Your Car is Too Old to Repair.......

[Coolyfett]

I think most people here do work on their 3gee Honda's themselves. I have an 88 that I care for like it worth a million bucks. I have spent tons of money on it with maintenance and other repairs. I love when its in the shop getting performance work done on it. Lately though many mechanics have been making the statement that my car is too old to work on and advising me to sell it. Nothing pisses me off more than this. What is this about? All I want is estimate for repairs. Whats the price and ill get the money. I never ask for this unneeded advice. They tell me the car is old well shit I am old too. I was 8 when my grandma bought the car and im 36 now so what the fuck?? I just wish these new school mechanics would just admit they are scared and dont know what to do. If I bring in the vehicle dont assume its my only car, and dont assume I cant afford the repairs or updates. Nothing says bad customer service than this. Does anyone else experience this sort of thing or is it just me?

[derolph]

I do have not "performance work" done. I just try to keep my car running good in its stock configuration. But, when I do need to take it to shop for repair, I have gained some preference, from experience, to go to 1 of a few local shops I have become familiar with and that are owned by older guys, guys in their 40's or older. They are likely to have worked on older cars in their early years in the business and they may remember a lot about some older cars.

[Fixedit]

I do all my own work to avoid this. Can't afford to have anyone else to do it, and I prefer it. I don't like letting anyone else touch my car haha

[MessyHonda]

my car is old but it has a 94 integra gsr under the hood and that usually gets the mechanics attention. so far i only take it to shops if i need to get something welded or major work like a rebuild. but 90% of the time its me working on it and just the satisfaction of working on your own car.

[Andrew stroka]

yes lately been pricing out couple things on my 88 and getting same responses it seems like they want nothing to do with it tell me to sell but I say no way it only has 100,000 miles on it

[derolph]

What are those "couple things"

[TL408]

I've run into the same thing at shops in the past. I also have an 88. Most of the work I do myself but my last trans rebuild took over a month trying to find parts. I'm with you though I'm keeping this car regardless of popular opinion. Also finding someone who actually understands the carbs on these cars is difficult at best.

[JJ'sAccord]

I've run into the same thing at shops in the past. I also have an 88. Most of the work I do myself but my last trans rebuild took over a month trying to find parts. I'm with you though I'm keeping this car regardless of popular opinion. Also finding someone who actually understands the carbs on these cars is difficult at best.

yea TL Dr. Snooze explained these klein carbs at one point and i was just shaking my head saying well honda really didnt want us rebuilding these carbs or messing with them ourselves haha... the webber swap seems like the thing to do for ease of working on them.

*im just glad my beloved LXI is FI and not carb*

[g.frost]

There is some truth to 'too old to repair'. ...parts are getting harder to find.

[JJ'sAccord]

I agree with that staement for sure... parts are getting alot harder to come by

[DBMaster]

When I had my Accord I used to take it to a local Honda specialty shop when I didn't want to do some jobs myself. It is a VERY good shop. The owner told me that my car, plus two other 3G's, were the only ones he would touch. When they get really old things under the hood become brittle and easily broken. And, if the car hasn't been maintained well all along there are too many pitfalls for the shop. For example, a really old car may very well have multiple parts needing replacement aside from the part(s) that brought it into the shop. Then, the mechanic has that unenviable task of telling the owner about all the things the car needs, which can lead to accusations of ripoff, or leaving those other things alone just to have the owner return to accuse the shop of damaging something while doing the work. ("This other thing was FINE on my car before I brought it in for you to fix the original thing.") Plus, they know that if they get into a job requiring more parts than anticipated - not a rare occurrence with an old car - they could get stuck not being able to source the needed parts or having to spend an excessive amount of time fabricating something to make it work.

[InAccordance]

tldr: Everything is computerized now.

I blew a co-workers mind when I showed him my accord with the weber swap. He honestly had never seen a carb honda.
Kids these days.

[Dr_Snooz]

As others have already said, it's the lack of parts. Let me compare the Accord to my 89 Suburban. If I want to buy a new engine, I can buy one. Not a rebuilt engine, a completely new engine from GM for not much more than it would cost to buy a rebuilt for the Accord. If I decide I don't like the Throttle-Body fuel injection system on the Suburban, I can go over to SummitRacing.com and choose from 8 (EIGHT!!) different aftermarket multi-point systems, ready to ship today. If I get tired of changing multiple fan belts all the time, I can choose from 10 pages of serpentine upgrade kits, 5 pages of headers, 2 pages of intake manifolds. I can go over to 4WheelParts.com and have some serious fun with the suspension. Ever tried to find a wiring loom for your Honda? I can find them for my Suburban over at PainlessPerformance.com. Mind you, these are turnkey items. They come with complete instructions and telephone tech support. No finagling, fabbing or cursing required. When I jump over to LMCTruck.com, I can replace my seat belts in any of 5 different OE colors. I can find ANY weatherstrip for the car. If the keyed window crank handle on the rear tailgate breaks, I can replace it. If I lose the "Scottsdale" emblem on the dash, I can find it there.

If I want to do ANY of that with the Honda.............. *crickets*

Your mechanics aren't lazy, they're businessmen. If the choice arises between doing fast and easy turnkey work on something else, or hunting high and low for something that might work with a lot of head scratching and fabbing and ugly surprises on your Accord, well, it's a pretty easy choice. They are more than mindful of all the pitfalls that DBMaster outlined above awaiting them on your car. You think you're giving them money, but they see it more like you giving them a hand grenade. They'd be just as happy if you kept it to yourself. So they tell you in the nicest way they know that they don't want to work on your car.

Until Honda pulls its head out, working on these cars will be a labor of love for dedicated and very capable enthusiasts.

[senor honda]

I'm the chief mechanic on my own car.

It took a while to find another trans when it went. Cost me money for a rental car.
The people you buy from don't know they have plenty of trannys on the shelf, but refuse to
accept me giving them part numbers.

I make parts sometimes.
A New engine costs me 2K and some of my time.
The crate said "made in Japan".

In Tampa, Montu motors can search and order a JDM right hand drive Japanese car,
and my next 89 may come through them.

I have a disassembled parts car and so far a ton of US OEM parts.