Buying a civic 1994 vti as first car

Hi all,

I just inspected a civic 94 vti today. The car is quite good and reasonably in good condition against its age. The only thing does concern me is after a few test drive, I found some water coolant coming out just under the bonnet... It might be a problem with water pump or else, and the dealer promised to fix it when I come back to take the car.

Just wondering is it possible that the dealer somehow put too much coolant during maintenance for RWC and caused that to happen (according to their excuse)? They also throw in a 1 year warranty for important parts (engine, transmissions, etc) and 3 months statutory warranty for the water pump fixed as well.

So my question is if things are fine, is that car worth taking? In the worst case, how much it will cost me to fix by my own mechanics? Thanks in advance.

Oh sorry forgot to mention: It got 136.000 kms mileage, selling from dealer for 4700 drive away included RWC.

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Originally Posted by kitkat

Hi all,

I just inspected a civic 94 vti today. The car is quite good and reasonably in good condition against its age. The only thing does concern me is after a few test drive, I found some water coolant coming out just under the bonnet... It might be a problem with water pump or else, and the dealer promised to fix it when I come back to take the car.

Just wondering is it possible that the dealer somehow put too much coolant during maintenance for RWC and caused that to happen (according to their excuse)? They also throw in a 1 year warranty for important parts (engine, transmissions, etc) and 3 months statutory warranty for the water pump fixed as well.

So my question is if things are fine, is that car worth taking? In the worst case, how much it will cost me to fix by my own mechanics? Thanks in advance.

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how would anyone can guess if its worth it or not when there is no dolan figure

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kitkat

Hi all,

I just inspected a civic 94 vti today. The car is quite good and reasonably in good condition against its age. The only thing does concern me is after a few test drive, I found some water coolant coming out just under the bonnet... It might be a problem with water pump or else, and the dealer promised to fix it when I come back to take the car.

Just wondering is it possible that the dealer somehow put too much coolant during maintenance for RWC and caused that to happen (according to their excuse)? They also throw in a 1 year warranty for important parts (engine, transmissions, etc) and 3 months statutory warranty for the water pump fixed as well.

So my question is if things are fine, is that car worth taking? In the worst case, how much it will cost me to fix by my own mechanics? Thanks in advance.

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Dumb question but was the A/C on?

wow pretty low Km

but 4700 too much for eg

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Originally Posted by DreadAngel

Dumb question but was the A/C on?

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Sorry this is my first car, and I got no prior experience with car .... Can you be more specific?

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Originally Posted by EKVTIR-T

wow pretty low Km

but 4700 too much for eg

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You reckon? My friend bought an Accord 1995 already done 250.000 kms with the price $4500 from dealer, so I just thought my case is a little bit higher due to low kms (if they are genuine).

What I concern is the water pump, is it serious?

We dont know its waterpump

didnt you ask the dealer what they think is the water coming from?

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Originally Posted by kitkat

You reckon? My friend bought an Accord 1995 already done 250.000 kms with the price $4500 from dealer, so I just thought my case is a little bit higher due to low kms (if they are genuine)?

What I concern is the water pump, is it serious?

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its probably leaky radiator or faulty thermostat cap
if your water pump fails, it overheats

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Originally Posted by EKVTIR-T

We dont know its waterpump

didnt you ask the dealer what they think is the water coming from?

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I did, and they said its probably just some leftover coolant when they over fill.

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Originally Posted by mocchi

its probably leaky radiator or faulty thermostat cap
if your water pump fails, it overheats

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I took it for a spin around 10-15 mins to check any oil leaking but it was fine except that coolant. In that case, are leaky radiator or faulty thermostat cap easy to fix for this model? They said they going to fix it when I come back but Im not that certain.

You could pay mocchi to go and look at it for ya

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Originally Posted by kitkat

I did, and they said its probably just some leftover coolant when they over fill.



I took it for a spin around 10-15 mins to check any oil leaking but it was fine except that coolant. In that case, are leaky radiator or faulty thermostat cap easy to fix for this model? They said they going to fix it when I come back but Im not that certain.

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yh easy fix.

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Originally Posted by EKVTIR-T

wow pretty low Km

but 4700 too much for eg

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20 year old car... fukin money pit m8

negotiate down to 3.5k, assuming paint schmick

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Originally Posted by kitkat

Sorry this is my first car, and I got no prior experience with car .... Can you be more specific?

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I thought the puddle could've been from the Air-Con being on ;)

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Originally Posted by charliebrown

20 year old car... fukin money pit m8

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ye I kno

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Originally Posted by DreadAngel

I thought the puddle could've been from the Air-Con being on ;)

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Mmmm could be, will check that again when I come back :D

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Originally Posted by charliebrown

20 year old car... fukin money pit m8

negotiate down to 3.5k, assuming paint schmick

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The car actually polished according to dealer, so very clean from outside to inside.

Just to let you know my experience. I had a 94 vti last year. 180xxx

Engine was bulletproof, didn't burn a drop of oil. 210psi on all 4 cylinders. but being an old car, everything else fks up. most bushes were showing wear. Replaced cracked RTA bushes, clutch pressure plate shagged, clutch slave died, dizzy ICM, brake prop valve leak, cam crankshaft seal leak, vtec solenoid, steering rack boots and a few other things.

A lot of the things that went wrong left me stranded, and i had to leave the car there and come back to fix it or have it towed. i wouldn't recommend buying a car like this unless you can afford to have your car off the road. and it's not like you're getting it for a steal either... cost adds up quickly, as does frustration

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Originally Posted by charliebrown

Just to let you know my experience. I had a 94 vti last year. 180xxx

Engine was bulletproof, didn't burn a drop of oil. 210psi on all 4 cylinders. but being an old car, everything else fks up. most bushes were showing wear. Replaced cracked RTA bushes, clutch pressure plate shagged, clutch slave died, dizzy ICM, brake prop valve leak, cam crankshaft seal leak, vtec solenoid, steering rack boots and a few other things.

