My sister owns a 1999 Civic EX Automatic and has not taken very well care of it because she just isn't into cars and is very busy with work and school.

About a year ago it received some body damage to the drivers side fender above the front left tire right next to the drivers side door. It's a pretty big one and it's creased I believe. Sorry I can't provide pictures she live 330 miles away. She was looking around for estimates and they said it would cost around $600 to fix, she didn't want to pay that so it's just been that way for a year now.

I figured if/when she comes home for Christmas I'd repair it, as well as do a bunch of maintenance on her car. (oil change to synth, auto tranny fluid change, power steering fluid change, other misc fluid changes, brake check, windshield wiper change, fuel system cleaner, thorough car cleaning inside and out)

Does anyone know of a guide I can use to replace the drivers side fender, I think the part brand new is pretty cheap, dunno about painting it though.

She has 126k mi on it and I hear changing oil to synth at high mileage can cause problems. Does anyone know how to go about doing this without causing problems, or very easy to fix problems ?

Does the manual say what kinds of fluid to use for Auto tranny, power steering etc? Is there a guide somewhere that shows me how to replace the auto tranny fluid in a Civic around the same year?

Thanks for your help.

 

Just replace the fender, and get it painted to match. Much more cost efficient.

DO NOT use synthetic oil. Synthetic oil is great if you started using it at low mileage. With high miles like that, synthetic will find all the places where oil can leak from, and will make it leak.

Also, If the tranny fluid has never been changed, don't change it. Out of experience, I have seen many of transmissions have problems after a flush at high mileage. There could be particles in the fluid that is actually keeping it together.

As for the power steering, The easiest way to do that is:
1. Suck out the old fluid out of the reservoir.
2. Add new fluid.
3. Start the car, turn the wheel all they way to either side and hold for a few seconds.
^ do this a few times
REPEAT STEPS 1-3 A FEW TIMES UNTIL THE FLUID IS CLEAN IN THE RESERVOIR.

 

You should be able to find a used fender in a junkyard for pretty cheap. It might even match her car already.

Try this site to find one:
car-part.com