To all those who have more than 5 years invested in your wag
FSC4wd
familEE
I'm looking for responses from folks like NJ1 & 2, Bam bam, Rev, Wagodizzle, and anybody else who has put in work getting their wagons straight. I've been replacing and fixing my wagon just trying to get it OEM and legit, but it never seems to end. There's always a new rattle or squeak. How tight do you guys have things(beyond looking great in pics)? Are you constantly replacing/ repairing things(beyond the normal)? Don't get me wrong, I'm not living in a fantasy land, I know these are 20yr old cars, I guess I just need a pep talk.
Just a little info on my situation,my wagon is a daily right now(until I get my element) with plans of making it something fun to take to meets/shows. I only drive when going out of town or to pick something up that I can't on my bike. So the car isn't getting a lot of use.
Thanks in advance.
Just a little info on my situation,my wagon is a daily right now(until I get my element) with plans of making it something fun to take to meets/shows. I only drive when going out of town or to pick something up that I can't on my bike. So the car isn't getting a lot of use.
Thanks in advance.
Comments
It goes through phases of needing new bits but I feel im getting on top of it. In saying that ive spent over $2000 on Honda parts in the last year, all for the Shuttle
You lucked out I just figured where that squeak is coming from last nite.It was like a friend was playin triks on me by putting a Cricket in my Wgn.I thought it was the rear hatch.Spent weeks playing around with it.Turns out it was the rear seat pivot.Oiled it squeak went away.A few months go by .The squeaks back. :evil: I'm really pissed now.I'm in the rear bouncing the Wgn. up & down.So what I did now was a little extreme.I goto the rear hatch .Unscrew the rear hatch bump stop out so far that the rear hatch open dash light comes on with the hatch shut.Squeaks gone.I'm now in process of slowly turning the bumper back in till it starts to squeak to figure how far to screw it in.
Mines is pretty tight.It's been 6 years.The way I see it is buying a dream car on a loan w/o penalty.Ya you can spend $15,000 on a new car and worry about monthly payments,late penalties & higher insurance).It still looks like everyone elses car.Or you can put less than $15,000(including Wgn.) in the Wgn and it'll be way cooler.I was at the library the other day .This cute girl had her BF ask me if I wanted to sell mine Wgn.Just keep replace those bad parts(flexible loan payments w/o late penalties).It goes in cycles you'll replace some parts and it'll go fine for a long while,then other parts.Over all compared to other makes It's actually fewer parts.Most are normal maintenance parts.Even a 8 year old car will have the same probs.Just slowly tackle each of the parts over time & you'll be OK.Don't let it ply up.Think of all the money saved.As you upgrade parts (Teg brakes,Wheels,rear wings,OEM dash clock,etc.)think of it as factory upgrades they add on in newer models.If you got specific probs that's why WE"RE here.It just feels like you're always replacing parts.I'm happy And I drive mines pretty hard.
get very good at completely rebuilding the front suspension & brakes, it will last you forever.
SiWagon has it right, it's just an occasional "car payment" when you need a relatively costly repair. Develop a relationship with other more experienced enthusiasts in your area, so you can turn to them for help.
I had my wife drive around while I sat backwards in the rear seats, looking as I listened, and the crickets almost went away entirely while I was back there, which told me that the noise was probably in the rear seats somewhere.
Low and behold the strikers for both seat back latches have a hard groove worn into them, which allowed the seat backs to move ever so slightly when driving, causing a constant "crickets chirping" noise. The temporary fix that has worked for two weeks now was applying a liberal amount of thick-ass wheel bearing/hi-temp grease into the seat back latches and onto the strikers for them.
On to the hard slapping noise when hitting sharp bumps.
A tech at my shop rode in the back of my car while I drove and he found the noise quickly, as his 1990 EF regular hatch had the exact same issue:
The striker for the hatch latch had a groove worn into it too!!!
I had already adjusted and lubricated the rubber bumpers/contacts to no avail. I had even disconnected the hatch shocks as one of them seemed to be loose at the top, but the noise had still persisted.
Temporary fix?
This is straight out of the ghetto handbook. I cut a small section out of a ball point pen tube, then cut a slit down the middle, and "sleeved" the worn section of my hatch latch striker. the noise is now gone, but I do have to slam the hatch a touch harder than usual, and using the key to pop the hatch makes me think the key is about to twist off so I just use the lever inside the car.
Permanent fixes for the latch striker issues?
For the seat backs you can simply remove them, flip them over, and allow the part that is not worn to catch the seat back latch. I thought of this only after I had already ordered brand new strikers from Honda at $7.00/each.
I ordered a new rear hatch striker and I'm hoping it will not allow enough movement from the hatch to make that slapping noise still. If it doesn't work then I've got an infinite amount of pens to gut and use as sleeves.
...and this is impossible for Bam because HE IS the experienced enthusiast in the Southeast US!!!
Seriously!!!