My 2003 Accord sedan EX 4cyl is coming up on 120,000 miles.
One of the items that needs to be replaced is the cabin air filter.
About a month ago I was down there changing out my relay for my AC and took a look at the cabin air filter while I was down there and honestly, it looked pretty clean.
I mean, do I really need to get a new one? Trying to save as much money as I can on the Accord stuff because in a few more miles, my Ody goes in for the 105,000 service... timeing belt... $$$

Thanks in advance all!
J

 

Vacuum it out. If you really get lots of crud it would have been visible, and you can replace it whenever its needed. Beginning in 2003 it takes about 25 seconds to open that up & look at the filter so you can inspect it as often as you like.

I live where it's really not very dusty, so my air filters stay pretty clean. That's not true for everybody else, living in deserts & dusty or dirty places.

 

Thanks (as always, Jim).
Yeah, when I was down there last, it almost looked brand new. It had a few flakes of dried grass and some dust, but nothing that stuck to it. Ill take a look at it tonight again, if its clean, ill push it another 30,000 miles

Going to flush out my radiator rather than let Honda charge me $45 to do it. I haev done it on an 88 Blazer before and it was pretty straight forwards... any "gotchas" i can expect from the Accord or is it as simple as ABC?

 

You're lucky you have 2003. EASY to open thermostat housing, hoses are up front where they're easy to reach, etc.

Turn your heater to full-hot before you start. The actual valve is motorized, so you'll have to turn on the key to make it operate.

Radiator has a white plastic drain-**** is about center bottom.
There's a funny wire clip on the thermostat housing that you squeeze to open. Then everything comes pouring out. Vaseline or something on the rubber seals of the T-stat housing. I think the O-ring is buried inside the neck that comes off with the hose??

I would open the other hose too, and use a garden hose to flush tons of water through both the engine and the radiator. Put it back together without installing the thermostat. Fill & drain with distilled water a couple times, & run the engine for about 20 seconds each time. If your water is hard, maybe more times.

I don't like to use pre-mixed antifreeze, since there's at least a quart of distilled water still in your engine at this point. Install the thermostat. Add 1/2 the system volume (according to the owner's manual) of antifreeze, which I think should be about 1 gallon. Finish filling with distilled water. This system is self-bleeding, so it's pretty easy to remove air pockets. But it IS IMPORTANT to remove all the air.

 

Interesting that you say dont use the premixed stuff that the Honda dealer sales. I was going to go with that because I always had a fear with my blazer that i was mixing it wrong... I think for my own mental health I will go with the premixed stuff...

 

Well, then here's a suggestion, but I've never done it this way.

After rinsing once or twice with distilled water, get a shop-vac & set it up for WET. Use it to suck out as much water as possible from the block, then same from the radiator.

My 2003-2006 shop manual says the total antifreeze is 7.6 quarts, but only 5.4 quarts will drain out (that's for the 4-cyl manual-tranny). That leaves over 2 quarts of water inside. So by using a full gallon of full-strength antifreeze, you get the proper strength when you're done.

That water will dilute your pre-mixed antifreeze. You need to remove as much of that as possible. This rinsing and removing all the water is ESPECIALLY important if you use any kind of cleaner, like Prestone SuperFlush or anything like that.

 

Or, if you don't need to use any special cleaners, then you can simply drain & fill with dealer antifreeze, with NO distilled-water rinsing. It all depends on how clean it comes out. You originally said "FLUSH" your radiator, so I figured you were planning on using some cleaning agent to remove crud.

 

Oh, sorry dude... no flushing... just doing what the dealer would do at 120,000... i use the word 'flush' too much...

last question about replacing coolant... i am no tree hugger or environment nut... but I do hate to drain fluids from the car just anywhere... I hesitate doing things like this because.... heck, I dont know what to do with the stuff... back in my Blazer days I just drained it in to the storm drain, but im older now and have a son... what do you do?

 

Minnesota Pollution Control states that coolant can be dumped into the sanitary sewer as long as the quantity is less than 600 gallons per year.

Ideally you'd want to bring it in, but you can pour it down the drain if you like.

 

Antifreeze is biodegradable, but it's toxic to animals. Don't pour it into an open drainage, storm sewer, stuff like that.

I've been told that septic systems can be disrupted by it, but I've put it down mine without any problem. But that's like one car every year or 2. I'm not a repair shop.

Most city sewer systems can handle it, but some don't LIKE it. Maybe an anonomous phone call to your water treatment plant to ask the question??