I was at a friend's house doing an ATF change on his 2012 Prius when his gf's daughter asked me to look at her 2001 Civic.
Her concerns were as follows: 1) Loud clunk from the right-side of the car (whenever she drove over a pothole), 2) Car pulls to the right - hard.
I looked the car over and these were the items that I found. Keep in mind that she is not the original owner, and the car does have 182,000 miles.
- Lower Control Arm bushings are torn (lower front bushing). I pried against the arm and the entire arm moves up/down by about 1".
- Sway Bar End Links. When I pried against the bar, there is a bit of movement from the end links. This might be a contributor to the complaint about the "clunk."
- Outer tie rod ends. No play, but the boots are leaking quite a bit of grease.
- Lower Ball Joints. Again, no play, but the boots are leaking quite a bit of grease.
- Leaking oil pan gasket. I would consider the leak to be moderate-to-severe.
- Leaking valve cover gasket. I would say the leak is minor to moderate. However, if the timing belt needs to be done, then this is no longer a separate repair item.
- Side engine mount. I pried between the side engine mount and the engine, and the engine moves quite a bit. The rubber in the mount appeared to have some cracks.
- Lower engine mount, front. There is a lot of movement here as well, unless it is caused by the side mount.
- Rear engine mount. See above, same story as the other mounts.
- No prior service history on the timing belt, but drive belts (esp P/S) have a lot of cracks. So, it could be very due for a new timing belt, valve adjustment and spark plugs.
- Slight leak coming from the L/R wheel cylinder.
The dipstick also showed no oil, and when we changed the oil, less than 2 qt came out. According to what's written on the filter, the last change may have been in Mar 2011.
The front tires were also bald and worn irregularly, which is likely due to the worn control arm bushings. The struts were done last year with KYB Excel-G units and appeared to be OK at this time (no leaks).
Surprisingly, no warning lights were on, and the car runs perfectly fine.
My thoughts are that the car is not safe the drive, and replacing the control arm bushings should be the top priority. However, I would like some other opinions on prioritizing the repairs.
Given the poor maintenance, I also said that this may be a good time to send the car to the boneyard, as an engine or transmission failure in the immediate future is not unlikely.
Thanks in advance.
Her concerns were as follows: 1) Loud clunk from the right-side of the car (whenever she drove over a pothole), 2) Car pulls to the right - hard.
I looked the car over and these were the items that I found. Keep in mind that she is not the original owner, and the car does have 182,000 miles.
- Lower Control Arm bushings are torn (lower front bushing). I pried against the arm and the entire arm moves up/down by about 1".
- Sway Bar End Links. When I pried against the bar, there is a bit of movement from the end links. This might be a contributor to the complaint about the "clunk."
- Outer tie rod ends. No play, but the boots are leaking quite a bit of grease.
- Lower Ball Joints. Again, no play, but the boots are leaking quite a bit of grease.
- Leaking oil pan gasket. I would consider the leak to be moderate-to-severe.
- Leaking valve cover gasket. I would say the leak is minor to moderate. However, if the timing belt needs to be done, then this is no longer a separate repair item.
- Side engine mount. I pried between the side engine mount and the engine, and the engine moves quite a bit. The rubber in the mount appeared to have some cracks.
- Lower engine mount, front. There is a lot of movement here as well, unless it is caused by the side mount.
- Rear engine mount. See above, same story as the other mounts.
- No prior service history on the timing belt, but drive belts (esp P/S) have a lot of cracks. So, it could be very due for a new timing belt, valve adjustment and spark plugs.
- Slight leak coming from the L/R wheel cylinder.
The dipstick also showed no oil, and when we changed the oil, less than 2 qt came out. According to what's written on the filter, the last change may have been in Mar 2011.
The front tires were also bald and worn irregularly, which is likely due to the worn control arm bushings. The struts were done last year with KYB Excel-G units and appeared to be OK at this time (no leaks).
Surprisingly, no warning lights were on, and the car runs perfectly fine.
My thoughts are that the car is not safe the drive, and replacing the control arm bushings should be the top priority. However, I would like some other opinions on prioritizing the repairs.
Given the poor maintenance, I also said that this may be a good time to send the car to the boneyard, as an engine or transmission failure in the immediate future is not unlikely.
Thanks in advance.
