[frankmehta]

In a separate post, I shall now recollect my experiences of owning this car for the last 3 days.
Drove it with the older fluids till yesterday when I changed the engine oil to Petronas Syntium 15W-40 yesterday, brake oil to TVS Girling and switched the spark plugs, changed the air filter and bled the brakes. The car has become SUPER smooth, very very tractable and sounds like a different animal. The transmission oil was changed at 40 k so it's as good as new, and the power steering fluid didn't need topping up. I added an additive to the windshield washer fluid and also changed the wiper blades.
Went in for wheel alignment and tyre rotation as well, and then finally got all the power windows and door locks serviced.
The car went through all of this yesterday and feels like new now. Next up, is CNG conversion and then finally, ICE installation.

Interior detailing and exterior cleanup will be done last.
The car drives beautifully, and transmission changes are seamless. Tyre pressures are 28 all around and it shall get a tyre upgrade after another 5000 km.
I have done 80 km since I bought it, and it shows 4 bars of fuel down. Which translates to 10 km a litre. I don't believe this figure and I am sure it's lower. Will fuel up again today as average will improve after fluid and filter change.

Will keep you guys updated.

[F150]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

In a separate post, I shall now recollect my experiences of owning this car for the last 3 days.
Drove it with the older fluids till yesterday when I changed the engine oil to Petronas Syntium 15W-40 yesterday, b
Will keep you guys updated.

Are you sure it is 15W 40 ? It is the same for swift diesel.

How much did you pay for the car ? I couldn't find this info in your post

[jatinpatel]

@frank

Its clearly mentioned in the manual of the car as well as my Honda A.S.S to NOT to put Premium fuel in this car just plain simple Unleaded Petrol i.e when your running it on Petrol.

Running this car on Premium petrol creates problems for it, also by using premium fuels your FE is not going up and performance is 99.99% same and the cost is 6rs+ than normal petrol.
No brainer.

Probably now time to change your forum picture to a honda

[StrangeWizard]

Originally Posted by jatinpatel

@frank

Its clearly mentioned in the manual of the car as well as my Honda A.S.S to NOT to put Premium fuel in this car just plain simple Unleaded Petrol i.e when your running it on Petrol.

Running this car on Premium petrol creates problems for it, also by using premium fuels your FE is not going up and performance is 99.99% same and the cost is 6rs+ than normal petrol.
No brainer.

Yeah infact almost ALL manufacturers state clearly in the owners' manual that please use regular fuel only.
From my own experience I haven't felt much of a difference between the regular petrol that we get ie 91 octane and the speed petrol.

Only high performance cars like the Accord v6, Superb v6, Audis and BMs and Mercs running on petrol may require high octane fuel.

Moreover, with the amount of cheating that goes on at petrol pumps these days, I wouldn't be entirely sure that I would get unadulterated premium fuel when I'm paying a premium for it over the regular fuel.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

Drove it with the older fluids till yesterday when I changed the engine oil to Petronas Syntium 15W-40 yesterday, brake oil to TVS Girling and switched the spark plugs, changed the air filter and bled the brakes. The car has become SUPER smooth, very very tractable and sounds like a different animal. The transmission oil was changed at 40 k so it's as good as new, and the power steering fluid didn't need topping up. I added an additive to the windshield washer fluid and also changed the wiper blades.
Went in for wheel alignment and tyre rotation as well, and then finally got all the power windows and door locks serviced.

Congrats on the purchase.Will be keeping a eye on this thread for updates with regards to the conversion and also on your ownership experience.IMHO the spark plugs are to be changed after 10 years or 100K kms and no sooner.At most you could have got them cleaned at just 41K.Also the correct grade for the I-Vtec seems to be 10W-30 for the oil if it's mineral based.
At 40K the fuel filter(aka fuel strainer) needs to be changed.Please find out if the same was changed.This particular item is probably the only expensive regular item and costs around 3-4k.You may also inspect your brake pads.Honda original cost around 6-8K while original pads by Nissin cost around 1.5-2K.

Also i hope you got the engine mount checked as the Civic is a mount eater.

Please go through below links for checking same.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post2352049 (Honda Civic Maintenance and Service Costs and Must dos)


http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...t-dos-246.html

Good luck and welcome to the Honda Civic club.

[Punzabi]

Congratulations on the new addition to your garage. Civics comes with a life time guarantee that the driver will enjoy their every second spent in the car. Its a true rev heads car and asks you to thrash it (I know you won't).

