The 2004 Civic

2511 Views 46 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Nail Grease, Apr 3, 2021

Nail Grease

Discussion Starter · Apr 2, 2021

Welp, I've had the 2004 Civic a while after buying it at auction. Just to have a cheap beater car as a back up, if we should ever happen to be down a vehicle. I swept through the whole engine bay, including power steering rack replacement. Hadn't done much with it since the pandemic, so I decided to give it away to a young relative who just learned to drive (Ok'd by the parents). The only thing that was left to do is get a 4 wheel alignment. It was taken to a dealership for this service. I about died in my chair when the dealership told them they needed to replace the spark plugs, brake fluid and coolant, LOL! It was all done and new!

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Nail Grease

Discussion Starter · #21 · Apr 2, 2021

Daltongang said:
Did you remember to replace the turn signal fluid and put genuine Honda air in the tires???

Yes and muffler bearings.
Parts were very inexpensive for this vehicle. Not much that I didn't replace.

Reactions: 1

plplplpl

· #22 · Apr 2, 2021

Nail Grease said:
Our local tire shop has the alignment machine. The ole feller that used to do it isn't there anymore. The machine sits there collecting dust.

A precursor to the fate of our civilization.

Nail Grease said:
Well it's not like it's set up to run at Daytona. It has seen better days. I didn't get to drive it much because of the pandemic. I found 4 alloy Honda Civic rims that came off an EX. (Not pictured)
View attachment 147254

While everybody knows that painting stripes on it will make your car go faster, a well-kept secret is that removing an unused front license plate holder adds a couple of HP (or is it MPG, or ft-lb or newton-meters?).

Reactions: 1

Daltongang

· #23 · Apr 2, 2021

plplplpl said:
A precursor to the fate of our civilization.

While everybody knows that painting stripes on it will make your car go faster, a well-kept secret is that removing an unused front license plate holder adds a couple of HP (or is it MPG, or ft-lb or newton-meters?).

Don't worry, they are training this guy to take his place on the alignment machine.

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xGS

· #24 · Apr 2, 2021

Nail Grease said:
More than that, you take a vehicle in for a very specific service, a 4 wheel alignment. No one asked you to touch anything else.

Most dealers will perform a "free multi-point inspection" anytime you bring a vehicle in for any type of service.

Nail Grease said:
The engine runs silky smooth.

There's preventative maintenance and then there's wait until it breaks maintenance.

Nail Grease

Discussion Starter · #25 · Apr 2, 2021

plplplpl said:
While everybody knows that painting stripes on it will make your car go faster, a well-kept secret is that removing an unused front license plate holder adds a couple of HP (or is it MPG, or ft-lb or newton-meters?).

I hadn't registered the vehicle when the photo was taken. Texas requires a front plate 😖. This was right when I rolled it out of the Nail Grease restoration facility. New headlights, if you didn't notice 😁. There was talk about doing the dip.

Nail Grease

Discussion Starter · #26 · Apr 2, 2021

xGS said:
Most dealers will perform a "free multi-point inspection" anytime you bring a vehicle in for any type of service.

There's preventative maintenance and then there's wait until it breaks maintenance.

Right.
They said it needed spark plugs. They were brand new.

xGS

· #27 · Apr 2, 2021

Nail Grease said:
Right.
They said it needed spark plugs. They were brand new.

How could you tell unless you removed the plugs and examined them?

Nail Grease

Discussion Starter · #28 · Apr 2, 2021

xGS said:
How could you tell unless you removed the plugs and examined them?

Right. Why?

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Nail Grease

Discussion Starter · #29 · Apr 2, 2021

Daltongang said:
Don't worry, they are training this guy to take his place on the alignment machine.
View attachment 147264

Yep,
After alignment was done.

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plplplpl

· #30 · Apr 3, 2021

xGS said:
Most dealers will perform a "free multi-point inspection" anytime you bring a vehicle in for any type of service.

They need to rename that to "Free Let's Pad This Sucker's Bill Trough Fraudulent Scare Tactics Inspection."

