New and confused
 

Hello everyone! I am new to the forum and I am a first time honda owner as well. However being a girl and living on my own has led me to this forum to try and get some answers about why my car is having the problems that it has.Back in May I bought my '94 honda accord stick shift. Ever since then I have had problem after problem with it. Here is a list of everything that has needed to be replaced sinceI bought it: battery, slave cylinder, clutch, rotars, tires, brakes,ball joints, exhaust pipe(it blew out and was hanging on the ground under the middle of the car). Now granted I know that most of these things are wear and tear item that need to be replaced anyway on older cars, however all of these things have put me in about another 2,000 debt(I bought the car for 2,800). My first car was a '89 Chevy Corsica and so far it ran and held up much better. I now have three new problems that I would love some answers to. First everytime I start my car it makes a errrrrr sound down by the floor(it will sometimes do that sound longer if I keep my foot on the clutch longer). Next after I had my clutch replaced every gear runs great except that it now refuses to stay in 5th gear. I can look down at the shifter and watch it move itself backwards till it pops back into neutral(meanwhile if i dont realize its going to pop back into neutral my foot is still on the gas and when it pops my rpms rev high and I know that cant be good on my engine). The last problem is the maintence required light. First of all I have never seen a light quite like this. It has three different colors: green, yellow, and red. My check engine lightwas not on so I believed that when the maintence light went from green to yellow it wasn't that serious. Now my maintence light has switched to red, yet no check engine light. I have kept up on all my oil changes and other things so I know thats not the problem. I also have hooked up a code scanner to my car and it did not trip any codes(yeah I am a girl but I do know quite a bit about cars ;) ) So what exactly goes wrong that would make my maintence light change colors but not serious enough to make my check engine light come on or trip any codes? Thank you SO much for anyone who can help me answer these questions, I really appreciate it.

RE: New and confused
 

The "errrrr" sound, could it be a screetching? in that case it could be the belt. A quick fix would be belt dressing, the more complicated fix would be getting the belt replaced. My dad had a corsica, and he had just the opposite experence. His overheated on I95 right before the GWB and we had to sit there. I forget how he solved that problem. Anyway the maintence light is just that, there is scheduled maintinence for each car and the computer will turn the light on so you will bring it to the dealership to get serviced. If the car came with a manual it should tell you the scheduled service procudures. Its based on miles, so the green couldmean that its maybe 500 miles from the service milage yellow is 250 and red is less than 50. Thats just an example, i dont know if those are the actual miles so dont quote me. As for the transmition not staying in 5th. Thats a headscratcher for me. When you accelerate does it feel slugish? When was the last time it got serviced? The last time the transmition fluid was changed? Thats my guess.

RE: New and confused
 

5th gear has a problem .... GM Synchromesh or Amsoil might help, but there is a physical problem there.

The maintenance light is nothing, just reset it. It's to remind you to get an oil change. I think Fenix is onto something with the belts too.

RE: New and confused
 

I agree, just have the light reset or find out how to do so, it's only a reminder. The noise when starting? Needs to be more descriptive to even try to guess. Fifth Gear? Not good at all. That will be expensive. Either run in 4th (worse fuel mileage) or physically hold it in 5th until a repair can be afforded.

RE: New and confused
 

1. I would suggest accessory belts if the noise is screeching, possibly heat shields if it's a rattling sound.

2. The maintenance minder changes to yellow after 3k miles and to red at 5k miles. Stick your key in the gauge cluster to reset it.

3. Yeah, your probably screwed on 5th gear, something is wrong inside the tranny, obviously.

Good luck and welcome to the forums!

RE: New and confused
 

Welcome to this forum..I moved your post over to this question and answer forum..

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