An overdue update on my 2002 Accord Coupe V6

[M1Accord]

All,

First of all, I want to thank everyone for helping me over the year. This website is awesome and I was there since the beginning but rarely posts and actually had not post in a long time due to busy life. This thread is show you that your help yield great result as my 2002 Accord had reached surprised the 200k mile marker.

Vehicle: 2002 Accord V6 Coupe
Year bought: 2002

Mileage at purchase: 0
Current miles: 210950 miles

Main oil use: Mobil 1 for the first 195k miles. Maxlife 5W30 from 195k-210k due to consumption/leak???. Currently running Quaker State 5W30
Main oil grade: 5W20 in summer / 0W20 in winter

Oil Filters: Mostly standard Purolator every 6 months at OCI and I buy them when they are on sale. 5 Honda filters until I found out Fram made them. The last and current filter is Fram premium (name?) at 14 bucks as people raved about it. That Fram filter goes for 9 bucks now as Mobil 1 filters are now 9 bucks instead of 11. 2 Mobil 1 104 during 2006-2009 time frame as I drove a lot those years.

Average Annual Mileage: 14k miles
OCI: 6 months regardless of miles (June and January). This comes out to be 7k miles OCI

Transmission OCI: 50k miles regardless of time but will reduce to 30k now as I don't drive often so.

Brake OCI: 50k miles regardless of time but will reduce to 4 years OCI now due to very low usage

Power Steering Fluid: at 175k and 200k mile marks. Please don't ask.

Coolant OCI: Every 100k miles. Had not done one yet for this interval.

Fuel economy city: I don't really care as this is a massive car with a big V6 and I don't know what constitute a city driving.
Fuel economy highway: ~28-30 mpg
Fuel economy average: 26.46 mpg

Repairs: $0

Maintenance: I won't go much into the cost of maintanance because I tried to help out a acquaintance by taking my car to him to get work done and he ended up ripping me off. It's not Honda's fault that I have a good heart and some people are ungrateful cheats.

1st maintenance at 125k miles
Work done by: Out of work mechanic with full professional tool in his car garage
Items replaced: Timing belt and associated parts (pulleys, tensioner, etc), water pump, thermostat (unncessary due to rip off), front brake pads and rotors, spark plugs, and drive belts
Cost: ~1500 (500 for parts, 1000 for labor) for out of work mechanic with professional tools in his garage. The work took 6 hours at leisure pace.
Note: Timing belt and drive belts look very good at 125k. Water pump looks good. Spark plugs look good. I ended up keeping the parts as souvenirs as testaments of Honda's quality.

2nd maintenance at 150k miles
Work done by: Same mechanic as above
Items Replaced: Rear brake pads and resurfaced rotors.
Cost: $250 for labor. Rear pads from Honda dealership by me

3rd maintenance at 205k
Work done by: A garage that does state safety inspection
Items replaced: Rear pads and rotors
Cost: ~$302
Note: I should have done this myself as I knew it was worn. I got a friend that will do work for free. He has a real job but was a mechanic in his former life. The worst place to get brakes work done are garages that don't specialized in brakes. They charge more for the work and may use inferior product. My rotors are all rusted at the part that the pads don't touch and I have 5k miles and 1 year on it. I just don't drive much anymore.

Things that will need replacement soon: Water pump have been making baseball card in the bicycle's spokes noise for the last 2-3 years. I thought it was power steering pump at first but a mechanic that last inspected by car for annual state sticker indicated that it's the water pump and I should use drive it until I am ready to replace the timing belt to save on cost. I am likely to use him as he is an old geezer that seems very honest and didn't try to jack me for state inspection like most places would due to my car looking like [censored].

Exterior Score: 2-3
Interior Score: 6-8
Mechanical Score: 8-10. The engine still purrs like a kitten.

