So is it time to call it quits?

[Reptile]

Ok, Virbius has begun to really make me depressed. I paid $1550 for what I thought was a 87 LX-i hatch in good mechanical condition with no rust and only 92,000 miles (currently just under 102,000 miles). I have since put over $4000.00 into it fixing it and still have not been able to get to the minor body damage ($350 worth not including the bumper, turn signals, and paint for said bumper). It also needs a new AC compressor and condenser in order to fix the AC ($1300 and a necessity for me due to my cardiac condition), new weather stripping on the drivers side window (no idea on the price there), and a new regulator in the passenger side ($120-150) to stop some extremely annoying wind noise, a new windshield (rough guess $200-300) and the windshield washer spitters have stopped working due to a short somewhere in them (no idea where or how much to fix that). The interior needs a complete new dash (as much as $700 if bought from Honda, not sure if I can find one cheaper or not but I think I can). It also is idling 600 rpms too high and there is a minor amount of oil getting into the air box. One of the motor mount on the engine block was busted off in the wreck, though a new one has been crafted and the block has been repaired there as best as is possible. I may yet still need to get an entirely new engine in it at some point in the future.

Things I have already fixed:

Both half shafts, rack and pinion, rear ball joints, complete valve job, full tune up, all new seals and o-rings inside engine, brake lines, calipers, rear rotors, new pads all the way around, pcv problem (?), new headliner, drivers side window regulator, and a few other minor things here and there.

Things I know I still have to fix:

Minor body damage, front bumper, idle speed problem (FI ECM), dash, wind noise problem that is making me batty (New passenger side regulator and drivers side regulator adjusted), windshield spitter problem, and new a windshield. Many minor interior pieces and exterior trim pieces.

So my question is this: Do I keep this car, put it in storage and buy another daily driver for now saving it for a latter date to complete, or just ditch this thing all together?

Please check out my garage if you want to see a few pics of it before you tell me yeah or nay.

[mushroom_toy]

Sorry but if you paid 4grand to fix all of that stuff then you got ripped a new one. Unfortunately you purchased a 20 year old car. Things will go wrong, because our cars are that old. Even then though you shouldnt have had to pay 4k to fix all of that minor stuff. It all comes down to if youre satisfied with the car or not. Ther will always most likely be small things to fix or small problems with a car this old. If youre just not satisfied I say sell this one, and get another car.

[stat1K]

yeah tha'ts a lot of fuckin money for hardly any work i would never spend 4g's on a car with near 100k that's just ridiculous.

[nfs480]

If you really love it, then i'd put it away and fix the remaining stuff when possible. I'm currently learning how to do as many of the repairs myself as I can to help keep the costs down.

[russiankid]

Like mushroom said it is whether you enjoy driving the car and being satisfied with it. I cannot say how much money went into my 3g, but i can say its a lot. I'm not shocked about it because the car does drive really well, and its an old car so its expected to have failure. Just get some quotes on parts you need and work that needs to be done so the car is good to go and see if you are willing to do it.

[Reptile]

Sorry, had to add a few other things to the stuff I have already done to it, forgot about the engine work it had to have because the effing Honda dealer in FL decided to lie to me and say they did a bunch of work they did not do just prior to me putting over 1000 miles on it to drive it back home. I got my money back though. And no beyond a little of the brake work I have not let the dealer do anything else. I take it to an NTB I know I can trust for most of it that will not charge me outragious amounts of money to get things done. Hell they have saved me at least $500-600 that I know of.

[MessyHonda]

i feel the same way right now....just spent close to 1200 bucks on trans and clutch...to find out that the Rebuilt trans is fucked up.

[Civic Accord Honda]

i feel the same way right now....just spent close to 1200 bucks on trans and clutch...to find out that the Rebuilt trans is fucked up.

that fucking sucks man

[redaztec]

Reptile, in my opinion, it's worth keeping the car for now - you've put a lot into it already! Maybe it's time for a break from the project, but I think we all feel like that from time to time. I've already felt like that more than once about my LX-i, but I'm really glad I didn't ditch it. I imagine that you could save a lot of money on some of your future repairs (dash for instance) by getting some used parts from a junk yard rather than new from Honda.

BTW sorry to hear about your transmission, MessyHonda. I hope you can get a refund or a replacement!

[2oodoor]

I don't know what you mean by put it in storage,, ouch. That sounds scary for Virbius.
The remaining items you say it needs are typical for the car, some are just annoyances the idle issue and pvc are operational issues. Both would need to be fixed before AC is fixed.
The windshield replacement may take care of three of those problems listed.

If you have health issues you may want to get a newer DD, though. The main drawback with investing in these cars IMO is they have no SRS so insurance is high and safety is not real good.

[Vanilla Sky]

Don't feel bad, really. I'm wanting to spend around what you've payed in total for another 3gee. The car plus parts, not just the car.

Personally, I'd fix what was left to fix. Rust-free bodies are hard to come by. You have almost everything fixed, it seems.

Buy something that you can use as a cheap beater for a while. A somewhat newer civic comes to mind. Put the Accord in temp storage while you get the money together to finish the repairs. When you're done with the Civic, sell it andget most of what you payed out to begin with back.

[snoopyloopy]

well, can you afford a new car? because quite honestly, these cars are fast passing into the realm of collector cars aka they're cool to own and fix up, but problems abound. especially in a honda, which are generally billed as being for the most part "maintenance free." so you get cars with great engines, decent looking body, but when stuff starts going, it all goes.

