Frying pan into the fire.

[boater sam]

Just think of all that wasted time driving and sitting in traffic Trevor.  We must have been crazy. Our small fleet of vans did over a million miles every year and we were paying engineers to drive them!
I still shudder when I think of the fuel bills.

[Radio Fixer]

Driven Honda's for over 30 years and all have been excellent. Some, an Accord Aerodeck (estate) did > 100,000 miles and others less. Not much done to them other than servicing by the dealer.

Latest is a Jazz Sport with the 1.5 L engine and non Hybrid. Wanted to avoid that and turbo anything. Very likeable car with loads of internal space. This has done since new, in just over a year, about 3000 miles and has had 2 oil and filter changes. The first, not long after we had it, was because the Service Plan said it should be done and it was a warranty thing. Slightly alarmed by the twice yearly oil and filter change advice as I cant do this myself anymore and getting it to and from the dealer is a hassle even once a year.

Being cynical how do you know you get a new filter? I understand that they can suck the oil out of the dip stick tube so maybe the filter which I cant see (underneath a bottom cover that probably has to be removed) would just be left on an extra 6 monthly.

So I will just have to hope that Honda knows what its doing with the annual.

Gary

[Pye Man]

Everyone I have known who has had a Honda says how good they are.

They seem to hold their value well.

[Murphyv310]

Glad to see Honda sticking to old fashioned servicing routines. Don't skimp on oil changes as it will save money in the long run, keep to what they say. In fact an annual filter change would be fine. Draining or sucking out 90% of contaminated oil at six months is better than leaving it in so I'd not worry overly the filter is done annually.

[Murphyv310]

Pleased to report that all the cleaning of gum, varnish and sludge has been a total success. The big thing was the choked oil way in the cam cover. I don't see any reference to this oil way online and it's actually hard to see especially with sludge on the cover. I'm just wondering how well this is known about, considering it lubricates the chain it could well be the cause of premature chain and tensioner failure.
I've been stripping engines all my days and have found many little things that are not mentioned in workshop manuals, both official and the likes of Haynes. At least I've now a nice quiet engine which is pulling very nice indeed.

[Pye Man]

Reminds me of the cam lubrication problem on the Ford Pinto OHC engine – now that’s a noise I have not heard in a while!

Anyway, pleased to hear you are getting somewhere (in more ways than one) with it, Trevor.

[Murphyv310]

Oh indeed the early versions Pintos in Capri's and Cortina's
One of my colleagues in Clydesdale had a capri that had new spray bar, camshaft and rockers. After another camshaft failure he fitted an aftermarket rocker kit with needle rollers, it worked well but the valve gear sounded odd to say the least. He had the car for around 10 years before it succumbed to tin worm but the engine lasted fine after the modification.

[Bushbaby]

I remember having a Honda Accord 2.0 as my first company car in 1996. I had it 5 years and 86000 miles and the only issue I ever has with it was a static discharge from the nylon seat every time I got out of the car and shut the door! Absolutely terrific cars.

[Craig]

From what I've read, if you want reliability then buy Toyota.

Let me tell you a story. My wife's company car at one point was a Toyota with the T3 diesel engine. It really was a bit of a catapult, fast, responsive and quiet. And of course complete Toyota service history.

After she was up to change her company car we bought the Toyota from the company for the residual value at 60k miles.

We then put a further 50k on it, again serviced at Toyota, whereupon at 110k it was really a pale shadow of the original performance. Diagnosis was carbonised cylinders that had pushed the head gasket up, and exhaust gases were leaking into the coolant (which really stunk of diesel).

Now Toyota knew that this was a problem with the T3, and failed to inform us that the engine guarantee had been extended from 70k to 100k miles. At 110k miles the Toyota company chose to walk away, or even contribute to the repair, and the Toyota garage quoted us £6k to fit a new engine. Which rendered the care valueless.

Since diesels are known to go on forever, we were cheerfully expecting this car to go on well into 200k miles. Not Toyota's design.

So - Toyota reliability? Ha! I would not buy one of those again, ever.

Craig

[Nick]

I'm still driving my '93 TDi200 Defender 90. Strong as an ox, starts instantly every day. 150K miles. No oil leaks or smoke...

Mind you, 100 quid a day to take it into London (should I ever be mad enough to want to).