Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Besides wear & tear, the only things I replace (according to maint. schedule) after that were the following: the timing belts, plugs, oil, air filter and PCV valve. The fuel filter, dist. cap & rotor have 134k miles on them since I had them replaced at 65k major service mark by the dealer. I have the parts, but couldn't find the time to replace them yet. Amazingly, the car still gets 28 MPG on highway as indicated on the invoice sticker.
I agree, for it to be a good deal, it would have to be at a near giveaway price. At 180k miles, the following repairs are expected if they have not been done recently: a second timing belt job, alternator, CV shafts, ball joints, a brake job, and the list goes
on....
The transmission if it lasts this long, it would continue to last.
Adding those expected repair costs, I would rather take the money and buy a new Civic.
My 2 cents.
Suppose the buyer plans to use it as a second or third car. Maybe it'll get driven 5-7000 miles a year. If this is the case, and IF it passes a strict inspection, AND, the price is reflective of those miles,it could be a GREAT deal.
It could easily go another 50-100,000 miles with little trouble. It could last someone for years.
Now, if the buyer intends to beat it to death on the road and drive it 15-20,000 miles a year it would probably be wise to look for something else.
Any help would be appreciated.
What do I do? I have been told that the mark is so deep that it will need to be re painted instead of buffed out. Has this happened to anyone else? About how much should/did it cost? Once it was painted could you see a difference in the factory paint and the repair?
Please help! This is my first car and I am devastated...
jeffrey: I recently had an unrepairable flat in my 04 Accord (had 15k on it at the time). Cost for replacement was $145 through discounttire.com. I also debated just buying a set of cheaper tires instead of replacing only one but decided that the Michelin's were still a better tire with a higher mileage rating. We ended up paying $170 for the replacement tire but received lifetime rotate and balance as well as road hazard coverage on all 4 tires. Since your Michelins do have some life left in them you may want to consider putting the 3 remaining tires on ebay. Even if you only get $100 for 3 of them that's $100 off your new set of tires.
Also, when we replaced my Michelin the tire shop gave me a prorated credit due to an agreement they have with Michelin. You may want to bring this up to your tire shop.
You may need to remove the headlight cover so you have room to work with these screws.
keep in mind that the potenzas are unidirectional tires and rotation is different.
BTW noticed that when looking down on the sunroof it seems a bit sunken instead of meeting flush with the metal roof. Mainly a bit in the middle...wonder if this is a problem?
I'm bummed since my car only has about 60k miles on it.
Yes, a new car **should** be pefect when it's delivered. In the real world, however I can probably find, if I look hard enough, small scratches on any new car.
Drive that new car two weeks and it'll have more of these. From your description, they sound like they aren't worth messing with.
If it were my own car, I wouldn't worry about it unless they can be easily seen.
Furthermore, that car, and 3 other Accords we purchased from a Southeast volume dealer, did not have scratches when delivered.
While true that "eventually it'll have scratches anyway," I'm not sure how folks paying $20k will take to this advice. If there are flaws, a reputable dealer will correct them.
That said, I'd ask the dealer's detailman on retainer how well it can be restored. I've purchased pre-owned cars for my sons whose scratches and other cosmetic flaws were removed by the dealer's detail person.
A couple of months back I began to notice a problem with starting. Very ocasionally, when you turned the key, you would get only a clicking sound. At first, this was very subtle, and I wasn't sure whether I had simply not turned the key far enough, particularly since it always started up the next turn of the key. When eventually there occurred two clicks in a row, I knew it was something other than just my imagination.
Anyway, the problem occurred only once in a while
- days would go by when it didn't manifest itself.
Given the age of the car, I didn't worry too much about it, since it always ultimately started.
On June 9, a very hot and humid day where I live, the problem flared up more dramatically. The problem recurred 3 or 4 times that day, and on a couple of those occasions the car started only on the sixth turn of the key ... the first five turns just producing the 'clicking' sound.
I looked under the hood in the area of where the Honda Service manual says the starter is located and didn't see anything obviously amiss there (not that I would be likely to recognize any internal problem by glancing at it anyway). I did notice though that the end of the radiator hose where it goes into the water pump(?) seemed to have a crusty exudate on it, as though there may have been, at one tme or another, some minimal leakage from it. This crusty area seemed to be roughly above the area where I think the starter is located.
