Did I mess up getting a civic that sat?

[Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by Kurtatron
What's up with that? All my Toyota's have made excellent old beater cars...

When I sold my Camry (early 90's) a few years back, it had 300k on the engine and tranny. That 4 banger and tranny was rock solid... the guy who bought it only wanted the power train, he was gonna sell the body to a junker.

Get familiar with your Honda and doing repairs yourself (my old Toyota was super easy to wrench on & parts were easy/cheap to find... hopefully you have similar luck) and just maybe you can salvage the purchase by getting a few more years out of it. Just don't push it hard or expect too much out of it. If you can get 2 or 3 more years without any big/expensive repair work, then it wasn't a bad deal...but that's a big if, right? I feel ya...but don't get down on yourself, the world ain't gonna stop spinning. Just dig in and tackle each problem as finances permit, starting with the driveability stuff first.

Good luck my friend...


Originally Posted by maxdustington
It's a common car and old enough that you can get parts from the yard for it. You probably overpaid but you needed a car dude, you have to get to work.

If you don't like working on cars then you probably should not have bought it. If you can fix it over time with yard parts and drive it for a while, who cares what you paid.

I had a similar car and slowly fixed it with yard parts and it was fine. You made the correct decision getting a manual trans, if it had a slushbox you would be in tough.

This 👆

 

[14Accent]

Originally Posted by Kurtatron
Originally Posted by bruckus
The honda civic 2001 was probably the single best car I have ever owned excluding my 2009. I racked up 320,000 miles on that car which was the same car as yours with a manual trans. I replaced front wheel bearings but never the rear. You have drum brakes on the rear and may be just hearing rust buildup. I would clean the engine bay, change oil and filter and try to locate the leak. It could be a valve cover gasket or a cam seal which are easy fixes. I really believe if there is a weak point in these cars it's the A/C. Fix the big stuff and don't worry about the small stuff for now. A few hopefully easy fixes and this car should give you some good service.


Wow. I hope mine gets close to that!

I just ordered $600 worth of oem parts. Timing belt parts and rubber seals, gaskets, water pump. I'll put in Honda coolant as well. No point on neglecting it even if I don't like it as much as my Solara.


I should apologize, I didn't mean to be so hard on you in my first post. I still think you overpaid, but here's the main thing:

It's a Civic. Yes, the 1.7 has a stigma around the HG issue. My opinion? It isn't one. I've seen one, maybe 2 go bad.

Your "massive" oil leaks? It needs: a cam plug, VC gasket, maybe cam and crank seals, and an oil pan gasket. They never leak from the rear main, at least not that I've seen.

The suspension creaks? Just throw new stuff at it. The front compliance bushings are probably shot, you're better off doing the control arms as an assembly. Struts are likely work, they sell quick struts for cheap.

You're already doing the timing belt and WP, good call.

As far as the electrical issues: check the ground strap FIRST! It runs from the battery, to the passenger strut tower, to the transmission. It corrodes and causes TONS of issues. A new cable right from Honda is around $20, I just did one the other day.

All in all, you're kind of stuck. You already bought it, so make the best of it. You paid $2,800. It sounds like it needs about $1k in work, lets round to $4k. Over 3 years, assuming you don't spend another dime pther than oil changes and gas, that's about $111 a month. It would be difficult to buy a reliable car for that price, including financing. That being said, with good credit and the $2,800 you paid for that Civic you could have leased a brand new Kia for a 2 year term and probably $89 a month... just saying.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by 14Accent
That being said, with good credit and the $2,800 you paid for that Civic you could have leased a brand new Kia for a 2 year term and probably $89 a month... just saying.

But the insurance (liability only) is gonna be a lot cheaper on that 01 Civic... that alone makes it worth keeping.

 

[Kurtatron]

Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
Originally Posted by 14Accent
That being said, with good credit and the $2,800 you paid for that Civic you could have leased a brand new Kia for a 2 year term and probably $89 a month... just saying.

But the insurance (liability only) is gonna be a lot cheaper on that 01 Civic... that alone makes it worth keeping.


Yeah, absolutely. Minimum liability for my 99 Solara was about $90 a month in Michigan, the most expensive state to insure a car in the US. My friend pays $220 a month for his leased Camry.

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
Originally Posted by Kurtatron
What's up with that? All my Toyota's have made excellent old beater cars...

Luck of the draw. Don't base your opinion on a sample of one.

It seems like you rushed into this car without seeking BITOG's opinion. Maybe we would have steered you away from it. Maybe you had no time because you needed another car fast and/or was afraid someone else was going to snatch the car while you were getting second opinions. Such is the risk you take.

Don't waste your money fixing cosmetics on a nearly 20-year-old car that's not worth much. Focus on the mechanicals.



This ^^^^^^^

It's my opinion but a vehicle that sits is like a house that sits empty,.. nothing good happens when either a car or house just sits...

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by Kurtatron
Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
Originally Posted by 14Accent
That being said, with good credit and the $2,800 you paid for that Civic you could have leased a brand new Kia for a 2 year term and probably $89 a month... just saying.

But the insurance (liability only) is gonna be a lot cheaper on that 01 Civic... that alone makes it worth keeping.


Yeah, absolutely. Minimum liability for my 99 Solara was about $90 a month in Michigan, the most expensive state to insure a car in the US. My friend pays $220 a month for his leased Camry.

See, there ya go. Keep the ride. Buy a manual for it and get to work. Make friends with your local Honda club if you have one (ask the parts guy or look on FB) or Honda forum... there's a lot of ppl who wrench on/tune your ride. , they can be a tremendous help in sourcing parts or tools or even getting a 2nd hand on a repair. Doesn't take much more than a 6pk to get a car guy to come over on a Saturday to help you wrench on things. For some of us it's cheaper than therapy!...‚

(fwiw, you could get some of that black light type dye to hunt down that leak before you change out the oil..its not that expensive on Amazon... valve covers, pan, belts/hoses, PS, HG, WP, plugs, cleaning throttle body, injectors, MAF, MAP, EGR, PCV... are all things you can do if you're the least bit mechanically inclined. (but not all at once, lol))... even your suspension stuff can be done in the driveway with the right tools and a helper.

Really, the only reason you'll need to be in a shop is if that tranny takes a dump... and let's pray that's not in the cards for ya.... (from what I hear the manuals are actually pretty good)

 

[Andrew1972]

I would get an estimate of repairs to see what next move is. It may cost you &500-$1000 to dump it.