I have an 05 civic ex (auto =/) with 51k miles. I chance the oil every 3-4k miles, and keep a decent amount of gas in the tank. I bought the car with 31k miles about 9 months ago, and I have never really done any maintenance to it. I know of several things that need to be changed periodically, but I'm not sure when. I recently installed new rotors and pads in the front, but left the drums alone in the back. Should I check the pads out in the back?

Things off of the top of my head that concern me: Air filter, Spark plugs, plug wires, other fluids, fuel filter.

Final question: How do you fix a worn out e-brake? =/

Thanks

 

The operation of the e-brake depends on the condition of the rear brake shoes, etc. so you should definitely pull the drums off and inspect. One thing that commonly happens with drum brakes is the self-adjusters quit working, leading to a large gap between the shoes and the drum. This causes excessive travel of the e-brake as well as the regular brake pedal. If the rear brakes are in good condition but the e-brake handle still doesn't do anything, the cable needs to be adjusted or replaced.

Are you sure your EX has drum brakes? I thought almost everything with the VTEC engines also came with rear disks.

Definitely change the transmission fluid as well since you don't know how old it is or how hard the last guy drove it. Use only Honda spec fluid in the automatics.

 

You need to change the timing belt at 60,000 miles. Brake fluid every 2 years(check the color, should be clear. If its brown change it). Coolant flush every 2 years. Check the color of the automatic trans fluid, should be bright red. Plugs and wires are pretty cheap so change it if you can. Check if the air filiter is dirty, change it if it is.

 

change the tranny fluid every 15000 miles.