Hello honda-tech!

I recently ran into some larger car problems, still being troubleshooted (found a vacuum leak but still stalls out), but that is in another thread. However, these car issues have inspired me to bring my car back to life to last another 100k, especially with Honda's rep, I hope its not to late to do so.

Its a 2000 Honda Accord 2.3L EX 4cyc Manual tran.

Purpose: Cars about to hit 300k, would like to bring it to 400k.


History/Problems: - Dad handed me down this car about 3 years ago, he owned it since new. He maintained it fairly well, but would only do the bare minimum, like oil change, plugs, wires, alternator, brakes, air filter etc. And any other repairs ONLY as needed, like struts, ball joints, that kind of stuff.

2011-Now: Since handing me the car, he has not maintained it at all and has basically told me not to put any money into fixing anything until its broken and to leave it alone, doesn't want me touching the car basically.
-Clutch was original until 270k, but just changed.
-Power steering system went last winter, I was broke and couldn't afford to fix it, he paid to fix it about a month later, so definitely some strain on the rack/pin system.
-Transmission oil has NEVER been changed...(SMH).

-LARGEST FEAR: The car leaks very small amounts of oil, equal to about 1L/month (only 4-5L capacity), this was a big problem because I wasn't aware of it, so you can probably guess what happened after 5 months of no oil change and maybe a liter or so added. I checked the dipstick and the oil wasn't even touching it............freaked out and bought 2 litres, filled, checked, now just visible. 1 more liter and it was at its min with flakes on the dipstick and a fair amount.

Got the oil changed when I got my clutch done, mechanic mentioned the flakes but i didn't see how much, im sure it was NOT good.

Kept the oil topped and changed it myself, saw a few flakes, assuming residual.

Had slipped my mind for a month and the oil dropped for awhile below min, I topped it back up and have been adding 1L/2 weeks or so now.

NOW: I would like to fix the oil leak (last mechanic said near the engine), do any sort repairs/maintenance to anything extremely important/preventative first, on the count of low funds.

My PRIMARY list:
-Replace valve cover gasket (leaks very little oil around there)
-diagnose the engines health (any guesses or advice is appreciated, will google it as well) do anything I can to repair damage. Fix all engine codes.
-Maybe some sort of engine oil flush
-coolant drain/refill
-(thinking about adding brake fluid and bleeding each line a little to ensure no air in lines/check new brake/rotors + calipers).
-Transmission oil change

SECONDARY:
-Rust removal and inhibitor
-clean up body work as best as possible.

Third (most expensive to change, but able to get away with not doing?)
- my suspension has been off, I'm assuming the struts are going, ball joints were replaced I believe 4 years ago. In this case, are there repairs I can do, or are most suspension items just replaced?


IMPORTANT QUESTION:
Anyways, before I go onto all of these things, on a car this old, 300k + its history. LETS say worst case scenario, my engine and tranny go in the next 30k, would replacing these two parts along with full maintance keep it running for another 1-200k and be worth it, or am I putting brand new parts in a car thats parts/chassis are going to fail/fall apart in a year?

Knowing honda engines have lasted well into the 400k mark,

 

Need to find the source of the oil leak - repair that and be sure to check the level often. You talk about replacing the valve cover gasket but it didn't seem like you were sure that is the source of the leak.