fatty

I got my brake fluid flushed and on the receipt it says dot 4 used. He said it replaced the heavy duty dot 3. Manual says heavy duty dot 3 only and dot 3 or 4 as temporary. Then when I got my brake tsb on brake squeal, its says heavy duty dot 3?? wtf??? Is there someone I can talk to from acura to confirm dot 4 replaced heavy duty dot 3??

And for engine oil, I wanted synthetic but they used 5w30, book says 5w20, is that ok??

kirbyflorida

Oil should definitely be 5-20.
Get another shop, make sure you get a certified tech and get to know him, if he is really good, only use him. I get unbelievable service. Also, get to know your service advisor, treat him like your best girl friend, it will pay off, always use him, call and ask for him, etc.
Call Acura HQ about the brake fluid.

kirbyflorida

Synthetic is a waste of money if you do not have a turbo or race. Just chance it often enough, I change mine at 40% left. Cars do over 300-400k miles with regular oil.

geronimomoe

Stick with whatever Acura says. (Not the dealer). If they throw in whatever, they want, change dealers, as Kirby said.

geronimomoe

It depends on where you are in the country. If you're in the southern part of the country, like where you are, yes it's most likely a waste of money since it in general, it doesn't get close to freezing most of the time.

Of course, synthetic also handles high temperature's far better than regular oil so if you're in extreme hot temperature's (ie. parts of Arizona, Nevada), synthetic is better.

If you're in the northern part of country where it's below freezing for the winter, I'd say it's worth it. Most engine wear happens at startup and synthetic gives you that low pour point so it will get to the vital parts of the engine faster.

L454

With brake fluid it gets kind of tricky. DOT 3 Fluid is the most generally used fluid in vehicles today. You can mix fluid if the fluid is DOT 3/4 which is compatible with both or DOT 5.1. The dealer may have put in a DOT 3/4 but notated it as a DOT 4.

SodaLuvr

DOT 3 or DOT 4 is fine. It doesn't need to be Genuine Honda.

5w-20 or 5w-30 is fine. There's little advantage to using 5w-30 in a daily driver but there's definitely no harm in using it.

Synthetic oil is beneficial in very cold climates or if you are racing the vehicle. Simply living in areas with warm temperatures isn't enough to benefit from synthetic oil. Synthetic oil is only useful when oil temperatures rise above 305F, which you'll never reach under daily driving conditions regardless of outside temperature.