Oil Change DIY

[Si_Jeff]

wow, i'm gonna do my first oil change soon, i have a question on the Si, i've read it would be easier if you take off the right wheel, do i relaly need to take off the fender liner as well? or just some clips of the liner? i don't want to take the whole thing off, that's a pain to take off the fender liner everytime i do an oil change, plus honda use those plastic clips that break easily.

[Zeuceone]

your only other option is to stick your hand in from behind the axle and reach to remove it. which is a pain.

[Si_Jeff]

ok, i guess i have no problem taking the wheel off, i have to look at it this weekend, this will be fun, lol..i don't trust the quick lube places at all, and Honda dealers, they don't carry mobil 1, plus who knows if they'll even change my filter if it's in a bad spot. i also want to put in my skunk2 magnetic bolts in.

[Zeuceone]

i didnt take the wheel well off and it was a pain in the ass. the first time is the hardest. if you cant take it off by hand use some sand paper to get a good grip on it.

[Si_Jeff]

ok bro, thanks for the input..

[Redleg06Si]

are honda OEM filters the best to go with on the Si? I know FRAM are crap as far as construction....any reccomendations??

[dowNNshift]

deleted

[zagato27]

Originally Posted by Redleg06Si

are honda OEM filters the best to go with on the Si? I know FRAM are crap as far as construction....any reccomendations??

Ok, my first post. I try to change the oil in all my cars so that I get the right oil and oil filter. Plus, there's just something "good" bout doing it yourself. Course everyone here knows that. My cars: 97 Maxima SE 5spd (my daily driver); 03 Murano SL(wife's); 92 Acura Legend Cpe(son); 98 Accord EX V6(daughter #2); 96 Accord EX V6(daughter #1). Anyway, Mobil 1 is my oil of choice HOWEVER I have been reading a bit that Mobil 1 may not be 100% synthetic. I'll have to study up on that one. As to filters, I try to use Purolator Pure One's if I can. If not OEM is good and Mobil 1 oil filters are good too. Here's a link to an oil filter study that I thought was pretty interesting. Caution here, don't know how current the study was. Check it out and see what you think. BTW, Amsoil MTF in my Maxima tranny.....smooth. Used to be a Amsoil distributor that frequented the Maxima forums who'd give you a great deal. Haven't been here long enough to see if this forum has 'em. Lastly, why am I here. I'm thinking bout getting a Civic Si Sedan w/ Nav....TW. Just test drove it yesterday and was very pleased. I can't believe how happy that engine is to rev. The salesman told me not to go over 5k so I max'd at 4k. Very nice car. Just have to convince the wife now.

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html

[kenchan]

ive heard about the lawsuit with castrol. i personally use Mobil1
on all my cars as well and i have not been really bothered by it.

the best thing you can do for your car is, as you already know, to
change the oil when it's time. even if you did drain your pan there's
still some factory dino oil left in there. your synthetic is therefore not
pure anyway.

[hobbydad]

On the Si: It's almost impossible to get at the filter from underneath, here's what you do. Turn the wheels all the way right before jacking up the right corner. Inside the wheel well, twords the front, there's a small plastic panel held in place by two of the push-button plugs. Remove the two plugs, and gently pull back on the panel. You'll have the oil filter directly in front of you, with almost enough room to get two hands on it. This also gives you access to the k-member/block area where the spilled oil will be accumulating, making clean up easy as well. Should be a sinch from there. Remember, buy 6 qts. for the Si change, it should take an easy 5.5 to get you to the full mark.

[acuramech]

i'm a tech for acura, the reason for the crush washer is to prevent over torqueing. i dont know how many alum oil pans on tls and rsx i have changed do to over tightening. the crush washer wont prevent it.. just helps. also... honda and acura have a shield that sits on the sub frame so that no oil drips on the frame. it makes it nice not having to clean up all that oil. easy access to the filter if on a lift.. he he he. what sinthetics are people running in their new si?

[Camshaft2]

I'm not using anymore of those crappy nylon crush washers. They are garbage. I'm sticking with the copper ones from now on.

Cam

[racerex]

Originally Posted by Camshaft2

I'm not using anymore of those crappy nylon crush washers. They are garbage. I'm sticking with the copper ones from now on.

Cam

Nylon and copper???? I thought the OE (Honda parts counter) crush washers were all made of aluminum???? I buy like 25 of them at a time.......they're dirt cheap, so what's the benefit with going other the OE. I've been using the Honda crush washers for years and never had a single oil leak at the drain plug (I use a new washer and I torque the drian plug to spec each time).