Reactions: 2

xGS

· #31 · Apr 3, 2021

plplplpl said:
They need to rename that to "Free Let's Pad This Sucker's Bill Trough Fraudulent Scare Tactics Inspection."

They just want to help you keep your vehicle in peak operating condition.

plplplpl

· #32 · Apr 3, 2021

xGS said:
They just want to help you keep your vehicle in peak operating condition.

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xGS

· #33 · Apr 3, 2021

plplplpl said:
View attachment 147278

Do try to contain yourself.

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Nail Grease

Discussion Starter · #34 · Apr 3, 2021

xGS said:
They just want to help you keep your vehicle in peak operating condition.

xGS said:
Do try to contain yourself.

I don't believe that being up sold parts and services that you don't need (because they are wanting your vehicle in peak condition), is the motivating factor.

Jack Vogt

· #35 · Apr 3, 2021

Why the hate towards mechanics?
I don’t blame them for up selling. They make so little money off of oil changes and let’s face it, most people do the bare minimum maintenance so it’s not like the things they suggest are unreasonable (most of the time). I know people who go to the dealer and appreciate being up sold because they know nothing about what kind of service their cars need. Maybe they pay a little more for some stuff they don’t need, but it’s better than no maintenance.

Nail Grease

Discussion Starter · #36 · Apr 3, 2021

Jack Vogt said:
Why the hate towards mechanics?
I don’t blame them for up selling. They make so little money off of oil changes and let’s face it, most people do the bare minimum maintenance so it’s not like the things they suggest are unreasonable (most of the time). I know people who go to the dealer and appreciate being up sold because they know nothing about what kind of service their cars need. Maybe they pay a little more for some stuff they don’t need, but it’s better than no maintenance.

Being told that you need spark plugs when you got a brand new set with less than 100 miles on them in the engine is not having your best interest in mind. In fact it makes me very suspicious.

Jack Vogt

· #37 · Apr 3, 2021

Nail Grease said:
Being told that you need spark plugs when you got a brand new set with less than 100 miles on them in the engine is not having your best interest in mind. In fact it makes me very suspicious.

It’s possible they are just making assumptions. It’s not unreasonable to assume that on old Civic wouldn’t have had the spark plugs changed. Perhaps it would have been best if they took a plug out and checked, but time is money and the odds are pretty high they would need changing.

I’m not defending deceptive practices, but I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.

I took my Pilot to the dealer around 200k to get an oil change because I was out of town. They recommended the timing belt (which had been done less than a month before). It was solely based on mileage. They would have had no way to easily check if the belt and associated parts were new.

Nail Grease

Discussion Starter · #38 · Apr 3, 2021

Jack Vogt said:
It’s possible they are just making assumptions. It’s not unreasonable to assume that on old Civic wouldn’t have had the spark plugs changed. Perhaps it would have been best if they took a plug out and checked, but time is money and the odds are pretty high they would need changing.

I’m not defending deceptive practices, but I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.

I took my Pilot to the dealer around 200k to get an oil change because I was out of town. They recommended the timing belt (which had been done less than a month before). It was solely based on mileage. They would have had no way to easily check if the belt and associated parts were new.

Finally found my under the hood photo. Here's what the mechanic would have seen.

I hear what your saying about what you can't see.

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Daltongang

· #39 · Apr 3, 2021

Nail Grease said:
Finally found my under the hood photo. Here's what the mechanic would have seen.
View attachment 147289
I hear what your saying about what you can't see.

I'm not 100% sure of course, but I do believe you have a loose connection to the Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster.

Perhaps that was what the mechanics were referring too.

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Reactions: 1

xGS

· #40 · Apr 3, 2021

Jack Vogt said:
Why the hate towards mechanics?

You're trying to reason with a guy who buys a cheap CV axle from the local auto parts store and doesn't seem to mind having to do the work all over again when that cheap CV axle fails almost immediately.
No, what really frosts him is having to pay the exorbitant dealer price for an OEM Honda part that won't fall apart.

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