Time for preventive maintenance of my Honda Civic FD2 at 70,000km

A corner lot evaluation is designed to test the robustness of a process by intentionally running with the extremes of the input variables. While it’s expected that running comfortably within the set limits would practically guarantee a good result (like finishing a bottle of milk well within the expiry date), it’s at these extremes where one can really see how well the ideal conditions. Such is the case study for today, where I got a chance to try out the efficiency and speed of my regular car service center, GS Tay Auto in Muar, under less than ideal conditions.

It was a fine Saturday morning, so I expected to face a larger than usual crowd of car owners, who, like myself, run a regular 5-to-9 job five days a week. I arrived at 10.05am, without making my usually appointment via telephone. All the seats in the customer waiting lounge were fully occupied. Fortunately, after a brief period of standing in one corner, I managed to find a seat at a recently vacated table in the showroom area, right between an apple green Honda Jazz and gray Honda CRV. It was a tad bit warmer here than the waiting area, but this is just my opinion. Some people I know would find it just nice and cozy (perhaps they are not so well insulated with body fat as I am....).

My Honda Civic FD2 was in for routine preventive maintenance at 70,000km. Just a minor service, so nothing much expected other than a change of engine oil, washer / drain plug and engine oil filter. As there were many customers in today, I was prepared to wait for quite a bit.

It was a welcome surprise that they also had free WIFI here (not sure since when, since I found out only today, by accident when I casually asked the service reception staff). Anyone reading this who knows better, do hope you can enlighten me....

A moment away from the subject matter. For those of you who are the “road warrior” type, and who make use of public WIFI, do remember to exercise caution and common sense, with respect to online security. There are many excellent web resources out there, so I won’t go into details here. Just remember that transmission of any information through an unsecured WIFI connection has a higher potential of being intercepted, so in general, unless you are really sure what you are doing, you should delay your online banking transactions until you get home.

With the advent of social networking and web mail these days, a compromised password can be extremely hazardous to one’s privacy and security. With the recent amendment of the Malaysian Evidence Act, effective 1^st June 2012, it is bad enough if someone posts something *controversial* on your blog or Facebook. Imagine how much worse the situation would be if it appeared that YOU appeared to be the one who posted it....

End of commercial break, back to the subject matter. Where was I? Oh, yes, waiting patiently here for the completion of my Honda Civic FD2 preventive maintenance service at 70,000km. With an endless supply of liquid refreshments (white coffee tops my list of preferences) and the clean in-house lavatory, waiting here was actually quite relaxing.

Now, shortly after typing this, the nice lady came up to me to inform me that my car was ready. By the time I paid the bill which amounted to RM300.25 and got into the car, it was only 12.05pm. The K20Z2 2.0 liter engine takes around 4.x liters of engine oil. I found the remaining unused engine oil in my car, which meant that the next time round, I'd only have to purchase a 4 liter pack of engine oil, therefore saving some cost.

So, in summary, it appears that the staff at GS Tay Auto, Muar, were quite fast and efficient, as even sending my car in for preventive maintenance on a Saturday did not mean I had to wait for ages.