Need Some Opinions About My 98 Civic HX
 

Hey guys I recently purchased a 98 honda civic hx with 124k miles on. When I test drove it everything seemed fine but once I bought it things started happening that previous owner didn't tell me about. There was a wine that would get louder as the rpms went up and the previous owner said the timing belt needed to be tightened. So I had the timing belt replaced and the noise is still there and come to find out its either the throw out bearing or input shaft bearing. He also forgot to tell me that the driver side window comes off the track and now the ac compressor is going out. I need some advice from you guys. Should I keep it and fix it or should I just cut my losses and sell it? Any input will be greatly appreciated. Here is a couple pics of the car. Thanks

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps0146eda2.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps86489b1b.jpg

Sure looks nice; of course I'd fix it. But then I'd fix it.

Another thing I noticed today was when I bought the car the glove box was in the back seat and the previous owner said that it needed new hinges. So I bought new hinges and tried to put the glove box on which would go on properly. After further inspection the dash is bent in a little bit from an accident

Fix it by yourself, then you can save some bucks. Regarding the A/C compressor, why don't you get rid of it and try some evaporative cooling (swamp-cooler) setup?

cRiPpLe_rOoStEr, Do you have a link for more info on evaporative cooling? All that comes to mind is old VW's with a swamp cooler on the passenger window.

The lesson here is pay less attention to the owner and more attention to the car when buying used.

Info from the previous owner is useful, but should always be viewed with skepticism. They are trying to sell you something, and it is not in their interest to point out every flaw with the car. Honest people will tell you more, but even so they will almost never tell you everything. CarFax and Autocheck are great tools for checking out the history of the car (you may want to run it even after buying if you believe it has been in an accident).

That said, these Civics are great little cars and super easy to work on. If you want to learn how to work on cars, you picked a good one to start with. The issues you mention don't sound like deal-breakers and I would personally keep it. But, I fix my own cars. If you are not confident in using a wrench, learn with the little issues and bring the big ones to the mechanic. If you plan to take it to the mechanic to fix every little issue that comes up, your mechanic will love you (for putting his kids through college).

Fixing a bad ISB (Input Shaft Bearing) on the transmission involves tearing the transmission apart in order to get at the thing. Not super hard to do, but time consuming and does take some specific tools and some real fiddling with some bits.

An ISB will make noise with the car at idle if the clutch pedal is not pressed. If you press the pedal down, and the noise slows down (and drops in pitch) and comes to a stop, only to go right back to where it was when you let the pedal out, it's the ISB.

Your description doesn't match what my ISB sounded like in the 90 CRX I used to own. Mine was more of a rattling noise, not a squeal.

The good news is that replacing the clutch and associated parts isn't as expensive or as much work as tearing down the trans. The bad news is that it's still a lot of work, or relatively a lot of money to have the clutch replaced. If you can find a shop that will do it for less than $350, you're getting a bargain and should ask what kind of parts they use...

Window tracks weren't that bad as I recall. Not sure if the 98 Civic has the same sort of window mechanism as the 90 one did, though.

A bent dash isn't a good sign. See if you can (SAFELY!!!) crawl under the car and look for bent/torn/wrinkled metal. Also look in the engine bay and the trunk and under the carpets and such.

If the car drives nice and straight, it may not have affected where the suspension mounts to the car, which is nice.

-soD

You could try to sue him in small claims court to get all or part of the selling price back, or repair costs. But if none of his false explanations are in writing, I would learn to live with the losses and either sell or repair. As long as nothing else emerges in the short run this might be manageable if you have skills or the willingness to put in the time to learn. How do you know the AC compressor is fading? The black interior sixth gen Civics were hard to cool in really hot climates like where you are. My 1998 Civic's AC was always a big disappointment, even after we had it serviced at the dealership (it was a certified used car purchased under warranty).

You might have already heard about Swampy evaporative coolers.
!12 Volt Portable Air Conditioners plus Evaporative Swamp Coolers.

Back here in Brazil evaporative cooling is popular among truckers, there are some companies manufacturing automotive units to be mounted on roof hatches. I've already seen few cars also using it, but since it increases the drag I'd avoid to get a roof-mounted one in a compact vehicle.

Some folks still object to evaporative cooling because it requires water, but considering that it doesn't use any GHG as a regular A/C does it's an advantage :thumbup:

Could be as simple as the fluid for the power steering being low.