Hello all. I'm having my automotive world crash down on me. All the expensive wear items are failing at once, and I'm due for a timing belt too. I drive a 94 ex manual with 89K on the clock. I got it a year ago at about 80K. Until a month ago, everything was perfect, except the annoying exhaust rattle at 2000rpm.

I had the cv joints done and the clutch cylinders both failed a few months ago. My exhaust is getting louder and deeper by the minute, and will need to be replaced. My clutch is slipping a bit in first, sometimes hard to get all the way in gear and clanks when putting it into reverse. My rear calipers are shot and I need new rotors/pads too. Fronts ok for now. Plus the t-belt is looming over my head.

I love this car, it's great to drive and all that. I had planned on doing the timing belt, and driving it for many more years. However, with all this work that needs to be done, I'm considering getting rid of it. Here's my estimate on what I'll need:

T-Belt/water pump- $800
Rear brake job- $350
Exhaust- $300
Clutch replacement- $450

I have no garage space to do the brakes or anything else.

My question is- if I was to fix these problems, and in light of what has already been done, what else could possibly go wrong? I want to believe that all this is normal for the age/mileage of my car and after dropping the $2000, I will have a rock solid car that will make it another 90K. Or am I wasting my time on a lemon? Thanks for any inpot/suggestions.

 

For me, it only cost 500 at the dealer to do the timimgbelt/waterpump stuff. I would find garage space to do the brakes, you could get rear calipers/pads/rotors for less than 200 EASY and replace them in less than an hour. Exhaust estimate looks about right depending on what you get, as well as clutch. None of those things make it a lemon though? They are all maintenance type things. I would keep it, and try to do some of the stuff yourself. Even a dealer would probably hook you up if you had them do that much work for you.

 

Everything else being equal, you could look forward to another 120,000 miles before you catch up with my '97. Your '94 is a long ways away from the end of it's useful life.
Of the stuff you mention? I'd suggest tackling what you can and farm out the rest to a local Honda Savy Independent shop. The "freight" for the repairs won't be as scary.



Modified by P_Adams at 9:08 PM 8/17/2005

 

You have a very low milage car. If the overall condition is good to excellent I would not think twice about investing in the repair work. These cars hold their value. They don't make 'em now like they used to. Your price quotes especially for the Timing belt seems way-high. Get a few more quotes from different shops.

 

89k mile its barely got any hair on its *****.

800 for tbelt and water pump is a rip man.. i think that is even more then what my local honda dealer charges. i did tbelt, water pump, clutch, flywheel myself when i did my manual conversion but my friend had his tbelt and water pump done on his accord recently for $450 parts (all oem) and labor at a shop my parents always go to.

$300 for exhaust.. are you going with something aftermarket or custom?

$350 for brakes... whoa what exactly needs to be done? resurface and new pads?

$450 is pretty steep for a clutch job as well..

 

all those things are routine maintence for a car around that milege. if you keep up w/ maintence, itll last your anohter 90k no problem

 

Well, the T-belt quote was from the only honda dealer in my town $767 or something- I suppose I could ask around the import shops but I thought this was something best done at the dealer.

The rear brake calipers both started grabbing on an angle somehow- wore the pads down uneven and warped the rotors. I bought brembo blanks and decent pads online and got cheap remanufactured calipers and just need them installed. Parts was just over $200.

For the exhaust, I just want something quiet and cheap. I know I'd get hosed at Midas or anywhere else, so I may as well get something decent. Is there anything good that's just a step over stock? I don't need anything fancy, but any small performane increase would be nice. I haven't even looked yet to see what needs to go, but am preparing for the worst. It just pains me to pay too much for cheap parts when performance ones are just a bit more.

Pretty much the same thing with the clutch. I know if I shop around I can get nicer parts for the same price or better than OEM, but I just want something that will last. Any performance boost would be a bonus, but not necessary. Will I have to get a new flywheel, or can they be resurfaced, and how much? I just want to avoid getting a crappy 'lifetime' part where thay have me in every 6 months for labor on the free replacement.

