damn, sorry man

 

Wow that really sucks...the first Coupe I owned was a 94 Sherwood Green and I Lovvvvvved it...stick with yours! It's worth the money! That's such a pretty color, and its so fun to wax b/c of the awesome way it sparkles. Unfortunately mine was totalled and let me tell you, that car will save your life!! I'm proud of that. But hey, listen to this- only two weeks after I bought my 95 Red Coupe (to replace the 94) it started misbehaving and I found out that the engine was just completely shot. I had to have a used type II swappd in (had less miles on it at least) and it ran me about $4k!!! At least the paint and interior on the car were/are mint, so it all turned out ook but DAMN those IGNORANT ex-owners!!!!!! I feel you! It can be so frustrating...

 

yeah mine is sherwood green as well. But these legends over here are so rare, especially the coupes, that you basically have to grab what comes onto the market..unless you wanna wait ages. It took me over one and a half years for a decent sample to come up at a reasonable price. I even considered getting the Eunos800M miller cycle engine.

The first time I tried to buy a a honda legend some years ago, it was a 1995 fully imported JDM model with only 37k miles!! It was absolutely mint but expensive. The first time you sit in one..*gush* it just felt perfect, you know?

The deal fell through cos bank didnt like privately imported models (bad resale apparently). The sellers were stupid - everything was ready to go, and they blabbed to the financiers that it was an import *bump* game over. Now i think ive spent the same amount of money in maintenance all up.

Bottom line: get the BEST sample you can afford!! Despite all this - everytime you get in, or look at the car at the right angle, you temporarily forget ur troubles...

 

..

yeah im in Perth and did a hose the other day coming off the freeway, have to get some hoses from Japan (4 week turnaround) and dont know if i have cooked my head gasket yet...shi/t.

 

Welcome to the club Mate, I feel for you. I just went through that sh*t myself.

Right, this is what you gotta do:
- replace thermostat
- replace radiator cap
- replace all hoses
- inspect radiator, and change if necessary
- totally replace all coolant with honda stuff
- test compression, etc. for bad head gasket.

if you dont do all this in one go, you end up replacing coolant like freakin 10x cos one problem pops up after another, and labout+coolant cost just adds up dude.

- then replace transmission fluid, cos they get real hot and contribute to heating. YOU MUST TREAT HEATING PROBLEMS SERIOUSLY.

BTW- did you just buy that silver coupe that had like 165k on the clock? I think I inspected that one with the original owner in Sydney - it had like this fantastic log book right?

 

shi/t

BAD NEWS

Have cooked the head, apparently the mechanic reckons near AUD$5000 to fix it and may even take up to 4 weeks for hoses from Japan. This guy would not try to rip me off but dont know if he knows where to get this **** cheaper. I need to rerplace the whole head gasket and pistons and shi/t apparently. I know nothing about cars. Have also been told i can get a second hand engine for my 91 for $2750 at a auto wreckers...

Advice please.

 

Thats f*king bullsh*t. If the head is damaged then you better replace the engine. Here's what to do:

- Ring Honbits in Sydney: when I called them a few months ago, they were willing to sell a Legend engine with warranty for around $800, though they were unsure of the mileage. $2k-$3k for a used unreconditioned engine is raping you silly. Shop around. There is no way labour for replacing an engine will cost you another $4k.

- The better alternative is to get someone to import you a JDM engine with low mileage, and install that.

Tell me how you go, and goodluck!

 

...

thx 4 the input.

I have rung up alot of wreckers in Perth and have got about 5 engines between 2-3k, no less than 2k will try honbits in sydney but the one in perth had 1 for $2200.

 

You dont have to get the engine in Perth - look Australia wide. There is infact very low chance that they are sourced in Perth- in fact, probably from elsewhere. What wreckers do is buy from someone else - all it costs them is transporting the engine ($100-$200).

BTW- how do they know all that damage has resulted - have they opened up the engine yet?

 

Spoke to my mechanic who is trustworthy, because he is a client of my old mans (who is a finacial advisor/tax man) and wouldnt dare try and *** us over. He says that definelty go with a new engine because to rebuild it could cost 4-5k wiht the amount of damage ive done. He seems to think it will take around 6 hrs just to pull the head of it and he reckons the cylinders will have scores on them and the pistons will be shot.

Can u recommend any Honda dealers wreckers eastern states?

I will call Honbits Syd and see what they have.

Thanks.

 

I am surprised so much damage has been done from a broken hose! Usually there is just HG damage. That once happened to me on a camry engine - and I REALLY burned it. But only HG was damaged.

Besides Honbits, you can also try Victorian Jap importers as well. There seems to be an unusual number of Legends in Vic - I almost bought a whole privately imported Jap Legend there once a few years back. I even saw a few legends being wrecked as well.

If the price is right (i.e. cheap) I would try a used engine. However, you are still taking some risk since you dont know the exact condition. If you're going to spend $5-6k, I would consider a proper rebuild, since you know it would last. For example, you can get paeco to get you forged pistons for US$700. Really depends if you just wanna get by, or take it to the next level.

Maybe you can just try a cheap engine replacement to get you by (make sure to get it all done at one place with good warranty!). And then used your bad engine to rebuild it properly over time...

 

They usually take your old engine as a swap and use what u need. I think i will need to use my emissions and manifold because they are different in jap versions, but apart from that they meet compliance i am told.

 

Got my car Back!

After two weeks off-road - my car is back. Add another A$500 for cost of inner tie-rod, another coolant flush, and top radiator hose change.

I told the Stealer to freakin bleed the air properly - yeah yeah they said. First 10mins of driving - AIRLOCK. Temperature spike. Surge in reservoir levels. So begins the cycle again..*sigh*.

 

I bought an engine from Honbits for $2200 add $800 labour, work out just over $3000....

 

alot of people that bought there legend used has done the $$$ matainences like you. i know i did. i spent 4000 in repairs and matainence to my car when i got it 2 1/2 years ago. but now i love it. no problems since i fixed everythin the first year. ive got 40k on it since i got it

 

WTnLegend,

I suspect you are right. A lot of my non-scheduled costs is due to neglect of previous owner. I suppose us legend owners are perfectionists - we want everything right. Hence the reason we spend the $$$. Many people would just run the car into the ground. I just dread anything else that may come up...

DarthLegend:

Congrats! thats $2000 less than your original quotes. Did you get a decent warranty from them, and was it an australian engine or JDM sourced? $800 labour is dirt cheap! Only allocated 10 hour job??
:eek2:

 

..

Got a Japanese model, a more advanced engine than my original 91 was not sure which year they changed it. Apparently the engine is is very good condition only problem now is that every time i drop down from 2nd thru 1st there is a noticeable jerk so I may need to get a transmission service. The labour was $800 but it cost me $1300 all up with the new parts i needed and a radiator service to clean up the blockage caused by the cracked head.