johndm

I'm going to be picking up my first honda next week, a bone stock 93 EX coupe and I'm wondering what I should look out for. It does have very little rust on the rear quarters and fenders but I know thats normal especially for the age and being in New England. Are there any major issues I should look out for? It has 197k on it

Former User

Have you looked at related links in the FAQs sticky?

JDM-sol 89

It really depends on the previous owner and what you plan to get out of it. I personally check out paperwork before I ever physically look at it. No use getting my hopes up, for what appears to be a good deal, if it has a salvage title; which isn't always a bad thing, it will just make selling it more difficult in the future.


Are you buying it from a dealer or private party?


Have you ran a CARFAX on it yet? Very good idea.


Are any maintenance records included?

johndm

Its an original one owner car, clean title, and from a priate party. Interior is immaculate and the outside looks very good as well especially for the age. Im just planning to have a fun daily that will give me great mileage and low cost. I wouldnt be going crazy with any modifications. Just intake, full exhaust, light bracing and suspension mods to retain daily drivability and not get any unwated attention from the 50

Former User

Please use the available resources^ so that you can return with much more focused tech questions.

Root16

One thing you can do if you test drive the car is this: while the car is parked, but running and in neutral, put the clutch in and see if you notice a different sound than when the clutch is not pressed in. When there are bad bearings in the tranny, you'll hear it. You'll hear the sound while the car is in neutral and the clutch is not pressed in if the bearing is bad. There are other things that commonly go bad on older civics such as the cluster/climate control lights, but it will be hard to test this in the day time. Test drive it with the lights on and the dimmer up and maybe if the seller has a garage or if you find a shaded area, maybe you can see if it doesn't light up completely (mine used to light up intermittently, now it's almost always dark). The speedo and/or tachometer also often start working intermittently on the clusters around 170K+. Oh, and I seem to always be replacing ball joints on these cars (I'm current owner of my second '93, '92 Civic VX). See if the car tracks straight when you're test driving it (at least 45mph) and it might be a good idea to get a print out of the last alignment (unlikely the seller has it, but maybe?); sometimes things get bent over 20+ years and the cars can never be realigned completely again. An alignment print out will show problem areas trying to align the car.

Look for any leaks under the car, near the oil pan. Will be kinda hard to see if the exhaust is clear or white or blue etc. while you're in the car. You could stick your phone on the ground and make a video of you starting the car, tho, heh.

Bearing tranning noise:
https://honda-tech.com/honda-civic-d...civic-1492388/

Advice and tips on buying a 1992-1995 Honda Civic | Examiner.com

civiclady

I do not want you to think the tranny bearing noise is not an issue, but I want to tell you my experience with that! I took my car to the mechanic about that noise. The same one on the video but not as loud. He told me it would cost me over 1200 dollars to fix it. He said do not worry about it and drive it till it cannot be driven anymore. It could last six months to a year like that.

I tried to sell it for 2000 dollars but no one would buy it because I would tell them what my mechanic said. Glad not one bought it. That was 150,000 miles and 10 years ago and the tranny is still making the same noise!

White_EG1

35k miles on my shot input shaft.

But there's far more to look for then that. Make sure there are no cel and no funny noises, oil leaks, maintainance up to date etc. At 197k I would test how strong the clutch is, just start off on steep incline you'll know if it's bad, or you can start off in 3rd as if it were 1st. If the engine dies the clutch is good if actually rolls then it's bad.