Advice on a 98 Accord

So I have a 98 Accord EX V6 with 141k miles. I've always taken good
care of the car but recently the transmission went on the car. Dealer
wants almost $4000 to put in a remanufactured transmission or $3000 for
a used transmission with 85k miles and 1 year warranty. I asked about
TSB's for the car and the dealer said there was one but since the car
is so far above the 100k warranty that they can't do the exchange.

Although I knew the trade in value would be dismal due to the high
mileage and expensive repair they quoted me $500.

Now I'm looking for advice on what to do next. The engine is strong,
the car recently passed emissions here in MA (last month), has leather
seats, CD, moon-roof all the EX loaded extras, but it also has a big
scratch on one side of the car (life in the big city).

So I'm looking for advice on what to do next with the car.

1) Take the trade in value of the car.

2) Do the repair then try to turn around and sell it. I'm imagining
with the high mileage and scratch I may recover the cost of the repair
and a bit more but not much. The KBB for a "fair" version of my car
with 141k miles is $5620.

3) Sell the car for parts. How does one go about this? What could I get
for a car like this?

4) Donate the car to charity for a tax write-off... although I've heard
new rules limit how much you can get for this option.

5) Other options I haven't thought of?

Any and all advice much appreciated thanks in advance,

MikeK

 

Just curious as to why your tranny went at 141K. Did you change the
ATF - if so how often and did you use honda ATF.

I thought my tranny was going - all it needed was a speed sensor - a
local tranny guy offered to fix it for under $2K and he would replace
all of the soft parts - clutches and so forth and any bearings that
needed replacing. Never ever get the dealer to do anything - way too
pricey - they have a lot of boat payments to make.

 

Sorry - another bit here - don't go with the reman tranny unless you
know who remanufactured it - ditto with getting it rebuilt - way too
many people out there reman/rebuilding tranny's who don't know what
they are doing. As far as keeping the car - what kind of condition is
the rest of the vehicle in? any rust?

My 97 auto tranny accord has 192K on it - no problems other than timing
sensor in tranny $60 - hope to put another 50 to 75 K on it maybe
another 100K before buying another.

good luck

 

I followed dealer maintenance for most of the life of the car. Recently
my job situation changed so I haven't been putting nearly as many miles
on it as before, and also why a $2-4K repair job is particularly
painful.

 

So unfortunately the car has a big (wide) scratch above one of the rear
wheels that's started to rust. Other than a few minor dings thats the
only major exterior blemish. The interior is perfect, just got new
breaks, relatively new tires, the battery was replaced a couple years
ago, the tires are probably at the midpoint of their useful lifespan,
the enigne runs great, it's painful to hear the car is only worth $500
in a trade in.

Thanks, I could use some automotive good luck, I've had some bad luck
with this car after I hit about 90k miles... I've been religious about
the maintenance, but I still got screwed multiple times. I've posted a
few of my trials and tribulations to these news groups in the past.

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.autos.makers.honda/browse_frm/thread/2b7bcecf04920be8/ba8dfaa26be02bf0?lnk=st&q=mike_pk%40hotmail&rnum=1#ba8dfaa26be02bf0
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.autos.makers.honda/browse_frm/thread/296cecc373a4bf81/cb0fda7532ad5422?lnk=st&q=mike_pk%40hotmail&rnum=2#cb0fda7532ad5422

Thanks!
-Mike