98 civic rear upper arm

Hi all,

Took my car in for the old 48 point inspection yesterday. Several items
of note came up:

1. Left rear upper arm - bushings are worn.

Does it make sense to replace the whole part? or just the bushings? After
looking at the shop manual, this doesn't seem like a very difficult job
either way, just have the right tools to press out and press in the
bushings would be important. What are the opinions out there?

2. Front right upper control arm - Ball joint loose

Funny thing is, I replaced this ball joint 2 years ago, not the control
arm just the ball joint. I will have to do an inspection of my own, but I
found out the parts are not nearly as expensive as they were 2 years ago,
it was $200 CAD for OEM and now its $118. Weird

3. Big dent in oil pan - oops, I guess thats from the time I smoked a big
piece of frozen dirt on a gravel road. They seemed concerned it would
interfere with the oil pickup, but its been like this for over 100000kms
with no apparent problems. When I get around to it, I will bang that dent
outta the oil pan while I am doing the oil pan seal.

Anyways, all told, the above equals about $200 CAD in parts from the
dealership. Not too bad I think.

t

 

you can replace just the bushing if you have the right bearing press.
but it's highly unusual for these bushings to be so badly worn they need
replacement, especially on a comparatively young car like yours. do you
have extreme mileage and/or bad roads? if so, it's much more likely the
main bushing on the lower arm is a much more pressing issue. go to
tegger.com for replacement advice.

if you've already replaced it with non-oem, which you have to had done
as the oem jounts are only available with the arm assembly complete,
then it's likely an inferior part. i'd just replace the whole with oem.

how big is big? theoretically, yes, it can cause a pickup problem, but
it needs to be severe to be a likely issue.

sounds to me like they're "fishing" for labor-intensive work to keep the
junior techs employed.

 

Thanks for the reply Jim.

I have a pretty good relationship with the dealership, and they actually
know that I would be planning to do the work myself.

I spoke with the tech that did the inspection, he said that the bushings
on the upper arm were so worn that the arm itself was leaning against the
frame of the car.

I also asked what kind of shape the main bushing was in, he said it was
fine.

I'm in Winnipeg, the roads are pretty shitty up here. The car has
230000km on it now, I expect that this problem may have something to do
with the time my girlfriend drove the car 110kms with the back wheel
almost falling off (the lugs were loose and she couldn't figure that out,
duh!)

As for the balljoint, I would tend to agree with you that the part or the
installation must have been defective. It was so much less expensive than
replacing the whole upper control arm though. I have learnt my lesson...


The dent in the pan is pretty big. But its been like that since about
80000kms and the car runs great with no oil light on or anything. I think
its ok, but I do plan on fixing it. A thourough inspection of the pickup
and everything else down there is in order.

Thanks again, any further thoughts on these issues is greatly
appreciated!

Terry

 

About 18 months ago I replaced nearly all of the control arm bushings on my
'88 Civic. I purchased parts from http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com and I
found that purchasing the bushings for the rear upper control arms
separately was just a few dollars less than purchasing the whole arm. This
was also true for the rear compensator arms. I decided that the small
difference in price wasn't worth it even though I had a hydraulic shop press
available to me and just purchased the new arms. Now for the front and rear
lower control arms this was not the case. The bushings were quite a bit
less expensive than the whole arm so I pressed in new bushings. The car
drives much better now with a smoother feel. OK, for your vehicle the
bushings are around $35 while the whole rear upper arm is around $41. I
guess you have to ask how much your time is worth but I would still get a
new arm.

Eric

 

Thanks for the input, I will be going for the full upper arm, not just the
bushings now.

t