A lot of the things that went wrong left me stranded, and i had to leave the car there and come back to fix it or have it towed. i wouldn't recommend buying a car like this unless you can afford to have your car off the road. and it's not like you're getting it for a steal either... cost adds up quickly, as does frustration

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Thanks for that. So now how much did it cost you to repair all broken things?

Is there any symptom when you test drive the car? Make me a bit worried. But wouldn't the dealer's warranty will cover that?

I already asked a friend who knows cars to come along when I come back to pick it up for peace of mind...

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Originally Posted by kitkat

Thanks for that. So now how much did it cost you to repair all broken things?

Is there any symptom when you test drive the car? Make me a bit worried. But wouldn't the dealer's warranty will cover that?

I already asked a friend who knows cars to come along when I come back to pick it up for peace of mind...

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Don't get hung up on dealer's warranty lol they are absolute rubbish...

I fixed a few things myself and used 2nd hand parts where i could to cut costs. Would have been over $2000 in repairs, much much more if you take it to a mechanic for everything and they use bnib OEM

oh, and this all happened over about 5000km/6 months lol

If youre set on an older Honda,like any brand make sure it has genuine logbook service

so at least you know the maintenance items have been done along its life

if you buy one with no books,who knows maybe its had shit owners and neglected for 100k kms...then youre stuck with fixing them at some point

when I bought older model it had full Honda genuine logbook service history which helps

Thanks for the advice guys...

The car has an original service logbook, serviced quite frequently and just been in major service since 12/2012 with total bill of $1500-ish. Most of them are engine-related sorry I couldn't remember all of them.

Having said that, I probably check it again and fingers crossed.

Did vtec kick in hard and stay hard when test drive?

tfw solenoid leak

Thrashed it cold on test drive.

odo meter don't mean shit it could be swapped out for low ks.
when i brought my EG it had 190,000 km and that was like almost 9 yrs ago,drives like brand new compare to other EGs driven and the only stuff i replaced since then was distributor, battery, clutch and brake pads.

even with service log it doesn't mean shit, especially service by some dodgy kunt or driven by a shit owner.From what i seen most of the time they only change oil/filter that's it.

in my opinion nowadays an EG is worth 3k MAX absolute MAX and thats if its spectacular which other then super-da9's one there arnt many around. i think you have 2 options really;
1. buy one in a private sale, i know people who have bought EG hatches for 500 and EK for 800 that leaves alot of meat on the bone for repairs.
2. pick something elce. older cars at dealerships isnt really a good thing. what happens is a customer trades it in for like 400-800 to save some off there new car, the dealer then washes it and puts a stupid high price on it hoping some chumpit will be keen on it and when no one is the sell it to the wholesalers for about 1k.

Now you guys really worrying me...

The thing is I stupidly deposited that car and suppose to pick it up on Thursday. This time I will come with my mechanic to check it out closer. If things go south, do I have a choice of returning the car and take back my deposit?

Buying old car is really frustrating I can tell you, especially when the buyer got no experience :(

hopefully its in good shape.
and nope gennerally the deposit is non-refundable but if there are problems your used car warranty should cover any serious problems

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Originally Posted by charliebrown

Just to let you know my experience. I had a 94 vti last year. 180xxx

Engine was bulletproof, didn't burn a drop of oil. 210psi on all 4 cylinders. but being an old car, everything else fks up. most bushes were showing wear. Replaced cracked RTA bushes, clutch pressure plate shagged, clutch slave died, dizzy ICM, brake prop valve leak, cam crankshaft seal leak, vtec solenoid, steering rack boots and a few other things.

A lot of the things that went wrong left me stranded, and i had to leave the car there and come back to fix it or have it towed. i wouldn't recommend buying a car like this unless you can afford to have your car off the road. and it's not like you're getting it for a steal either... cost adds up quickly, as does frustration

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This. You spend all your life and money fixing all the thousands of little things that wear out or break. And if you're like me, you're never happy with stock replacement and always buy racecar parts.....

I agree with Daveho's comment OP. 3k max for a stock civic and it has to be clean. From what your saying so far. Becareful i would say. thats alot of mulla for a D series. I bought my em1 2 weeks ago for 3.9 lol. The motor is aokay but the body required TLC.

Just make sure the chassis is straight with no welds. Then your sweet. B series motors these days could be found for a bargain. Specially some poor blokes unfinished project. You could do the majority of works watching youtube videos as long as you have a balls lol, and the swap over parts come in user firendly DIY.

its a hard one cause it depends where u live aswell, one of the techs in the shop next to mine paid 800 for an ek1 and a buddy of mine got an eg 5 for less then that. but here in canberra ppl dont really know honda all that well

Just as a guide OP, I payed $2000 for an EG perfect condition with 174 XXXks on the clock, still doing me fine.
Just glad that you are choosing a VTI, the d15b7 is a little underpowered, also no vtec makes me sad.
Goodluck with purchase.

I'll also add that it is also my first car, and fun as hell to drive

ditch the EG and buy yourself a decent 03-04 GD3 Jazz mate.. if your lucky you can pick one up VTiS model for that price $4700 (srs low ballin). The jazz are reliable, 5.2ltr/100klms (bone stock) and do offer some serious power for a 1.5L VTEC. Its a zippy lil car that you can basically park it anywhere that tickles your willy.

Its chain driven (so not too heavy on major servicing) and you can drop in a K20/24 turbo down the path :P

Puurrfect for your first car!

threads a few months old...

^^ IKR - intel woke it from the dead :D