I was in a similar situation about 6 odd months ago and bought a Civic. Mine's very similar to yours, its about the same age (2006 make) and has clocked around similar kms (43000) except mine is bluish silver and its in Australia. I bought it from Honda dealership's used car section. Did I mention mine's got 2ltr engine and has factory leather seats and leather trim on door cards instead of velour . Teased enough,no? Mine's sport variant and it came with factory fitted rear spoiler and electric sunroof!! Wanna hear more? Just kidding .

Make sure to check you have cabin air filter (aka Pollen filter) installed. It was missing in mine and upon inquiring with dealership I found out its not a standard accessory (clean fresh air comes at a premium with Civic I guess), well at least in Australia it isn't. All other car manufacturers offer cabin air filter as a standard but Honda doesn't and asks for $70 instead to get one fitted.

Here's a link on where to find it in the car. Just think opposite with sides as this video is American.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rasw8...eature=related

Edit: Even if its there, you might want to replace it as Honda recommends filter change once every year but under Indian conditions it may be bit more frequent than that.

Cheers
Punzabi

[frankmehta]

Originally Posted by F150

Are you sure it is 15W 40 ? It is the same for swift diesel.

How much did you pay for the car ? I couldn't find this info in your post

Sorry got Petronas SYntium 800 15w 50. Just checked. IT's a semi synthetic oil and the car is driving very well on that.
As for the price, I mentioned earlier that I got it for 4.55 and then paid 20 k for insurance.

Originally Posted by jatinpatel

@frank

Its clearly mentioned in the manual of the car as well as my Honda A.S.S to NOT to put Premium fuel in this car just plain simple Unleaded Petrol i.e when your running it on Petrol.

Running this car on Premium petrol creates problems for it, also by using premium fuels your FE is not going up and performance is 99.99% same and the cost is 6rs+ than normal petrol.
No brainer.

Probably now time to change your forum picture to a honda

No premium fuel for her any more.

Originally Posted by StrangeWizard

Yeah infact almost ALL manufacturers state clearly in the owners' manual that please use regular fuel only.
From my own experience I haven't felt much of a difference between the regular petrol that we get ie 91 octane and the speed petrol.

Only high performance cars like the Accord v6, Superb v6, Audis and BMs and Mercs running on petrol may require high octane fuel.

Moreover, with the amount of cheating that goes on at petrol pumps these days, I wouldn't be entirely sure that I would get unadulterated premium fuel when I'm paying a premium for it over the regular fuel.

I agree. System G all the way now!

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Congrats on the purchase.Will be keeping a eye on this thread for updates with regards to the conversion and also on your ownership experience.IMHO the spark plugs are to be changed after 10 years or 100K kms and no sooner.At most you could have got them cleaned at just 41K.Also the correct grade for the I-Vtec seems to be 10W-30 for the oil if it's mineral based.
At 40K the fuel filter(aka fuel strainer) needs to be changed.Please find out if the same was changed.This particular item is probably the only expensive regular item and costs around 3-4k.You may also inspect your brake pads.Honda original cost around 6-8K while original pads by Nissin cost around 1.5-2K.

Also i hope you got the engine mount checked as the Civic is a mount eater.

Please go through below links for checking same.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post2352049 (Honda Civic Maintenance and Service Costs and Must dos)


http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...t-dos-246.html




Good luck and welcome to the Honda Civic club.

Thanks Sumeet, that was some killer info!
As for spark plugs, every CNG fitter asks one to CHANGE the spark plugs first, before initiating conversion. Hence did that. I shall call up Linkway (where the car has been serviced from day one) and inquire whether this car has had a change of fuel filter or not.
The car already has Nissin pads, and they were replaced recently so they have a lot of life left on them.
As for the mounts, I had them checked and my mechanic says that's the first thing he does when he opens the Civic bonnet. Mine are healthy.

Originally Posted by Punzabi

Congratulations on the new addition to your garage. Civics comes with a life time guarantee that the driver will enjoy their every second spent in the car. Its a true rev heads car and asks you to thrash it (I know you won't).

I was in a similar situation about 6 odd months ago and bought a Civic. Mine's very similar to yours, its about the same age (2006 make) and has clocked around similar kms (43000) except mine is bluish silver and its in Australia. I bought it from Honda dealership's used car section. Did I mention mine's got 2ltr engine and has factory leather seats and leather trim on door cards instead of velour . Teased enough,no? Mine's sport variant and it came with factory fitted rear spoiler and electric sunroof!! Wanna hear more? Just kidding .

Make sure to check you have cabin air filter (aka Pollen filter) installed. It was missing in mine and upon inquiring with dealership I found out its not a standard accessory (clean fresh air comes at a premium with Civic I guess), well at least in Australia it isn't. All other car manufacturers offer cabin air filter as a standard but Honda doesn't and asks for $70 instead to get one fitted.

