<p>My car is at about 110k and I’m hoping it lasts another 110k I love it. Knock on wood i haven’t had any issues. I change its oil every 3k miles and i change its air filter every 6k or so. New spark plugs and wires every 60k as well.</p>
<p>At 160k, your Honda is still young. Hondas and Toyotas are in a class by themselves.</p>
<p>We bought our Toyotas new in the late '90s, and they’re still going strong. The newer one has only 230k miles; the Camry has 340k. H changes oil every 5k. Also changes transmission fluid every so often. We learned the hard way that the fluid can get sludgy in Toyotas.</p>
<p>Our best purchase earlier this year was one of those scanner things to read out codes, plus a subscription to AllDataDYI. For a total of $150, we were able to diagnose a minor problem (some sludge on a sensor) and fix it for free (wipe off the sludge). Without that info, we’d be at the mercy of a maybe-not-so-honest mechanic.</p>
<p>thumper…I felt the same about my old Volvo and actually signed up to get ebay notices whenever one gets listed (so far nothing in the northeast that was attractive enough to go look at though). Has anyone noticed that the prices for used cars/SUVs are very high lately? I’ve been looking for my D, who will be moving off campus soon, and not having much luck finding anything decent uner $10K. One guy told me recently that the “cash for clunkers” program took so many used cars out of circulation that the prices went up considerably, even at auction.</p>
<p>bonnie, I’ve been thinking about getting the code reader for mine too - the Blazer service engine light goes on and off at random intervals but it drives and stops just fine. I get tired of paying the mechanic $45 just to put it on the machine and a friend of mine does most of the routine maintenance/repairs for me at a much better rate than the garage does. Does the scanner/subscription thing work for multiple vehicles or do your have to get a separate one for each?</p>
<p>Lots of Accord owners posting so I’m wondering if anyone has ever had trouble with their fuses blowing repeatedly? Seems like every time the horn is depressed, the 20A? fuse blows - and that has both the horn and the shift lock on it! After having the garage trace the wiring and replace the fuse three times, with no lasting effect, I currently have the shift lock on override (I know, not a great idea, but I am the only one that drives this vehicle and I always remind/caution the garage about this when I take it in for service)…but the horn is sounding pathetic. Any ideas/experience with this?</p>
<p>I would keep it – consider tuition and car payments every month, and those add up quickly. There is an Odyssey at my dealership with over 400k miles with regular work done (2006) and it keeps going.</p>
<p>When I read the title of the thread, I wondered why anyone would ever think of replacing an Accord with “only” 160K miles.</p>
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<p>I had a pair of Audis that lasted 225K (it was in pretty good shape
when I sold it) and 185K. The latter model had a production run of 800
in the year that I bought it. I will never buy a car with a low
production run again. Parts cost a fortune. Cars can last a long time
but what they cost to keep them running varies widely. My Avalon, in
contrast to my Audis (and BMWs even further back), has been dirt cheap
to maintain and I have all of my work done at the dealer except for
tires.</p>
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<p>This has been in the financial news for quite some time. People are
holding onto their cars for as long as they can today. The companies
that make aftermarket auto parts have been on a tear in terms of their
stock prices for quite some time. Basically this year, many are
finding that they need to replace their vehicles and Ford has been a
strong recipient of that need. Their stock is up over 50% in the last
six months.</p>
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<p>That was my thinking too but there are certain points when repairs can
seem overwhelming compared to what you are used to. There are lots of
posters on these boards that can easily afford new cars but choose to
keep their old cars because they enjoy them or don’t feel that there is
anything interesting out there.</p>
<p>I am hoping that the next newer car we buy will be SOLAR. Hubby says I may be waiting for some time! LOL! We shall see. Meanwhile, I’m fine with our cars–the 1998, 2000 & 2006 “new” car. </p>
<p>One thing I need (which I will start on a new thread) is new seat covers–hubby’s leather seats in his 1998 Volvo S70 are cracking & need to be replaced. Any suggestions? Thanks!</p>
<p>a repair place can buy used seats for cars much much cheaper than a new replacement seat … although sometimes getting a color match can be an issue.</p>
<p>For those who are adventurous and handy, both my brothers and my dad have found replacement seats, hubcaps, wheel rims, etc. at the local junkyard.</p>
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sk8rmom:
If you don’t feel like buying one you can also take your car to some auto parts stores, like Autozone, and either use theirs or they’ll hook it up for you to read the code for free. I haven’t used this service since I own a scanner but I’ve seen their advertisements for it. Since you’ll probably only use it a couple of times this might be the way to go.</p>
<p>The scanner is usually an OBD II scanner which is good for most cars from most manufacturers.</p>
