Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Technical Stuff (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/)

-   -   Honda Civic : Maintenance, Service Costs and Must dos (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/47997-honda-civic-maintenance-service-costs-must-dos-142.html)

This is really daylight robbery. It is time owners took a pledge to ignore the three month service obligation unless car has run over 5k kilometers.

Yes, it was a waste of time & money. I wanted to see if there was anything substantial to this 3 month service period and I found out from the horse's mouth that there wasn't. I will be giving the car for servicing only if required henceforth (in case of issues & to maintain the service history).

I would say once a year or 10,000km (whichever is first) for me once I am out of warranty next May. Also, I will be quite happy with a semi-synth rated as SM! I care two h00ts for the extended warranty when it kicks in after that.

Thats just piss poor from Honda. At this rate they are hardly going to win repeat customers. And I agree, now on just give to them only when needed.

Absolutely true and that's exactly what I've been doing. My car will be seeing the insides of a Honda Service station once a year for a period service, nothing more.

A small update regarding my cars water problem:
The cowl top is alright and does not need to replaced (a huge sigh of relief), as diagnosed earlier the drainage outlet was clogged and a result water/leaves accumulated there and managed to rust a bit of firewall and enter the cabin. Carnation guys have taken apart the dashboard and will be opening the AC components today.
Then they will cure the rust and seal the opening where the water was seeping in. I have asked 3M guys at Carnation to do their rust proofing at this spot and also the cowl. This will take care of future leaks.

I got to know yesterday that the Carnation outlet at Mira/Bhayander was erstwhile Ichiban Honda and almost all their mechanics are Honda trained.

Regards

Ah some light on the battery replacement costs. Thanks. 380 though sounds rather high. is it a special type of battery that can't be replaced by us from out?
How long did the battery last before it conked off?

The 3 month service schedule is a sham. please speak to your friendly SA and he too would advise you to come in only once in 6 months. I think one of us or all of us need to shoot a mail to Honda regarding this rather silly 3 month period.
They have got it right with the pricing of their new cars, now it's time to get their service schedules in order.

Remember anything beyond 2-years on the OE battery is a bonus. In reality expect about 3 years max. Replacements come with 3- 4- and even 5- year warranties. I would say warranty + 1 is what you should expect. Also, change the battery at the first sign of trouble, esp. if you have an AT!

Very true! I have had a bad experience being stranded on the highway on a hot day during my leak-break! (details in my earlier posts on this thread). I had to call up MyTVS 24x7 emergency to help me out.

I had to spend a few hours on the road. (Luckily I was with my friend and it helped me pass the time).

It is Panasonic CR1616. A little smaller than 25 Paisa coin. We should be able to buy from out side and change it. The manual mentions how to change this battery. Not sure of the outside pricing though.

I am not sure how long it lasted, I bought the car used last week with a dead remote. May be old users could help here.

The battery I mentioned was the small battery for key remote. Regarding the main car battery, the previous owner had already replaced the OE battery one year back, I am hoping that it will last another 2 year.

~Manoj

Buddy just checked, that Panasonic CR1616 is indeed the one i thought is available for Rs. 30 outside. So the price for remote battery change is highway robbery at the dealership.

Just a point for AT owners.
It's a really great idea to carry a pair of jump cables with you, can get you going in a situation when the battery dies out.
Also read in a magazine of a product which charges the battery, it can be plugged in to a switch and then connected to the battery to charge it up. wonder whether this will be of any use to us. Maybe one can slightly charge the battery or use it to jump start the vehicle. and get out of an otherwise stranded situation.

Are you sure you hear the rattle from inside the door panel only? From my experience so far with the Civic, I would check the following areas too -

Roof panel
Areas of the dashboard including front tweeters
Front armrest and cubbyholes assembly (rare; although they "give" they rarely result in rattles)
Top plastic (dark grey bit) of the door panel, especially the dull silver-finished patti which the V variants have
Power window switch housing (silver finish piece)

The last two could be the case if you've got the door panels opened for window film installation, say.

If you hear the sound coming from areas not near the door panels, the other areas to check are seat mounts, forward seat travel adjustment levers, seat belts and seat belt B-pillar points.

It's common to hear very minor rattles on certain bassy songs/other audio at high volume like you've said. I hear them once in a while, but they're not persistent. They come across as more like resonance artefacts than an inherent build quality issue. Another way to replicate these is to pull the car from low-ish (< 1500) rpms in gears 3, 4 or 5. I don't like doing this but once in a while it just happens in traffic.

I've already started doing this. H.A.S.S. would have me visit them once in 3 months. They call up before and they stick the friendly reminder sticker indicating the day of the next visit after every service. But 5k kms in 3 months is simply unsustainable.

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd FS' happened "on time" even though the odo read only 9543 kms when I dropped the car in for the 3rd FS. For the 4th FS, I waited until the odo hit 15k kms. It took 4 months instead of 3 but that's OK. It's nearly 2 months now from the 4th FS and the car's barely reached 17k kms. There's no point giving it in for the 5th even though it'll be "one year" up. I'll continue to follow the manual (5k kms or 6 months whichever is earlier).

Regards,
spadix

i do get a rattle from the front armrest at times. But only when it is extended at it's forward most. When pushed back, there are zero rattles.

Agree 100%. I used to, but then one terminal of the one I bought (UK, 1989) broke and I cannot get a replacement. Also, whatever I could find on mail order were Aluminium which is not able to take any harsh handling. Need good old fashioned copper wired ones.

Saw this on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.in/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...#ht_500wt_1159

What do you think?
(Might be cheap ones, but enough to keep for an emergency?)

This looks good. The length is not mentioned.

The heading says 500 Amp, and description says 400 Amp.

Anybody knows how much actual AMP is appropriate for a Civic ?

Thanks for mentioning this. I was thinking I am the only one who had this minor issue. Even the second slot of extension has zero rattles. But the final slot gives some rattles once in a while.

As I have mentioned before, during the last service they had tightened the armrest hinge, which vastly improved matters.