Car maintenance by myself?

[Dahws]

Hey everyone,

Long story short, I don't trust anyone with my baby. Anyone.

I've never done an oil change myself. I am interested in doing this myself but have a couple of questions.

1) Is it hard or easy? I've seen the DIY seems ok

2) dealers always do check ups on other items on the car. Would I be able to check all of that stuff by myself? I'm assuming it's brakes, fluids and some other stuff I may have forgotten?

3) would doing it myself be better or letting a dealership do it? Just in my own garage?

Thanks!

 

[Monk]

You can learn to do a lot yourself, but a lot of things require high tech machines. I'd try doing some of the less tech stuff, like changing oil/filter...... Make a list of everything that gets done every 5000, then take it to the dealer a have them do the thing you can't.

As far as changing oil & filter.... You need to get under the car(requires jack & safety stand, filter removal tool, oil drain plug washer, torque wrench(will get some discussion on this). It's not rocket science just a check list(being new at this).

It's good to learn how to work on your car, but you're also going to have to allow the service dept. to do what you can't........ But it doesn't hurt to check over what they've done as best as you can, "catch 22", why you need to learn to do it yourself even if you don't do it.

 

[Dahws]

Off topic question, but since I installed my dc sports Sri , everyone once in awhile my clutch sort creaks from 1st to second and sometimes from second to third. It's the weirdest thing. I never heard it before with the stock air filter. I don't know how the two are even related. Any thoughts?

 

[Nix]

The civic is a very easy car to work on and an especially good one to start messing around with. There are lots of DIY guides available on here. Once you start tearing into the car I think you'll find it pretty easy to start figuring stuff out and realizing you're a better mechanic than you though.

Oil and fluid changes are just a matter of having the right tools and the confidence to tackle the job. Consult youtube for video guides. Most fluid changes are very very similar and it will at least show you the most common steps. Then adapt the procedure to the particulars of the civic and there you go.

Use Honda fluids or ones labeled as compatible with Honda cars. It's generally not that much of a price premium to run to the dealer and get the real thing. I wouldn't tackle things like valve adjustments but changing your fluids as often as you'd like shouldn't be too bad.

Pick up extra crush washers from the dealer! They are like $0.50 each. Saves a lot of hassle and possible leaks later on.


As far as the SRI and the clutch pedal.... I bet they aren't related and it's more due to humidity and heat. My car makes some very weird noises when it's super cold or super hot out. The rear window creaks bad when the humidity is high. Go figure that one....