What To Do With My Prelude?

MeatProduct

My car is a Prelude 2.2 VTi (UK) tiptronic with 117,000 miles on it. During the cars last dealer service (full Honda service history) a bucnh of problems were flagged. The main problem being a problem I was having with the gearbox when changing through gears (in either full auto or tiptronic). It's a known problem with the auto gearbox and I was told it would cost €2700 for the new part and €600 to fit. Along with this it needs new rear brake disks, brake pads all round, a ball joint for the front right wheel and also a wheel bearing. Coming to about €1200.

I've sourced a used gearbox from the UK for about €750 including delivery and my mechanic will put it in for me for €200.

What I'm wondering is if it's worth all that hassle? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Nick

Stephen

How old is the car? I suppose it comes down to whether you want to hang on to the car or not. I love preludes myself, there seems to be very few of them around here.

Owen

Gotta say I'm a huge fan of Preludes too. If you love it enough, you can repair it, but it's down to whether or not you plan to keep it.

MeatProduct

Thank you for your replies! It's a '98. I really enjoy driving it, it's very comfortable for long trips (which I do a lot), love the cruise control and can overtake quite well when needs be.

I was actually thinking of selling it to get a more fuel efficient car but the way I'm driving it I get about 33mpg which doesn't seem too bad. I imagine if I get the gear box fixed and perhaps replace some other parts like the exhaust that it will also reduce the emmisions (hopefully) so I don't feel as guilty when I'm driving it around. (alough I'm getting an electric scooter in 2 weeks time for the commute to my office).



Nick

CarLover

Keep it. Once you fix the problems will probably last another 15 years.

Preludes are great cars...especially the 2.2. And they're unique enough to bother keeping on our roads...

MeatProduct

Well after those comments I think I'll hang on to it and hope that the replacement gearbox lasts a good long while.

Thank you for your comments.

Nick

Atomic Pineapple

is the gearbox issues with the synchros? as in does it crunch when your changing gears at high revs?

MeatProduct

draffodx wrote: »

is the gearbox issues with the synchros? as in does it crunch when your changing gears at high revs?

It's a jerking between gear changes, usually when cold. It's like the auto clutch is pressed for a long time between changes and then jerks into gear. Also does it when going down gears. I've read a good bit about this issue and Honda seems to have really messed up with using sub standard parts in the gearbox. I've read of people getting the new gearbox just to have it fail on them again later. Some people got the manual conversion. I don't know anyone that would do that conversion for me though.

Nick

JHMEG

Did you change the gearbox oil regularly? When I was doing my research before I bought the Accord automatic, the one thing that kept coming up time and time again was to change the oil at least as regularly as the manual stated (every 48k miles) and to *only* use Honda ATF.

MeatProduct

JHMEG wrote: »

Did you change the gearbox oil regularly? When I was doing my research before I bought the Accord automatic, the one thing that kept coming up time and time again was to change the oil at least as regularly as the manual stated (every 48k miles) and to *only* use Honda ATF.

Hi JHMEG,

I had assumed the Honda dealership would have handled that but they told me that they didn't do it normally, and only did it on the last service because I specified it so that could well be the problem. However I did read on various Prelude forums that no matter what you do it will eventually fail

Nick

cantdecide

For the record, I would have said keep it too.

JHMEG

MeatProduct wrote: »

I had assumed the Honda dealership would have handled that but they told me that they didn't do it normally,

I really don't know why the bloody dealers can't service cars to the manufacturers specs!:mad:

I didn't have that particular gearbox in my car, but mine was American built (it was an Accord Coupe, all of which, like Civic Coupes, are built there. None built in Europe or Japan), and there are loads of US forums covering the model I had as it was a very popular car there (still is). The one theme was coming thru on everything I read about automatics: change the transmission oil and it will last, don't and it won't.

FWIW the manual transmissions are more robust, and the dealers def don't change the oil in those. Maybe they assumed the auto was the same. Not sure it's a good policy either as the manuals can get sticky gears after a while too.

I changed the oil in mine at 48k miles. The drain plug is magnetic, and there was some about of sh!t stuck to it. I had to clean it off with bog roll before I put it back in.

Rowley Birkin QC

Big fan of Preludes here too, best of luck with it.

MeatProduct

Ah thanks guys, good to head all those positives

JHMEG, well after hearing that I'm really going to make sure the ATF is changed regularly. How ofter do you think? Every 20,000 miles or so?

Nick

cpoh1

If your car is in great nick body and engine wise hold onto it, otherwise if you really love the prelude why not buy a manual vti or better still typeS? I had a typeS for a whiel before and its easily one of the most underrated cars around, as fast as my integra typeR but with half leather and serious comfort.

MeatProduct

cpoh1 wrote: »

If your car is in great nick body and engine wise hold onto it, otherwise if you really love the prelude why not buy a manual vti or better still typeS? I had a typeS for a whiel before and its easily one of the most underrated cars around, as fast as my integra typeR but with half leather and serious comfort.

I've been considering that too Cpoh1 but I think if I was to change cars I'd get an S2000, 2001/2002.

Nick

JHMEG

MeatProduct wrote: »

JHMEG, well after hearing that I'm really going to make sure the ATF is changed regularly. How ofter do you think? Every 20,000 miles or so?

20k wouldn't be a bad thing, but what does the manual say?