im thinin about buying a 98 honda prelude w/ about 95k miles. The miles are a little high but i was thinkin its a honda so it should last for a long time. The car seems to be in ok shape but the guy says sometimes when he turns the keys in the ignition, nothing happens, but when i went to test drive it seemed ok. so maybe the wiring is bad? what could be the deal?

oh and if anyone could give me any advice on what to look for when buyin a used car (like checking what parts to see if the car is still strong or not)..etc

thanks

 

does it already have mods done to it? check around the engine for oil leaks and smoke.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Albeezy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im thinin about buying a 98 honda prelude w/ about 95k miles. The miles are a little high but i was thinkin its a honda so it should last for a long time. The car seems to be in ok shape but the guy says sometimes when he turns the keys in the ignition, nothing happens, but when i went to test drive it seemed ok. so maybe the wiring is bad? what could be the deal?

oh and if anyone could give me any advice on what to look for when buyin a used car (like checking what parts to see if the car is still strong or not)..etc

thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

95K is nothing for a Honda. I have even witnessed a friend of mine beat the livin shyt out of two Hondas and he still did not have any problems with it. I am talking about redlining the car as soon as he would start the car in sub-zero temperatures, slam shifting. Obviously, you don't want a car that was driven like this but I am just showing by example how well built they are.

Main things to look for is to see if there are any oil leaks, if the timing belt and water pump have been changed, and how does the clutch feel. These are the main things that could cost some money if you need to have them done. 95K the mileage where you want to change the OEM tining belt too.

As for the starting issue, when you turn the key to start the car, can you operate the accessories (i.e. radio, fan, etc)?? If the interior fan works, as well as the radio, when you turn the key, it could be a bad ignition switch. This is a VERY common problem when people have a keyring that is too heavy.

 

aweomse thanks dude. well the car is like all stock. no aftermarket parts at all.

also the passenger seat chord is broken so you cant move the seat front or back. How much do you think it'll cost to fix that?

 

I bought my lude with 150k. Just go and pay a mechanic to look it over slowly and carefully, and if you really want to check out the guts, pay for a leakdown/compression test. Other than that, just check for grinds in the tranny, and pull out the little service plug on the top of the casing and smell the oil for burns.

Good luck.

 

Is it an Auto... if it is then don't buy it.

 

I bought my 95 se with 125k miles on it so if it is good shape then it might be a good buy most hondas especially preludes bring good money used unless they are in rough condition ---

 

I would buy it if your getting a good deal. I bought my 98 prelude with more miles on it from a little woman who didn't know what a great car she had!

And the ignition is a recall. Make sure it has it done, that is what it sounds like to me. Honda recalled that so they know it's a problem.


Modified by Superstorm at 6:59 AM 7/23/2004

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kal &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is it an Auto... if it is then don't buy it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah stay away from the auto

other than that if the price is right go for it. the car has plenty of life in it.

 

If you are really interested in the car, take it to honda and shell out the 70$ for them to look it over. Get a price for the car before you do this. Then you agree that whatever they find wrong you slash off the price. This is what I have done when buying each of my cars.

So when they say 400$ for CVs, do them yourself for 30$.


Also stay clear from those Autos.

-Good luck

 

yea its a manual. seems to be in good shape.

yea the guy said something about the ignition being recalled. He has a clifford alarm in it and he said that the remote start needs to be reconnected b/c it was like disconnected when they recalled the ignition or something

how much do you think it would cost to hire someone to reconnect the alarm?

and how much do you think it woudl cost to fix the passenger seat chord (so it can move front to back again)?

 

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

and how much do you think it woudl cost to fix the passenger seat chord (so it can move front to back again)?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Are you sure that the chord is broken?? I JUST fixed my brother's seat in his Maxima. It turned out that a quarter fell into the seat rail, preventing it from moving.

I pulled the seat out, tipped it forward and out popped the quarter. He drove around like that for 4 years. I got tired of it and decided to fix it. Took me 15 minutes.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Albeezy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yea its a manual. seems to be in good shape.

yea the guy said something about the ignition being recalled. He has a clifford alarm in it and he said that the remote start needs to be reconnected b/c it was like disconnected when they recalled the ignition or something

how much do you think it would cost to hire someone to reconnect the alarm?

and how much do you think it woudl cost to fix the passenger seat chord (so it can move front to back again)?</TD></TR></TABLE>

it probably wouldn't cost much to reconnect the alarm, especially if you go to a place that deals with that brand of alarm (or even the place he had it installed at).

the seat chrod is probably super easy. you could probably do it yourself in less than an hour assuming you are not at all mechanically inclined.

 

I bought my 92 Si when it had 155k on it; it was dogged on before I got it, and I dogged on it some more. The motor finally blew after 168k miles of abuse.

95k is nothing for a honda motor. Check to make sure the normal maintenance has been performed, and that everything works well, and you'll be fine.

 

you guys overlooked the most important part when buying a used car... find all the body panel skickers and match vin numbers with every one of them... if a particular panel does not have a skicker, or a panel has a sticker that does not match, then you know the car has been in an accident...

 

Whats wrong with an auto?

 

5th gen Preludes with the "SS" (Auto) tranny suck. A lot of them fail (i.e. - cannot shift into drive or whatever).

All in all, stay away from them!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ALTERED4 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you guys overlooked the most important part when buying a used car... find all the body panel skickers and match vin numbers with every one of them... if a particular panel does not have a skicker, or a panel has a sticker that does not match, then you know the car has been in an accident...</TD></TR></TABLE>

What do you mean by match the body panels, im a newbie by the way. thanks

 

When buying a used car that is considered "sporty" especially with a honda check to see the tire wear and condition of the brake pads/rotors. If they do a lot of hard cornering the tires will have the edges rounded off and possibly uneven tire wear. Look at the brake rotors and see if they have heavy scoring or very small cracks along their surface. If they have those symptoms then it is likely that they were decelerating HARD and often.

Not to rag on any kids in this forum but who is selling the car? A woman, or a man? How old are they? Why are they selling it? If it is someone that is likely to have Highschool aged children ask who drove it the most. Most kids either don't know about how to maintain their cars or do not have the funds to do so. Also highschool drivers have a tendancy to abuse cars. I bought my 4th gen from a punk kid and have spent a bundle refurbishing it.

Also find out what the electrical problem is. 'Cause they are expensive to diagnose and fix if it is an intermittant problem. If you cannot reproduce the problem and are worried about having to fix it when it does break then get the guy to sign a contract about having him fix it or cough up a wad to help out. Or buy one from a dealer since there are laws protecting you from them. HTH

the Pirate

 

yea well it looks like a college kid. Seems to be one of those rich asian kids in SF, hes selling it to buy a Lexus lol. I can tell he doesnt take that great of care of his car cuz theres birdshit all over the outside and it looks like he hasnt changed his oil in a while. If i had a prelude i'd wash it at lesat once a week.

anyways thanks for all the replies. keep em coming. Anythign else i need to look for when buying it?