<p>On the horn - some horns can start to draw more current as they get old which can blow the fuse and also make them sound ‘pathetic’. Maybe you need a new horn. Most cars actually have 2 horns - one has a high note and the other a low note. It sounds (pun intended) as if maybe one of yours isn’t working which is why it sounds ‘pathetic’ since the tone isn’t the expected mix of the two tones. You can check this by disconnecting the connector at the actual horn in the engine compartment one at a time and pressing the horn button. If you disconnect one and it sounds the same then that horn you disconnected is the problem. Assuming it doesn’t have a wiring issue you can replace the horn. you should be able to get a replacement horn from a junkyard pretty cheaply or from an auto parts store for probably < $20. Make sure you get the correct one - either the high note or the low note so you don’t end up with 2 horns of the same note with will sound doubly pathetic.</p>
<p>When our horn stopped working, they put a button near the dashboard that you press to sound the horn. They said it was significantly cheaper than fixing the original horn & just as effective.</p>
<p>We got a scanner for our Volvos but it didn’t really do much & we ended up giving it away. Volvo is very proprietal about its codes and even dealers have some complications getting correct diagnoses. We’re down to the last Volvo independent repair shop we trust with our vehicles & will NOT buy another Volvo (just like the vow I made before we bought this one last year). <sigh> I really do like my Toyota & how relatively inexpensively I can keep it running well.</sigh></p>
<p>^^ On the horn it depends on what’s wrong. If it’s the horn switch itself then the added button will work but if it’s the actual horn then the added button won’t help. Given that it sounds ‘pathetic’ the horn switch is working but one of the 2 horns is likely failed and needs to be replaced. Replacing a horn is actually quite inexpensive for most cars - much less than replacing a horn switch.</p>
<p>Great stuff! I’m so glad I started this thread. I’m going to bookmark it so I can find it the next time Happydad starts talking about changing cars!</p>
<p>Thanks ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad! I’m going to print this and have my friend check it out…he offered to put in a horn switch but I’d rather just make the old girl right again!</p>
<p>Sk8rmom, basic scanners run around $80 - $150. We bought an “upgraded” one for $130, which can be hooked up to a laptop to update codes and print out something to give to the mechanic (I never seem to make use of the upgrades, but couldn’t help myself in going for it). Cars from 1996 – present use the same type of scanner. We bought it on Amazon and picked a popular and highly rated one (can’t recall the name right now.) </p>
<p>The AllData subscriptions are specific to your make, model, engine, year. First car is $25, second car is $15, for a one year subscription. Google AllDataDIY. They also have a professional subscription version that shops use.</p>
<p>We had first tried going to AutoZone to get the codes read, but apparently they will no longer read them. Said something about a new law. Tried Sears. The kid came out and put the scanner on it. Said we needed new spark plugs. That didn’t solve the problem. That was just one of about five codes that really came through.</p>
<p>H is pretty good with basic car repair and maintenance (and he can understand those car diagrams really well somehow), plus our cars are up there in miles, so it made sense to get the scanner and subscription.</p>
<p>^^ Thanks - i didn’t know Autozone no longer did the scan. I haven’t actually used them for it since I own a scan tool. The problem with the scan tool is that most people will rarely use it so it gets expensive per use but OTOH mechanics are expensive so if it saves one repair done by a mechanic it’s probably paid for itself. The other option is to find a friend who already has one and borrow it. </p>
<p>It’d be very easy for them to not really require the use of a tool to read the codes so it’s a shame they don’t do this. One of my previous vehicles displayed the code by blinking the ‘check engine’ light a certain way that decoded to the error code. For cars with more sophisticated displays - like the nav screens or the ‘information displays’ it’d be very easy for the manufacturer to make it display the codes. It’d cost nothing other than the initial development which would be simple. </p>
<p>Since I do a lot of the mechanical work myself I buy a factory shop manual when I buy the car. This isn’t a generic Chilton’s or Haynes manual but rather, the same one factory mechanics use that’s for the specific vehicle. One can get this electronically nowadays through something like AllData but the printed manual, although expensive (>$100), was cheaper I think than these other services and again, it’s paid for in one saved mechanic engagement. It can save money even if a mechanic does the work by allowing the owner to be more educated about the car and less prone to ‘additional work’ indicated by the mechanic.</p>
<p>Our local repair chain (Merchant’s) wanted $99 to read the codes. :eek:</p>
<p>^^ That’s ridiculous. It takes less than 2 minutes to connect the scanner and read the codes and takes no special training. That sounds like a repair chain to stay away from based on that cost.</p>
<p>I brought our Volvo in because the check engine light had come on & it was time for the 15K mile checkup. The mechanic did the things for the latter. As I was driving the car home, I thought to give him a call & ask him why the check engine light had come one, since that was one of the main reasons we had brought the car in. He sheepishly admitted he had totally forgotten to check the code. I stopped back with the car & he checked the code while I waited. NOTHING was wrong and he said not to worry about it. I was not charged for this nor for him spraying something into the vent to kill off whatever was circulating in the vent & A/C system. He won’t go broke, as he also repairs & maintains our 1998 Volvo regularly!</p>
<p>After reading all this, I am keeping my car with 70K. Does anyone know the best thing to do if you nedd an extra car for a year or two? My original plan was to get another car and in a year or two sell the old one. It will have only about 80K miles by then. I am now not willing to rid of it.</p>