Civic VX tune up

[McPatrick]

Someone is willing to give my VX a tune up tomorrow for free which is great for someone mechanically challenged as myself. I just bought the VX last week and it has been somewhat neglected so I am sure it can use the tune up.
What my friend suggest is doing the following:

* Seafoam it
* replace engine oil
* replace oil filter
* replace transmission oil
* replace spark plugs
* replace cap and rotor

Does anyone recommend anything else that would be good to do as part if this tune up or is this pretty much "it"?

[lca13]

excellent 1st pass....

also peek at the coolant, belts, air filter, brake fluid...

air filter check is a must... if it looks clean and you can see through it into the light, just put it back in and use it, else replace it.

belts for tightness and unusual looking wear (shiny surfaces or cracks).

brake fluid is almost always worth changing (in the reservoir).... take a turkey baster and suck all the fluid out and put new fluid in... $4 at the parts store and 99 cents at the local dollar store or Big Lots for fluid.

If you are gonna change the cap and rotor (wow, I haven't done that since my chevy days), you should inspect the plug wires for cracks and perhaps check their resistance with a multi-meter

[88HF]

Check tire pressure

[GasSavers_Ryland]

If you can get away with letting the car sit over night to cool, check the valve tapet clearence, but the engine needs to be between 50 and 90 degrees F, so 10-12 hours of not running is ideal, altho when I've checked my honda's they alwas seem to be pretty close to spec, but if you get a shop manual it will give you a list of things to check, and how offten.
How many miles are on the car? if you don't know how many miles it has been sence the last timing belt change (every 100,000-ish miles) it can be worth at least poping off the plastic cover (fits under the valve cover, and is held on by two-three more small bolts) I would also get a timing light and check the ignition timing, the jumper plug is under the dash by the passenger feet/door hinge, it's the one with two wires, but three sockets I'm pretty sure, jumping this plug will also tell you if you have any errer codes in the computer, by making the check engine light flash when the key is turned to the first click (dash lights come on and do self check), if the plug is jumped properly the check engine light should either be flashing to tell you the code, or stay on, if it does not come on at all then the bulb is burnt out, if it comes on then turns off again after turning the key then the jumper isn't making good contact.
changing the spark plugs is alwas good, take a look at each one of them and pay attention to how it looks, they should all have a simlaler look to them, if one is differnt check around for photos on "reading spark plugs" to figure out what is wrong, if you have one handy, doing a compression test while you have the plugs out is alwas fun as well, it gives you an overal idea on the health of your engine.
when I buy a new car I like to check/change all the filters, air filter, oil filter, fuel filter, I say that unless you have some idea that it was done recently then it should be done again, it might cost a little more money, but it will give you piece of mind, same thing with fluids, you have a hydralic clutch, open up the little resivore, and find out if the fluid is clean and clear, or if it looks like mud, both the clutch and the brakes take DOT3 fluid, if either one has dirty fluid then flush it out with new, a turky baster will get it out of the resivore, but not out of the lines, a $30 vaccum pump will suck it thru the lines, along with any dirt or water that is in there.
tranny oil is offten forgotten (good for you for rememebering) the vx calls for motor oil in the tranny, manual transmision fluid that is honda compatible is better (not gear oil) some people like red line, some like royal purple, some use honda "brand" MTF, I have amsoil in mine, I don't have any proof that any of them are better then any of the others, but almost anyone who has used any of them is going to tell you that they are better then the regular motor oil, simply because it's outdated.
when you check your tire presure, jack up each corner of the car, spin the wheel around a few times and listen, grasp it on the sides and wiggle it, then grab top and bottem and wiggle, if you feel any movment see if you can figure out what is moving, after that pull the wheel off and take a peek at your brake pads, while you have the wheel off look at the tred and check out the wear for uneveness.

I personaly like to be extreamly compleat when I get a new car, that way if something goes wrong I know if I should panic or not.

[Hockey4mnhs]

Originally Posted by Ryland

If you can get away with letting the car sit over night to cool, check the valve tapet clearence, but the engine needs to be between 50 and 90 degrees F, so 10-12 hours of not running is ideal, altho when I've checked my honda's they alwas seem to be pretty close to spec, but if you get a shop manual it will give you a list of things to check, and how offten.
How many miles are on the car? if you don't know how many miles it has been sence the last timing belt change (every 100,000-ish miles) it can be worth at least poping off the plastic cover (fits under the valve cover, and is held on by two-three more small bolts) I would also get a timing light and check the ignition timing, the jumper plug is under the dash by the passenger feet/door hinge, it's the one with two wires, but three sockets I'm pretty sure, jumping this plug will also tell you if you have any errer codes in the computer, by making the check engine light flash when the key is turned to the first click (dash lights come on and do self check), if the plug is jumped properly the check engine light should either be flashing to tell you the code, or stay on, if it does not come on at all then the bulb is burnt out, if it comes on then turns off again after turning the key then the jumper isn't making good contact.
changing the spark plugs is alwas good, take a look at each one of them and pay attention to how it looks, they should all have a simlaler look to them, if one is differnt check around for photos on "reading spark plugs" to figure out what is wrong, if you have one handy, doing a compression test while you have the plugs out is alwas fun as well, it gives you an overal idea on the health of your engine.
when I buy a new car I like to check/change all the filters, air filter, oil filter, fuel filter, I say that unless you have some idea that it was done recently then it should be done again, it might cost a little more money, but it will give you piece of mind, same thing with fluids, you have a hydralic clutch, open up the little resivore, and find out if the fluid is clean and clear, or if it looks like mud, both the clutch and the brakes take DOT3 fluid, if either one has dirty fluid then flush it out with new, a turky baster will get it out of the resivore, but not out of the lines, a $30 vaccum pump will suck it thru the lines, along with any dirt or water that is in there.
tranny oil is offten forgotten (good for you for rememebering) the vx calls for motor oil in the tranny, manual transmision fluid that is honda compatible is better (not gear oil) some people like red line, some like royal purple, some use honda "brand" MTF, I have amsoil in mine, I don't have any proof that any of them are better then any of the others, but almost anyone who has used any of them is going to tell you that they are better then the regular motor oil, simply because it's outdated.
when you check your tire presure, jack up each corner of the car, spin the wheel around a few times and listen, grasp it on the sides and wiggle it, then grab top and bottem and wiggle, if you feel any movment see if you can figure out what is moving, after that pull the wheel off and take a peek at your brake pads, while you have the wheel off look at the tred and check out the wear for uneveness.

I personaly like to be extreamly compleat when I get a new car, that way if something goes wrong I know if I should panic or not.

damn your a pro with this stuff i wish i know how to do that

[McPatrick]

Thanks a lot Ryland. I have printed your and other comments out and wil show it to my friend and see what all he has the time for.
All the comments sure are appreciated!