I have no room to do anything, and really have only changed my oil and done easy tune-up type work before anyway. I'm having a local honda tuner shop do the brakes since not a lot of people were cool with me bringing the parts. I'll talk to him about the rest and see if we can work a deal. Thanks for the input.


Modified by coregis at 11:52 AM 8/17/2005

 

is this in canadian money or something???

all of your prices are wayyyy overpriced. some of them can be done yourself.

timing belt and water pump at most should be around $500

rear brakes you can do yourself. its easy. parts shouldnt cost more than $100 (oops didnt see your calipers are shot)


a stock exhuast for $300, you can def do better.

clutch $450 isnt too bad (if we are talking about parts and labor) but can be had cheaper

 

napa reman. calipers are $40 a piece if you trade in your old ones...as long as the old ones arent totally crap they'll take em....thats what i did when mine started locking up.

 

Wow it looks your car has seen a hard life. My front pads did not need to be changed until I hit 120K and I didn't even have to change my rear shoes but I did all my brakes at the same time. My driver side outer CV joint failed at 128K. The only thing that I had to replace at 90K was a lower ball joint on the driver's side.

It was $365 in 2000 for a T-belt service at the local honda dealer in St Paul, MN. They replaced every wearable part that they had to take off to get to it.

I paid 320 for the exhaust (everything after the cat) last year so it does not sound too un reasonable for that work.

 

I have a local shop doing my T-belt, water pump, balancer belt, both drive belts, thermostat, and flushing out the old and refilling the coolant for under $350.

DEFINATELY look around and keep her awhile man. I have a 93 and its got like 136K on her. Needs body work and a paint job and some other little things but NO CAR PAYMENT and thats a plus.

Oh and eBay for your exhaust parts. I typed 93 accord and found over 2000 current auctions just watch who you buy from and enjoy man.

 

ask the shop you are taking it to how many hours of labor they are charging you for this work. then let me know and next week when I go back into work I'll take a look at my book for the hours taht we go by. As a personal choice (and the fact that I work at one) I'd suggest to take it to a local shop, its more on a personal level.

 

My labor for all the work is $125 total the rest is parts. I think its a deal and the guy is good.

 

At those prices, offer to pay your local Honda dealer in cheese. Isn't that traditional in Wisconsin?

Seriously, your original estimates would have chased anyone off. You'll do much better if you shop and ask for references.

P

 

I am in Pennsylvainia here and local Honda wants $500 just for T-belt and water pump only.

 

Do you know the details of the previous owner? I have a 93 Accord and didn't do a clutch till 190,000 miles. I got mine with 36K on it. Seems either they didn't know how to drive a stick i.e. slipping it a lot , also I'm still riding around on the original CV joints at 334,000 miles at this point. No clicks, sure they have a little play in them but that's to be expected. The brakes I can see the calipers sure if perhaps the salt got to them as it seems to do so well living in the NE. My car saw duty in Philly so my rear pads went out around 80K and the fronts around 100K.

The only reason I'm bringing these things up is if the previous owner only changed the oil like 4 times in the 80K they had it, your in for a lot more problems down the road, if it was some little old lady that just rode the clutch then go for the repairs becuase you have a perfect car on your hands otherwise. Just my .02. Take it or leave it.

