Civicnoobie

Yes because i put alot of stupid crap on it like overpriced sound system, dynamated trunk, HIDs, rims, etc. It was all a waste of money and pointless. The rims i got a good deal on but still, it was exciting for a week but now, over time the lust wears off and you realize its all pointless.

That is true and that is why i wasnt able to buy my first car til sept of last year. Cause my career never really took off, and still hasmt really....like how most peoples careers do. In my 30s and working dead end jobs *sigh*

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

i do not even want to think about how much wasted money ive thrown into this car for parts, many of which are not even on the car anymore! you can look at something and think what a waste it was, or you can look at it and realize how much you gained from it. while i easily threw away thousands on experimenting with parts, i gained priceless knowledge that would never have been learned without spending the money. i dont think i would even be on this forum if i kept the car stock. there is no value that can be placed on the experience you gain, and that is how you should look at it.

MindBomber

In perspective though, those are all pretty minor mistake to have made..

You can't imagine the money and years of my life I wasted after one big mistake, I think about it everyday and it bothers me, but I look forward and focus on rectifying those mistakes. I also need to remind myself, that at the time, I was completely confident the decision was the correct one.

On things like the rims and tint, the money's gone, but if you use those mods to help you enjoy the car and lessen the urge to buy something brand new and spend much more money then it wasn't wasted. Imagine how you would feel $20k in debt, because you bought yourself a new car. It would be the same situation as your in now, just with even more money involved.

Civicnoobie

I have a friend who is 25 and drives an 01 civic as well and thinks the exact same way as you, which i wish i could do. Hes always had rough idle, some electrical problems and just last month a minivan driver rammed their door into his and left a really deep dent into his door. Sure he doesnt like any of it but at the end of the day, hes living with it cause from what he told me its just not worth dropping money into an old car. But he also said he wants to get another car next year so hes literally put nothing into the car since he bought it 2yrs ago. He needs new tires as his are on 30 tread but he doesnt even want to drop money on new tires.


Ive had an ad up for my sub, amp and amp kit but even that id barely get anything for it. Car audio stuff loses its value very very fast. HIDs i find were worth it, my stock rims i sold amd got pretty good money for them considering they were banged up.

Seby05

You guys are making me reconsider buying these si rims. 500 bucks with tires and now im skeptical. What happened to never ending projects? Don't give up fellas, cars are an expensove hobby but thats why were gear heads

Civicnoobie

What i should have done was not buy a used car but lease one, then i could just hand it back and get a differemt car. When i bought this car, i was seeing it as what i paid for it, a 5k car, maybe bit more but definitely didnt want to blow double that cause i would have just got a newer car. I could have a 8th gen civic for what i spent on mine now. Makes me so upset.


Remote starter, tint, deck, HIDs were worth the money as im happy i spent money on them.

Alarm (but i had no choice as i wanted keyless entry), overpriced sub and overpriced amp, overpriced dynamt, overpriced amp kit and install, hood deflector (which i ended up trashing anyways cause it cracked), werent worth it. $120 for a hood deflector pppffff.

BUT!!!!

The one that really and i mean really makes me upset is the 4 month old tranny that was just put in last july. I AM SO UPSET ABOUT THIS!

Not saying im gonna do it, but I bet you if i took my car to honda tommorow and asked for trade value, they would just have to look at its rebuilt title, sound deadened trunk, tint amd laugh at me.

MindBomber

But man, the eighth gen would have needed a lot of the same maintenance you've put into the seventh gen, the parts you needed to replace wear out on every car.

If you leased a new car, you would have been spending $3-4k a year in payments, and if you didn't buy out the lease you'd have nothing to show for it.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

yep - i keep 2k for every car safety margin for the chances that something could happen. never bought a car if not in cash either. never actually passed that limit either. Not gonna spend on things i don't need to - i will need the safety for when things get awry, including my house.
and leases are not that easy either to deal with

MindBomber

Live and learn.