Ownership mistakes:
1) I let my wife use it for several years and 1 time I checked the oil before we went on a 2k miles trip and noticed the oil was at least 1.5 quart low. [censored]. I believe the oil I was using was some too thin as the engine had 180k miles at the time and I ended up needing to add a quart every 2k miles between change for the next 2 changes. At 195k miles, I switched from Mobil 1 0/5W20 to Maxlife 5W30 and had not needed to add any oil between change. The last oil change was yesterday at 210k miles and I used Quaker State 5W30 convential to to see how it is. This is my first time with Quaker State.
2) I should learn how to work on it more but it is hard to learn with a Honda as it never really need anything and when it does need something, it won't need it again for another 75k miles or 100k miles. But changing brake pads and rotors should be done by me instead of shops and rip off acquaintance.
3) I should probably change ATF more often as it costs as much as oil.

 

[E150GT]

sounds like a solid car.

 

[Kool1]

I have an 03 CRV with just a tick over 200,000 miles and hope to continue driving it for a long time.

I believe 100,000 miles = vehicle broken in
200,000 miles = got your money's worth
300,000 miles = driving on borrowed time

After being on this site for a few years, I am beginning to rethink my mileage thoughts. Everything may need to be moved up another 100,000 miles as the quality of today's oils and fluids continue to get better and better.

 

[M1Accord]

Kool1,

My Accord looks very rough on the outside. The shop that inspected it last year wanted to fail me this year as I had a fender bender that pushed the hood back a big. I took it to another shop and got it passed. If it didn't pass, I would have to look for a new Honda and get rid of a perfectly good one. I hate state wallet inspection, which probably destroyed so many good cars and the environment in the name of keeping repair shops afloated.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Thank you for the update

 

[mclasser]

Good stuff man. I love my '02 as well.

 

[TexasVaquero]

Honda is a good manufacturer. However, I cannot stop but think you overpaid that mechanic. 1,000 for labor? That's a bit too expensive, even for me that I have paid some work at the dealer also at rip-off prices. Sad thing that with all new electronics in the cars and computers, the days easy maintenance might be numbered. Hope my Versa makes it even to 150,000...

Also, use the Mobil 1 High Mileage, it is much better than Valvoline HM in my experience (had a car seize due to poor Valvoline maxlife lubrication).

 

[aquariuscsm]

Is the EX-L package the top of the line?

 

[Mr Nice]

Our Accord has 185K miles and the way its running it will last another 185K miles.

I'm using Havoline HM that I bought on clearance. Purrs like a kitten on HM oil.

 

[krismoriah72]

I dont see any mention of struts...if you plan on keeping it struts are overlooked safety items.

You have been lucky with the transmission- most dont last that long behind the V6.

I would get an Aisin water pump installed.

 

[BAJA_05]

Very good detailic post. Hope my Acura is problem free as your Honda for many years & miles to come. Contemplating switching over to a HM oil when my stash of PUPP is depleted which is two more oil changes at 7500 miles each. Wondering if I should jump up to the 5W30 HM oil when I do replenish my stash or stick with the 5W20 HM oil? Not sure just yet. Currently at alittle over 101,000 miles on the car. Purrrrrrs like a kitten also!!!

 

[M1Accord]

OP here:

My Accord is a EX V6 Coupe. It was still on the delivery truck when I bought it as my first vehicle. I just finished engineering school and was successfully converted from co-operative worker to full time so I treated myself. I was very green with car maintenance but browsed a few sites for information. Bobistheoilguy was my number one source of information as this is where fact and good information are exchanged, given, and many good knowledgeable with great patience are here.

My Accord had seen several accidents The first accident was 2 days after I bought it. It was an insurance scam by the people who purposely sped up and hit me as I took a right turn at the stop sign. They also had a stop sign for their right turn but was further down the road on my left. Upon seeing a brand new car, which was a rarity in this own in 2002, they sped up and hit on the side. I know it was an insurance scam because they went straight to the hospital for a minor accident in which their ver old car tapped into the side of my car. Of course, it cost about $2k to fix my car due to the paint. Exactly two years later, my insurance sent me a notice that they settled a multi-million dollars case with those people. The following 2 years I got hit by . Then I gave it to my wife to drive to college and she had plenty of dings from people opening doors and just brushed their cars against it and left. I also had 2 rear fenders that I was not at fault with and 1 fender bender, which pushed my hood back 8 months ago, that I was at fault. I didn't fix any of the fender benders and paid the driver I hit $100 as his car 93 Corolla showed exactly a paint scrape among other paint scrapes he got while my Accord bumper was mushed and the hoot as well as the protection bar in front of my radiator was pushed back.

