Not sure if I can ask this here, but you all have so much experience of Hondas that I am hoping you may have some advice to give me. For reference I am a 75-year-old woman on my own, with no family nearby.

I have had my 1999 Honda accord 4-door sedan since 2003. I have kept up with oil changes and fixing stuff ever since then. For about ten years there were very few things I needed to repair. That changed.

In the last couple of years alone, I have replaced the radiator, power steering pump, the distributor, the gear lever, the ignition cylinder and had the transmission rebuilt. Plus replace all four tires. I am now facing a possible $800 repair to fix the problem of the key getting stuck in the ignition – if I replace the part that is failing. Then when I was driving on Monday, the brake light came on and stayed until my destination (brakes done in 2018 and 2019, then Covid so not a lot of wear); what other expensive problem could I be facing?

​​​I can't do any of the replacements or even basic repairs myself. Is it worth continuing to repair and replace on my Honda Accord 99 sedan with 237,000 miles on the clock, or is time to sell it and start over? What would you do?

Thanks in advance, Carole

 

Hi Carole, it shouldn't be any where near $800 to fix the ignition cylinder problem. Since you already had the cylinder replaced and you're just now having problems with the key, it's possible the brake light switch could be failing. Another symptom is not being able to move the gear selector. You mention having replaced that which is unusual because it isn't a part that will fail.

You've already paid for the most expensive part which was a transmission rebuild so until that fails again you may want to look for another repair shop to give you a more honest price for the current problem. What do they claim needs to be replaced?

 

When the body rusts out. And since I get sand put on the road instead of salt, during the one or two times a year it snows, It will be a while from now. These all-analogue vehicles are too much fun to drive.

 

Thanks for your answer. I must not have explained myself very well. I got my transmission rebuilt and after it, the key wouldn't come out in park. The transmission shop decided that they hadn't done anything that would cause this, but in consultation with the repair shop that referred me to them, they decided it was the ignition cylinder. I was pretty sure it was not that, but who listens to a grey-haired old lady. They did not charge me for this, at least.

I had the gear lever replaced because the button broke. It was a very cheap repair, done by my local guy, not either of the other two I mentioned above. He does listen to me. I returned to him to ask about the key problem, and showed him a Youtube video that indicated it was most likely debris around the switch under the park position. I am fairly convinced that it is that because if I wiggle the gear lever I can usually get it out; it is not going into park completely. He pointed out that it would take three hours of labor to do this, and it might not fix it, so he looked up what it would cost to replace the whole thing that houses the switch--sorry I don't know what it is called. The $800 was parts and labor. I can still have him do the cleaning, it will be cheaper than $800.

 

Ive asked myself this question several times recently. My 00 accord has almost 400k miles and im constantly fixing things, chasing issues, etc. But since I charge myself $0 for labor, I just keep fixing it. Or at least trying, some problems don't seem to have a resolution.