Hi all. I am new here and it looks like a great site. I need some quick help. I have had several Hondas in the past, but never one past 1992 and never one with a V6. I did a quick search, but did not see what I was looking for in specific (just needing general advice), so here goes.....

I found a local 1998 Accord EX V6 that I like alot. I can get it for about $3900 (maybe even less), but it has high mileage (226K). I have had other Accords in the past with even higher miles, but they were the late 80s/early 90s models and had 4-cylinders. I have heard that some of the 98-00 4-cylinder models have had transmission issues, but the owner of this car says the transmission is fine. Did the V6 models also have common transmission issues, or did they use a different transmission? Also, he said he had NO idea if the timing belt had ever been changed. @ 220K if it has not been changed, its obviously well past due. I wonder if it is a costly replacement on these cars and also, is the V6 3.0L in these cars an "interference" engine? Lastly, does this seem like a fair price for this car? I have not seen many 98+ Accord with this mileage, so unsure of this.

Thanks very much in advance for any information and advice!



Modified by Tennesseestorm at 9:08 PM 8/1/2008

 

This is my opinion. But I am a big Honda fan and find all their cars are great. But every car has it's problem. You can buy a 300k Honda that was very well taken care of and still have it in great condition,(My Civic currently have 210k millage and still running like a champ. My cousin's v6 accord has about 180k millage and no problem so far.) or example you can have a brand new Honda like my sister, straight off the floor room at the dealership, not even 15k miles into it's life an the motor already has problems. It comes down to how well the car was taken care of. Look at it, see if it has oil leaks, does the motor run smooth at idle, does the owner mention lots of problems with the motor? Does the car run good at cruising speed or at high way speed? see if any original parts are missing. Has the owner change anything for it recently? Hopefully the car has all original parts and you can do a tune up on it if you decide to buy it. Change things like, spark plugs, wires, flush coolant, change oil, tranny fluid, check axle.

To make a long story short, Honda design their cars to outlast their owners. Nothing last forever so at most you have to change things like axle, distributor, spark plug, wires, brake pads, belts, etc. The main motor and head and tranny should still be in good condition; that is if the car was well taken care of.

This is my opinion, I do not know if you do a lot of your work on your car yourself but if you are familiar with changing things I mention than the millage should not effect you much. I work on cars often so changing an axle here and there does not bother me. But a shop can charge you a good amount for things like that. So keep that in mind. You can go to "www.Kbb.com" and check the value of the car and see where the price stand as to what the owner is selling it at. From there you can decide if the car is worth it or not.


Modified by lv6l at 2:08 AM 8/2/2008

 

good luck but a car with 200+K isn't worth nearly $4K especially a car with KNOWN transmission problems

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by YeuEmMaiMai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">good luck but a car with 200+K isn't worth nearly $4K especially a car with KNOWN transmission problems</TD></TR></TABLE>

Only the 4 cylinder models are known to have transmission problems. The v6 are ok.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lv6l &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Only the 4 cylinder models are known to have transmission problems. The v6 are ok.</TD></TR></TABLE>

lol wut, quit spreading FUD


ALL 98-02 accords are affected. V6 cars got it worse than the I4 cars due to more power going through the trans

 

any car with that mileage is going to be a crapshoot

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by YeuEmMaiMai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

lol wut, quit spreading FUD


ALL 98-02 accords are affected. V6 cars got it worse than the I4 cars due to more power going through the trans</TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh? I guess you learn something new everyday. I been working at a mechanic shop about a year now and only seem the 4 cylinder models defective. The manager told me this too, but I guess I should reconsider. I'll look into this more, Thanks.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lv6l &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Oh? I guess you learn something new everyday. I been working at a mechanic shop about a year now and only seem the 4 cylinder models defective. The manager told me this too, but I guess I should reconsider. I'll look into this more, Thanks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I had a 98 and that thing at a trans at 87K miles and ate 3 more within 11K miles after the first one and 3K miles were trips to my parents house in MI from MN and out of the remaining 8K miles 5 of them were all highway

Just do a google search on Honda V6 automatic transmissions and you will see what i am talking about.

The reason you see more I4 cars than V6 cars is they sell I4 about 7 to 1 over V6 accords

 

Just a side note... the problem is with automatic transmissions only. The manuals are great... but the V6 was only offered with automatic in '98 and '99 and the automatics definately have a bad reputation. If you happen to run across a '98 through '02 with a manual tranny (I4), it's a great car.

If you were getting a steal of a deal on the car it would be worth it but for $4,000 for an almost 11 year old car with 220,000 miles on it and other work (like the timing belt) that quite possibly needs done... my personal advice would be to keep looking. I've never replaced a transmission but if I remember the posts correctly, it would be $2,500 to $3,000 to fix it.