Should I buy it? (96 EX Coupe) - details within...

A neighbor up the street from me is selling his 1996 Accord EX Coupe. Now, the reason this interests me is because I have an '03 F-150 FX4 with the 5.4 liter and oversized tires and I only get around 12 mpg using it as my daily driver. Needless to say I love the truck, but I need a car to drive back and forth to work (30 miles per day rt) that won't break the bank so much on gas and also on the purchase price... and my wife won't part with her '03 EX-V6 (and doesn't like to trade either).

For the specs:
It has the VTEC engine...
It's an automatic...
And it has 159K miles on it. (any other car I wouldn't even consider with that amount)...
It's in FAIR condition cosmetically...
Needs new paint, new driver's side door speaker cover (or panel), AC knobs are gone, windshield is cracked, and there is a small boo boo on the right rear bumper (probably from backing into something (but no major body work).

I drove the car tonight... it idles rough, but it runs/rides great, and has plenty of pep... it's just really dirty. It also does not appear to have any leaks... I haven't looked under it (almost dark tonight when I looked at it)... but it has been sitting in one spot in the street at the guys house for nearly a week and the pavement was dry where it was sitting when I returned with it tonight.

Finally, the question is... the KBB value of the car is about $3750 in "Fair" condition... he's only asking $2000 for it. I can do quite a bit of work myself... and I figured it might be a good semi-project/commuter car with a lot of miles left on it. My bro-in-law has a '95 of the same model and it has 245K miles on the original engine...

So lemme have it... what do you guys think?

Thanks,
Nathan Hi Nathan...I moved this post to the General Question Area Thanks for posting..

does the motor make any knocking sounds or does it just run rough? also have someone drive behind you and dump it and have them watch for any smoke. if it fails both these tests i would say go for it cause thats a good deal.

The motor doesn't make any knocking noises. When I say it runs rough... I think it may only need an idle speed adjustment... possibly a motor mount. There's a lot of vibration at idle from the engine. At speed, however, it's very smooth. I didn't have anybody following me, but I made a point to look for smoke on startup and didn't see any. I also got aggressive with the throttle at one point to test the power and looked in the mirror to see if it dumped any visible smoke... and didn't see any. I did notice that at lower speeds the transmission shifts very precise but hard sometimes, and small steering inputs around 40mph did not "auto-center" when releasing the steering wheel (tracked toward the direction of the input).

The car doesn't look the best at all... but for $2000 I guess I can't expect a whole lot... but my main concern is that I don't want to sink money into a money pit. The car does feel solid though when driving it...

my 97 has that same vibration as well. i cant seem to find any help here on what it is. i did a tune up with all honda OEM parts, timing belt, balance shaft belt, and waterpump change....still have the idle vibes.

Since he let the outside go to hell I'd be concerned about maintenance.....what was and was not done? Oil changes, trans fluid changes, timing belt, water pump, cooling system, brakes, air conditioning, fuel filter, and more would be primary on my mind. You don't want to spend $2000 (I'd offer $1500 myself) and then have to drop a wad of bucks on all the crap he didn't do. Oh, and word of mouth doesn't cut it, receipts or a maintenance log do.

the vibration is the motor mounts. and i know that has been discussed a few times in here.

Well, I went ahead and bought it. I knew he wouldn't take $1500, and the engine runs smooth. I offered him $1800 this morning and he took it. I went up there again yesterday afternoon and crawled under it. There is a small amount of seepage from the oil pan gasket, and I noticed a little behind the valve cover gasket as well. Those are both things I can probably replace myself if I get brave enough. I heard a little scuffing from the front wheel this morning when we took it out for a spin, so I know I'm going to have to replace the brake pads on the front. I've never done that before either, but I will more than likely start with this one. My plan for this car is for it to become a project car after my wife and I move. I figured for $1800 I hopefully couldn't go wrong. The only thing about the car that concerns me at this point, is every now and then when I start it, I will hear a small squeal for a split second and then it abruptly disappears. I have a feeling it may be the starter, but I'm not sure. Other than that, the car runs great (in fact, it rides as well as our '03 V6), it tracks straight... and it was cheap... hopefully it will save me some money on gas too.

the pads are easy. we can help you out with those you should be able to do them in about an hour. that squeal is a loose belt with two possibilities.

power steering belt..

or alternator/ a/c belt....

both of these belts have a simple adjustment on them that will stop that squeal

its a fixer upper....no big deal. im sure its well worth 1800 bux! good luck with it!

Yeah, that's kinda what I was shooting for... a fixer-upper... I just hope it's worth it. I will take all the help I can get on the brakes... thanks for offering it up. I like to learn to do things for myself because I subscribe to the phrase "If you want it done right... do it yourself" I know I will take the time to learn how to do it the right way and not the quickest way. I had a '96 Camry that I took in to have the front brakes done one time and they "split" a box of pads and only replaced them on one wheel because "it was the only one that needed it". I will also be glad to learn where the adjustment is for both of those belts... I want to do that pretty soon. Oh... and one other question... How would a guy go about getting the seat mechanism to lock on the passenger seat. He told me it wouldn't lock, but my wife told me I needed to fix it if I wanted her to ride in there with me because she doesn't want to go sliding to and fro (she's almost 7 months pregnant) every time I hit the brakes or the gas.

Thanks guys...

