'98 Accord EX - My first car
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 7
'98 Accord EX - My first car
Hello everyone,
I'm new to driving and new to cars in general.
A couple months ago I bought a 1998 Honda Accord as my first vehicle. I wasn't looking for anything fancy, strictly a "point A to point B" type of car. There's a high possibility I'll be moving within a year and probably will not even be driving it that long. Well, everyone's been telling me that it's an old piece of junk. Everyone except for a friend of mine who came with me to check it out before buying it. He's owned several cars in his life and works on them as a hobby. I trust him well enough that I'm sure he wouldn't me drive anything unsafe.
He did say that my car was definitely more "Fair" condition rather than "Excellent" by KBB definition.
Anyway, since I've bought it I've gotten an oil change, a new battery, new tires (tread was already worn down when I bought the car), an alignment (used to pull to the right), and had the A/C control panel replaced (failed VA state inspection because the defroster didn't work)
The only problems that I know of is that the gas pedal sticks when I first start it up causing the car to jerk forward and it also idles very low (I'd have no idea what that meant if my boyfriend hadn't pointed it out, nor would I have really noticed)
From what I've found on Google it seems like cleaning the throttle body would fix one or both of those problems. Which is what led me to this forum.
So I'd like to know; what kinds of things do people normally do/get done after they buy a car used? What kinds of problems do you look for in a used car?
I'm very much a do-it-yourselfer and would rather work on my own car than have someone do it for me whenever possible. (Part of the reason I got a not-so-great car is that I wanted to learn about it)
I feel like there are things I should be doing that I don't know about.
I don't need it to look cool and I don't need to be Speed Racer, I just want to make sure it's safe because I just had a beautiful baby girl a month ago.
I'm new to driving and new to cars in general.
A couple months ago I bought a 1998 Honda Accord as my first vehicle. I wasn't looking for anything fancy, strictly a "point A to point B" type of car. There's a high possibility I'll be moving within a year and probably will not even be driving it that long. Well, everyone's been telling me that it's an old piece of junk. Everyone except for a friend of mine who came with me to check it out before buying it. He's owned several cars in his life and works on them as a hobby. I trust him well enough that I'm sure he wouldn't me drive anything unsafe.
He did say that my car was definitely more "Fair" condition rather than "Excellent" by KBB definition.
Anyway, since I've bought it I've gotten an oil change, a new battery, new tires (tread was already worn down when I bought the car), an alignment (used to pull to the right), and had the A/C control panel replaced (failed VA state inspection because the defroster didn't work)
The only problems that I know of is that the gas pedal sticks when I first start it up causing the car to jerk forward and it also idles very low (I'd have no idea what that meant if my boyfriend hadn't pointed it out, nor would I have really noticed)
From what I've found on Google it seems like cleaning the throttle body would fix one or both of those problems. Which is what led me to this forum.
So I'd like to know; what kinds of things do people normally do/get done after they buy a car used? What kinds of problems do you look for in a used car?
I'm very much a do-it-yourselfer and would rather work on my own car than have someone do it for me whenever possible. (Part of the reason I got a not-so-great car is that I wanted to learn about it)
I feel like there are things I should be doing that I don't know about.
I don't need it to look cool and I don't need to be Speed Racer, I just want to make sure it's safe because I just had a beautiful baby girl a month ago.
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,834
From: Kenton, TN
Welcome and thanks for joining....
Is it a 4 or 6....not that it really matters for general questions.
On the right track with the TB cleaning......I'd also inspect the motor mounts, especailly the front-4cyl is between the rad and engine. For the "jerk".
If you can't find reciepts for these things...or confirm from the PO.
Tune up items...cap, rotor, wires. Timing Belt with water pump-this is due every 7 years or 100K miles and VERY important. Some of the other fluids-trans both auto or manual need to be changed. PS and Brake fluid as well. Inspect belts and hoses.
Is it a 4 or 6....not that it really matters for general questions.
On the right track with the TB cleaning......I'd also inspect the motor mounts, especailly the front-4cyl is between the rad and engine. For the "jerk".
If you can't find reciepts for these things...or confirm from the PO.
Tune up items...cap, rotor, wires. Timing Belt with water pump-this is due every 7 years or 100K miles and VERY important. Some of the other fluids-trans both auto or manual need to be changed. PS and Brake fluid as well. Inspect belts and hoses.
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WhiskeySlick
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Jul 31, 2011 03:39 AM
