I'm looking to sell my 1988 Prelude SI and get a Civic sedan that gets good mileage. Call it a cost of getting married. So far, '90 to '95 Civic sedan with a 5spd looks best. Recommendations? If anyone near central Iowa has a Civic for sale or wants a Prelude, please contact me.

I found a local 1995 Civic with 109K miles and no history for $3100 obo. Here's my current work list if I should get that car.

Questions:
1. Does the work list below make sense? Is anything missing?
2. Approximately how much will this cost? Some things may be inspections versus replacements, but it's still a lot of work.


- Replace timing belt , any other belts, and water pump
- Change coolant and flush system
- Change oil and filter
- Change air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs, maybe plug wires, distributer cap parts
- Change and bleed brake fluid. Inspect brakes, changing pads and rotors as needed

thanks,
Bryan

History: 77 Accord Hatch , 84 Accord Hatch, 87 Prelude, 88 Prelude

 

uhmm will you do this urself?

 

the FIRST THING I would do is get a CARFAX REPORT on the vehicle. Just get the VIN from the person selling the car and look it up online. You dont want to waste money on a lemon...

and if you do those things listed yourself it would cost roughly $175- $200. If you have to take it to a shop to do it, it will probably cost < $500 ( time = money and labor aint cheap)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bryan42 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">- Replace timing belt , any other belts, and water pump
- Change coolant and flush system
- Change oil and filter
- Change air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs, maybe plug wires, distributer cap parts
- Change and bleed brake fluid. Inspect brakes, changing pads and rotors as needed</TD></TR></TABLE>

Looks like an excellent list. Please find prices with an online vendor such as hondaautomotiveparts.com (dealer markup is like 200%).

I'd also change the tranny fluid too - use OEM Honda MTF (if its a 5-speed).

And if you're bleeding the brakes, throw down a clutch fluid change too - same fluid.

When doing the whole t-belt service - probably not a bad idea to get a new thermostat either - you gotta remove it anyway to flush the system - which also means look at the radiator hoses and replace them as needed too.

 

I've never used CARFAX. What does it give you?

I'll do all but the timing belt + water pump myself. A lot will depend on inspection, I guess. I was thinking $750 to $1000 if I need to replace rotors, pads, and other things. Then again, I need to read threads here and find good sources for these parts other than local auto parts stores.

Kelly blue book online gives $2155 for private party price for this car. I guess the next step is a quick inspection. Last time I looked for a Honda, it took many tries to find one that didn't have blow-by issues.

 

Carfax tells of all the past owners and if there were reported accidents... lemons etc...

 

Thanks. Carfax sounds useful. Thanks also for the additions to my work list. Replacing thermostats and such make sense.

 

please also kepp in mind that carfax only lists reported accidents. if a car's been in an accident and it was never reported to the insurance company, you would never know. just an fyi.

 

IMO carfaxes don't always tell the full story.

I ran a carfax for a civic I was looking at. It showed stuff like when ownership changed and maybe some maintanence. Nothing out of the ordinary. So I bought the car. the first time I made a trip to home depot, I lowered the rear seats and a see all these little pieces of glass in the groove of the seats and trunk.

I took a closer look at my rear window and realized it wasn't a factory window. All the other ones had a honda logo on them and the rear doesn't.

At some point the window was broken and taken to some shop (maybe), but it was never in the carfax.

Cliffs: carfaxes are only as honest as the people who owned the car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ghetto Civic HX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">IMO carfaxes don't always tell the full story.....
Cliffs: carfaxes are only as honest as the people who owned the car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It's not an honesty issue, it's a 'Do I really wanna turn in a broken window to my insurance so they can jack my rates?' issue......Smalltime things like that aren't necessarily going to turn up on a carfax....the whole point of carfax is to find out if you're buying a lemon or if you're buying a car that's been in a wreck....but again, someone can wreck a car and if they can afford to fix it out of pocket, it keeps insurance rates low....but you get nothing on the carfax.....

Cliffs: Carfax is a helpful tool....it's not God........

 

I guess the main thing is to inspect the car thouroughly before you purchase it. Check underneath and make sure there are no leaks or bent pieces anywhere. I always get the carfax reports just for piece of mind

 

valve adjustment
clean throttle body and idle air control valve
grease suspension bushings

buy a helms manual before you get involved. it will be $70 well spent.

 

what grease do you use on the suspension bushings? By that you meant the rear LCA bushings and such right..?