Hello all, new member here. The name's Andrew, and I'm currently looking at buying my second honda. One of my first cars was a little 87 CRX hf, used to love that thing and am wishing I never sold it now. My uncle's currently getting approx. 50mpg with it!!

Anyways, I'm looking at a 98 hatch, and it's got about 190k miles on it. The transmission apparently makes a noise between first and second, or in both first and second (I forget which the owner said). It's like 90 minutes away, and I'm going to go look at it this weekend. I was planning on taking one of those magnets on a stick to check for metal shavings, but while I was searching, I discovered that the transmission already has one? Is this located on the drain plug? And anyone heard of or had this problem before?

Also, if someone has a few extra minutes, is there anything else I should watch out for? It's got some body damage (minor) so I know I'm not to worried about looks, but any other mechanical things that tend to go out on these?

Well thanks in advance for your help, and I hope to be joining you guys as a fellow Honda owner soon!

-Andrew

 

I know power windows usually go out in the 96-98's but if its the hatch then you won't have that problem, but the noise could be syncro's don't really know for sure though..

 

Automatic or 5 speed?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94EG8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Automatic or 5 speed?</TD></TR></TABLE>

true, i didn't even think to ask and make sure lol...

 

oh sorry! it's a 5 speed. /dork

 

I'd say test drive it and make sure it's holding oil... other than that I think it would be ok...

 

The magnet is on the transmission drain plug unfortunately, which'd make it a bit more difficult to check.

Since you'll have the 5-speed, there's not too much of a trans-going-out concern like if it were auto. But, if the hatch has a D16Y8, our motors have a tendency to toss rod bearings away some reason. :-)

 

Take it for a test drive and see what it sounds like. Might have a bad bearing or something. See if it grinds when you shift or feels notchy.

 

Ya the owner says he took it to his mechanic friend who said it's not a big problem. If drives alright and feels good, I'll probably just get it and drive the thing till the tranny goes and drop a new one in.

I figured since it's a Honda there wouldn't be many things to look out for : )

Thanks for the input, I'll let you guys know some more once I test drive it. I just wish I didn't have to drive an hour and a half to get to it!!

-Andrew

 

Well, I test drove it and everything looks good so I'm going to go for it. It shifts fine, runs great, and it pretty banged up outside. Oh and it only makes noise in 1st and 2nd, you can barely hear it, my dad seems to think it's the bearing on the shaft for 1st/2nd gear. Anyways when I get it back to my hosue I'll put some synthetic trans fluid in and check for metal shavings....

 

And I just wanted to make sure to get 5 posts in before my week is up, not sure how much time I'll have in the next few days to be on the internet.

: )