much been running the vehicle with just regular oil changes. I also did change the tires recently.

However, the vehicle is getting to be rough and I have 60K miles on it. I'd like to get the vehicle serviced now and give it a good engine cleanup/work.

I am not sure if a dealer would be better or a ASE certified center. I have a quote from a newly opened service center (ASE Certified) next to my home and he is quoting me $577 for the following work -

Bulk Oil
Oil Filter
BG Synthetic Transmission Flush Kit
BG Cooling system Flush Kit
BG Power Steering Flush Kit
Platinum Plugs
Cabin Air Filter
All labor to perform above work

Honestly, I admit I am a novice so appreciate any inputs from you pros.

Thanks so much!

Dodz

 

i think if u get a repair manual for ur car, and do the work yourself, youll save about 300-400 dollars [8D]

 

Oil & filter, also cabin air filter
You should be able to do those yourself. There's a DIY write-up for the cabin air filter somewhere on this forum.

BG Synthetic Transmission Flush Kit
Honda auto trannys don't get along with flushing. You should simply drain & fill. If the fluid is dirty or you suspect some trouble, drain & fill a couple more times separated by a few miles (or even a day or 2)of driving. Use only dealer ATF, it seems to matter.

Platinum Plugs
Hondas seem to get along best with NGK plugs. You can buy them lots of places& install yourself. I think they would be NGK ZFR5F-11 plugs.

 

$ 577 way way too much.. for the work that you described it is a major rip off
like Jim said you can do most of this if not ll yourself.. look in our DIY section .. a lot of this work is real simple
oil and filter, get a honda filter 6 dollars
4.5-5 qts of oil depend on 4 cyl or v6 use any major brand 5w-20
spark plugs get from Honda or a shop that sells NGK you need the platinum tips NGK PZFR5F-11 around 10-15 dollard each
tranny fluid get nothing but Honda ATF-Z1 you need 3 qts 18-20 dollars like jim said do not use a bg flush
cabin filter get it from whomever is cheaper ,Honda or any store that sells it 25-30 dollars
air filter get it same as above 15-20 dollars
you also might want to flush the brake fluid
coolant any major brand will do

 

Call me a novice but I haven't done any of this before ever in my life and would hate to experiment. I am based in Gainesville, VA. Do any of you know any reliable mechanic fulltime/part time who can do this work for me?

I truly appreciate all the suggestions you've given me. Sounds like this donkey was all set to rip me off, you guys saved me tons of money...thanks again!!

 

OK... "YOURE A NOVICE!" We were all novices before we started doing this junk.

Well, you can always read the DIY about the cabin air filter THEN decide if you want to do it yourself. (Gotta start somewhere...)

OTOH, since you don't have experience, I'd rather you didn'tbleed your brakes without experienced help. Sometimes you gotta realize your limits so you don't put yourself in danger.

A repairmanual will help too. Public libraries often have them. Then you can talk intelligently to your mechanic so he's not tempted...

 

LoL yeah, aint that the truth?

And to be honest, I wont mess with brakes either. The way I look at it, if I screw something up on the engine, the car wont go. Bad, but not life endangering. If I screw something up on the brakes, the car wont stop. Now THATS bad.

 

Heheheheheheh..........

I was already scared and you now scared me to death. I just visualized driving w/o brakes with my 2 tiny tots in the car, man!

 

Seriously though a lot of those repairs that are being suggested you can do yourself, if you run into problems we'll help, if those two options fail and you HAVE to go to a mechanic he's still going to charge you the same wether you attempted it yourself or he did it so why not try it to start with? you have nothing to loose