XPLORx4

I picked up some oil drain plug crush-washers at the dealer this morning. $0.63 each! Highway robbery, I tell you!

dom

I could'nt find a Mobil 1 Oli filter in the greater Toronto area if my life depended on it. Whats worse, the local Canadian Tire store does'nt have a Fram oil Filter in stock either. They do have Quaker State though.

Here are my apparent choices for Oil Filters
- Fram
- Quaker State
- Wix (UAP Auto Parts only carries this)
- MotoMaster (Canadian Tire Brand)

Any suggestions on which I should buy?

And the 2 Canadian Tire stores both did'nt have the proper Fram Sure Drain in stock either. I think I hate living in Canada.

gogozy

Domn, i heard that the Castrol Syntec 0w30 in Canada is made in German, and is suerior then Mobil..... there is an oil forum that the test show this oil contain more "true" syn base, and meet or supress requirment the Mobil super syn. this is europe made oil in yet in all channel in NA, but already in C.tire and wallmart, ou must check the bottle and it will say "made in german" because some store still hve old stock on shelf that is NA made...
i am not an euro nuts, but i think i will try it .... besides its cheaper than mobil. other grade are still made in NA...

filter... i am concern as well, a while ago someone here show the pic of filter... i need suggestion as well.......

dom

Well, did my oil change on Saturday and besides first figuring out how to remove the filter, everything else was a breeze. A few things others should consider when doing this oil change.

- Make sure you lift the car high enough off the ground before attempting this. I was under the car and immediately noticed I am slightly clostrophobic, but a few minutes under the car quickly eased that fear. But I will be getting ramps and would reccomend them to everyone else as well. If the cars somehow falls while your under it, your done, the car is that low.

- Initially it looked like it was easy to remove the filter. But after about 10-15 minutes of figiting and trying to fit tools in there I was almost ready to give up. Until I finally found anthoer way in. I had one arm going straight up and the other arm wraped around the front right suspension bits, very close to the right tire to access the filter. Once I found that way in the filter came out in about 30 seconds.

- Have varsol on hand to clean up any oil that might fall on your garage floor. It was a life saver for me.

As of note as well. Wal-Mart charges $15.00 for an oil change as long as you supply the oil and filter.

Budda

Don't forget to chock the rear wheels before you lift the car. Don't depend on the parking brake to stop the car from potentially rolling while you are underneath.
I now use ramps instead of a jack to lift the car, I feel a bit safer this way.

dom

Very good point. I had two bricks behind the rear wheels as well.
I definently have to get a set of ramps. I actually bought a set, brought them home but the car could'nt get up them because the car was too low. I guess I need ramp extensions, but the ramps I bought did'nt have them available. I'm going to look for a good set.

Brad

When one removes the oil filter, some oil always drips from that area. I also use a large round oil drain pan that catches most dripping oil.

Kitty Litter--that grey clay-like stuff that you put in kitty litter boxes to absorb kitty's stuff--is EXCELLENT for soaking up oil spills. Petco or Pet Club (I forgot which one) has 25 pound bags for about $2. This is the same material that car repair facilities use for oil spills. (I don't have a cat, so I also use Kitty Litter to line my parrot's cage lining so soak up stuff.)

Costco carries disposable surgical gloves that I highly recommend.

zircon

Domm: I intend to put Syntec and Valvoline in my tSX. Syntec is on sale at Can Tire, Valvoline at Walmart - I bought 2 jugs of each . I am worried about getting the filter off. My wife's CR-V has the same (detuned) engine at the tsx, and I watched a dude at on oilchange place spend half an hour just getting the filter off. He showed me it - it was desctroyed by the time he got it off. The Japanese factory had cranked the thing on super tight. I will try your method.

EDIT: Going to return both of the above oils. It seems that both of these companies sell non-olefin oils (real synthetics) as synthetics. They clean up their dino-based oils thru further refinekment, but they are not like synthetics of old. what bullshit. I will buy 2 jugs of Mobil 1 in place of the above 4.

JR8

I also just changed my oil last weekend.

I have changed my oil on all the cars I have owned and this one is the biggest pain.

I haven't heard anyone mention the plastic guard under the car. There is an access panel that must be removed prior to removing the drain bolt. This access bolt is smaller than the drain bolt (not very smart).

It took me 15 minutes to find the filter. It is hidden up underneith the suspension on the passenger side. I also found out the filter is tiny!! I couldn't beleive it when I heard this will also be going on my MDX!

