Good God! I'm glad I own a honda....

Helping my brother-in-law today work on his 98
Dodge Neon. Holy hell what a nightmare.
NOTHING makes any sense on that damn thing.

Problem started with a massive oil leak, not
sure where its comin from. Thinking we may
possibly have to drop the trannie, started
removing some of the stuff in the way. This
included:

Starter
Battery
Battery Box
Throttle Assembly
Intake Manifold

At one point we made a tool from a bunch of
elbows to get at some of these damn bolts, it
was frustrating. Then when we put it all back
together, theres this plug that plugs into the
battery box, but doesn't hook up to anything.

Holy. My civic is so straight forward compared
to that thing.

Wow.
t

 

Try changing the alternator or water pump on an '87 Accord and I then
tell me you still love Hondas.

 

Actually I did both of those on my girlfriend's
87 prelude. Talk about easy.

The Alternator was a bit of a bitch the first
time, but once I figured out that you could just
remove the motor mount on that side (a 5 minute
procedure), it was not an issue. Note also that I
did this in the middle of a Winnipeg winter. A
little chilly, but it got done nonetheless.

The water pump took about 2 hours. Now that I
did it once, it would take me less than 30
minutes.

I dunno, I guess it could have something to do
with being familiar with the car, but things on
the hondas just make a helluva lot more sense
than anything I saw on that Neon. YUCK!

t

 

Don't get me wrong I like my new used 02 Civic, but holy crap is this thing
hard to work on compared to my Jeep Grand Cherokee. I still can't find the
oil filter on this think to change my oil ( I do have a manual that shows a
picture of it but have yet to see the thing). The air box is a down right
dumb design with all the screws holding the air box lid on the civic, I
checked it and three of the screws are already stripped on the thing and
this is a certified used Honda only worked on by Honda. Point is Honda's are
very nice cars ,but not without there own issues. I've had my 02 Civc for a
month now and have found many things that I consider cheap or need to be
improved, but do live my MPG compared to the Jeep.

 

Personally, I see no sense at all in having to remove the wheel well to
access the main crankshaft pulley, then taking off the pulley and valve
cover, to then remove the timing belt cover, just to get at that one
last bolt on the water pump... or maybe the Prelude engine isn't as
retarded as the Accord's in that respect.

There's a lot of stuff in this car that makes me swear the engineers
were on crack that day. Like having to drop the crossmember and the
exhaust to take off the oilpan; or a half-shaft with a counterbalance
that's just a hair too big to go through the hook in the strut; or
alternator removal that requires either extreme gymnastics to wiggle
around and across and out the far side of the motor (remember to put the
heater valve on full-hot or it's in the way too), or the removal of the
alt. mounting bracket and an engine mount (it may be easy, but it's
still silly). There's almost nothing that can be removed from the
engine without having to remove a half-dozen otherwise-unrelated devices
*sigh*

 

uh well, on my car there is a hole which allows
you to get in there and access the crank pulley
bolt.

Hey, their compact cars, and they gotta fit all
that crap in there somehow. Once you can figure
out what kinda crack they were smokin that day
in order to fit it all in, its easier to figure out....

 

Oh, yeah.

I went to a classic car auction back in the spring, same one I go to every
year. One thing that always amazes me is the difference between American
cars and European ones. Specifically, the amount of room there is
underneath.

You peek under a 1954 Ford and a 1954 Austin, and the very first thing that
srikes you is how awfully crammed everything is on the Austin. The Ford
will have acres of room and open, flat surfaces everywhere.

Modern cars are so complex that EVERY car is a 1954 Austin.

 

Modern cars are so complex that EVERY car is a 1954 Austin.

Gee, the first car I had was a 54 Austin A40. Don't recall it being hard to
work on. Underpowered, built-in permanent oil leaks, axles that would break
if you sneezed too hard, Lucas generators that burned out on a regular
basis, yes, but hard to work on, no.

Stewart DIBBS

 

But it was pretty tight under there compared to US cars, wasn't it? That
was my point.

 

Actually, i have an 88 civic, and an 87 caravan (with the V6) I also
own an 89 MG metro, and an 89 volvo 340. (I like that era cars - the
metro and volvo are uk spec, and sitting in the UK right now)

So, i got a uk car, a european car, a US car, and an american van.
1.4s for the UK one (twin turno in the metro too - its a custom job)
1.5 civic, and 3l odge.

Easiest to work on, has to be the metro, by far. Everythings in reach,
used to take me 5 minutes to do a complete plug change. The volvo
isn't far behind. the civic's a PITA since the plugs are buried so
deep, The american vehicle, i have to jack up and get at 3 of the
plugs from UNDER the vehicle.

In short, the metro beats out all the other cars for maintainance by a
long way (even with the extras i've put in, like the twin turbos, and
powered hydraulic active suspension, only slightly more awkward than
stock) the volvo just edges out the dodge (spare tyre[full size] for
instance, sits under the bonnet (hood) on a wire rack, with a rubber
belt to keep it in place - no having to empty the boot (trunk) with a
flat like the metro/civic or spend 10 minutes cranking a wheel up/down
like the dodge. If i have a flat, i want to get the wheel changed as
quickly as possible, and get going again, to avoid being hit.

Every time i work on my honda (or dodge) i think to myself "why can't
this be as simple as on my volvo/MG"