 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Honda Cars / March 200610 year old Civic problems?
Hi folks - I'm shopping for a reliable long distance commute vehicle and I think I've settled on a Civic. Will stick to an LX or EX for the extras like cruise control. Probably going to pick up something in the 95-98 range with 100-150k miles on it. Anything that commonly goes wrong with these vehicles that I should be watching out for? Still undecided on manual vs automatic transmission. Anyone have problems with the "moonroof" leaking? Thanx for any feedback ... jim > Hi folks - > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Thanx for any feedback ... jim I'd make sure that the timing belt has been replaced around 90K or so. That's an indication that the previous owner took good care of it. I think one of the best things you can do for a Honda with 100-150k miles on it that you're thinking of buyin is get documentation of when the timing belt was last changed. If it's about due, then figure that's going to cost you around $400-$600. Other problems that come up with these Civics tend to be nickel and dime stuff, though the more documenation you can get on maintenance, the better. This assumes the car has been maintained and not driven hard. As you may know, the best way to verify this is through a test drive and to have a mechanic look it over. > Hi folks - > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Thanx for any feedback ... jim I would be looking at the front axle CV boots with the steering wheel turned to full lock. Also run the AC after the car is warmed up to verify the AC operation. I would feel the inlet and outlet pipe of the compressor (carefully). One side should be ice cold and the other very warm or hot. Good luck. > I would be looking at the front axle CV boots with the steering wheel > turned to full lock. Also run the AC after the car is warmed up to verify > the AC operation. I would feel the inlet and outlet pipe of the > compressor (carefully). One side should be ice cold and the other very > warm or hot. Good luck. With regards to the AC, you should also check for the presence of bubbles in the system's site glass which, if found, could indicate a leak in the system. Eric >> I would be looking at the front axle CV boots with the steering wheel >> turned to full lock. Also run the AC after the car is warmed up to [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Eric Although a 95-98 would have R-134a, and probably no sight glass. (I don't know why no sight glass with R-134a... but it behaves enough differently from R-12 that I don't feel familiar with it.) Mike I'd take a good look in the radiator. See if the coolant is dirty. give the hoses a squeeze. Check for water in the oil. Drive it at 65 M.P.H. for a half hour and watch the temp gauge. bob > I'd take a good look in the radiator. See if the coolant is dirty. give > the hoses a squeeze. Check for water in the oil. Drive it at 65 M.P.H. > for a half hour and watch the temp gauge. bob Good points. I once ignored traces of rust in the radiator because I was lusting for the car. What a mistake. Mike > Good points. I once ignored traces of rust in the radiator > because I was lusting for the car. What a mistake. What happened to the car? >> Good points. I once ignored traces of rust in the radiator because I was >> lusting for the car. What a mistake. > > What happened to the car? There were three points of corrosion that made me crazy. One was a freeze plug, of course, which I ended up patching by JB Welding a quarter into it because I didn't want to pull the engine. The other two were coolant fittings on the alloy intake plenum and on the head that were too eaten away to seal. I fixed one other leak by replacing the thermostat housing with one from a wrecking yard. What was really crippling about the leaks was that as I drove coolant would continually seep out, and when I parked it would suck air back in rather than recover coolant from the overflow. The result was that I could drive maybe two hours before it would overheat, then I had to wait for the engine to cool enough to put more coolant in the radiator. That was an '84 Nissan 300ZX. It had something like 105K miles on it when I bought it, and under 160K when I traded it in on our Toyota. I had been looking for a mid-life machine to replace my long-gone Lotus Europa, and I confess the abominably maintained Nissan still was more reliable than the Lotus... but it wasn't nearly as much fun to drive. Mike > "Elle" <honda.lioness@nospam.earthlink.net> wrote >>> Good points. I once ignored traces of rust in the [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >> > There were three points of corrosion that made me crazy. snip but all comments read Good story; important tip for used car buyers. Folks should definitely test drive I guess at least half an hour, and definitely monitor the coolant quality and level before, during, and after. > Although a 95-98 would have R-134a, and probably no sight glass. (I don't > know why no sight glass with R-134a... but it behaves enough differently > from R-12 that I don't feel familiar with it.) Thanks for the clarification. I haven't dealt much with the R143a systems and couldn't remember if they had a sight glass or not. Eric >> Although a 95-98 would have R-134a, and probably no sight glass. (I >> don't know why no sight glass with R-134a... but it behaves enough [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Eric My 94 Integra GSR AC has R134a and I believe it has a sight glass.  SignatureJim Yanik jyanik at kua.net >Hi folks - > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > >Thanx for any feedback ... jim Thanks for all of the replies. Lots of good browsing tips. No luck so far in finding something in my price range that i'd be willing to own but still working on it. - jb |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.