quote:

Originally posted by Kevmo:

quote:

Originally posted by greco:
My family has a 2004 and a 2005 civic. Go with Ngk and Denso and you won't get any surprises. Does your car need a transmission fluid drain at that milage? How about antifreeze? I know you have checked the manual. On my older ones you had to replace the timing belt ( now replaced with a chain), water pump, chain tensioner, etc.; a 8-10 hour job in the pole barn.

Yes, on the fluids and from what i am reading a tranny flush is NOT the way to go and it is a simples train and fill.

I can do al work myself for a fraction of what a shop wants

Yes stay away from a flush. I would run from any shop that suggested that on a Honda/Acura although I don't know your specific car.

As you said a simple drain and fill is the way to go.

Without dropping the pan on some automatics, you can park the vehicle on an angle and drain the fluid out of the pan with a small plastic hose inserted through the dip stick/fill tube.

So drop the pan, change the filter, and then refill to the proper level.

Drive around for a few hundred miles to mix the new with the old fluid in the converter. Then siphon the fluid out of the pan and fill with new. Now your fluid is about 75 percent new and 25 percent old.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pen...Siphon-Pump/16795103

quote:

Originally posted by dusty3030:
DO NOT USE AN E3 PLUG.

It's a gimmick. It's made in China. Stacey David gets paid to talk it up.

THIS TIMES 1000. E3 plugs are GARBAGE. The proper plug for your car is a Denso or NGK. They last 100K miles, and they provide PERFECT ignition. The dealership charges $25 to $30 per plug. Online they sell for $8 to $11/each for most factory part numbers. I've used Amazon, eBay, Rock Auto, and Advance Auto (with coupon code) to get the plugs.

I have 750K miles on Honda 4 cylinder cars, in the past 15 years (ALL maintenance performed by me and me only). Always use the factory iridium plug, NOTHING else.

The valves need adjusted at 100K miles (on the 2.4L 4 cyl. I think the 1.8 is the same?)

The transmission fluid drastically needs changed if you haven't already. The good news is, that its actually easier to change the transmission fluid on this car than it is to change the engine oil. You drain 3 quarts out at a time, and replace three quarts. Drive it for a bit, and then repeat. You have to use 9 quarts (three drop and fills) to get out most of the old fluid. There is no user serviceable transmission filter to change, you just change the fluid. Your car originally called for ATF-Z1 transmission fluid, which is no longer made, recommended, or supported. The recommended fluid is now Honda DW1. To get the best price, call all the local Honda/Acura dealers in your area and ask for the best case price on the fluid.

Yeah, NGK Iridium for me.

+1 on OEM. My thoughts are: OEMs spend hundreds of millions on R&D trying to squeeze every ounce of performance, fuel economy etc. out a platform. DO you think E-3 could even rent for a week the equipment used year-long by the OEMs? Specifying a particular plug is no accident. If the E-3/Spitfire/or whatever was even a fraction better GM/Honda would have squeezed them into supplying it as OEM for about the same $. And if E-3/Spitfire/whoever had the option to sell millions of plugs/filters to Ford/Toyota don't you think they would? Lets assume E-3/Splitfire/K&N whatever is a hair "Better": look at high end vehicles (Porches, M-[x], AMG, Hellcat/Demon, Calloway etc. Money is not really an object there, how many of those come with these E-3 plugs, K&N filters etc?

quote:

The transmission fluid drastically needs changed if you haven't already. The good news is, that its actually easier to change the transmission fluid on this car than it is to change the engine oil. You drain 3 quarts out at a time, and replace three quarts. Drive it for a bit, and then repeat. You have to use 9 quarts (three drop and fills) to get out most of the old fluid. There is no user serviceable transmission filter to change, you just change the fluid. Your car originally called for ATF-Z1 transmission fluid, which is no longer made, recommended, or supported. The recommended fluid is now Honda DW1. To get the best price, call all the local Honda/Acura dealers in your area and ask for the best case price on the fluid.

Yes, that's how it's done.
However,... I wouldn't go so far as to say it's actually easier to change the transmission fluid on this car than it is to change the engine oil.
The plastic covers on the bottom of the car have to be removed to get access to the tranny drain bolt and they are a pain in the ass because of the plastic clips which always seem to break. Luckily though, you can get about 100 of them for about $5 on ebay. Also, at least on the Acura TL the fill bolt is kind of hard to reach. You need a really long extension for your 1/2 inch drive ratchet.

Do any of you using Iridium plugs keep a record of your gas mileage for each tank of gas?

My experience is that the plugs may still seem OK but the gas mileage will drop off as the plugs deteriorate. The center ceramic looses its insulation properties and the spark jumps over inside the plug instead at the tip.

My experience in indexing the plugs was a result of installing a new set of plugs which resulted in the mileage dropping. I assume I had a bad plug so I used an ohm meter to check the resistance and every thing checked OK with no shorts or high resistance.

Next I checked the orientation of the plug in each cylinder and found two plugs with the open gap being blocked by the ground post or at the 6 o'clock position instead of a 12 o'clock position facing the valves. The probability of this happening was unusual but showed me just how important the orientation was to fuel economy. From this it was concluded that each mis-orientated plug resulted in 8 to 10 percent decrease fuel economy IIRC.

Don't waste your time and energy worrying about this. Just buy factory replacement spark plugs.

Additional thoughts on changing plugs:
1. Use anti-seize on plug threads. Just a very light coat on spark plug threads ONLY!

2. Get a good torque wrench and set it to what's correct for your car. Loose to stripped plugs/cylinder head will ruin your whole month.

3. Change plugs when engine is cold. A hot cylinder head's threads can be somewhat weak and strip.

And everyone's right about NGKs is the plug to use.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
However,... I wouldn't go so far as to say it's actually easier to change the transmission fluid on this car than it is to change the engine oil.

I can change the transmission fluid in 3 minutes, while the engine oil takes me about 5 minutes. Plus you have to mess with the oil filter when changing the engine oil. Yes, on the Honda/Acura cars I have changed, its easier to change the transmission fluid than it is to change the engine oil.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
The plastic covers on the bottom of the car have to be removed to get access to the tranny drain bolt

I dont think the OP's 2010 Honda has a bottom cover. My memory could be fuzzy though. All the Acura cars come with a bottom cover though. If it has a cover, use a 1/4 inch drive impact driver to remove the bolts. Takes 20 seconds to zip them all off.

Wow. That's impressive. 3 minutes! I know you're a pro but it takes me a lot longer.
I usually go cut the grass or something and let it drain for a good while.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
I've owned two Acura's(AKA Honda's). Stay with the stock OEM plug. NGK is the go to plug for Honda/Acura. Stay with whatever is the stock plug.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Here is a view of the head on your 1.8L engine. You can see the larger intake valves in the top picture and the location of the spark plug hole.

Looking at the second picture, you can see the spark plug holes and the intake valves in relation are located on the back side of the head. This means the spark plug open gap needs to be facing up or in the 12 o'clock position to keep the ground electrode from blocking the spark to get the best gas mileage. This would hold true for all four cylinders.

You can see my write up for indexing your plugs here:

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...935/m/4800085424/p/2

In addition, it is always good to drive by a vacuum gauge to improve your mileage if your vehicle has a manual transmission. It will tell you when to down shift. This procedure will keep you from lugging the engine and also increase engine life.

I use the VDO 150-042 vacuum gauge mounted on the steering column. You can get a gauge mounting cup for the gauge like the Auto Meter 2204 which is all steel and not plastic like the VDO unit.



https://www.summitracing.com/parts/vdo-150042