OIL Change and SRS Light

[myapple]

damn, thats not too sharp. well i'm not gonna cheap out if i'm going to the dealer i'm going :P anyhow, the air filter replacement isn't so difficult, i can do that myself.
$18~$20 seems correct (with taxes). I remember paying ~$15 for the accord in August. Any idea how ofter the air filter should be replaced though?

You'd probably want to inspect the filter once every 3-4 months to see if it's dirty. I generally replace mine once a year.

FYI-the I think civic air filter is different from the accord one. The accord one is a square or rectangular shape...the civic one is weird shaped so it cost a bit more.

[myapple]

i've been trying to follow this thread on oil and the quality of oil. however as any thread there are a biases. can you or anyone explain to me the number that surround the oil types and what would be ideal for the Accord Sedan? they recommened "5W20 Motor Oil". Any advice on oil types?

inserting bias:
Castrol GTX has long been regarded as one of the best conventional oils. 5w20 sells for around $3.50 a litre at walmart. This oil is adequare if u are planning to do regular 5-6k oil changes.

If you want to go a bit longer (8k-12k), perhaps you'd want to use a synthetic or synthetic blend. I use full synthetic mobil1 for performance and price.

[rayesyn]

sorry not following up on this one quickly got tied up with other stuff. Anyhow, got my oil change and filter replaced last week by the 'certified' Honda technicians for $37.81 taxes included. here's the breakdown of the bill:

Lube Bay Oil - $11.24
Lube Filter - $8.40
Lube Drain Plug Gasket - $0.60
Environmental Disposal - $1.00
Total - $21.24
Labour - $11.64
Sub total = $32.88 + taxes = $37.81

I didn't mind paying the hefty price tag, however next time i'm going to my mechanic i figured it'd have cost me less that $30 otherwise. Anyhow, when inquiring about the SRS light, the dude behind the counter told me that i had to set an appointment sometime during the 'work-week' so that they can hook my car up to a diagnostic machine and see what the problem is so that they can diagonose it. However everything's cool till he told me that they charge $92+taxes just to 'see whats wrong' and any repair that would be necessary would be at an additional charge. I was like, "its okay mate, i'll book an appointment over the phone not sure what next week looks like for me"...lol.

Can the people who had their car's diagnosed for 'FREE' by Honda get back to me on this one? I'm in need of that 'free' service.

Thanks a lot for your input, really appreciate it

[kevin_]

yeah its a ripoff...

I had the same problem and I was worried, so i brought it to them to have it checked out. All they did was reset it and charge me 95 bucks...NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH THE CAR!

just reset it yourself. if there's really a problem, the light should come back on. (i'm pretty sure about this, but i could be wrong so if someone wants to correct me please go ahead!)

[rayesyn]

any suggestions as to how i am to go about doing this?

reset it yourself. if there's really a problem, the light should come back on. (i'm pretty sure about this, but i could be wrong so if someone wants to correct me please go ahead!)

[myapple]

Buy an OBD2 code reader...

[nunzo]

Buy an OBD2 code reader...

you do realize a scan tool, all the necessary cartridges and hookups cost around a thousand + dollars right?

[radeonboy]

Have you ever tried to do this yourself? Changing the oil is not really hard.

[kevin_]

if i remember correctly, i had to remove one of the fuses to reset the SRS light (forgot which one, sorry!). it was a 92 accord, so things might've been different. try picking up one of those car specific repair books those usually have a lot of useful info! maybe someone else knows?

[myapple]

you do realize a scan tool, all the necessary cartridges and hookups cost around a thousand + dollars right?

I'm not talking about full scan tools. For the average do it yourselfer that just wants to simply read/lookup/clear codes off a car, a basic universal OBD2 reader will do. Anybody can get a basic one at CDN tire for around $150+tax and a very basic one off ebay for about $50CDN.

[kevin_]

you should be able to do it manually. on my 92 accord, all i had to do was connect two leads under the glove compartment, with the power ON, and the SRS light would begin to blink in sequence. depending on the number of times it blinked, it refers to an error code (i.e. if it blinked 5 times or something...it means that there's somethign wrong with o2 sensor)

pick up a copy of the hayes repair manual for the accord it should explain the entire process and have the list...

dunno where i put my odl copy i'll post if i find it...

[waitin4BOOST]

Here is a possible solution. Also, try searching within that forum...i think there have been a couple cases involving the SRS light.

http://forums.torontoaccords.com/viewtopic.php?t=32964

[rayesyn]

thanks, i'm reading up on that now.

Here is a possible solution. Also, try searching within that forum...i think there have been a couple cases involving the SRS light.

http://forums.torontoaccords.com/viewtopic.php?t=32964