[cndyapple88lxi]

damn 4ks plus $1550. with $500 more, u could've gotten my friends 01 camaro ss 6 speed with 131k miles on it.

[Reptile]

I am getting rid of this car. Details inside link.

https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64040

[ghettogeddy]

ya i say with the 5500 bucks you have spent so far you could have had almost any other car that wouldn't need any of that work lol

[jigga225]

u have to realize when it's time, man

[Reptile]

Ok, the mechanic figured out what it was. The ECM computer under the drivers’ seat is dead. $850.00 to fix, though I could possibly get the part and do it myself and save $100-150 provided there is no programming of any kind required.

What do you guys think I should do? Getting rid of the car really will not make me happy, but it certainly is not a daily driver at this point. Hell it barely even runs as it stands now.

[nfs480]

Ok, the mechanic figured out what it was. The ECM computer under the drivers’ seat is dead. $850.00 to fix, though I could possibly get the part and do it myself and save $100-150 provided there is no programming of any kind required.

What do you guys think I should do? Getting rid of the car really will not make me happy, but it certainly is not a daily driver at this point. Hell it barely even runs as it stands now.

I'd say try to obtain a used one and install it yourself. No programming should be required. If you don't have a shop manual there is a link to a downloadable one in the sticky at the top of the technical forum. Shouldn't be outrageously priced then.

[redaztec]

Depending on how much one would cost from the junkyard, I'd recommend going for that. It's an easy repair to do - just unplug the battery, unbolt the seat, unbolt and unplug the computer. The most difficult part is pulling the seat out of the car, but even that isn't too hard.

[w261w261]

Wow! I sincerely hope you have a lot of love for this car. If it's any consolation, your situation is one that many people find themselves in....having put a ton of money into a platform that still demands more, and has a resale value of....not much. Many years ago, my girlfriend's father gave me a '67 Lincoln convertible, 160,000 miles, the 4 door kind with the suicide doors. I'd say it was worth maybe $3,000 on a good day. I proceeded to put around $9,000 into it, piece by piece, thousand by thousand. When I finally came to my senses and called a halt, I sold it for ..... $2,800. And this was in 1985. I bought another one, btw, for $6,500 that was more car than my old one ever could have been. I sold it after around 5 years for $7,000 after putting in just a few thou.

My point is, you don't sound like someone that is going to do your own work on the car. And it still needs quite a bit. The engine computer, for instance. I have one salted away in the garage just in case. It was $20 in eBay, but it took a bit of work to get one for the right year and a manual tranny. As someone has pointed out already, forget the $850.00. That's nuts. Find the (right) one from a JY, take out the driver's seat (4 bolts), disconnect the battery, unplug the computer, plug in the new one. Done. Of course, this is assuming that the computer *is* gone, or that there isn't another problem that fried the first computer.

My car now has 203k on it, and it does cost regularly because I try to replace stuff before it fails, or if it as much as hiccups it's outathere. With an old car I feel you must do this or you'll never be able to fully trust it to get you where you want to go. And there's always something. These vehicles aren't particularly complicated, but they are composed of several thousand parts, and they're 20+ years old now. They'll never be worth very much, so you really have to love them for themselves to keep them going. And you should learn to fix some of the things yourself. This site is a HUGE help, btw.

Also, you have highlighted some of the things that remain to be done, and that list is long enough. I'll guarantee there's a shitload of other stuff waiting in the wings: hoses, bushings, shocks, brakes, upper arms, lower arms, on and on and on.

The moral of my story: either you grit your teeth and go down for several more thousand bucks, or get out now and get something newer. Moneywise, newer is going to be better, much better, for you. Unless you have an irrational attachment to the '87, I'd bail out.

[87roach]

Holy shit our ECU is worth $850.00?? I better get to the JY!

Your car is really nice, but like the others explained; these cars are older. You have to anticipate bumps in the road and either work with it or don't. However if theres one thing to understand is that this is how vehicles are, new or old.

[MessyHonda]

wow what a rip off.....i threw my ecu away when i upgraded to obd1...its easy...hardest part was taking out the seat

[GraniteLXI]

$850 for an ecu? When mine died from it being soaked in water over the summer...I still need to find that leak in spring. The ECU only cost me $200 new (I think) through an automotive repair place in town here.

[Reptile]

I figured it was time for a minor update.

I have decided to call it quits. I was going to attempt to fix the minor body damage and put a new A/C system in it thus allowing me to keep the car a while longer. It would have also been more cost effective since I could have done both for roughly $1500 rather than going deeper into debt for a newer car (roughly $4000-6000 more).

That plan has changed. I took it to have the body work done, where I was told to expect only $350 just to straiten it out a bit. What they discovered when they began to work on it was that it was far worse than initially anticipated. The car needs both new headlight core supports and a core support for the whole front end. The $500 budget I had planned for the body repair was a joke considering it actually needs $1700 worth! That is without the extra $800-1000 it would take to get a working AC in it, which is a medical necessity for me and not something that can be overlooked.

Within two weeks I intend to have a newer car. I was planning on using the Accord as a trade in but I am also willing to put it up for sale to someone here on 3Geez only because I would rather see it go to someone who wants to fix up a 3G with low miles and no rust.



Do you think I should offer it for sale to a member of 3Geez, and if so for how much?

[ghettogeddy]

depends on how much the dealer will give you
if it needs
3k worth of work its not really worth much to them is it lol
prolly 400-600
maybe less if your generous lol i need an lxi myself but would be a pita to get out here