Because of the plastic sheild that covers the entire front end, the oil from the filter collected in this shield and drips on my drive way when the car is at just the right slant.

zircon

keep your receipts for oil and filter purchases in case you ever have a warrenty issue. I am going to get the garage across the street from qwork to put the Mobil 1 I buy in, just to get a receipt from him.

dom

It was initially very difficult getting the filter off. But I found using my left arm to go through the bottom and my right arm up and around the suspension I could actually get at it prettty good. But it was on extremly tight. I tried using one of those rubber grips that squezze around circular objects and it snapped. So I then used one of the steel filter removers and it was'nt working because it just kept spinning on the filter, it would'nt grip. So I put a strip of rubber inside the steel filter tool and voila, the filter was out easily. The rubber helped the tool grip the filter.

The oil that leaks out from the filter was a pretty big pain, because like JR8 said that plastic sheild holds all the damn oil. along with kitty litter its a good idea to have some Varsol around to clean off oil dripped on the floor.

XPLORx4

Is the filter mounted horizontally or vertically? (I haven't changed my oil yet.) If vertically, you can place a ziploc bag around it to catch the oil. If horizontally (and if there's enough space) you might be able to cut a 2-liter bottle in half (lengthwise and catch the oil with that).

soopa

not if your good

STL

Actually the S2000 has it's own filter now (model # 15400-PCX-004) and I don't think they went down on quality with it. It is made by made by Toyo Roki which is the maker of the filter that comes on it from the factory. Many people think is the same filter that was offered in Japan for all the Hondas. BTW, it is the same size as old filters so my old OEM filter wrench will still work! I plan to use this same filter on my TSX when I finally replace the Civic. BTW these filter are only like $6 from various online Honda dealers.

Also see these reviews:
http://www.ntpog.org/reviews/filters/old_filters.shtml
http://www.ntpog.org/reviews/filters/filters.shtml

JR8

The filter is mounted horizontally and it is a very tight area. I think the next time I change the oil I am going to drill holes in the plastic shielding to allow the oil from the filter to drip through.

Just a thought.

zircon

sounds like a big 3 design...

tsos

Can anyone advise?

(I couldn't get the information at the autpart store, or at the fram website - Older honda's used SD-2 (M14-1.5 thread)).

Thanks.

meteorman

Yes, the SD-2 is the Sure Drain model you need for the TSX. I have one on my car and it fits perfectly.

gogozy

TSX and 03 04 accord uses same oil filter. S2000 uses larger, old size oil filter. Dealer told me the filter will fit and work on TSX. But it cost $33CDN Canada however, Parkway Honda in GTA has the new type filter going for 6.66 if you buy 3. but they charge drain plug washer like .75
Just did Castrol Syntec 0W30 and i do felt smoother.

(can someone point me to a reliable $5~6 seller of thses S2000 filter?)
thanks

gogozy

just change oil filter on te weekend, it can be taken out and install from top!! make make it much easier!!

tsos

Just changed oiled this weekend as well at 2,000, using Mobil 1 oil and filter.

I figured if there was any "break-in" oil, its benefit would be over by now (and I never figured out whether there was any such oil begin with, only heard rumors - any one know the answer?).

I thought about replacing with DinoOil for the next 3,000, but Mobil 1's website stating that Mobil 1 is installed on some high-end cars such as Porsche persuaded me to go with the good stuff.
http://www.mobil1.com/why/myths.jsp

Drove car onto RhinoRamps ($30), installed Fram SureDrain SD-2 (worked fine).

To remove the filter, I couldn't use the standard filter wrench, as there isn't enough room. Had to use the metal cap which fits on the end of the filter, and a 3/8" drive. Worked fine, except some oil (5 oz?) drains down across the axle, and cowling. Removing the filter from the top won't solve this problem.

To remove the oil from the filter and prevent this minor mess, can one "bump" the engine after draining the pan (but not long enough to have the engine start and run dry)? Does this also remove any extra old oil from the pump?

SAZABI

It is really hard to take the oil filter off compared to my 6th gen accord V6.

Tip: Turn the steering all the way to the right (passenger side), then you can access the filter w/o take the wheel off after jacking the car up.

joerockt

FYI, you can get a 5 quart jug of Mobil 1 Syn in Wal-Mart for about 20 bux...Why buy a six pack when your only going to use 4 1/2...

tsxer.ca

how about some one take some pictures when changing oil. like step by step picture. and how much oil is our TSX needed?

gogozy

you can access oil filter from the top, with sure drain, i don't even need to jack up the car... this is too good!!! :P

dom

Really?