Here's a link on where to find it in the car. Just think opposite with sides as this video is American.


Edit: Even if its there, you might want to replace it as Honda recommends filter change once every year but under Indian conditions it may be bit more frequent than that.

Cheers
Punzabi

Thanks mate. I had my A/C checked by my trusted A/C guy and he said there's no filter installed but recommended installing one. He said he will order one and keep. I shall go to him and have it installed this week.



Thanks guys for all the wonderful advice, adulation and good wishes for the car.
The car went for a CNG conversion to Suraj AutoGas today. The kit in question is a Lovato SGIS Kit with an upgraded 70 ltr tank, but made of a new compound that reduces the weight of the tank by 15 kgs!!!!!
I had to pay about 4 k extra for that cylinder but I think it's for peace of mind. Lighter, stronger tank with more gas storage. Win-win!
Cancelled the Emer Gas kit as I hadn't heard much about their credibility. The kit is installed by ONLY Green Globe and I thought it's best to install a well known kit so spares can also be available if something goes wrong after warranty.

[jatinpatel]

Frank

You should NOT use any additives in the fuel they result in fuel filter getting chocked and they are NOT recommended by Honda.

Just Stick to Normal Unleaded Fuel.
Light on wallet good on car, WIN-WIN.

[danlalan]

Welcome to the club my man. From ford to honda. I did the same. And it was well worth it. Let me know when your free one of these days. Time to get another photoshoot of all our cars. Shes a blast to own and drive.

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

The car went for a CNG conversion to Suraj AutoGas today. The kit in question is a Lovato SGIS Kit with an upgraded 70 ltr tank, but made of a new compound that reduces the weight of the tank by 15 kgs!!!!!
I had to pay about 4 k extra for that cylinder but I think it's for peace of mind. Lighter, stronger tank with more gas storage. Win-win!
Cancelled the Emer Gas kit as I hadn't heard much about their credibility. The kit is installed by ONLY Green Globe and I thought it's best to install a well known kit so spares can also be available if something goes wrong after warranty.

I know I am a bit late to the party, but so what? Hearty Congratulations for getting into the 'Civic' fold. I guess there would be no other car in Team-BHP with so many pre-owned customers in its fold. Civic ruled the roost in its early days in India and we all are now reaping the benefits of such a successful car by getting to own good pre-owned samples.

I am eagerly looking forward to your experience post CNG conversion. Please help us all by posting a detailed review of the installation itself, modifications required for doing that and apparent changes in the performance and road behaviors of the car, if any!

[frankmehta]

Just had a word with Mr. Jain from Suraj AutoGas. He is impressed with the way the engine has been maintained and says it has retained almost about 95% of it's power from when it came from the factory. That's a great thing after almost 5 years. He says the kit will function very well and he insists that I shall be hard pressed to tell the difference between the 2 fuels even if I try hard. He says the only time I might face a difference is when the car is fully loaded and is climbing a slope with the A/C on, and I might have to shift down a gear (or in this case, the auto tranny will have to)
His confidence inspires me and I hope to be surprised when I get delivery of the car tomorrow!

[siddharthdeb]

Congratulations Frank, your left knee is going to thank you considering the traffic in town is getting bad to worse an auto and a Jap auto at that is a brilliant decision. With the CNG conversion done this will be as cheap to run as a diesel.

What i am looking forward to is the Audio surgery on this car and the end result.

Cheers and Congratulation once again.

Sid

[frankmehta]

Thank you Sid.
Guys, in the mean time can someone suggest good, aesthetic looking but cheap DRL's to fill the blank portion (where the fogs are)
This is an 'S' model and doesn't come with Fog lights. I don't see the purpose of fog lights in Mumbai hence I want to get good looking DRL's that fit into this slot.

[frankmehta]

Also noticed that the low beam of the Civic is absolutely useless. Even worse than the Fiesta. Hence ordered the same HB4 (9006) Xenon HID kit for the Civic that I had ordered for the Fiesta. Will be here in a week or 10 days.

[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

Also noticed that the low beam of the Civic is absolutely useless. Even worse than the Fiesta. Hence ordered the same HB4 (9006) Xenon HID kit for the Civic that I had ordered for the Fiesta. Will be here in a week or 10 days.

Good to read about this acquisition. The price of the car (and for the service you got from the dealer) is fair to both sides and the car seems to be well maintained. Exterior detailing should be the next item on your list.

It is a bad idea to install HID's in reflectors. Bad for oncoming traffic. Please go for projector retrofit instead.

I would be interested in knowing more about the cost of the CNG kit + installation costs, for my Cedia.