[TeaSX]

Originally Posted by acuramech

i'm a tech for acura, the reason for the crush washer is to prevent over torqueing. i dont know how many alum oil pans on tls and rsx i have changed do to over tightening. the crush washer wont prevent it.. just helps. also... honda and acura have a shield that sits on the sub frame so that no oil drips on the frame. it makes it nice not having to clean up all that oil. easy access to the filter if on a lift.. he he he. what sinthetics are people running in their new si?

im dont have an si but im running 5w20 M1 in my 06 civic ex and i plan on running 5w30 M1 in my 07 tsx. Since your an acura tech do you ever see the auto tranmission drain plug thread gets stripped? I dont know if i should make a big deal about my independent honda mechanic changing it along with the atf fluild - i like to change it every 15k.

[TeaSX]

i dont know why i cant edit my post - but i was referring to changing the crush washer on the atf drain bolt.

[Camshaft2]

Advance sells nylon and copper crush washers for the oil drain plug (not the atf drain bolt). I was just talking about cars in general......I tend to avoid the dealerships.

Cam

[acuramech]

i'd change the atf crush washer as well... the casing on the trans is alum as well... just an extra line of protection i guess...

[Kidekat]

Originally Posted by racerex

Nylon and copper???? I thought the OE (Honda parts counter) crush washers were all made of aluminum???? I buy like 25 of them at a time.......they're dirt cheap, so what's the benefit with going other the OE. I've been using the Honda crush washers for years and never had a single oil leak at the drain plug (I use a new washer and I torque the drian plug to spec each time).

+1 for torquing the drain bolt correctly, and you should not have stripped threads. Or you can go with a Fumitomo drain valve and never have to worry about it again...

I never have problems with Nylon drain gaskets. Although they do harden a bit after 4-6 oil changes.

[Mr. Pixel]

Originally Posted by Redleg06Si

are honda OEM filters the best to go with on the Si? I know FRAM are crap as far as construction....any reccomendations??

Yes, and no, on the Honda filter. I have an Element as well as the 8th-Gen, and it uses the same filter.

To answer the "best filter" question, the Honda 15400-PLM-A01 is the one to use. I took apart around a dozen "compatible" filters, Honda and aftermarket, and the Honda A01 is at the top in total filter area, and at or near the top in assembly quality and quality of components. An A01 filter will say "FILTECH, INC" on the can, and have the Dana Automotive elongated diamond stamped on the base.

Now why do I emphasize A01? Because Honda will also supply the "equivalent" 15400-PLM-A02, which is made by the fine folks at Fram (now owned by Honeywell). With the exception of the better rubber used for the anti-drainback valve, the can may as well be orange, 'cause it's the same junk inside. It will say "Honeywell" on the filter can.

A01 filters can sometimes be hard to come by. Honda seems to alternate between Filtech and Fram for their supply, and at the moment the A02 filter is in the factory pipeline.

A good second choice is the NAPA "Gold". It is the same filter construction as the A01, with about 15% less filter area.

My take on crush washers:

• Much ado about nothing. I have a Miata with 150,000 miles on the aluminum crush washer that came with the car. It's never leaked.
• It confuses non-Honda techs. The one time I was forced to use a jiff-lube for the Element, I handed them a new crush washer. The next oil change, I found two washers on the plug.
• It doesn't really "crush". It might deform slightly, but it will continue to deform throughout the life of the car to match any imperfections in the plug-pan interface.
• Yes, they're super-cheap. But it's Yet Something Else to keep track of in a messy process, and forget to have on-hand for the job.

There is absolutely no harm in re-using the old washer. The only "trick" is to make sure that the washer stays in the same direction on the plug.

[jballer187]

Just finished doing my oil change in my garage. Switched over to syn (Amsoil) thanks to DumbasSi for the hookup and did the tranny drain and fill (Amsoil MTF). Took me a good 2 hours for the oil change only bc I wanted to make sure the dino was mostly drained before putting in the syn oil. Im not naive, I know there is still some in there but I let it sit for a good while til dripping had long intervals between. Only problem was the oil filter location (Si). Used the zip lock trick and manage to catch most of it but it still managed to get on some components. Other than having the problem of squeezing my arm in there to change the filter everything else was a breeze.

The car is a tad bit more responsive on the accel, and the notchiness of 2nd and 3rd are minimal but not fully gone, (much smoother than before though).
Overall happy with the switch, but thought the gear switching would be much smoother than it really is because of the feedback Amsoil MTF was getting on this forum. Either way, a def improvement however minimal it was.

Thanks to this thread for being so informative and thanks again DumbasSi for the hookup on Amsoil.