accordvtec77 -

I am far from believing the 100K mile bs..........I too think its nuts to wait that long to do things like spark plugs, coolant flush, etc.

However, I hardly see the reasoning for doing all of this stuff at 30K miles. 50 or 60K I can understand, but 30K I think is more for the dealers to make their money than anything else.

What I also didnt understand is how I can go to the Honda OwnerLink website, punch in the data for my car, and then when I view "scheduled service", the 30K mile service listed for my car says NOTHING about CHANGING things like spark plugs, coolant, etc, but all it says is those things will be CHECKED and topped off.

So who is changing what is supposed to be done..........Honda Ownerlink or my dealer? After talking to Honda Customer Care, and hearing them say certain things are necessary (i.e. oil change) but certain things can go longer (i.e. coolant, distrib cap, etc), I tend to believe the dealer is trying to make some $$$. And they will..............27 bux for an oil change.

If the rest of the stuff really should be replaced, Ill spend the 50 bux on parts and do it myself. Then I'll write myself a bill for 200 bux in labor, but I won't pay it.

-Chris

 

Whoa, first off easy on the flaming. Secondly, you do understand the logistical reason Honda has such ludicrous maintainance prices and service giudelines, don't you? It's no secret the cars are very good and reliable under normal to moderate use without big dollar maintainance. If Honda didn't try to con ignorant people that their cars were going to fall appart if they didn't do the 230.00 service every year, they would have very few cars in their dealer service garages, and their dealers would make a whole lot less money. Now, my Prelude has 73,000 miles, and I do my own oil changes every 3,000 with Castrol Syntec, clean and re oil my K&N every 3 months, changed my coolant at 45k and will again at 90k, and the car is PERFECT. Spark plugs at 30k???? Are you nuts?

P.S. -- Can you tell I hate car dealerships? I hate them all, everything they stand for, and if I didn't have to buy a car at a dealer, I wouldn't. They do nothing but lie, cheat, and rape people.

 

All those maintenance requirements they list for the 30K service can easily be done at home with minimal tools or experience, except for the valve adjustment. Just get the parts elsewhere if you don't care about the "Honda" part, do it yourself, then call and ask how much a valve adjustment will cost. If they try to take your money on a valve adjust only, then get the whole thing done, but only if they are about equal in price. Just my opinion. But the dealer has only touched my car for a valve adjustment. Oh yeah, they weren't happy to see an H22 under the hood of an Accord. They actually treated me like I was scum after popping the hood.

 

no way... Just change the air filter assuming you've been changing the oil regularly. The only other item might be for someone to flush the brake fluid, most will say every other year for this. I had a '97 Acura CL that had 72K miles when I sold it & never, ever had any service (no 30K or 50/60K). Just what I said above, plus I rotated tires every 8-10K miles. The car ran as good as the day I picked it up when I sold it. Everything was original except I changed the plugs once!

 

wow, they think mine is pretty cool. I even talked to the owner about it cause he knows my dad, he knew about the whole jdm motor importing thing, I was impressed.

it's nice to see other people agree with me about those dealer services. I can't blame the dealers though, there isn't much money in selling new cars anymore so they have to sell parts and service to the customer.

 

The local dealership here isn't too into the whole import performance thing. I think in the entire time the S2000's have been out they maybe have had 5. They are good on labor and such here though. They happily do work on my Isuzu Rodeo, and know more about it than the Isuzu dealer, which looked at my Rodeo and said "Nice Trooper." I left and never went back.

 

Waiting at the dealership for your car to be service sucks

 

that's why you take the courtesy shuttle & go back home/work - then come back to pick it up.

minor maintenance i can do myself, but if you gotta crack a seal, i.e. valve adjustment, i won't do - i'll hav a Certified H/A Tech take responsibilty. if the valves float & bend they can't point the finger at me.

 

Nope the Courtesy shuttle just takes you to work, coming back your on your own.