Those scars are characters and the car drives fine. It fires up right away in the morning and as I bought a house in 2009, it is garaged whenever not driven. I bought my wife a Honda Fit in 2012, the last best looking year for the Fit, and claimed my beloved Accord back. My daily usage is probably about 2 miles at most as I switched office and have to rely on public transportation for the worst commute in the country. I don't mind the scratches and scrapes as long as it is mechanically sound and it is. With the exception of the water pump dying and the water pump change interval fast approaching, there is nothing that needed repair or replace.

One good thing I did when I first bought the Accord is spraying the bottom of it with the thick tar paint claim to protect from rust and corrosion. It don't know how rusty a bottom of the car should be in my area, which see winters and road salt, but my Accord has no rust on the bottom. It came from the factory already coated some as well. My twin mufflers are still strong. All strut, suspension, and boots are good. I used to put it on the lift every 6 months at my old office that has a auto hobby bay to do a complete check while letting the oil drain.

My Honda Fit did not get the underbody coating as the auto hobby manager didn't want me to spray paint indoor even when the bay doors were open. He didn't want any paint to drip on the 30-year concrete floor. The Fit is 5 years old but already got 98k miles as my wife has a very long commute. I need to find a roll-on undercoat application to do that.

I think I found an honest mechanic, who is several generations before my time so he still subscribe to hard-work and honesty code of llife. I'll take it back for the water pump, timing belt, and all the tune-up it needs. He is about 15 miles from me but there is no line when I get there as it is in the middle of no-where but right off I-95 exit. Call me crazy, but I wouldn't mind buying that shop and turn it into a auto hobby place for people to DIY like my last office has.

With the care I am giving my Honda Fit, which sees much better tier of Mobil 1, I expect 300k miles easily. It is only 5 years old and already knocking on 100k mark while looking brand new. The sad part is that those miles equate to high fuel cost and my wife job doesn't pay enough to justify that.

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: krismoriah72
I dont see any mention of struts...if you plan on keeping it struts are overlooked safety items.

You have been lucky with the transmission- most dont last that long behind the V6.

I would get an Aisin water pump installed.



I think there was a big scare about Honda transmission in V6 of various models and I strongly believe this was overblown. I am going by memory of various publications I read over the years and Honda made about 30% V6 automatics and less than 200 units reported [censored]. If most didn't make, we'd be looking at over a million Accord, Pilot, and Odyssey for the 1998-2002 model years. I won't say that the owners didn't take care of their cars as changing ATF isn't exactly on folks radar since they are never taught or read about. I dare to say the only time people hear ATF service needed is when they take their cars to dealership. That was the case with my Honda Fit, the dealership did the airbag recall work and wanted to change my ATF, brake fluid, and power steering fluid. I politely mentioned that my Honda Fit has lifetime Honda power steering fluid to see how they would response. They counter by asking how often I changed my oil. I said I change it every 6 months regardless of miles using 15k OCI Mobil 1 Extended. So they said if I don't take Mobil 1's relax OCI schedule, I shouldn't take Honda's relaxed power steering fluid OCI schedule. I just thank the man and left. I could have gotten on my bobistheoilguy high horse and say "2012 HONDA FIT DOES NOT HAVE POWER STEERING FLUID. THE POWER STEERING IS ELECTRONICALLY CONTROLLED" but I figure the reason I don't yell at waiter is probably the same reason I don't put dealership on the spot. This is why I don't go to dealership for anything but recall or to buy a new car; they just make up [censored] to charge you.

And my ATF is fine as I check on it bi-monthly when I get gas before heading to diner.

 

[Graham Piccinini]

Originally Posted By: TexasVaquero

Also, use the Mobil 1 High Mileage, it is much better than Valvoline HM in my experience (had a car seize due to poor Valvoline maxlife lubrication).
Could you expand on that? I would like to get more information about this case.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: TexasVaquero
Also, use the Mobil 1 High Mileage, it is much better than Valvoline HM in my experience (had a car seize due to poor Valvoline maxlife lubrication).

Can you explain how you know for sure it was the oil and not a mechanical defect? What exactly was it that indicated the sole problem was "poor Valvoline Maxlife lubrication"?