Honda Antifreeze

[Hondel]

My dealer recommended antifreeze change (but not a flush) as part of a 45K service. I've seen on other forums that Honda Antifreeze is highly researched and developed and superior for use in Hondas. Since their shop rate is normal (ie, obscenely high) I'm thinking of buy the antifreeze at their parts dept. and doing the change myself. Any caveats? Thanks.

[Accordlover]

Change is not needed until 120k, and then 90k after that first change.

[Accordlover]

Skip these dealer recommendations and ask them to go by what Honda says to do, which is in your owners manual. These new Honda's require no tuneups for 100k miles, though certain fluids like the automatic transmission fluid, should be changed.

Remember that years and miles both count in maintenance, so whichever comes first! (age or miles)

The chart in the owners manual is a good one. One thing you DO want to get done that Honda won't recommend for 120k miles is having the transmission fluid changed. - Only Honda fluid in there, and do it every 30k miles.

[Hondel]

Thanks. I'll get out the book and put the maintenance schedule in my "office" at home so I can refer to it before I visit the dealer. I did have the trans fluid changed at 30K and let them replace the air filters. Next time I do the air filters.
The service department is somewhat aggressive in recommending service so I'll go by the book. I just turned over 50K miles, which is about average for the car. I saw a 99 Civic someone had traded in with 420,000 on it. They took a picture of the odometer to show customers. That owner got his money's worth!

[benjamming]

I would recommend doing a simple drain & refill (gallon of premix for my '02 V6) every 30k miles. It will take a while to do a majority fluid replacement this way but keeps it fresher. Same concept as the ATF.