No, don't take it to Piedmont. They screwed my wife on several things when she took her civic there.

My buddy works at Honda Carland and they do good work. But like you said it is quite a drive.

If you are interested in a local shop. My uncle has a shop off of laurens road. Keenan's auto. They do good work but they are not the cheapest place to go.

 

44,000 miles is way early for a valve adjustment. If they are noisy then you may want to get them done but no rush at this point. Best thing you can do is call around for service and prices.

I change my own oil using a Honda filter and Mobil 1.

6 qt of Oil Cost is less than $30 and Honda brand filter is about $10 for a total of $40ish.

Don't expect the dealership to give you Honda brand parts. I have pulled many white no named filters from Hondas serviced at the dealer.

All that said, something like Castral GTX is good oil (and better than what the dealer will give you) and only cost about $15 for 6 qts. Add a Honda brand OE filter (save your receipt for record) and you at $25 for a better oil change. It takes about 30 mins to do start to clean up if you take your time.

$25 x 5 DIY oil changes a year = $125
$80 x 5 Dealer oil changes a year = $400

If you own the car for 5 years you will pay about $1375 more for a little paperwork..... or should I say half the paperwork because you don't have paperwork for the first 6 years of the cars life.

Same can be said for trans and diff. They will charge even more for Diff and trans fluid change and you are looking at about $8 of diff gear oil and $15 for 2 bottles of Honda MTF. both are just as easy as and oil change.

Its a good way to get to know your car anyway.

Good luck however you end up doing it

 

i really cant do it myself because i live in a apratment complex and we cant work on our cars here. would it be better if i buy my own oil, tranny fluid, and diff fluid, and bring it to them and they put that in? i def want mobil 1 non synthetic because thats what has been put in it since i got it, but becaue i dont think the tranny and diff fluid has been changed, so should i just put what they have in it? or would it matter if i changed brands? thanks guys!

i will put prices and brands of fluids they use up tommorow when i call them, and help out there would be great. thanks guys!!

 

I have never trusted a dealership period. The only thing dealer records say to me is "crap I have no idea how this car has been taken care of. Did they really change the fluid or replace that filter?" You will always be left wondering! I would rather the owner have written his on records because it tells me he/she cared. As long as you have receipts I would say that is just as plausible. I bought used also and found that the diff was dry as a bone. Certified by a dealer... my a$$.

If you are in the Clemson area and need a garage I have one. I don't mind helping out a fellow Tiger.

 

I would do it but I no longer live in Greenville. My rec is Yellowjacket, Yves is a great guy and an excellent airplane/heliocopter tech. People who fly trust their lives to this man when he works on there plane. But if you do go to the dealer, ask for the lead tech (who will probably do the valve job anyway) to be the one to perform the entire service. The problem with most Honda dealers and dealers in general is they have dedicated young kids with little or no experience performing minor services AKA oil changes. So if you are worried clean your car up to look spotless, dress nice, be on time and request the lead master tech for the service. You may have to wait a few days to get in the shop but it peace of mind. My opion, do you plan on selling the car at Barrett Jackson? If not, reciepts from oil and filter purchases are great records if you do the work yourself or if you have Yves do it. Ask Andy Thomason about his service records. I hope this can help.

Craig

 

well went back today and waited. they drove the car adn said they really didnt hear anything, but they took the valve cover off and rechecked them and they were fine. he told me the noises were normal. the only bad noises would be hard ticking, not the baseball card in the bycycle spokes. but found out my clutch was slipping. i knew it was a bit, but they said that may be the noise.

 

If the tech drove the car and then checked them then that is a problem. The engine needs to be COLD. The manual calls for below 100* or basically it should sit overnight and then be worked on. I am not saying that is the issue but I would hope the tech knows better.

Kevin

 

Amen to that kevin! valve adjustments are to be done cold.

 

Yep Yves (yellow jacket) did the valves on my car. He did a good job and I've had no problems since Just be sure the engine is dead cold and has been sitting for multiple hours before you get it done.

I definately need to change the tranny fluid again though. Its been over a year and I can tell my shifts aren't as smooth as they were.