I‘ve had my prelude for about 4 months now. I bought it used with 161,000 miles on it and now it has almost 164,000 on it. One problem that I‘ve had ever since it got cold out (I live in NJ right outside of philly) is that the belts usually squeak when I start the car cold. It also turns over a few times on the first start after not using it for several hours. This morning when I went to start my car it took at least 10 seconds of turning over, it sounded like the battery was almost dead, but it did start. Then I notice my abs light came on. Do I need to do something about the breaks? One other thing I‘ve noticed is my front suspension. It makes these weird creaking noises. If I make a left turn, the front right makes the noise, if I make a right, the front left makes the noise. It seems like I‘m starting to run into a lot of potential problems. The thing is, I don‘t know where I should take my car. Should I go to Honda? Or Pepboys? Where is a reliable place that I can trust?
pepboys is as safe as any. get an estimate for belts,battery and probably some front end parts. it may be too much for such a high mileage car. also get 2 estimates and compare. you will probaly get estimates for everything including an air freshener, but what you need to look at are safety items. brakes, steering etc. ride compnents(shocks and struts) can wait. the ABS light may be sensor-if its stoping good and the brakes check-cover it with tape and DRIVE . you won't have ABS but it'll stop fine. get them checked. c ya
Ok, there is bound to be problems when you purchase a 15 year old vehicle with over 160,000 miles on it. But no worries.Honda's are good cars and as long as you take care of it, the car will last you! It's fairly normal for belts to squeal and have sluggish starts when it is cold. The causes of this are generally old and worn belts and an old battery that needs to be replaced. The ABS light can be caused by a few different things, low fluid, bad sensor, low break pads. This is something you need to take it into a shop for so they can diagnose it properly. Suspension - There are a lot of noises that can be made by a suspension system, shocks, struts, ball joints, axles, bearings. This is also something that needs to be checked out by a shop. I am factory trained by Ford and so I will always reccomend going to the dealership because there you know the people working on your car were trained by Honda. I hope this helps!
You bought an older car with alot of miles onit, its going to have some problems for sure. The entire first paragraph can be seen as relatively normal, its an old car, its hard to start. take it to pepboys or wherever you go and have them test the battery and make sure its still good, do the same with the alternator and the starter. The brakes most likely need checked in some way because of the ABS light. The front end noises are most likely bushings or ball joints. If you know anything about auto repair, you should be able to get the parts at the pepboys or wherever and do the repairs yourself, if not, talk to some people in your area and ask where they go with vehichle issues, a good mechanic isnt very hard to find, our work is passed on by word of mouth. If all else fails go to the dealership, they are expensive by nature, but they could fix you up. The most important thing to remember is to not spend more on repairs than the car is worth, there are about a million preludes out there if this one dosent work out.
