I bought a 97 Accord tonight. I have never had a Honda or really had any intrest in them but 30 mpg beats 17 mpg. What goes wrong? What are the common problems? 4 cyl, 5 speed 194k.

4/30/2012 10:01:31 PM

My couisin had one where the bearings went bad and the tire(rotor and all) just flat out broke right off the axle. Just sure your lubed up.

4/30/2012 10:07:13 PM

i had a 98 prelude that liked to burn oil. if hadn't been so anal about 3k-mile oil changes, i could see that engine (similar to yours, same engine family) being in big trouble of oil starvation.

past that, nothing ever broke during the 4 years i had it.

i miss that car.

[Edited on April 30, 2012 at 10:23 PM. Reason : i can't spell]

4/30/2012 10:11:50 PM

<-- 97 hatchback. red in colour

4/30/2012 10:18:53 PM

Quote :

"My couisin had one where the bearings went bad and the tire(rotor and all) just flat out broke right off the axle. Just sure your lubed up."

If your wheel bearings start to go bad they make a lot of noise. FYI my Integra has 293k and is still on 3/4 original wheel bearings so they can go the distance.

4/30/2012 10:54:26 PM

Oh, I failed to mention this was a girl, and it was like 1992 or something like, an the wheel fell on in like 2005 or something like that. It also had over 200k miles on it, other than that they car was fine. I am sure this is not a normal occurence.

4/30/2012 11:04:01 PM

Quote :

" intrest"

4/30/2012 11:25:45 PM

94 Accord 4 cyl, auto. 250K. No problems. I have the shop manual if you ever need to take a look at it. They are very easy cars to work on and not much can go wrong with them.Between myself and my dad we have done all of the maintenance, short of the timing belt/water pump.

5/1/2012 9:56:43 AM

^this.

always do water pump with timing belt.

5/1/2012 10:03:19 AM

<-- 93 prelude with 267k, no problems other than wearables (probably time to do CV joints in the next few weeks). I think the only time I had to have it in a shopfor repair was to replace the AC compressor

5/1/2012 10:24:43 AM

'94 accord. 150k, no problems. Got rid of it because insurance was higher than on e36 m3.

5/1/2012 10:51:10 AM

Quote :

"always do water pump with timing belt. "

This was done 10k ago.

5/1/2012 11:55:12 AM

2008 Civic; nearly 31k miles. Still on all four original wheel bearings.

5/1/2012 2:20:21 PM

my hatch has over 300K. dropped a motor with ~145K in it a few months ago.

axle knock. wheel bearings original. susp is busted.

runs like a champ!

5/1/2012 2:27:15 PM

95 Civic LX... 288k and counting
all 4 original wheel bearings

hell, the factory clutch was still holding fine when i changed it 3k ago

5/1/2012 6:11:18 PM

Quote :

"What goes wrong? What are the common problems? 4 cyl, 5 speed 194k."

Door locks, power antenna mast, window regulators, strut mounts, tail light wiring, the headlights will turn to shit, radiators need replacing, alternators go bad, distributor oil seals fail, that should get you started.

5/1/2012 7:39:51 PM

Watch out for distributor and ignition related shit, just normal stuff mostly.

5/1/2012 8:02:59 PM

guy at my work commutes from sacramento to bay area every day. '99 civic ex, 5-speed. 435k.

what rebuild?

[Edited on May 1, 2012 at 8:06 PM. Reason : f]

5/1/2012 8:06:40 PM

I got a 96 Civic. I eat 40mpg all day long.


My car burns oil depending on how much I vtec.

My car has 230k on it. Clutch at 185. Timing belt every 90K, Always do water-pump, cam and crank seals.

Axles can be kinda weak, but you shouldnt see much problems as a stock car. Not hard to change at all.

5/2/2012 1:10:51 AM

Driving the parents 2000 Accord V6 they bought new to keep miles off my TL. Almost at 360,000 miles. Original transmission and engine. I think my dad put some new struts on around 150,000. AC is out, not sure what it requires to fix. Everything else works perfect. Cars are insane reliable. I would like to see the car get to 500,000....but that probably wont happen since it isn't driven much and would likely require another 15+ years to get there.

5/2/2012 11:23:00 PM

^That slushbox will fail well befofore 500k.

5/4/2012 8:20:54 AM

surprised the auto has lasted this long. Honda autos are POS

5/4/2012 11:43:00 AM