Major Service Intervals for '94 Civic EX

"mjc13" wrote in news:ujU4i.24961$xu.19233@trndny07:

Go here:

This will bring up the Owner's Manual for the '94 Civic. This manual will contain the maintenance schedule.

The water pump should be replaced at the same time as the belt. If this is the car's second change, the tensioner should be replaced as well.

unless you have a genuine service record, you cant assume /anything/ was done on schedule. there's no reason why this can't be a perfectly fine vehicle but you must pay a price that reflects the need to spend money taking care of what's not definitely been maintained.

I understand. I'll be looking at a fax of a dealer service stop, and making an offer according to what it still needs.

Thanks for the link and info.

I just checked that online manual, and unless the dealer was proactive, the water pump was only "inspected," Great...

-------------------------

In Canada the dealers will tell you just about anything you need to know. You walk in and tell the service writer that 'Joe' is selling / has sold you his car and you know THEY serviced it, (you provide the VIN) and eventually you walk out with reprints of the work orders that they have. You can find the exact date it was sold and the dealership's number too.

Done it about 6 times.

'Curly'

As I wrote earlier, I'll be looking at a fax of a service order tomorrow. The car was bought and serviced on the other side of the country from where it is (and I am) now, so it's not as easy. Basically I wanted to know how likely it was that the water pump was ever replaced, and I'm disappointed to learn that Honda didn't give a specific mileage for doing it, like every 90k miles. This gives cheapskate owners a reason to skimp on service, and then act aggrieved when I deduct the $600 for that service they never had done, from my offer...

"mjc13" wrote in news:GV05i.24982$xu.3831@trndny07:

"Inspected" would mean the mechanic spun the pulley by hand to see how it felt. You can tell if the pump's going bad just by doing that.

Truth be told, the pump will last two belt changes if the coolant is changed according to the severe schedule, and with OEM fluid. IF...

The reason you change it every belt change is because you have to pull the timing belt off to get at it in the first place, so the labor is mostly the same. But, with a $60 part charge, $20 for coolant, and maybe an additional hour's labor ($180 total for the pump), there's considerable incentive for customers to skimp on the pump.

Dealers will change just the pump if that's what you want, but it's been my experience that they will try to talk you into doing the pump too, which is a great idea, regardless of the perceived "ripoff" factor.

I guess Honda assumes everybody will use Honda coolant and change it when they're supposed to.

If you have no documented proof that the pump was changed, just keep an ear/eye on your engine, especially at startup. If there are no strange squealing noises, no coolant leaks on the ground at the timing belt end, your pump is still OK.

Yeah, that's the plan, but I sure wish other people were more like me. I have the oil seals done with the belt and pump, if the mileage is over 100k. My '86 CIvic Si (bought new) is 22 years old and still runs fine...

"mjc13" wrote in news:fl45i.20545$Qz.2895@trndny09:

Then you've got five years on me. I bought my '91 Integra new as well. It has almost 288,000 miles on it as of today.

I figure I'm sort of in competition with my long-dead Daddy. He got 140,000 miles out of his '58 Dodge, and I've doubled that. So far...

I win on age, but you win on mileage. My Civic has only 146k on it. I'm thinking of selling her now. Any interest out there?

"Tegger" wrote

Where'd you hear this or see it specified?

I think he's going by experience. That's a pretty common assumption for more than one make. The only problem with it is that people who use the specified coolant and change it regularly are the ones who usually have the water pump changed with every timing belt. And, worse, vice versa.

honda don't specify a pump change, they specify inspection. based on my experience, a pump will last a good deal longer than a belt. the urban tradition of change is that of economics - for $45 extra bucks and you're already in there, why not?

personally, i inspect if it's first change, but i have the tools and experience to do the job myself.

My experience with older Honda Civics (Gen 1 & 2) is that a waterpump's life span is about the same as a belt. In fact, I have had to cheat to get one to last as long as a belt by squirting the shaft with motor oil in ever increasing frequency. My record for water pump life extension was about 7,000 miles and it was growling pretty good...

JT

"Elle" wrote in news:7Da5i.18526 $ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net:

This is generally what my mechanic sees.

He does NOT recommend actually leaving it in for two changes though. Too risky, since almost nobody's cooling system is maintained properly.

Tegger wrote in news:Xns993A8147BE528tegger@

Sorry, this observation was based on a 60K-mile belt replacement interval, not the max interval of 105K. My bad.

"Tegger" wrote

Pardon? So what's this mechanic's counsel for my 91 Civic (interval of six years/90k miles on the timing belt)?

"Elle" wrote in news:qxk5i.14669 $ snipped-for-privacy@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net:

Replace the pump every time you do the timing belt.