I love to see some pics the next time you do that.

I've given up on doing my own. 4.4L of Mobil costs me $28 CAD at Wal-Mart and Acura charges me $12 labour and $6 for the filter, so total cost is about $55 CAD with taxes.

gogozy

Domn; if you look at exhaust manifold over the top from the passanger side, you may notice that "blue filter" i hate using jack stand because i need to jack it one side after one, not at the same time. and i am worry sending one tire to high is bad for suspension.. so i tried to find ways without jack up cars. plus i don't like lay under the car... it's not too hard to find.

i don't have pic yet, i have not post any pic :P don't know how!! hehe but i will try to take some pic first this weekend.

gogozy

when lean over the car trying to find filter, do not let your clothes scartch the paint, especially sharp zipper of clothes

dom

If you take pics you can e-mail to me, I'll post them for you.

And I was wondering about the paint. Seems that the filter is positioned far enough towards the cneter of the engine bay that you would really have to lean over the side of the car to see it. Just lay some soft fabric over the side and you should be ok.

gogozy

okay!!

DjElucid

How do you get to the oil pan? You just reach under there?

gogozy

i can't get a clear shot, the oil filter is under heatshield of exhaust manifold..
i am pretty small and i craw so i can reach oil pan with FRAM SureDrain.

davestar

i removed the oil filter by turning the steering wheel all the way to the right and reaching in through the space in front of the passenger-side tire. no need to jack up the car or remove a tire. the oil pan can also be accessed without lifting the car if you're willing to lie on your back.

bob shiftright

Maybe a wrench for the drain plug and the bolt holding the little flap in the belly pan and the aluminum crush washer.

Also, it's good to splurge on the the workshop manual because it illustrates the process and because it's handy to have in your trunk just in case your car dies on a dirt road 60 miles outside of Moab, Utah. That is, if you don't want to die of thirst before the coyotes eat you. (And they'll probably go after the leather seats after they've finished with you!)

joerockt

Would like to see a pic of how you did this. I tried this past weekend and there was no way of getting to the filter using this method. Best was was from underneath.

joerockt

Go here:

http://www.handaaccessories.com/tsx.html

$4.81 USD

Brad

That's a good tip! Also remember other things, such as belt buckles, switchblades, bullet belts, and any strategically placed firearms or brass knuckles that might cause great discomfort to one's self when you bend over, let alone scratched paint on the car.

I usually wear some old sweatpants and a very worn t-shirt when I change my motor oil. Disposable surgical gloves are also something that I also wear when I change oil. In the event of oil spillage, skin-exposure to petroleum products may be a bad thing (or so I read somewhere).

Next time I'll have to try some of the other tips: turning the wheel to the right, or accessing the filter from the top-downwards. Space is very very tight where the oil filter is.

vasponger

holy shot 65 for an oil change, thats like 2 oil changes at jiffy lube for me, and they do it quick and fill up all my fluids, check battery and tires.
and yes i dont change my oil, i have a fear or being under my car ever since a jack slipped when installing my header.

toddstuh

I just did my first on the TSX last weekend. Pretty easy, as with most Hondas.
Turning the wheel you can reach the drain cover, Thats a 10 mm. Then you pull that out , the plugs a 17mm. Let the oil drain into your pan.
Replace washer and plug once its down to a dribble. Or if you're using the suredrain then you're ready to pull the hose and cap it.

Move your oil catch pan back under the filter, you can aim it from the top/bottom.
You can reach the Filter by reaching under the strut bar and to the left (pass side) of the header heat shield. This how I've always done my Hondas because the filters are on the rear of the block...and not the front.
Place the filter wrench on the filter, finding the bevel, slide it on, give a slight tug towards the drivers side and off it comes. I've slid my drain pan over to catch the filter oil.. don't take it all the way off initially, let the oil drain out. That way your filter isn't all coated with oil.
Once that's down to a dribble then i remove the filter. Tilting it up to catch the remaing oil inside as you're pulling it out.
Rub some fresh oil on the gasket of the new filter. Helps create a good seal.
Spin it on until its snug, then give it another quarter turn.

Remember Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey !

joerockt

Thats why they make these things called jack stands...Darwin almost got ya...

That would have been a great way to go. Someone finds you with your legs dangling out the front with your head squashed like a grape underneath.

Oh, and about Iffy Lube, wait till the first time they forget to put the oil fill cap back on. Happened to me about 5 years ago. Have done my own oil changes ever since...