Hey guys i have recently bought a 1993 Honda civic with 104k on the engine. I was wondering if you guys had any helpful tips on how to make this car last me. Besides changing the oil on a regular basis and not running the car to hard what can i do to make this car run for a very long time? Any feedback is would be well appreciated.

 

You should start with changing the timing belt. They are recommended to be changed every 105k miles or 7 years (i'm not sure of the years exactly but you are definitely past due anyway by that standard) and you're pretty close. If the belt snaps you will most likely experience severe engine damage such as bent valves and/or broken pistons.

Along with that, the water pump and timing belt tensioner should be changed. If either of those seizes, your timing belt will snap, thus defeating the whole purpose of ever changing the timing belt. So if you replace one, you should replace all three. It's barely any extra work to do so anyway.



As for other things... your engine will last a long time if you do the main things, but what you should also be concerned about are things that aren't necessarily purely engine related. Checking your fluid levels and conditions regularly (and adding/replacing if needed), inspecting belts, inspecting hoses, inspecting suspension bushings, inspecting tires, etc. and replacing these things when they show signs of near imminent replacement will keep you from breaking down on the side of the road.

For example, if you don't change your alternator belt when it is severely worn, your alternator belt could snap in the middle of a drive and since your battery won't be charging (your battery dash light will come on when this happens) you will only have a short time left to drive (until the battery runs out of juice), so you could end up stranded. This can be fixed of course and won't shorten your car's life, but it is certainly a major inconvenience that could have been prevented.

 

you can check up on your spark plugs and replace the spark plugs and spark plug wires. you can also swap out the distributor

 

Good advice above, I'd also suggest changing the coolant and the transmission fluid (automatic or manual). Old coolant turns into an acid that will eat your engine from the inside.

 

alright thanks for the advice guys its an automatic and what do you guys think the price range is for replacing these parts: distributor, timing belt, spark plugs, oil and coolant changes etc.

 

Have you checked for CEL codes? Does the CEL work?

 

and it depends on how much of the work you can do your self...
oil changes are not expensive niether is a coolant flush
spark plugs are stupid easy too..
so price depends on what you can do and what you are looking for for parts..
oem?
aftermarket?

 

i don't know what a CEL is... this is my first car and i don't know that much about it so i don't really know how much work i can actually do myself but I'm willing to learn to save some money.

 

Check Engine Light

It's an orange/yellow light in your gauge cluster that comes on that comes on when there is a problem.

We have no reason to believe it would be on though.

 

Click the CEL link in my signature. It tells you whether there are any sensor problems.