If every single decision you made was the right one, you'd be a billionaire. Everyone makes mistakes, many of them are financial, you just need to look forwards not backwards. The 04 tranny sounds like it's in good shape, so I wouldn't consider that a poor decision.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

ur alright in my book civicnoobie/carnoobie.... you are sure persistent as hell, ill give you that.

Civicnoobie

Well the bad thing about buying an older car is that youre at higher risk to have to replace parts like ball joints, bushings, due to the cars age. Ive replaced the front engine mount, both front LCA bushings and one ball joint. Oh and a rear camber arm. If i bought a newer car and had warranty, the warranty itself would have covered all this. But too late now.

The trans im not happy about at all. Not happy ill have to alter my driving habits from now on and go out of my way to take extra precautions when driving. Its really sad how much i watch and Closely monitor my odometer. I should be more focused on the road.


When i bought the car i was just too caught up in excitement finally owning my first car and wanted to razzle dazzle it with gadgets. Well now im past that, and couldnt care less about stuff like my painted calipers or drums. My next car i definitely wont be spending this much on mods.

lowlife9

i don't think you realise how many people are in the same boat as you.

MindBomber

but in the first three years you'd loose $15k in depreciation on a Civic, you spend the money either way, and with a new car it ends up being much more.

My civic was $33k brand new, I have the original invoice in my glove box. Crazy eh

Civicnoobie

That could be true. I think the average driver doesnt care about their car as long as it runs. For instance of everyone i know, not one single person ever changes their brake fluid or power steering fluid or do a coolant flush in any of their cars. they dont even check the levels from time to time. And everyone in my family drives New audis, lexus, bmw, mercedez. All they do is fill up gas, get oil changes and wash the car once a month if that.

My sisters old rav4, the brakes got destoryed because she never once got her rotors changed in the 7yrs she had the car. She drove that poor thing into the ground, she never once changed her brake fluid, coolant or any fluid aside from windshield and oil changes she had done once a year, changing the filter every 2 years.


Ya i guess new is still more expensive. The best benefit though IMO is warranty from the dealer. My honda dealer here charges $900 for front strut job! Even if its a used 3yr old car, dealers will never negotiate as low as a private seller.

lowlife9

thats why there's forums like this to teach and encourage people to do there own work. when i first got into hondas i only knew how to change my oil the rest i learned from forums like this.

maxtierney

iTrader: (5)

Hang in there 'Noob. I've had my share of hard times, I'm older and I still drive a Civic.

About 5 years ago, I was unemployed, going through a divorce, forclosure procedings, slept on a friend's couch when I could and didn't have a penny to my name (for three straight months). All I had were the clothes on my back and the flip flops on my feet. I lost everything. Showered at the gym and dried off under the hand dryer, because I didn't have a towel. I lost my car because my ex "took possesion of it". I walked everywhere. I couldn't afford public transportaion. I even used a scooter to get around, not the motorized one either. Times were tough, but I kept my head up. A buddy always reminded me that even though I didn't have shoes on my feet, there were people out there still less fortunate than me. Even though I had no shoes, what do you tell the guy with no legs?

Moral of the story? I got though it. It was rough, yes. My family is very well to do, and I felt embarrassed at times, but I never got down on myself. I always saw the glass as half full. I had to start from the bottom again after my divorce. Found a job. Re-finaced my house. Got my Civic back. I worked on my car, as therapy. It was a wreck when I got it back from my ex. She thrashed it to spite me. Rear bumper was hanging off. Tranny was shot. Interior was a wreck. My car was immaculate before she got a hold of it. One problem after another kept popping up with the car. Fixed them one at a time. I held on to it because it was paid for. I couldn't afford to buy a new car, nor could I finance another because my credit was shot. I had transportation from A to B - and it didn't involve walking. That's how I kept it in perspective. You have a car, not perfect, but it's yours. You went though a phase trying to fix it up. Now you're over it. Lesson learned. As it was mentioned before, put aside some money for those unforseen emegencies, car or life. Nothing guarantees the grass will be greener with a newer car, house, job, etc. You're dealt certain hands in life, it's how you play it from there. You can't win by folding. Sorry for all the cliche's.

