so i've changed oils many times..especially when i had my civic si. nothing ever went wrong, until i got my S and did my first oil change... somehow the oil filter got lose, oil got all over the engine bay, and caught on fire...but THANK GOD i had a case of 24 ice mountain water in my trunk and put that out before it did further damage. it just burnt most of my wirings.

its been more than 4k miles passed since the last oil change, and im very paranoid on changing it again.

anyways, i was reading up on s2ki and i read about other people with their S catching on fire..
question: is there a special way of doing an oil change on the S?[/B]

 

did you use oem oil filter?

 

The filter sits right over where your drain pan should be, and can be easily removed while draining the pan. Plus, it's at an angle so you don't even get a drop of oil on your hands during the entire process. This is the easiest car I've ever owned to change the oil in.

I've changed it from underneath the car on a lift, and above using a jack, with no problems. I think you need to slow down or something.

 

no, fram

 

use an OEM (or a Mobile 1)

and just make sure it's tight.
Lots of people don't tighten them down enough and write on this forum about oil all over the engine bay

... most don't catch on fire though.

So you win on the oil change failure


but seriously, glad no damage and make sure the filter is very, very hand tight.

 

I use HAMP filters and tighten then as much as I possibly can by hand. Just make sure you don't get the outside of the filter or you hands oily or you will never get it on there tight enough.

Also, make sure that the rubber seal doesn't come off the old filter and stay stuck to the block. Thats a recipe for disaster.

BTW, never ever had a problem with oil leaking or a filter spinning off. *knock on wood*

 

Theres been plenty of threads about people's oil filter backing off and spraying oil on the manifold and catching fire. I use the oem honda oil filter and torque it down to 18ftlbs like it says on the filter and havent had any problems.

 

that was also what a mechanic had told me, of what happened...i guess i need to make sure of that as well.

 

If you can't tighten it properly by feel then use a torque wrench. The filter needs to be on there very securely and it's a bit tighter than what you're probably used to coming from other cars. The OEM filters have markings to help you tighten by hand. IIRC it's 7/8 of a turn after touching but don't quote me on that.