Ok, so I just bought a '99 Honda Civic LE. The mileage is 118,000 miles. The originally owner had it up to 110,000 miles. The 8,000 miles in between put the car in some very interesting places of which I'm uncertain. Some dude sold it to me on craigslist and totally falsified his information and I'm still trying to figure out how to get the damn car titled in my name (it went to a dealer to an auction to another dealer to a random guy who sold it to another guy, all in four short months; none of the parties actually registered it so I have a nasty trail to follow to get the correct bill of sale so the DMV will accept it).

Anyways, I contacted the original owner to get an idea of what kinda car this car has been in during it's first 110,000 miles. They are an older couple who told me they drove mostly freeway miles and had a maintenance plan that allowed them to have regular service performed whenever. They said they also had the timing belt done. Since they didn't sell me the car, I definitely believe them. The car really does seem like it's in excellent condition.

So here's my dilemma: I'm certain the car has been taken care of pretty well for most of it's life, but there is a hair of uncertainty due to it's mileage and the past four shady months of its life. I'm not too mechanically savvy, but here's what I can determine on my own:

-The transmission shifts nice
-The CV boots appear to be in great shape from what I can tell
-When looking in the engine through the oil-cap area, the insides look very clean and honey-colored
-I don't see any metal shavings in the transmission fluid, though it is slightly yellowish brown
-I don't see any oil leaks, least when I leave it parked on a dry surface while running
-I don't see any oil in the radiator fluid

Now to my question. Should I take this thing to get it inspected? I don't know any decent car repair places so I called a Meineke who said I should probably have the engine compression tested since the piston rings are weak on this year of the Civic. I have no clue of the condition of the brakes. I don't know if the tranny needs to be flushed. Honestly, this is the only nice car I've had and I spent every cent I could possibly pull out of credit to buy the thing. I want this to last me the next several years hopefully while I attend school. I'm really poor but I'm willing to spend some money to make sure this thing is kept in good shape.

Does anyone have any suggestions as far as problems on this year of Civic? Are there any pointers in finding a trustworthy mechanic? Would you have the engine pressure tested?

Sorry for the rant here, it's just all I've had on my mind for the past few days since I bought it...

Thank you anyone who reads this

 

Looking back, this is a really lame, vague post. I guess I'm just curious of how a non-technically savvy person like myself can assess the health of my engine and tranny before investing money in other areas of the car later down the line. Would you guys trust the advice of a national chain mechanic shop like Meineke? I just wanna use my credit card wisely here...

 

save your money and do it yourself. i would do a compression test and change all your fluids.

 

I don't know how to do a compression test. Is it something that I need to take the engine apart for? Does it require expensive machinery?

 

here you go.....search the diy section.
https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=40559

 

Thank you for the thread. That definitely sounds easy enough, and would be a wonderful time to change my spark plugs (assuming the engine pressure isn't total crap). I have two questions now:

1. Where is the ECU fuse?

2. Besides making sure the pressure on each cylinder is within 10% of each other, what type of overall PSI should I be getting?

Thank you a million for saving me money. Perhaps the $150 I save on the compression test will help me get the tranny flushed instead.

 

Don't do anything until you're sure you can get clear title. It may not really be your car yet.

The engine sounds like it is in good shape. Seeing it is clean inside means the previous owner changed the oil regularly. You will know when the rings are bad because it will make a lot of smoke and burn oil. This usually happens because the oil hasn't been changed often enough.

The automatics are real particular and must be filled only with the proper official Honda automatic transmission fluid. Other fluids seem to cause a rapid failure. I would suggest a simple drain and refill with Honda fluid, do it more than once if it is still discolored after the first time. If you have it flushed, make sure that only Honda fluid is used.

 

1. ecu fuse is located in your engine bay in the fuse box.

2. i'm not sure what psi you should get.

search the diy section there is a go by for changing your tranny fluid.

 

I definitely know the car is mine as I have the title, I just need to collect some bills of sale. I know the VIN isn't reported as stolen, so it'll just be a matter of jumping through the right hoops.

When you said check the DIY section, is that to find the PSI or the how-to on changing tranny fluid? If the PSI isn't in DIY section, where could I find it? Or do I need to buy a manual?

 

go to the link in my signature and download the 96-00 factory service manual. everything you ever wanted to know about your year civic is in there including any data like psi for a compression test etc. Read the manual thoroughly and you'll learn a lot about your car.