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I have a 2007 i4 Honda Accord EX that I just bought with 65,000 miles. The car was from Southern California and I just brought it up to NJ. I'm about to start a 5 year surgery residency program and want to be sure I replace whatever might break now since I literally won't have any time off. I'll probably drive the car 10-15 miles a week. I grew up working on cars with my dad so I feel comfortable doing most things on the car and I don't start until till the summer so I have the next couple of months free. All I want to do is be sure I'll have a reliable care that will not require any maintenance (other than a yearly oil change). I know I can't predict the unexpected but I want to minimize the work it'll need. Especially since it's never seen a winter before.

When I got the car the previous owner were really good at taking care of it. The car runs perfectly, no leaks, no rust, no issues what so ever. They had just changed the brake fluid and tires and they gave me all the maintenance paperwork for regular oil changes, most of which were done at the dealership.

I just put in a new optima battery and changed the oil and oil filter with mobile1 extended full synthetic. I looked at the transmission fluid and it looks a nice bright red/pink so I think they changed that recently too. The breaks are good but the rotors have some grooves in them so they will have to be changed next time.

Since the car has so few miles and I won't drive it much I'm not sure what to do. I specifically picked the i4 since it's chain driven so I don't have to worry about belts. I've read other posts that mention changing distributor caps and such.

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  • Make sure you flush the coolant and refill with 60/40 or 55/45 mix of anti-freeze/water. I would also change the thermostat. If this model has a timing belt, I would also change timing belt and the water pump. Those are the major ones I can think of.
    – rana
    Jan 30, 2017 at 20:56

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I don't believe you can do enough preventative maintenance now to prevent all forms of future maintenance other than oil changes (assuming that includes oil filter change as well). For example, the brake fluid should be changed every second year. No amount of changing the brake fluid now will change that. The rubber windshield wipers also need occasional changes, but that's a trivial DIY job.

The new battery you put in should last 5 years or more. Optima is a very good brand.

As the car is 10 years old, I would consider all rubber parts suspicious. Of course, changing everything made of rubber now is probably too much trouble. You do have to worry about belts, as the car probably has accessory belts -- change them now! Yes, choosing a car that has timing chain instead of timing belt is a very wise decision, but even accessory belt failing is so annoying that changing the belt now is a good idea. At least check the belt very carefully if you don't want to change it now.

Even if the car has long-life coolant, changing the coolant on a 10 year old car may be a good idea. The coolant you change now should last for the next 5 years if it's of the long-life type.

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Check the maintenance schedule for your specific year and model - with such a low mileage, you'll probably need to look at the annual services rather than mileage. It sounds like you're pretty much sorted, though.

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