Looking to purchase 2003 civic
"Marge, anyone could miss Canada! All tucked away down there."
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 9,641
Likes: 1,283
From: Barrie, ON Canada
Rep Power: 222 
Re: Looking to purchase 2003 civic
Does the seller have maintenance records you can look at?
Main concerns are timing belt, head gasket, and automatic tranny
As long as its had proper regular maintenance the timing belt and trans will hopefully be in good shape. Head gaskets are a known issue with this generation and can fail randomly, if the failure is caught early the repair is much less difficult and expensive.
Timing belt and tensioner need to be changed every so often at the proper intervals, otherwise the failure will bend the valves and possibly damage the pistons.
Personally high mileage automatic trannys scare me, but a long as it's been serviced properly its probably fine, might be worth having money set aside for a replacement trans though.
It probably burns oil, the question is how much? Replacing the rings and cleaning out the ring grooves in the pistons will fix that as long as the cylinder walls are in good shape. But that is time consuming and an in-depth repair. It can sometimes be slowly corrected by using high quality oil and changing it at a proper interval.
You posted the mileage in kms, Canada? Hows the rust/rot situation?
Make sure you have the car checked by a competent mechanic that knows Honda's well, before you buy it.
Don't let this scare you off, just giving you a heads up.
They are terrific, dependable cars that get great fuel mileage, and run forever provided they get proper maintenance, I'm on my second one.
Main concerns are timing belt, head gasket, and automatic tranny
As long as its had proper regular maintenance the timing belt and trans will hopefully be in good shape. Head gaskets are a known issue with this generation and can fail randomly, if the failure is caught early the repair is much less difficult and expensive.
Timing belt and tensioner need to be changed every so often at the proper intervals, otherwise the failure will bend the valves and possibly damage the pistons.
Personally high mileage automatic trannys scare me, but a long as it's been serviced properly its probably fine, might be worth having money set aside for a replacement trans though.
It probably burns oil, the question is how much? Replacing the rings and cleaning out the ring grooves in the pistons will fix that as long as the cylinder walls are in good shape. But that is time consuming and an in-depth repair. It can sometimes be slowly corrected by using high quality oil and changing it at a proper interval.
You posted the mileage in kms, Canada? Hows the rust/rot situation?
Make sure you have the car checked by a competent mechanic that knows Honda's well, before you buy it.
Don't let this scare you off, just giving you a heads up.
They are terrific, dependable cars that get great fuel mileage, and run forever provided they get proper maintenance, I'm on my second one.
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 21,620
Likes: 1,252
From: Las Vegas, NV
Rep Power: 512 Re: Looking to purchase 2003 civic
take a good look at anything rubber, too. Particularly motor mounts and all bushings. On my '02, I had to replace (actually, I did DIY repairs on) the front and passenger side/tranny mounts, as well as replacing the front LCA bushings (went with polyurethane over OEM rubber).
Otherwise, colin hit the nail on the head.
Otherwise, colin hit the nail on the head.
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Joined: Mar 2013
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Re: Looking to purchase 2003 civic
Does the seller have maintenance records you can look at?
Main concerns are timing belt, head gasket, and automatic tranny
As long as its had proper regular maintenance the timing belt and trans will hopefully be in good shape. Head gaskets are a known issue with this generation and can fail randomly, if the failure is caught early the repair is much less difficult and expensive.
Timing belt and tensioner need to be changed every so often at the proper intervals, otherwise the failure will bend the valves and possibly damage the pistons.
Personally high mileage automatic trannys scare me, but a long as it's been serviced properly its probably fine, might be worth having money set aside for a replacement trans though.
It probably burns oil, the question is how much? Replacing the rings and cleaning out the ring grooves in the pistons will fix that as long as the cylinder walls are in good shape. But that is time consuming and an in-depth repair. It can sometimes be slowly corrected by using high quality oil and changing it at a proper interval.
You posted the mileage in kms, Canada? Hows the rust/rot situation?
Make sure you have the car checked by a competent mechanic that knows Honda's well, before you buy it.
Don't let this scare you off, just giving you a heads up.
They are terrific, dependable cars that get great fuel mileage, and run forever provided they get proper maintenance, I'm on my second one.
Main concerns are timing belt, head gasket, and automatic tranny
As long as its had proper regular maintenance the timing belt and trans will hopefully be in good shape. Head gaskets are a known issue with this generation and can fail randomly, if the failure is caught early the repair is much less difficult and expensive.
Timing belt and tensioner need to be changed every so often at the proper intervals, otherwise the failure will bend the valves and possibly damage the pistons.
Personally high mileage automatic trannys scare me, but a long as it's been serviced properly its probably fine, might be worth having money set aside for a replacement trans though.
It probably burns oil, the question is how much? Replacing the rings and cleaning out the ring grooves in the pistons will fix that as long as the cylinder walls are in good shape. But that is time consuming and an in-depth repair. It can sometimes be slowly corrected by using high quality oil and changing it at a proper interval.
You posted the mileage in kms, Canada? Hows the rust/rot situation?
Make sure you have the car checked by a competent mechanic that knows Honda's well, before you buy it.
Don't let this scare you off, just giving you a heads up.
They are terrific, dependable cars that get great fuel mileage, and run forever provided they get proper maintenance, I'm on my second one.
thank you, I had 2002 that previously was written off in a hit and run. Head gasket is my biggest concern, they do have records. High Mileage trannys scare me aswell as it is much more pricey then replacing a clutch. Rust free, thanks to being a Vancouver, no salt typically on our roads. thanks for your input, im going to check it out tommorow, also looking at a 2002 altima