Stay strong.

pjb3

To answer the original question about what to do with your Civic, my advice would be nothing. Normally I tell people (especially my kids) to turn the radio down and listen to the car, in your case I'm going to say turn the radio up and ignore the car. I have followed many of your threads and you spend way too much time and money chasing problems that may not exist. Cars behave differently at different times and you don't have to chase down every little quirk.
For example, I have a Camry that when I stop after driving on the highway, the first shift will sometimes flare. It has done this since new and it used to bother me but I realized it didn't hurt anything and trying to fix it may cause more problems than it solved.
I realize that you are frustrated at the moment but I think the best thing for you would be to impose a 30 day "cooling off period" on any car decision that is not a critical safety issue (such as brakes). Very little money that you spend on a car will increase it's value. Money spent on routine upkeep is expected and most modifications hurt resale value.

SpeedDownZone

I did not read the entire thread but it seems to me you have other issues going on with your life than just your car. First off you say that you don't want to **** off your family by selling your car, really dude its your car bro you can do what ever you want with it burn it if makes you happy. You need to man up and take charge off life and stop thinking about otherson opinion even before you do something. Did your sister, uncle, or other members of your family discuss with you that there going to drop 30 or 40k on a car cash. Probably not so you need to stop feeling sorry for your self cuz self pity is not the way to deal with it.

I am no therapist but you need to dig deeper to find out what is really bothering you. You need someone to help you figure it out maybey a therapist.

I went through something similar about three weeks ago. I have been feeling unhappy since about 8 to 10 years ago. I allways felt angry, tired, depressed even. I did not have any feeling in me anymore. Well long story short I talked to a client off mine(fixed his computer remotely) I can't even remember how it started but I opened up to him like I have never done in my life. I talked to.him about the problems my brothers and I had with my father when we where growing up how it affected us and my mother and how my mother have been so distant from me emotionally.

Turns out I needed to for give my father because he had a rough childhood as well but did not know I guess he did how to brake the vicious cycle or figured did not do anything wrong. Any way after trying to kill my inner demons I am feeling a lot better know. I feel happy, I can kiss and hug my mother after all this years.

Any way yea I think if you start to be honest with your self and look inside you to see what's really bothering you your never going to be happy. You can use your car as the source of your stress but how long will that help you if any. People have different ways to cope with there emotional stress yours might be working on your car. Hope.you can work your problems out bro a really do.

Civicnoobie

Thanks. Thats exactly the shoes im in. I cant afford a new car cause im still paying off the upgrades and repairs on my current one. The car itself i paid off long ago but its the extra junk that im still paying off.

I cant finance a car period not because my credit is shot but because its currently in the rebuilding phase. I filed for bankruptcy 3years ago and about 2 years ago i cleared and thats when i started rebuilding my credit. If i was to walk into a dealer right now and sign up for financing i would most likely get rejected because i havent allowed enough time for my credit to rebuild. I know worse comes to worst i could go to one of those used lots that have the "no credit, bad credit, everyone approved" sorta thing, but im always skeptical of those places. Theyre alot more flexible in financing a car to people like me with rebuilding credit, but there has to be a catch to it.


I thought about it long and hard today, took a few looks at a couple dealerships in my area on their used car stock. I see 8th gen used civics with MT (what i want) in the 14-16k range, I see used 05+ Toyota Yaris's in the 12k-14k range and I see used Camrys and Altimas in the 14-18k range. Even if I was to buy say a Yaris for 12-14k, I factor in, the fact I need to 1) get it inspected 2) do research on it to be aware of current problems with the cars line 3) when i get the car, all the maintenance that ive done just recently to my civic (brake fluid flush, coolant flush, power steering flush, atf change, oil change, air filter change, cabin filter change, spark plugs, 4 wheel alignment, etc, I just had this ALL done to my civic within the past 3 months!)...I would then have to re-do it all on the new car. And maybe even stuff like new struts, new brakes, new alignment. Even my struts are only a few months old and theyre KYB-GR2s! I have done a crap load of routine maintenance on my civic now.