 

I hate to say but that is about what our dealership charges on T-belt and pump.
The thing at most dealerships is labor is around 65.00 an hour or more. parts are marked something like 40%. A local shop would be cheaper, but they may or may not have the exact procedure (not that it is that hard)
If a timing belt and water pump are to be done I would also check into changing the cam seal, crank seal, balancer shaft seal and oil pump seal as they are all inside the timing belt cover.
Your flywheel can be resurfaced if needed. I have 254K on 91 wagon. Original tranny and clutch. I am getting ready to replace mine but since I work at a dealership it will cost me the price of a clutch. Also if doing a clutch you may as well change the rear main seal or at least have it checked. If it starts to leak you are looking at pulling the tranny <U></U>again<U></U>.
As far as exhaust if you go any way but stock you are going to get a louder tone as the diameter will most likely be bigger causing more noise.
Your brake pads I would definately do yourself. You can get a haynes manual or something and it will walk you through that.
The rotors have to be resurfaced on the car as they do not remove easily. They have to be pressed in and out to be changed. And then you may want to look into new wheel bearings. They do not come off easily until 98 and up. The pads however are easy to change. you will need a big c-clamp or a 10.00 brake pad separator at napa.
I know this all sounds like a lot but the reason a Honda can run forever is through preventative maintenance. They are rock solid cars but must be cared for like any other car. If you decide to sell this car I would be interested. Otherwise I would recommend getting through the rain to enjoy the sunny days.
Hope all this helps and good luck.

 

the prices seema bit on the high side, i would look for a good independant honda specialist shop. hav THEM go over teh car and tell y ou what needs to be done. the parts you lsited though are all normal maintenance items NOT repairs....with the milage on teh car id do the work and keep it running.

 

I just picked up a 94' 5spd with 87k...just got rid of a 85 with 232k.

I replaced 1 CV joint in the 94 150bucks...

Your prices sound like Sears pricing.

rear brakes, all you should need is a set of shoes. 50 bucks max at advanced. local garage 30 bucks labor, or do it in your driveway 2hrs max.

exhaust: go cheap to make it sound right for a few years 75-125 bucks, then install a SS quality exhaust.

put off the timing belt until 100k, it's a honda it'll prolly never brake anyway.

Clutch work sound about right.

 

that car has a ton of life left in it, no... wait sell it to me cheap lol j/k

my 95 has 186k on it, and I just had to replace the front brakes, using hand-tools, took me four hours in the grass I even was able to knock the old wheel bearings out here... dont ask it's too ghetto to even mention how I did it (pm if ya want, dont wanna publicly say how I did it). You shouldn't have a problem with the rear brakes, jack stands and some hand tools and have at it, I've done all of my own brake work since I was 15 and I dont even have a garage, only online references to guide me. The t-belt job sounds high, mine had it done before I bought it, only cost $300. One thing you may not have considered is checking the local salvage yards, some of them do repairs and pretty reasonable too. My guy at the junkyard does better quality work than anywhere else and has round figures for a ton of stuff, last year it only cost me $200 to get an engine swapped in my old suv.

 

Thanks everybody for the advice. I found a friend with jackstands, and I think we're going to give the rear brakes a shot since I already bought all the parts. I'm going to get a Haynes manual and follow this https://honda-tech.com/zero...46880
Are the rears pretty much the same procedure? Do I still need to find a hub puller, or did I hear something about the hub outside something or other on the rears making it easier? And the new calipers just plug into the old hose and go back into the brackets, right?

Just got another quote for $590+tax on the T-belt, maybe I'll try to get it down even further.

What about the clutch? I want something that will last me at least another 90k... should I stick with OEM, or should I get an Exedy stage 1 organic or something of that nature off of the for sale forum? Like I said above, performance is only a bonus for me, reliability and cost are the primary concerns, but spending an extra $50 on a $200 part if it's clearly better is something I would do.

Thanks again for all the sound advice!

 

The new OEM belts are good for 105K so. A cluth can easily last 90K as long as you are not hard on it. My friend had an 1989 civic and the clutch in that thing lasted 150K before he changed it for the first time.

 

This may have been mentioned already but:
Along with the Timing belt and water pump you should replace the belt tensioner and spring as well as the cam and crank oil seals.

 

everything above shouldnt cost you more than 800.

Call a ton of shops, honda speciality places are my favorite.

 

Check the yellow pages or search on yahoo for shops near you, I'm sure you can get a lower quote then that.