Hi All, Newbie here... I have had quite a love/hate relationship with my 1998 Honda Accord LX... It's a long-ish story, but I really would appreciate your thoughts on whether to cut my losses or keep going. (If you don't like novels, skip to the end)

I bought it used from a dealer in June. He showed me the wrong carfax, perhaps should have bought my own but, WHO DOES THAT!? Anyway, she was beautiful, only 98k miles for $4500 (KBB a-okay!) figuring Honda reliability would be worth selling my nice '01 Audi A4 with 36K to avoid any large repairs.

After owning it for a bit and taking it to several mechanics who said it all looked fine, I got new front struts ($800), bought the carfax after seeing some odd features in the paint (it had been repainted AND had an accident 2 yrs into its life). OH WELL! Then timing belt/ water pump @ 100K ($600). Then after realizing the hacks I brought it to ripped me off (didn't replace tensioners OR water pump, even though they charged me) I had the job done.... again ($650) and in the process the harmonic balancer got bent, so the alternator belt squeaks now.

Did some body work around rear wheel wells to get rust out (worked decently, but it's starting to come back). But other than that there is no rust.

Then Honda Dealer lied to me when I brought it in for ignition coil problems (stalling whilst driving) by saying no recall (I'm going to try to get reimbursed from headquarters) and charged me $200 to replace it because there were complications (old after-market alarm system which Honda mech. "half took out") Now I still have problems starting the car (replaced orig. battery ($100)) and just tonight I see brake fluid in the snow!!!!&*^#$*&(@^#(@!

*****I don't trust this car. I have no good info on its past, and the more I find out the more sketched out I get. I clay barred and waxed a lot before winter to preserve the mediocre paint job. Catalytic converter needs replacing, as do many spark plugs and fuel injector (O2 as well?) meaning at least another $1000. If paint goes (clear coat already peeling) thats a pretty penny as well. not to mention the BRAKE LINES*&(^#$^!%@!!!!

->I know 1998 Accords are supposed to be great cars, mine has 105K and should technically have way more than 100K left. but considering I put in ~$4000 already in 6 mo. and will definitely put in ~1000K more in the near future (Grand total $9500), should I hold on to this....lemon? WTF!!!! I want a carefree and fun ride with some kick and style... Would I be a fool to sell after putting all this in? Should I try to sell it before the paint/body goes?

Any thoughts, lessons, offers of sweet cars for low prices are much appreciated!!!

 

Why would struts cost $800????
I think you should find a someone better to work on your car.
I would never ever pay any of the prices you said for repairs, ever...

 

I think all those prices are on the Over High side also...

 

Not sure where you live, but here in CT/MA thats not bad... plus I had some minor things done at strut time too (brake flush, etc). Timing belt job(s) were on the cheap side. I've been to SEVERAL different places and done a lot of asking around/researching/calling.

It would be impressive to find cheaper work around here... Money Been Spent. Please, I'm looking for some H.E.L.P.

 

Is it an automatic? If so, I hate to tell you this, but about 50% of Automatic 98-02 Accord's transmissions were trash and went out before 100k. Honda had a huge recall, but I'm pretty sure your car is already out of the time frame to be covered under recall.
Did I read your post correctly and that the original seller provided you a fraudulent carfax? If that's true, I'm pretty sure that is illegal...

 

Hi,

The thing is your question is just one that no one can help you with. It is really hard to know when to punch out of a currently-running car for purely financial reasons...this is especially true when you will get way less out of it than you have in it.

Only in retrospect could you say "I should have sold it the moment I bought the correct CarFax." Maybe right then you could have sold it for 4500 and would have been down the 800.

But now...you're still going to get 4500 for it and be down...

I'd say sell it because you hate the car and will never trust it.

 

Manual... I had heard accords have trouble with auto trans... plus what's the fun with auto?

Yeah... quite illegal to show wrong carfax. What a scammer!!! But at this point it is my word vs. his... thanks tho.

 

Yes... good points. Esp. about the quick turnaround once I bought the real carfax. I have been thinking the same thing as your last line, buuuuttttt..... damn! what a spot.

Luckily I just had an old alarm system (2 actually - weird right?) taken out and that has made the engine run much better. solved problems that had been attributed to distributor, spark plugs, etc.... so I now have renewed hope... which kind of sucks because this thing is playing games with my heart...

Thanks for the advice...