Bought the exact car a year ago for my daughter....spent more than what you did for sure! Sounds like you got a good deal. I would change the tranny fluid, it isn't that hard to do . Get the Honda kind for the amount you will need it isn't that bad costwise. it is good that you can refer back to the owner, since he doesn't live too far away. May ask him when or if the timing belt was changed out last. The noise you spoke of is probably the starter, i notice since I changed out same last year, if you barely turn the key when starting it doesn't make noise...if you turn key and hold barely after engaging it makes noise. Probably need a shim of some type .. I just told my daughter to start it like I do and it won't make the noise. What I like about these cars is there is a lot of competition on prices of replacement items due to the amount of vehicles out there. You can get good deals on parts if you look on the internet. Buy a repair manual for 15 bucks. It will be a valuable tool for you. They aren't that bad to work on for the most part. You can farm out the hard technical stuff and still have fun piddling. Good luck.

the adjustment for the powre steering belt is right under the power steering pump, which is the accessory on the very top.

below it there are 2 10mm bolts, the one on the left is the adjustment bolt, turn it clockwise to tighten that particular belt. dont be worried if you are turning it alot and not much is happening, that screw has a very fine thread to it so it takes many turns to get it tight. just keep checking the tension of the belt. you should be able to push the middle of the belt down about 1 cm.


second adjustment is for the alternator/ a/c belt. and this is probably the belt that is loose.

the adjustment is located right under the alternator, which is the second to top accessory, you can see the electrical windings inside of it when you look at it.

under it....again 2 10mm bolts, the left being the adjustment bolt, and it has the same fine thread that the power steering belt has.


now usually both these bolts turn no problem on their own, but if the mounting bolts for the alternator and powersteering are very tight they will need to be loosened a little. each accessory has two bolts that mount it, one on top of the accessory and one below, the bolt that is below the alternator is a little hard to view. it is best to move the cruise control actuator out of the way to gain access to it, but i bet you will be able to adjust the belts without loosening anything. good luck feel free to ask any questions.

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now usually both these bolts turn no problem on their own, but if the mounting bolts for the alternator and powersteering are very tight they will need to be loosened a little. each accessory has two bolts that mount it, one on top of the accessory and one below, the bolt that is below the alternator is a little hard to view. it is best to move the cruise control actuator out of the way to gain access to it, but i bet you will be able to adjust the belts without loosening anything. good luck feel free to ask any questions.

Well, I happened to have tried adjusting the power steering pump bolt last night after changing the oil. I tightened and tightened and the belt wouldn't seem to get any tighter... until... SNAP!... the head of the adjustment bolt snapped right off. I was a little irritated, but started digging in my tool bag and just happened to find a bolt with the exact thread pattern. I don't have any idea where that particular bolt came from... but at 11:00 at night I was definitely glad to find it. It has an allen-type head on it, but I don't really care... it replaced the one I busted so that was all that mattered. Funny thing is, the startup squeal didn't manifest itself a single time today. In fact, tonight my wife and I went by Advance Auto on the way home from our birth class (baby on the way) and I picked up some Wearever Gold brake pads and a small hydraulic floor jack (didn't have one and needed it anyway... it was only 19 bucks). Lightshow, I know you mentioned the Duralast pads being good budget pads, but squeak... Auto Zone closes at 8:00 and Advance closes at 9:00... so I had to go there. I couldn't wait any longer because of the screech screech I was hearing from the front left brake... and yes, changing them was an absolute piece of cake. I'm glad I did, because the old ones were worn almost to the backing. The thing is, I forgot to remove some of the brake fluid before pushing the second caliper in (it was almost down to the MIN mark on the reservoir anyway) and it regurgitated fluid out onto the concrete. I went ahead and pulled off the excess fluid to bring it down to MAX and tried to clean it up the best I could. I took it for a test drive and HOLY COW what a difference... smooth as silk and NO shimmy in the front end...

I noticed on the passenger side that one of the axle boots has split... I was hoping I wouldn't find that... but oh well. The joint is still good and wet with grease so I'm gonna just drive it for a while for now. I called one place today (not a dealer) to price the timing belt service (timing belt, tensioner belt, gasket retainer, water pump, and valve cover gasket)... it came out to be $528... I think I'm going to call around and see if I can find a lower price... I REALLY don't want to spend that much right now... especially right after buying it.

Nathan

They make CV boots that are split so you don't have to remove anything. Just slice off the old one and put the new boot on I think they are like $15.00 and I know that Checker Auto Parts used to sell them... fix that one it's quick, easy and cheap.... As far as the timing belt etc goes find out a price cost on just parts and I'll e-mail you the service manual so you can do it yourself... You already know how to remove most of the belts that are in the way and it sounds like you've got a pretty good mechanical understanding/common sense I'd say go for it yourself if you have the time... there's a LOT of people on here who will help walk you through it

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ORIGINAL: sir_nasty

They make CV boots that are split so you don't have to remove anything. Just slice off the old one and put the new boot on I think they are like $15.00 and I know that Checker Auto Parts used to sell them... fix that one it's quick, easy and cheap.... As far as the timing belt etc goes find out a price cost on just parts and I'll e-mail you the service manual so you can do it yourself... You already know how to remove most of the belts that are in the way and it sounds like you've got a pretty good mechanical understanding/common sense I'd say go for it yourself if you have the time... there's a LOT of people on here who will help walk you through it

That makes me feel better about the boots... I didn't know that. I will definitely check into it. In fact, I think I'm going to try the timing belt replacement too. I'll have to do it when I have a full day to work on it so i can take my time, but I think I could probably do it. Especially with this knowledge base... you guys are great. I'm just ready to get this neglected maintenance behind me so I can start the fun stuff... the "build-up".

I have a 1996 EX-L 4 door sedan with 178,000 miles on it. I bought my car in August from the Honda Dealer here in Daytona Beach, here's what I had to have replaced so far. Oxygen sensor, tires, muffler, rear left power door lock motor. I love my car its the beige with the leatehr interior the EX-L.
Mine was a one owner that took car of the car, the leather looks brand new still.

Good Luck with yours.