My name is Andrew and its really nice to be here! I currently own a 2001 Honda Prelude, 5th gen, h22a4. I love preludes, but I appreciate all cars/trucks. Honda is my favorite car brand, with Nissan and Toyota 2nd and 3rd. JDM cars just have this like, pazzazz to them or something.

My first adult puchase of a car was back in 2011, I bought a 1996 Honda Prelude 4th gen. My plans were to rebuild the engine and restore the car back to looking and feeling brand new. Maybe about 5 months later the tranny gave out on me while I was driving home from work. I immediately got off the freeway and I was about 13 miles away from home. My car wouldn't shift past 1st gear, and I was determined to make it home. Maybe about a block away from my house something went BOOOM and I saw a giant *** cloud of white in my rear view mirror. This was the death of my first prelude. I wasn't too disappointed or mad because I had bought the car for 1200 and I didn't really do anything to the car besides the basic maintenance. A couple months later I went to the dealership, and with the help of my mom and dad (I didn't have any credit back then) I went to Honda world in Downey and I purchased a 2005 Honda Civic. It was a great freaking car!!! Never once let me down, and wow to this day I still miss that little ******. I was driving down the road to the next city over to visit my friend. On the way to his house, I was coming on an intersection. Long story short I got T-boned by some mexican lady that didn't even have her license, and she was driving a tank (Ford Explorer) she was making a left turn and didn't yield. I had my arm resting on the window sill of the car because I was cruising and didn't think anything of it, now I know why my mom and dad always tell me to keep ALL BODY PARTS INSIDE THE CAR AT ALL TIMES. the grill of the explorer made contact with my arm pretty much. I don't know how but my car ended up on the corner of that intersection and blood was pouring down my face. Luckily I had my other friend in the car and nothing happened to him. He got me some water and they carted me away to USC medical. My bone was sticking out of my arm but didn't break the skin, it looked gross hahaha. After that I got into contact with a lawyer because my insurance had notified me that the lady who hit me and their insurance were claiming that I had ran the red light at the intersection, too bad for her she made a contradictory statement to the officer who took statements from her and me. I had won a little bit of money (5000) and with that money I had two options. One, I could go back and get a new car after my arm was finished healing and I could get a reliable car that I would only have to pay for oil changes and tune ups, or get a car that I WANTED and that I LOVED. Off to craigslist I went, and I started to shop for a lude. I had a 4th gen and I liked it but I liked the way the 5th gen looks better. I found one off craigslist for 2200 and I talked him down to 2000. I love this car and I still do, but I would be lying to you if I told you this car didn't make me want to pull my hair out. I mean I thought if broken down ones go for 1000-1300 and perfect ones are from 5000-10000, then one that is 2000 would be like good to go! Boy was I wrong. I have spilled over 1000$ fixing things on this car. The first thing to go out was the Vtec solenoid. I don't know much about cars, but the part itself was like 300$. I decided to ask my dad for help because of my arm and he came through for me. We took the solenoid off and you guys wouldn't believe me when I say this but the spring where the little mechanism moves up and down was stuck. We spent like 2 hours trying to get it unstuck, and finally we did. There was a major BLACK GUNK build up, and we cleaned it as best we could and replaced the gaskets with some we had bought from honda genuine. After that I kept getting annoyed at the oem stereo that came with the car so I took my car to a place to get some new speakers and a stereo. the speakers with stereo came out to 500. After I replaced that, it was time to replace the windshield as it had some major cracks. I found a place that had a used one from a 98 and they were trying to get rid of it. I bought it for 80$ and they installed it and everything!!! Next up was to check the motor and engine. The odometer had 146,623 so I thought to myself might as well take it in for a tune up just in case the owner before me didn't. My mechanic had let me know that there was oil leaking from 3 different places. Aw man. So I shelled out 900 for him to fix the leaks and for a tune up with it. Finally things were starting to look up for this car! I was getting pretty excited. then winter came. One day while I was putting my girlfriend's school luggage in the car, I noticed the trunk was wet FROM THE INSIDE. WOW WHAT IS GOING ON. I thought maybe some water had seeped throught but nothing too major. It wasn't until my friend had sat in the back seat that I noticed something was up. He had told me that the seats were wet......WHAT!!! LOL I have a strict no eating/drinking policy for my cars, there was no way!!! when the weather dried up I called my dad and I explained what was going on. We took everything out of the trunk, and the spare tire out, and holy ****!!!! there was a massive LAKE in my trunk!!!! kill me NOW!!! **** man so we took the seats out and THERE WAS A COLLECTION OF ASIAN COINS AND LARGE PIECES OF BROKEN GLASS SHARDS like I MEAN GIANT as in probably the size of a lunchables or a small notebook. WOW WOW WOW so we assessed where the water could be coming from and we ruled out the drains being clogged because I poured some water from a bottle onto the top of my car and water was dripping to the bottom. It ended up being the passenger side rear light. there was a tiny hole in it and thats where the water was coming from. I found a place that was selling a light assembly and he sold it to me for 110 even though he priced me 80 when we were talking on the phone. whatever. so I cleaned everything up as best as i could. Next I noticed I wasn't getting good mileage so I guess the tires needed to be replaced. Replaced them and well now everything is ok. Later on that day my neighbor tells my that my lights are on. So I go outside and the brake lights are one. WOW. Brake light switch replaced. 2 months later the OEM starter went out. Replaced that, but literally after replacing that, the master power switch on the driver side went out, so now the buttons on my side of the car don't work **** **** ****..So I am here now, trying to sell this car lol. I love it, but I need myself a daily driver that wastes less gas. In hindsight I probably should have just went to the dealership and got another new car but at the time I honestly didn't want to deal with monthly payments. I mean I had paid off 7000 of 11800 from the civic and it all went to **** anyways because the car got totaled. so yeah now I am happily stuck with this car until I can find her a new home. If you are from the LA area and have some free time and maybe wouldn't mind getting paid, I would really appreciate any knowledge or info or anything on how to restore the car. I mean if no one is going to buy this car I might as well restore it little by little.