During a recall repair service, the Honda dealership recommended I take care of some repairs, and I confirmed the importance of these with my local Honda shop. Here is a list of repairs, plus their estimated costs I was quoted by my local shop --

1) replace front break pads = $180
2) service timing belt, water pump, and seal = $800
3) repair broken bushings = $530
4) mystery spark plug issue (causes engine light to come on occasionally) = ? (undiagnosed as of now)
TOTAL = at least $1510

Kelly BB value for my car ('good' condition) is just under $4000 for private party resale.

We're not really driving this car much at the moment, maybe 30 miles a week, and it has just over 100,00 miles currently.

We have been talking about buying a new car but have been kind of procrastinating, though this recent potential large repair has gotten me thinking about it again. To me it doesn't seem worth repairing if we're going to sell it.

What are your guys' thoughts, repair, or sell as-is? Thanks in advance!

 

repair it.... but 180 just to replace front break pads?? im pretty sure you can get some useful info here at H-T, save you some cash on labor https://honda-tech.com/search.php?searchid=11401993

 

yea its a bit pricey on some of the parts, but its all routine maintenance. it sucks to do it all at once, but these are all things that would need to be done during the life of the car.

those prices are a little on the high side. you can easily do brake pads for less... off the shelf pep boys pads are like $30. Even the high performance ones are only in the $60ish range. Once youve changed disk brakes yourself once, youll hate yourself for ever paying someone to do it. youre literally talking about a 30 minute job, and that factors time in for a beer or 2 between sides

water pump...yea thats pricey but sounds about like the going rate. its a PITA to do.

Bushings - depending on which ones are worn, assuming maybe control arms? thats a solid days work but again, nothing more than removing a few bolts. I pulled my arms out by myself and brought em to a shop to press in the new bushings, but with some patience and a BFM and some heat, its nothing that cant be done at home

 

Yea all besides the pump are easy just do it yourself and take it in for the pump

 

There is not much depreciation in your Civic left. You seem to be high on your valuation for the car, are you better off to sell the car today for $1500-2000 as is and walk away? If it a second vehicle which does not get much use, I would spend some money on maintenence and necessary repairs. Calculate the true cost of your desired new vehicle purchase in depreciation, and lost money paid on sales tax.

 

changing the brake pads is the easiest thing to do yourself if you can turn a wrench you can do it yourself. the spark plugs probably just need to be replaced thats another extremely easy thing you can do yourself in your driveway in 30 minutes.

as for the timing belt and pump 800 is a little high but not bad considering the amount of time it takes to do. the dealer is always going to be over priced for work done. all the DIYs for these things are on this site i suggests you do some research.

 

$1500-2000? No, he can get more than that. With that mileage that car goes for $4000 easy around here. I just recently sold my rebuilt P.O.S. 2001 EX coupe for $2100.

 

anything over 100k miles you'll probably won't see more than 3-4k for the car with that year. $4k would be awesome but its not completely out of line. I got my car with 59000 for 6k....just saying. Fix the problems with the car and run it till it dies. These motors last quite awhile if taken well of....Tranny is a different story.

 

i know thats right, it's the main reason i joined h-t, they have allot of good info, and allot of detailed D.I.Y.'s

 

yes. get it repaired. but do not get it repaired by whoever gave you those prices. those prices are completely bogus.
1) replace front break pads = $180 (should not cost more than $80 per axle if you take it in to a regular brake place you'll most likely only need the front two done.)
2) service timing belt, water pump, and seal = $800(should not cost much more than $250-$280)
3) repair broken bushings = $530(depending on which bushings need replacing, you can get it done for $90 per corner.)
4) mystery spark plug issue (causes engine light to come on occasionally) = ? (undiagnosed as of now) - (get this diagnosed haha)
TOTAL = at least $1510(my total = $510-$540)

so yes, i think you should get it repaired/maintained. because that care has at least another 200,000 miles in it.

side note: get the coolant flushed and replaced as well. do this asap before repairs really go sky high. hahaha

 

You're in the right place if you'd like to learn how to fix your Honda.

If you do not like fixing and maintaining cars, I suggest you buy/lease a new car.



Edit: If this were my car, on a limited budget, I would fix it, but not all at once. Start with the brake pads. (it's easy)

 

the timing belt should be done by a mechanic if you have no experience its not really something i would recommend to a novice. there are a ton off things that can go wrong in the process that could potentially destroy your engine.

if you must do it yourself at lest have a friend or someone with experience with you if you decide to do it yourself.the timing belt is a very tedious job i have never seen a quote for $300 dollars if that was the case i would just pay to have mine done and spare myself the hassle.

 

Thanks guys for all the responses and info guys!

I'll look into the DIY brake pad replacement, and will leave the belt/pump to the pros. That is, if we decide to keep the car rather than just sell it.

As for the $4k number I got from KBB, that's just ballpark really. I'm not necessarily expecting exactly that amount if I sell.

 

wut? sorry to hear that, laz...