Looking at a 2003 but want to make sure its in good shape. Where should I take it?

6/29/2011 5:00:15 AM

Trying Happy Japs, based on prior ZXAPPEAL ref

6/29/2011 9:47:19 AM

pretty much any shop will do it for free

6/29/2011 10:11:32 AM

Happy Jap's is a great place to go. Tell Rex that Superfly sent you.

6/29/2011 10:35:06 AM

^ will do.

2003 accord i4 auto with 115 miles, its gonna last another 85 right?

6/29/2011 10:37:27 AM

Quote :

"pretty much any shop will do it for free"

If by free you mean $90.

6/29/2011 10:41:50 AM

I don't know how the autos are doing, but I haven't heard anything bad.

My '03 5sp 4 banger has 195k miles. I bought it with 90k and have abused it pretty badly. It's been a good car.

6/29/2011 10:43:59 AM

you'd be better off with a manual (from a reliability point of view)

6/29/2011 10:45:26 AM

yea,

Couldnt find one, and im getting this at what i think is a pretty good deal 7500. Plus the gf cant drive stick, and it will be nice to have a DD sometimes.

6/29/2011 10:56:21 AM

Shit if I wanted you business id do it for free. Sucks that your shop costs an hour labor. Some techs are greedy as fuck. I find that ill get it in the long run works way better
Every company I've worked for has done it for free.

6/29/2011 5:06:46 PM

^ I haven't ever paid for one, but I've had a couple people get them on cars I sold. The $90 figure was from the Honda dealer. Buyer paid for it though.

What does Happy Jap's charge Anteck?

If you know a reputable place that does them for free post it up. It would be a good resource to know about.

[Edited on June 29, 2011 at 5:47 PM. Reason : `l]

6/29/2011 5:46:09 PM

IIRC Happy Jap's isn't cheap, but they do good work. The guy who owns the shop was my instructor once at an SCCA event, cool guy

6/29/2011 5:58:51 PM

Free pre-purchase inspections eh? Complete news to me (where does one get one of these?), usually the order of the day is to pay $80-150 depending on how thorough you want them to be...

6/29/2011 6:25:19 PM

Yeah, this is one thing I don't mind paying for when I'm shopping for a car

6/29/2011 6:28:51 PM

^its another thing to check out a high end auto at a custom shop.

6/29/2011 6:29:25 PM

1.5 hours of labor, but they were very through and did good work. Seemed like their prices were reasonable (not crackhead shop cheap, but not expensive either)

6/30/2011 6:50:29 AM

Quote :

"Shit if I wanted you business id do it for free. Sucks that your shop costs an hour labor. Some techs are greedy as fuck. I find that ill get it in the long run works way better Every company I've worked for has done it for free."

Rex doesn't have to bribe people to see him with free car inspections. I'd much rather have him do one and charge me than to have 90% of the shops do a shit job for free.

You working for automotive supermarket shops or something?

6/30/2011 9:13:19 AM

well ive worked for both firestone and goodyear and some indepedant places over the years and have never seen a charge. the only place ive worked and seen one is Crossroads ford.

6/30/2011 9:42:12 AM

TAO auto does free pre-purchase inspections. then they quoted me on all the shit they said was wrong. called a few other places and was quoted $100-300 less per thing. So I'm glad they did that for free and told me what I needed, but I don't go there for repairs.

6/30/2011 10:00:03 PM

"Good Year" did charge for pre-purchase inspections when I worked there ions ago.

Also, even if some place(s) may do a pre purchase inspection for free, I don't see the problem with charging for it. In fact I question the quality of work you'd get for free.

I've never paid for a pre-purchase inspection before but whenever somebody wants one done on my car, I suggest the dealer for anything from the last decade.

6/30/2011 10:17:54 PM

K.

[Edited on June 30, 2011 at 11:23 PM. Reason : its clear some people have no clue what free work means. im not gonna argue about it]

6/30/2011 11:21:16 PM

Is 2003 after the dog shit transmission years?

7/3/2011 8:57:42 AM

lol. one of the first good links for "honda transmission problems"

Quote :

"Transmission failure with the Honda Accord, Civic and Odyssey is a widespread problem in models made from 1999-2004. The 2003 Honda Accord, 2001 Honda Civic and 2002 Honda Odyssey appear to be the worst years for transmission failure."

7/3/2011 8:11:59 PM

They had problems with the 2003 auto v6 transmissions (not the i4). There was a recall an extended warranty.

7/3/2011 11:53:27 PM

[Edited on July 4, 2011 at 4:20 PM. Reason : read thread]

7/4/2011 4:19:42 PM

Whats a good inexpensive floor jack? I have a cheaply one from advanced auto, but the head is pretty small and it slipped off of it, lucky it didn't hurt anything.

any advice?

7/5/2011 10:44:26 AM

slipped off? did it break, as in the tray/head of the jack broke off? or it is too small and slipped off the car when you were jacking it up? If it is slipping, just put a peice of scrap wood between the head of the jack and the frame where you are jacking it up.

otherwise, i have had good luck with a craftsman one, had it for ~10 years.

7/5/2011 10:57:17 AM

Its a small headed jack, I was using the center jack point.. Usually I utilize a Hockey puck (hard rubber) betweeen the jack head and the car. The Jack can bite into the puck, and it stops the jack from denting the frame. Anyway, i guess the center jack point has a very slight slant. This caused the jack to slip forward, before I was able to get stands under the car. The jack ended up between the front frame and the radiator (no apparent damage), however, I'm not going to try to jack up another car using that POS.

Anyway, anything at harbor freight or northern any good?

7/5/2011 12:49:54 PM

Puck would be too small, you are trying to distribute the weight so that it slips less, so you need something larger than the head of the jack. The contact point on mine is small as hell, but i never have problems with it, and if i feel unsafe about where i jack it up, i will add the scrap wood to help stabilize it so it doesn't slip. I rarely run into this problem. Just take your time and make sure everything is lined up and supported.

And I dont understand how a jack is going to dent your frame? The head of my jack has slots cut around the edge that usually line up with the edge of the frame. When applied properly, they will not slip.

just take some scrap wood and cut slots across the grain that match up with the jack point on the car.

7/5/2011 1:51:10 PM

Here is the location of the jack point

http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=12969&stc=1&d=1213809608

Its kinda flat the head on my jack is smaller than a hockey puck, I tried with both wood and the puck and in both cases it started slipping (I only noticed the slipping when it slipped off with the puck, I didnt continue jacking it with the scrap 2*4.

7/5/2011 2:30:04 PM

any floor jack should be able to jack using the flat area around that hole without any help, but.......

take a 2x4 and notch it to fit that jack point, if it continues to slip, put a big ass bolt thru the 2x4 to go into that hole so it wont slip. Notch bottom of 2x4 to fit jack head if you are super concerned. I know you are worried about denting stuff, but there are tons of places to jack that car up, pick another one that you think will slip less.

is the head slipping, or is the jack rolling out from under? I have never had to do this, but maybe take and put stops under jack wheels so it doesnt roll backwards on you.

if it can be jacked up with a bottle jack, any shitty hydraulic floor jack will work. Just slow down and keep an eye on what you are doing. The head on my jack is also the same size or smaller than a hockey puck, so the size isnt really an issue.

7/5/2011 3:01:08 PM

I planned on using the 2*4 with the bolt but couldn't find one that would work at the time, however its still an option.

The main problem im having is it just dosnt' jack the car high enough either, were talking about 12 to 14 inches with the 2*4 and thats not enough for my big rear end to feel comfortable under there.

7/5/2011 3:42:58 PM