And not only that, but it gets even worse...on the new car theres a few current mods thats i have now that I would want on the new car. My windows tinted, so I would have to pay to have the new cars windows tinted. I would want my current deck in the new car, i would have to take it all apart and install in new car. Same with speakers...chances are my current speakers wont even fit in the new car so i would have to buy all new speakers! I would also want HIDs again so id have to pay for that again plus my buddy to install. I would want remote starter, same thing...have to rebuy and pay to reinstall. Uhhhhhh. I know all these mods like tinted windows and HIDs are fairly inexpensive...but it all adds up fast.

So that 12-14k to finance a new car, would turn into more....probably at least a grand or two more when i add in all the new fluids, maintenance, and mods. I cant just afford to buy a new car on a loan and then drop all this money to have all this stuff redone.

If I was to sell my current car, no one is going to care or willing to pay more for a car because it has tinted windows or HIDs or 3M film on the hood, or a nice deck or upgraded high end speakers. Unless theyre a car buff themselve but even then i would still take a massive hit financially for what i put into it.

Here is the MAIN CULPRIT of my problem. The crappy auto trans on our 7th gen cars, this is no doubt in my mind the biggest regret ive made in my life. I just cant stop obsessing about it. Ever since I bought the car and couple months after finding out about them, this has been plastered into my mind 24/7. Theres not one day that goes by where i dont think about it. I used to have an 01 Auto trans on this car but i changed it out last July, not because it broke or failed on me (it still works and currently sitting in my basement), but because I had a few instances last winter where i felt it was signs of it acting up and going out and i didnt want to risk being stranded if it breaks. I just couldnt live with it so i swapped it out for an 04 trans off an Acura EL, less than 40,000km on it. It was 100% fine when i got the new trans installed, I cant tell you how relieved i felt, felt a huge massive weight off my shoulders.

Until couple months ago, same time when i installed a trans cooler and ext OEM trans filter on it and since then I now get a 200rpm flare when going from 3rd to 4th at around 2500 rpm...but any RPM higher or lower and no flare...THAT IS THE MAIN REASON IM SO UPSET AND WANT TO GIVE UP ON THE CAR! I first thought maybe i was running too small of a radiator hose going back from the cooler to the trans and was affecting line pressure so i have disconnected my trans cooler, the cooler is still mounted but not connected. I am literally paranoid to the extreme obsession level about my trans and this 3-4 flare. Ive already done the 3 drain and fills (actually 4 with the last just 3.5 weeks ago) with Honda DW1.

Im desperate im willing to do anything just to fix this and get this off my mind for good.

Infact I have been researching this 3-4 flare non stop every day for hours on end on this issue and still am!

if it wasnt for this issue, i wouldnt be so upset or obsessing about monitoring my RPM everytime i drive or wanting to get rid of the car. For instance right now i check my ATF every day, sometimes 3 or 4 times a day, it doesnt matter where I am. You dont know how retarded it looks when im checking my atf in a walmart parking lot in -20 weather or an empty church lot or on some random street in my neighbourhood. Everyone always asks me 'having car problems? need a boost?"...youre driving a honda, theyre suppose to be good reliable cars." Everyone on my block thinks theres something mentally wrong with me cause they drive by and every 2nd day they see that i have my hood popped open.

MindBomber

There is a catch.

They'll finance you at 20%, it's like buying a car with a credit card, the amount of interest you'd pay to own the car would be equivalent to what you pay for insurance. Talk about burning money.

lowlife9

when it boils down to it all vehicles are money pits but thats the price you have to pay for not walking or taking the bus etc etc.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

having your hood open every day means you are learning about your car or maintaining it. closed minded people with no mechanical care or knowledge will sometimes say stupid things like why is your car broken. there are many more reasons to have the hood open other than something broke. in the end, they are strangers and mean nothing to you. i sometimes feel bad for people like that because they are so clueless.

as for your trans, take out the cooler and filter and switch to valvoline maxlife atf. i have a feeling it will solve all your problems.

