Best way to service the car after warranty

Hi,

I'm looking for advice about the best way to service
the car after warranty. I have 2001 Honda Accord.
Should I continue all the routine services with Honda's
authorized dealer or are there other, better and more
cost-effective options to serve it?

Dealer's service departments arguably know their cars
best but they are usually more expensive.

Please advice what other service options are available
in So Cal which may provide cheaper alternative without
sacrificing too much in quality.

Thanks,
IP.

"IPavlov" > wrote in message
news
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking for advice about the best way to service
> the car after warranty. I have 2001 Honda Accord.
> Should I continue all the routine services with Honda's
> authorized dealer or are there other, better and more
> cost-effective options to serve it?
>
> Dealer's service departments arguably know their cars
> best but they are usually more expensive.
>
> Please advice what other service options are available
> in So Cal which may provide cheaper alternative without
> sacrificing too much in quality.
>
> Thanks,
> IP.
>

Cost effective, yes. Any place other than the dealer is more cost
effective. Better? Could be. More than likely for routine service, any
place is comparable to the dealer. Talk to your friends, see where they
take their cars. There's no reason you need/should take your car to the
dealer for routine service.

-Bruce

Our dealer show a comparison chart of prices which includes local
shops. Price is not the only issue, what's included and reputation
needs to be part of the choice.

In our experience, I use my own synthetic engine lube and ATF and
makes sure that the service guy gets the message that I do not want his
oil. Mine works a minimum for 12,000 kms or 7,500 miles or 6 months
(whichever comes first). I've had a test done and it was still good at
13,000 kms. This is good to show a dealer if he talks warranty.

I also use a filter than lasts three times longer and works 3 times
better and also priced approximately the same.

IPavlov wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking for advice about the best way to service
> the car after warranty.

Easy. Do it yourself. Keep a logbook and receipts.

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 10:32:30 -0700, rudyxhiebert wrote:

> Our dealer show a comparison chart of prices which includes local shops.
> Price is not the only issue, what's included and reputation needs to be
> part of the choice.
>
> In our experience, I use my own synthetic engine lube and ATF and makes
> sure that the service guy gets the message that I do not want his oil.
> Mine works a minimum for 12,000 kms or 7,500 miles or 6 months (whichever
> comes first). I've had a test done and it was still good at 13,000 kms.
> This is good to show a dealer if he talks warranty.
Could you please recommend the engine lube you are using. What do you mean
by "my own"? - Do you actually produce it?
Also, how do you choose one? - Should it be approved by manufacturer?

>
> I also use a filter than lasts three times longer and works 3 times better
> and also priced approximately the same.
The same question about the filter as about the lube oil - how to choose one?
Is there some manufacturer's approved list?

In article .com>,
says...


>In our experience, I use my own synthetic engine lube and ATF and
>makes sure that the service guy gets the message that I do not want his
>oil. Mine works a minimum for 12,000 kms or 7,500 miles or 6 months
>(whichever comes first). I've had a test done and it was still good at
>13,000 kms. This is good to show a dealer if he talks warranty.

Are you sure you are just not providing the mechanic with synthetic oil
for his car?
---------------
Alex

IPavlov wrote:
> On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 10:32:30 -0700, rudyxhiebert wrote:

> > I use my own synthetic engine lube and ATF and makes
> > sure that the service guy gets the message that I do
> > not want his oil. Mine works a minimum for 12,000 kms
> > or 7,500 miles or 6 months (whichever comes first).
> > I've had a test done and it was still good at 13,000 kms.

> What do you mean by "my own"? - Do you actually produce it?

He buys the oil and brings it to the dealer. Many people did that in
the 1970s with synthetic oil, which was rare on the retail market back
then. But don't bother with special transmission transmission fluid
because transmissions can be far more particular about their lube than
engines can, so just use what's recommended by the factory.

7500/6 is nothing special for oil, and even 20 years ago many car
makers were recommending that change interval for conventional oil that
was much worse than what's sold now. Go to www.api.org for information
about oil quality, but for viscosity information refer to the owner's
manual.

> Also, how do you choose one? - Should it be approved by manufacturer?

No! It should be _prohibited_ by the manufacturer because all their
approved oils have fine diamond dust mixed in with them to make the
engine wear out faster so you'll have to buy a new car sooner.
Furthermore Saddam Hussein was only weeks away from attacking the U.S.
with his WMDs in 2003, and George W. Bush served gallantly in Vietnam.

IPavlov wrote:
> On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 10:32:30 -0700, rudyxhiebert wrote:
>
> > Our dealer show a comparison chart of prices which includes
> > local shops. Price is not the only issue, what's included
> > and reputation needs to be part of the choice.
> >
> > In our experience, I use my own synthetic engine lube and ATF
> > and makes sure that the service guy gets the message that I do
> > not want his oil. Mine works a minimum for 12,000 kms or 7,500
> > miles or 6 months (whichever comes first). I've had a test done
> > and it was still good at 13,000 kms. This is good to show a
> > dealer if he talks warranty.
> Could you please recommend the engine lube you are using. What do
> you mean by "my own"? - Do you actually produce it?

Rudy is an Amsoil dealer I believe. The test is known as a "used
oil analysis", which measures the levels of various wear metals
and other substances in the used oil.

> Also, how do you choose one? - Should it be approved by
> manufacturer?

Honda doesn't necessarily "approve" motor oils except for their
own labelled oil at the dealer. What they use in the US is made
for them by ExxonMobil. I would suspect that it's probably just
one of ExxonMobil's off the shelf formulations repackaged with a
Honda label. I doubt they would have them make a specialty
formulation and go through the six figure expense of running all
the sequence tests needed for API certifications. They'll just
piggyback on something like the Mobil Clean 5000 tests.

A lot of oils blenders save on costs by simply buying an additive
package and base oils from known suppliers. The additive companies
have already run the full sequence tests for the API SM standard
with a blend of their additive package along with a certain grade
of base oil. So anyone who blends a pretested additive package
with certain grade of base oil can submit the test data from the
additive company for API approvals. This makes it easy for some
smaller companies to market a product in smaller volumes without
the expense of development and/or testing costs.

The additive companies stay in business by selling these pretested
additive packages. The big players in the market are Lubrizol and
Infineum; Shell and ExxonMobil also develop additives. They also
sell components as well as develop additive packages for some of the
larger marketers. While it might not make sense for Lubrizol to
develop an additive pack for a small player like a supermarket house
label, they have been known to create specialty packages for large
companies (like Quaker State).

> > I also use a filter than lasts three times longer and works 3
> > times better and also priced approximately the same.
> The same question about the filter as about the lube oil - how
> to choose one? Is there some manufacturer's approved list?

He uses an Amsoil brand filter - probably manufacturered to
Amsoil specs by Baldwin filters. There is no manufacturer's
approved list in the US, save perhaps the OEM filters you can
buy at a dealer.

I'm assuming you live in the US or perhaps Canada. Some
European countries have stringent requirements that cars must
be maintained by licensed mechanics. The rules even state that
maintenance parts and fluids must come from a manufacturer's
approval list. My Italian manager tells me that a list of
allowable tires is listed on registration cards. Such rules
wouldn't be allowed by US federal and state laws.

In my experience a dealer is not that much more expensive if you are
really looking to have someone keep the routine maintenance up to date.
By maintenance I mean checking all the fluid levels and flushing them
on a regular schedule, checking the suspension and all of the other
components and identifying, repairing or replacing worn parts before
they become a problem. The dealer will have access to and be aware of
the latest TSB's on your car.

The local gasoline station in my experience will not do as thorough a
job.