Hello all!
Living the dream again. Bought another '96 Honda Accord. This one is an EX sedan. Sunroof (leaks), alloy wheels (dirty and leaking air), power drivers seat (dirty but still works!), the entire car wreaks of marijuana and wet carpet. Unknown miles, the odometer jammed at 133,999. Have no idea how many miles, but my '96 LX Sedan (paid $700 for that one) has 234k, and this one drives better. I estimate she has around 150-170k on it. She is/was DIRTY. D I R T Y. I sucked all the water out of the carpet (thanks to the leaking sunroof), and sealed the sunroof closed with caulk. I have aired up the tires so far, but plan on getting them either worked on or replace with steelie's from a junk yard. Old alloy wheels corrode at the bead, which lets air leak out.
I love these cars, they are extremely durable. The 94-97's are some of the most durable Accords built. Cheap to fix, extremely reliable. Bought this honey for $850. The prior owner were young kids - 22ish years old. They had lot rent due, the girlfriend is prego, and they were broke. Neither had any clue how to maintain a car, thankfully her dad was a mechanic. Sadly, he was not there, but for the money I took a chance.
Plans for this hoopty is to change all fluids - so far an oil change and coolant change. Transmission fluid bought (Dex III with Lubeguard Black friction modifier), power steering fluid, brake fluid. When it warms up I will replace more fluids. Will likely put a timing belt in it soon, no evidence it has ever been changed. My LX had the timing belt broken and fixed at 216k, so I have a bit of a cushion before that grenades.
If you are looking for a durable, fun to drive, cheap set of wheels - these old Accords are amazing. Thoughts?
Bought another '96 Honda Accord!
- Thread starter DutchBrad
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Bud_One
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Congrats !! 
Durable indeed , I love my 97'
Durable indeed , I love my 97'Yep, I have a chance to pick up a cousin's oil leaking '98 Civic for $500-beat up, but no rust-and VTEC!! Unfortunately an automatic, might have to fix that...
Congrats.
Use the vacuum regularly, you can buy some DampRid from the big box stores.
maybe apply some carpet shampoo/oxy cleaners couple of times?
Sounds like lots of work for such an old car.
my sons first car was 84 Accord. stick shift. that i have to teach him how to drive a stick. we got it a 80,000. he drive for 6 years. and never had to put a clutch in it. one day he told me that the steering was stiff. the issue didnt show up unless you turned the steering a lot. i got on the net and found a guy with the same issue. it turns out that the powersteering pump is sucking air INTO the pump. havening worked in industrial hydraulics i did some testing. and decided my son could drive it if he was careful. i have NEVER seen a pump let air IN. but NOT leek oil out. GO FIGURE.
Congrats on the car. It's an easy to work on car with parts still widely available.
Originally Posted By: red7404
my sons first car was 84 Accord. stick shift. that i have to teach him how to drive a stick. we got it a 80,000. he drive for 6 years. and never had to put a clutch in it. one day he told me that the steering was stiff. the issue didnt show up unless you turned the steering a lot. i got on the net and found a guy with the same issue. it turns out that the powersteering pump is sucking air INTO the pump. havening worked in industrial hydraulics i did some testing. and decided my son could drive it if he was careful. i have NEVER seen a pump let air IN. but NOT leek oil out. GO FIGURE.
I had a 94 accord LX. Was a great car. Only issue was a crack on the engine block from the manifold bolt. Crack was in a return oil galley. Removed the bolt which is hidden under that cover and leak slowed down a lot.
Enjoy the ride.
We've had a couple of Gen 5 Accords and I drove another from here to Cleveland and then to Spokane.
The one in my sig ran me $1600.00, but I bought it from the original owner's thirtyish son and the car had seen good maintenance throughout its life. It's so clean underneath that you'd swear it was a west cost car.
We had a '97 LX 5 spd coupe that I bought for six grand in '03 with 64K. We ran that one out to 207K without it needing much beyond a clutch.
Hondas matured into really good no-excuses cars by the mid eighties (had a couple of '86 Civic Wagons) and the nineties cars were very good.
Of this era, we also had a '96 Ody and both '99 and '02 Accords, one a stick and the other a slushbox.
In many ways, these were better cars than my Gen 8, although not nearly as roomy. They had both a more compliant ride and better handling.
If I drive one now, the suspension compliance is amazing over small road irregularities as compared to my '12, but the noise level is much higher and the '12 has noticeably more power.
Interestingly, the Gen 5,6,7 and 8 cars deliver pretty much the same 30 mpg fuel economy in typical mixed use.
My mother has an '03 Gen 7 that I've done a number of miles in. It handles better than my '12, but is noticeably louder under similar driving conditions.
These have long been very good, reliable and durable cars.
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Honda was on top of their game back when they were making the 4th & 5th gen Accords. These cars had firmer shifting auto transmissions which people complained about. They redesigned the A/Ts for the 98 MY and so began the era of grenading transmissions that haunted Honda for more than a decade.
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$850?? Jeeze... that's way too much in my book. $500 car at best and I probably wouldn't touch it for that much either.
A couple years back I paid $1k for a '99 Cadillac Seville STS with like 140k on it. Same situation, guy needed rent and it wouldn't start. It would almost fire, I knew it was an easy fix. Turns out the fuel pressure regulator had failed and was dumping to much fuel down the exhaust that it melted the cat.
$30 bucks and a hollowed out cat later I sold it for $3700 bucks. But not until I drove the snot out of it and got LOTS of admiration from the ladies. Ha.
Man I miss that car...
That being said, you are right about those gen Accord's. They are TOUGH. You really have to try and kill them. They're even non-interference! Break a timing belt? No prob... slap a new one on and keep on keepin on!
Man I miss that car...
That being said, you are right about those gen Accord's. They are TOUGH. You really have to try and kill them. They're even non-interference! Break a timing belt? No prob... slap a new one on and keep on keepin on!For the price, I guess its a project! I think these are cars people get bored of before they break! Or they go broke LOL - in your case.
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I owned a body shop, I used to buy and sell cars on the side, or part time. I pretty much did Honda accords because Honda Motors of North America happened to be one of my accounts and I love their vehicles. The accords were easy to sell, and I liked driving them. It didn't hurt that a very good friend of mine owned a Honda salvage yard either. I started working on them, and buying/selling them in 1990. I didn't stop until 2007. As you can see below, I still like the accords! Good luck!
Last gen Accord with a wagon, right? Still a beautiful car, better looking than many of its successors.
Probably a lot of mechanical life left in that car. If it were me, I'd at least take a carpet shampooer to EVERYTHING including the headliner. If there are still smells and stains, I'd pull the upholstery all out and wash it all, including the cushions, by hand in sudsy soap. Not sure how to address the soaked insulation. Compressed air might do wonders with the sunroof drains, enabling you to enjoy the sunroof. A nice set of steelies or junkyard alloys would be nice - in fact I'd try for alloys first as accords can be such precise cruisers on the highway.
Change all of the fluids. All of them. Bleed new fluid into the brakes. Swap the ATF, three drain/fills. Maybe run some seafoam before the next OC, or use a detergent oil flush at the next change.
-m
'96 was the first year honda started putting ballast in specific frame points to mute harmonics, if I recall. They had an accord chassis/frame in the showroom that year at our dealer to show the frame with all of the sheetmetal removed. It was a stout design, and had much less torsional flex than previous versions.
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