For the next nine days, some of which were hot and others cooler, the car started first time every time. Yesterday, which was a rather cool day here, with temperatures in the low 60s, the problem recurred. One time the car started only on the 4th try. Looking under the hood, I noticed that the crusty buildup around the end of the radiator hose seemed to be a bit greater than when I had looked at it 10 days prior - I can't be losing any great amount of radiator fluid though as of yet, since the car does not seem to overheat.
My question is this: can subtle leakage from this
radiator hose that somehow finds its way into the starting system be causing the starting problem, or are these two conditions likely to be unrelated?
I'm going to have the radator hose replaced, but I'm wondering if initially I should even mention the starting problem, in the hopes that patching up the leak will take care of the starting troubles (of course, the starting problem could recur while it's at the repair facility). What I want to avoid is getting involved in some costly and perhaps unnecessary repairs/replacements to the starter system if the problem is really just attributable to some leaking radiator fluid.
Any advice will be much appreciated.
We have had our Accord for less than two months and find it a great car and have not had any issues with it. Good luck and let us know how you make out.
Dan
2004 EX-L, Nav ( actually my wife's car )
Opinion comes from owning older cars in the past, with mechanics changing - and charging for - both good and bad parts due to inaccurate diagnosis.
In your case, the most expensive scenario is a shop recommending a new hose, a new starter, and a new battery (all related in varying degrees to starting problems). Ouch.
Hope this helps.
I knind doubt if the radiator hose leakage is causing this but I guess it's possible coolant is getting into the starter...doubtful.
In any case, your car is talking to you...it's waving yellow flags at you t have someone who knows what they are doing take a look at it.
Sooner or later, it simply won't start if you continue to ignore this.
I'm sure that it's true that you don't need a lawyer to pursue the lemon law, but based on the issue noted above, deciding to do so without the advice of a lawyer could end up being a false economy. I'm not a great advocate of lawyers, but sometimes you have no choice but to consult one to protect yourself.
Here's hoping that this is resolved to your satisfaction.
I don't understand. "multiple brake failures"
Is this something the dealer can't find or recreate? A problem with a brake system should be very easy to locate and repair.
Something doesn't make sense here....?
i do agree though, if he/she doesn't come back, it was a Toyota Camry salesman
Besides...If someone has had brake FAILURE once. What stopped them after the brakes failed? You'd think you can have that happen only one time.
Should that happen, I will take it in to the dealer and, I guess, follow through on whatever they recommend. Perhaps it's a bit of wishful thinking that I could resolve this situation simply by replacing the radiator hose, but I was too curious not to at least attempt that as the first step and see what happens.
Again, thanks for your advice. I will update if anything significant occurs (or doesn't occur).
Best regards,
JH
Good luck!
My mother-in-law had the problem mentioned in message #3682 ( original is #3619 ) twice. It so happened that both times when it was raining, the passengers who were sitting behind the front passenger ended up getting their pants rather wet - so the water somehow comes from underneath. Since the message #3682 was posted in Nov. 2002 and I haven't come across with a similar one somewhere else, I was wondering what was the "real" culprit and how it can be solved. If anybody had a similar problem/experience and had it fixed, will you please reply to my posting?
Now I'm bringing it in for various noises. Hopefully with the help of info from these boards, some will be solved. They include:
Vibration in front driver's door "metel" trim. They've already pulled the door apart twice to put in foam tape. I keep telling them all they need to do is detach and reattach the little piece of plastic trim and it would be fixed.
Tapping noise from top of driver's window. Hopefully this can be solved by doing something with the top trim as noted on the boards.
Cracking/popping noise from dash. Usually in the glove box/right area, but sometimes from left. Hopefully adjusting the a-piller clips and adding some foam or padding will solve this.
Spring noise from shifter. This just started, I have no clue what it is, but usually at slow speeds. Sounds like a spring recoiling.
Driver's seat shifts forward then back when braking. 2 people at the dealer said this was normal, though at least one on this board had it 'fixed'. The passenger side doesn't do it. If it's truely 'normal', they can let me drive another coupe on the lot and prove it!
Other than that, great car. Have to admit I'm highly disappointed in the build quality. I've had more of the cosmetic/noise problems w/ this car than any other. All my other cars were much older. So much for buying a new car and not having to worry about it!
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,