What Honda repairs can only be done at the dealership?

I was recently informed at Honda that the transmission fluid and the power steering fluid are exclusively a special type for Honda. This was confirmed for me when I priced a fluid flush at a AAA tune up place. I've never taken my 2004 Honda Civic any place else. Now it will need the belts replaced and the tires need to be realigned.





Honda's service prices seem so inflated. What can I get done for cheaper without it costing the health of my car?|||Anything that can be done at the dealer can be done by an independent mechanic. However it helps if the independent mechanic was once a Honda trained mechanic who has now gone into business for himself.





The dealer will know your car best but there are a lot of independent mechanics that can do most of what your vehicle needs. Anyone can change the transmission fluid. While it is true that you should only use Honda fluid, you can buy Honda fluid at a Carquest auto parts store or buy it at the dealer and take it to the mechanic of your choice. DON'T back-flush a Honda automatic transmission unless you are looking for trouble. Simply drain it and refill it. Belts don't normally need to be replaced until you have 110,000 miles on the car. [see page 139 of your owner's manual] And while the owner's manual says to replace the transmission fluid at 120,000 miles some dealers and owners will change it every 30,000 miles instead. Why? Because at 120,000 miles Honda wants you to drain it and refill it a number of times: This is what it says on page 149 of your owner's manual:





"To thoroughly flush the transmission, the technician should drain and refill it with Honda ATF-Z1, then drive the vehicle for a short distance. Do this three times. Then drain and refill the transmission a final time."





So it says to drain and refill it 3 times with a short drive between each drain and refill then it says to drain and refill it a final time. to me that make 4 times. Why didn't they just say four times to begin with? Anyway when you drain the transmission only 2.9 quarts drain out but the transmission holds 6.2 quarts of fluid. So every time you drain it and refill it you still have 3.3 quarts of old fluid in the transmission which is why they want you to drain and refill it a number of times to get out most of the old fluid. If you drain and refill it 4 times that will mean you need to buy 12 quarts of fluid at $6.50 to $8 a quart depending on where you buy it. So the fluid alone will cost you a minimum of $78. It makes more sense to simply drain and refill it every 30,000 miles at one fourth the cost each time. There are other fluids at a lower cost that claim to meet Honda specs but most Honda owner's will use Honda's own fluid thinking that it is better to be safe than sorry.





As I said there are times when your dealer knows best. I recently had a wheel bearing replaced in our 2002 CR-V and when I got the vehicle back the ABS light was on meaning that the ABS [anti-lock braking system] was not working. It wasn't until I talked to a mechanic that worked for a Honda dealership that I found out what was wrong. It seems that this particular year and model uses a wheel bearing with one side of the bearing that is magnetic as a sensor for the ABS. If the bearing is put in backwards with the magnetic side out rather than in then the ABS won't work. In my case that wasn't the problem. Instead an LX bearing was put in. The LX bearing has no magnetic side since only the EX had ABS for that year. Once the right bearing was installed everything worked fine. My mechanic was totally unfamiliar with this system, as was the parts house where he bought the bearing. However the Honda dealer's mechanics would have known.





I have never and will never pay a dealer to replace the timing belt and other belts. You can get it done for half the price somewhere else.|||My GOD, kelly_f_1999, learn to use some punctuation!





Honda MTF, PS fluid, and pre-mixed coolant are the only fluids that I recommend you purchase from the dealership.





I haven't owned an automatic Honda in years but the auto transmissions may require the OEM fluid.





What belts need replacing? If you're at the timing belt service interval, I strongly recommend you take it to the dealership. If it just needs the accessory belts replaced, you can take it elsewhere.





See if your local Honda dealership will let you bring in your own OEM Honda parts. If they'll let you, you can purchase the necessary parts from:





HondaAutomotiveParts.com


HondaPartsDeals.com





You can usually save around 40% over your dealership parts department prices.





Alignment jobs can be done at most tire shops.





Cheapest method would be to buy an $60-70 OEM service manual and do the work your self.|||Other than warranty repaires, I take my TL to a local import repaire shop.|||can get work done on your car any name brand shop never had to go to dealership to get any work done on it and no it doesnt have to have any Special type oil you look for a good shop in town thats been open a long time or carries a brand name like firestone or goodyear which would be better than any dealership repairs or service since most dealerships is where kids learn how to work on cars making it th elast place to get real service sure they might get great training but that dont make them better than any shop that works on car every day an dfor their prices wel any shop in town can beat a dealer price and ive never had to take any of my cars trucks or motorcycle to a dealer only as a last resort when i couldnt do it myself or couldnt get into a real shop you can look for how well any place of business is doing you can do a small test by looking at any shop is it clean and if their is a lot of cars there every day or by just asking people you know or by asking a few part stores who might be a good place to go too dealership would be last place to go