[Philip Burke]

Would be the fly wheel in the case of a manual, same idea applies though should be able to remove to starter to gain a little visibility.

I’m wondering is something went wrong with the damping mechanisms in the clutch (i.e. springs and such to facilitate “smooth” engagement). This might explain why you’re experiencing “chatters” in 2nd and reverse but not the higher gears where it’s harder to actually feel the differences in engine output. Not sure why you would not experience chatters in 1st, but I’d hazard to say ratio of the 1st gear in your truck is much higher than that in my sedan.

[Philip Burke]

Really unfortunate situation given that the rest of the maintenance on the vehicle was completely by the book, but i guess in the case of oil changes the book is more concerned with the initial sale. I likely won’t pull the valve cover seeing as anything i find is not going to change the end result, more money into a car who’s KBB isn’t worth the cost of a replacement engine.

Going forward this beings up an interesting point though, on a newer vehicle with one of those “smart” maintenance-minder systems (talking 2015 and forward), are you likely to follow the recommendation of the system or stick to regular, reasonable intervals?

Thanks for the input.

[Philip Burke]

Yeah wish I was joking, but that’s straight out of the 2003 manual, what’s even crazier is they only call to replace the oil filter every 20,000 miles.

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[Philip Burke]

Thanks for the quick responses! About the answer I was expecting unfortunately. Given the age of the car and the milage I don’t think I’m in a position where I want to sink any more major money into it (whether that’s new rings or a used engine).

I switched to using full synthetic oil when I bought the car (approx. 30,000 miles ago), with about 5,000-6,000 change intervals. Up until that point it ran conventional at Honda’s change interval of 10,000. Would switching back to conventional at a shorter interval potentially be a good idea?

Also, assuming I take the route of consistently checking the level and adding oil when needed, is it likely that this will eventually affect the performance/longevity of the catalytic converter or other emissions components?

Thanks again for the help.

[Author]

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