Hi! Nice site, just found it while I was researching.

So here is the deal, its a 94 4dr Integra (not sure of the trim), leather, sunroof, automatic. Its got the MR and ABS light on. I was able to take it to Advance Auto only to realise diagnostics are for 95 and above. The car had been sitting for weeks, so no battery (or so I assume, had to be jump started). Tire pressures were low as well.

A few years ago I got a 90 Integra (had no idea about cars AT ALL), and it had what I though was a battery problem. That car would not start even after I bought a new battery, now I know it could have been the distributor/coil. That car started dying after a month or so. With a new battery it would need a jump, lights wouldn't come on and just before I gave up on it (had no money to get it fixed), it would start the rpm would stutter like go up on its own and then suddenly drop, on and on. Anyway I donated it (big mistake I know).

That above is the nightmare I am trying to avoid as budget is a concern again. So the MR can be reset, no biggie. If the ABS sensor is unclean, I found the answer in an earlier thread. What I also noticed was a rattle sound just for less than a minute anytime (cold or warm) when you start the car. It was coming from behind the right headlight. The car had been in a minor (according to carfax) accident and the right headlights were changed with the bumper. It also had like a box with plastic covered wires just lying close to that headlight, couldn't find anything like it on the other side. The tire would touch the body on that side in a full turn, the frame seemed fine though. The transmission seemed fine, though the last thing was the engine. It may be nothing taking into account that the car has been sitting for so long but it sounded a little rough as a diesel would though not that bad, and the rpm when reving up and holding like at 3, would drop a little on its own (a vacum leak?).

So while I am not a mechanic, just an average guy at cars. I love Integras but would hate to take on something I can't handle. What is your advice so as to the concerns. And one last thing, I have always had the the impression of Acuras being hell of a lot more expensive to maintain than Hondas. On this forum, people talk about it as being the same. I have also had others tell me that Acuras can be fixed at Honda dealerships for way less money.

I know its a lot, so if you are still reading, please help, I love Integras and have my ears open to advice. Thanks

Best Regards

P.S
I found a picture of that box on the right side that I mentioned above. What is it? It was connected on one side with a black bundle while there was nothing on the other end, and it was lying loose. Here is the pic, see the circled lower left corner of the pic.




Modified by bravo45 at 10:49 AM 1/7/2008

 

wait hold up..you said the abs light was on..judging from your pictures it doesnt look like you have abs...either that or someone removed the abs pump assembly...unless its hiding underneath that black box you circled..cant see from the pictures..anyway try jumping the connector underneath the glovebox and see what codes you get...

 

Oh sorry for the confusion, the pic above is not of that car. I got this pic from this site while browsing. The circled box on that car was lying loose and not connected to anything from one end. I posted it to make it easy to understand.
Is there supposed to be a connector underneath the glove box on a 94/95? The autoadvance guy said it should be 96 or above for that.

 

wow it sounds like you bought the car for 20bucks, j/p mane. you dont have any buddy's that knows how to fix cars?

Honda's and Acura's are the same, pretty much shares the same motor/suspension blah blah so on.

 

Lol!

That one, I bought for just $500, and I knew it wasn't much bang for the buck. I wasn't surprised with the problems, I think the only thing I regret is that I didnot spend anything trying to fix it. The engine had around 160K, transmission was fine.

The one in question now is for $2000, been driven in NY (30K) and NC (the rest. How does this 95 (I was wrong above when I said 94, just pulled the carfax) sound like to you? Too much headache and/or $$ to get fix? Can anything I mentioned be potentially a big problem? And is the maintainance cost comparable to say Civic or Accord or does the Acura factor raises it?