Civicnoobie

Well the cooler is disconnected, just still mounted in front of the rad. Are you still running your ext. trans filter on your rad line? Dont know if i wanna risk going without the filter but do you think that could be causing it? Still trying to find a place with Maxlife ATF.

If you or anyone wants to know what i mean heres a clip i took about 3 weeks ago. Dont mind the clank clank sound in the background, i was on a noisy road but you will have to turn up the speakers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_XaewyQnO8

Shift-E

Call up every parts place in town and ask for valvoline maxlife atf. Call up garages and ask them where they get it. Most likely they buy in bulk and don't have bottles, but they may know a place that does. That's how i found mine. if you still can't find any, then order a case online.

As for the video, that doesn't seem like anything to be worried about. When my tranny went, it would jump 500rpm, then 1000 rpm, then eventually 1400. I can't hear the engine in your clip, but mine would sound like it was in neutral and i was pressing on the gas, is that what yours sounds like? Or does it sound like it pauses, then drops a 200 into the next gear?

Civicnoobie

After all the research ive done online and from GB on the maxlife ATF it sounds like its a lot better ATF than DW1. Here DW1 has gone up to $11cdn a qrt, yes $11! What a joke. I dont know if youve used DW1 before but it doesnt seem that great. Ive been calling places locally and no one here has it so i might have to order online. How has the maxlife been working for you?

Well heres the video again
[autostream]http://autostream.com/ibcivicforums/?page_type=firebirdplayerthumbnail&framepage=1107& transactionid=1322098448-70739222&posted_by=Civicnoobie_www.civicforums.com &youtube_video_id=a_XaewyQnO8[/autostream]

Watch and listen closely between the 2-5sec mark. If you turn up your volume you can hear the sound that it makes for a second as it flares 200rpm. I dont know what a pause sound would sound like but i dont think its that.

Another thing is, ive noticed sometimes when i merge onto a faster road and have to apply more throttle...as its about to shift into 4th, the dial on the RPM gauge would instantly spike from like 1200rpm to like 2500rpm for a quick sec but goes right back down...and when i listen for any reving and i dont hear any, no noise. I had this happen again just yesterday.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

i took out everything. remove the cooler completely if its already disconnected, otherwise it just blocks airflow to the radiator. take the filter off too, it never did anything for me when i changed it (nothing inside it caught, and it might restrict flow a bit). change the atf every 6 months with a drain and fill and you should not need any filter. keeping the fluid new is the best idea.

Shift-E

The maxlife has been amazing. Honestly, I don't know if it's the 05 tranny or the maxlife thats made my car so much better, since i did them at the same time.

EDIT: Just watched the video again. A slip like that is nothing. I don't mean to be patronizing your thoughts on it. I have a feeling that tranny will last you a long time as soon as you switch the fluid to maxlife.

Civicnoobie

what do you think of the flare in my youtube video? See if you can pick up that sound in it. That just pisses me right off.

But on your old trans didnt your flare started out like that?


I didnt know you took off your ext filter, I thought it would keep a lot of debris out of the trans but i guess not. Thats what im wondering too, im wondering if the ext filter is affecting air flow or line pressure going back to the trans.

MindBomber

Looks normal to me man.

Shift-E

If it started out like that, i didn't notice. Really i noticed it only when the tranny was cold, or (this may sound weird) when my gas was low. and then, it was slipping only maybe 300ish. But I went almost a year on it, and I drive A LOT! I probably did 25k+ km on the tranny, and it died a month or two after i did 1 tranny flush and fill with stuff i shouldn't have used because i forgot to be specific with my uncle (who's my mechanic).

That was before i heard about MaxLife ATF. If it wasn't for that switch, then the flares wouldnt have got as bad as they did and killed the tranny. My car had 300,000 km when the tranny went. No clue if it was changed before, but it lasted pretty long if it wasn't!
Switch to Maxlife and you'll love your car again.