Mot Fail!! Big Cost. Advice And Or Offers Needed! Steering Rack Needed!

[ESDEEZ]

It failed today and at the estimated £4000 ($8000) to get it road worthy i think its finally the end of the road for this 3g.Im extreamly upset as its the only car i've had since i was born. Yes u did read that right............... the biggest thing as predicted was the steering rack. its leaking and a replacement would be £2200 from the dealers and even then theres no knowing if they will be able to get one. And they cant check on that till i've ordered it!?! 3gs r soooo rare in the uk now that its almost imposible to find a one a scrap yard. It was sugested that it might be fixed but it wasnt recomended. Id rather som1 took it 4 parts rather than it be toatly scraped but how many 3gers are in the uk? Sigh. advice on a used replacement or fixing it would be welcome and i can still use it till the 13th of july. funny. the month after my birthday.

[epic1400cs]

I am sure the reason why service at dealer for the 3rd gen is so expensive;

1)all the parts are sent by air from Japan via Belguim - parts costs twice to three times compare to the original price in Japan

2)Honda dealer charges probably about £100/hour (correct me if I am wrong) but with warranty.


To avoide that, what I do is;

1) go to Japan, I buy parts for next couple of service - it easily pays off the flight ticket (I know not many people can do this). Also there are some company that import genuine parts from Japan for you.

2) there are quite few non-genuine but quality parts we can buy - brake pads, disk, CV joint, supension parts, ex pipe, some body paanel etc. Also, there are quite few remanufacturerd parts available - alternator, starter, calipers, even on ebay.co.uk.

3)Fix myself. Buying tool is the same or cheaper in the long run. If the service is not model specific (such as ALB), use reputable garage rather than Honda dealership.

I don't know if the steering gearbox is still available as remanufacturerd but worth cheking.
You should find parts marchant specialized in Japanese cars on your yellow page and ask.
They normally have several wholesalers/remanufacturers to deal with.
As far as I know, at least 3 company are selling replacement CV joint for our car in UK(I am sure more company exists) but I don't know about steering rack.

If this is not possible, last resort is dismantlers.
As you pointed out, 3rd gen is not regular in the yards these days but I still see them from time to time.
You should search the dismantlers on the net - some of them are very sophisticated and if you leave your request, they will come back to you in a day, pay by card over the phone, the parts arrive in two days to your door.

If not, buy whole car with low milage on ebay and swap the parts, or you can swap whole car!

The reason the dealer told you that they dont know if the parts is available is because there is no stock in Belguim(EU distribution centre). If there is a stock in Belguim, they can say they have it.
Then, need to order to Japan but they can't check stock in Japan immeditately.

I have heard that a couple of my friends in Japan(RHD) replaced rack recently wth brand new, so I assume there are some unit left - but again, unless you place the order, no body knows.

I am not sure if I helped you or not but, there is a way to tackle this so please don't give up.

::EDIT:: I didn't realize your age. Do you have anybody who can fix cars in your neighbourhood?

[snoopyloopy]

i have a remanufactured steering rack i have no use for, but you're rhd, so never mind. but i'd sell it to you for waaay less than 2200#, including shipping.

[russiankid]

Just locate a rack that is in decent condition or just get one ordered and replace it yourself. I replaced mine myself and it just takes a few hours.


Or just run without power steering if you have it.

[thegreatdane]

Buying a new 3rd gen that's in better shape will most likely be the easiest way if you cant fix it yourself.
Aren't you s'posed to be 18 to get a drivers license in the UK??

[2oodoor]

need more technical info, what about the rack is worn out or unsafe?
mounts/bushings
inner tie rods
outer tie rods
boots
actual rack slider and gear

[MessyHonda]

dont you guys have junkyard to take parts off old cars.

[snoopyloopy]

dont you guys have junkyard to take parts off old cars.

they do, but he says 3g accords in the jy are somewhat of a rarity...

[Oldblueaccord]

Well the rack here LHD is 150-200$ so get someone to find a RHD one and ship it to you. Or hell we will ship you a whole car. there's a couple here in the paper for under 500$.


wp

[Ichiban]

You can't find a reman rhd rack?

[russiankid]

You can't find a reman rhd rack?

On that note just rebuild it yourself.

[epic1400cs]

Remanufacturerd
http://www.gkndriveline.co.uk/drivel...ons/europe/uk/
http://www.partsdirectderby.co.uk/
http://www.bba-reman.com/index.aspx

Used(double check before make payment = some of them are a bit unraliable)
http://nipponautomotive.co.uk/index.php
http://www.nationalbreakers.co.uk/home.asp

Grey Importer
http://www.japarts.co.uk/shop/

*Also, Blueprint is well known bland who is sellign genuine Japanese car parts - they buy genuine parts directly from parts manufacturer in Japan.
I have bought two clutch cable from them in UK for my friend s in Japan (out of stock).
They are wrapped in Japanese parts manufacturer plastic bag with even genuine parts number from Honda.

[thegreatdane]

Really, from blueprint? I thought they were just a low quality manufacturer, since I've only seen their parts being sold by a lowprice autoparts dealer here.

[epic1400cs]

I thought they were dodgy parts marchant, too, and I didn't even think about buying a parts from them.
But, this time, to help my friend in Japan, did some asking around and found one cable from Blueprint.
They came in a plactic bag which clearly printed "Nippon Cable Systems" and even with Honda genuine parts number which is exact match.
The "Nippon Cable Systems" is the biggest Japanese manufacturer making all kind of control cable and they are supplying the cables to Honda.

I can't say if their parts is all genuine parts grey import but I have heard that that is how they establish the reputaiton in here UK (may be not in EU, hehehe)

[thegreatdane]

Oh ok, for a moment there I thought you were saying that the cable was wrapped in the genuine honda parts packaging.

I'd like to have a password for Nipparts and Blueprints online catalogues You can buy their EPC cd's from various russian websites but I dont trust those russian scam sites and it's way too expencive. I prefer downloading it for free lol

[hewines]

The solution !

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HONDA-ACCORD-A...QQcmdZViewItem

[epic1400cs]

Hi hewines, it looks very nice.
Shame the milage is a bit highish - I know it is below avarage but lower the better.
I would visit the seller to do test drive and have closer look at the rear arch other wise sds have to do the same thing as thegreatdane straight after the purchase.

Where is the sds by the way?

[ESDEEZ]

I got a local garage who can get an exchange rack for 220. il just wait and see if my money sensible side kicks in.lol. But technicaly im here on holiday soo il only be using it till august any way so I still need some one from the uk to have it. The friend of a friend has got another car so its still open if anyone else wants it? P.S The licence limit is 17. not that it makes much difference.lol

[ESDEEZ]

Hapiness is a piece of green paper. moted and all fixed for £160! I still want some one to take it off my hands though. This is the only other 3g i know of! me thinks its seen better times.

[A18A]

whats that on the back bumper?

[ESDEEZ]

tow bar

[A18A]

cool

[MessyHonda]

clean it. please.

[epic1400cs]

Hapiness is a piece of green paper. moted and all fixed for £160! I still want some one to take it off my hands though.

Well done!
What is the spec of your car - A/C? Automatic? just out of interest.

[ESDEEZ]

exi A20A4 a/c manuel e/windows e/mirrors/ c/control ABS tow bar taxed till november & moted till july 2008. Hears a few pics... my tow bar