newbie questions.

[ttamrettus]

Hello, I've been reading some of the posts today and have a couple questions.
2003 Accord EX v-6 owned since new, now has 150k miles. The car lives in Atlanta and see A LOT of stop and go driving.

A. Honda manual recommends 5w20, I read 5w30 also on the forums, guy at the AutoZone wants to sell me 10w30. Looking at Castrol GTX highmile. Should I stick with 5w30?

B. Dealership tells me I need to change at AT fluid. Should I just do it myself per the DIY section (3x?)? I am of the "if it ain't broke.." mentality and half want to leave the trans alone.

C. Anyone hear anything about putting "too large" a battery in the Accord? (too long a story to go into now.)

D. Should I do the plugs now also? The car runs fine. Should I stick with the NGK Laser Iridium? I like Bosch but the guy at the dealership told me that "Honda designs their engines around the plug and anything but the NGK will cause me issues".

Thanks for your help. Here's to another 150k.

FYI. The car had a new timing belt and water pump at 99k, a new alternator and battery at 130k, and new access belt tensioner at 140k.

[03LXV6]

A - 5W20 is just fine.

B - Have the fluid ever been changed? I think Honda says 105K for the tranny fluid but most people do it at 30K intervals to avoid issues. The V6 Trannies have known issues. 3 Drains and Refill should do it.

C - Never heard of too large battery. I4 owners even upgrade to bigger v6 battery with no issues

D - Plugs are good for 105K miles. Replace with the same NGK's and you are good for another 105K

[superballz00]

Originally Posted by ttamrettus

Hello, I've been reading some of the posts today and have a couple questions.
2003 Accord EX v-6 owned since new, now has 150k miles. The car lives in Atlanta and see A LOT of stop and go driving.

A. Honda manual recommends 5w20, I read 5w30 also on the forums, guy at the AutoZone wants to sell me 10w30. Looking at Castrol GTX highmile. Should I stick with 5w30?

B. Dealership tells me I need to change at AT fluid. Should I just do it myself per the DIY section (3x?)? I am of the "if it ain't broke.." mentality and half want to leave the trans alone.

C. Anyone hear anything about putting "too large" a battery in the Accord? (too long a story to go into now.)

D. Should I do the plugs now also? The car runs fine. Should I stick with the NGK Laser Iridium? I like Bosch but the guy at the dealership told me that "Honda designs their engines around the plug and anything but the NGK will cause me issues".

Thanks for your help. Here's to another 150k.

FYI. The car had a new timing belt and water pump at 99k, a new alternator and battery at 130k, and new access belt tensioner at 140k.

A. 5w20 or 5w30 is fine. There's not that much difference between the two.

B. So what you are saying is if it's running fine then there is no reason to do anything to it? By that logic, you should just leave the engine alone and never change the oil as long as it is still running. People with this mentality often end up paying more to fix the car once something breaks down. Do yourself a favor and take care of your car to prevent parts from failing.

D. It's all there in your car manual. It saids to use either NGK or Denso. People have had problems with Bosch plugs on Hondas.

Originally Posted by 03LXV6

A - 5W20 is just fine.

B - Have the fluid ever been changed? I think Honda says 105K for the tranny fluid but most people do it at 30K intervals to avoid issues. The V6 Trannies have known issues. 3 Drains and Refill should do it.

C - Never heard of too large battery. I4 owners even upgrade to bigger v6 battery with no issues

D - Plugs are good for 105K miles. Replace with the same NGK's and you are good for another 105K

I think the manual saids 60k miles under normal conditions and 30k under severe conditions. I change mine once every 15k to keep the fluid fresh. Remember to always use Honda ATF transmission fluid.

[ttamrettus]

Thanks. I'll do them all then.

The trans fluid, the plugs and the oil.

This is my wife's car and the dealer has done all the service since new. I don't recall ever seeing trans fluid changes on the invoices. I'll stick to 5w30 as more posts seem to reference that than 5w20. I'll also go with NGK Iridiums.

As far as the battery goes, I'll scan the invoice and post soon, where the dealership says it's too large. I had bought a Duralast from the parts store but the car acted up (every single light lite up like a XMas tree), AutoZone tested the charging system & battery and said everything was fine and when the dealership installed the Honda battery the electrical gremlins went away.

I had a 1984 Z28 once that it ran fine until I had the trans fluid changed once and a week later the trans was garbage. Other than that I've never changed the fluid in anything before and have never had a transmission problem either. My Dad has had 3 Chevy Astro vans and never changed the trans fluid in them either. Their issue is in the Ohio salt the bodies rust away in that amount of time.

[_karu_]

A. Honda manual recommends 5w20, I read 5w30 also on the forums, guy at the AutoZone wants to sell me 10w30. Looking at Castrol GTX highmile. Should I stick with 5w30?
I would stick with 5w20. Unless, there's a preexisting condition on your tranny.


B. Dealership tells me I need to change at AT fluid. Should I just do it myself per the DIY section (3x?)? I am of the "if it ain't broke.." mentality and half want to leave the trans alone.
I think you should do it yourself. Follow this DIY (http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=14714) and you will be just fine. If you follow that mentality, before you can say "...don't fix it," the Honda tranny might kill itself, lol.

C. Anyone hear anything about putting "too large" a battery in the Accord? (too long a story to go into now.)
I've been doing some research on this. I was planning to do this DIY myself. Perhaps next year though, when the time has come to replace my battery. (Follow the LAST POST on this thread for parts number needed: http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9359. I am thinking of going with Napa's Legend 75.

D. Should I do the plugs now also? The car runs fine. Should I stick with the NGK Laser Iridium? I like Bosch but the guy at the dealership told me that "Honda designs their engines around the plug and anything but the NGK will cause me issues".
I would stick with NGK Iridium, model number IZFR6K-11 (OEM, btw). They are $9 each at Advance Auto Parts, here in NY.

[ttamrettus]

I'm done with the oil and plugs. I'll be doing the trans fluid later tonight. The OE plugs were actually Denso. I'll post some pics later.

[_karu_]

Ah, yours is V6...Denso indeed.