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When to change a 10 year old car.

T

Tafia

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Location
North Wales
Car
Accord diesel
No doubt others have had the same issue: my Accord Exec diesel is now 10 years old and running very well. Good mpg, low road tax, all the toys etc. 82,000 trouble free miles

Problem. I am guessing it is now worth about £2000 if that and my fear is that if anything electronic breaks, as it surely will sooner or later, it will cost far more than the car is worth to fix.

Not sure how much a new exhaust system would be if that needed replacement, for example.

How does one balance ones reluctance to trade in such an excellent car whilst it still has a value against the possibility that if something does go wrong it could end up at the breakers yard.

It's a shame we get so attached to our cars; they can be like an old friend which has never let us down.

Thoughts?

T.
 
You could trade it in for a stupidly low price and spend a few grand on top to get a newer car that, sooner or later will need work doing to it.

Or you could stop worrying about "what if x or y breaks" enjoy it while you have it and leave the decision making till something does go pop.

Me, I drive them till they die.
 
^^^^ I'll second that.

I'm in the exact same position as you. I've had my Accord for 10 years and it's still going strong.

I did toy with the idea of a new car but a recent job move has meant I'm doing mostly motorway miles. Why spend money on a new motor to put more miles on it and lose more in the long run? Especially when I know the Accord is reliable.

After weighing up the pros and cons it was a simple decision....spend a large amount on a new car, or spend a little (in comparison) as things go wrong with my current reliable steed.
 
Keep it till it dies, you might go before it does. LOL FROM ANOTHER 10 year old owner. with 100,000mile lead on you, and still going strong. 188,099 on the clock. Nothing on the market to match it.
 
I've just bought a 10 year old honda accord, I have more confidence in that than a 10 year old vw/audi/bmw esp for electrics
 
Thanks folks.

All good points, well, made.

Had a small scare a couple of years ago when I lost half the dash board power. Main dealer ( Toyota, they are much closer than the Honda people and service my wife's car) told me the fault codes said it was the ABS unit and it would cost £1600 for the unit plus labour and VAT.

I put the query on these forums and you chaps suggested their interpretations were wrong and it was more likely to be one of two connectors behind the dash. Took it to an auto spark and he fixed it for £200.

Cheers

T.
 
edgeoftime said:
Keep it till it dies, you might go before it does. LOL FROM ANOTHER 10 year old owner. with 100,000mile lead on you, and still going strong. 188,099 on the clock. Nothing on the market to match it.
Click to expand...
Have you bought an exhaust system and if so how much did it cost?
 
My neighbour chopped in his 4 year old car for a new one as it was "starting to cost money". He meant it needed 2 tyres and a back box.

My Polish brother in law, on the other hand got himself a 12 year old mondeo, that he considered to be just run-in. This was the time of the scrappage deal in the UK and its still going strong.
 
My Accord Coupe is 15 years old and is probably more reliable than a 5 year old BMW/Audi.

A 10 year old 7th gen that's been looked after is surely still a 'serious player'?
 
I will second that, I was driving today into London and my car was faultless and the weather was poo.

so much so I question my sanity in wanting to sell it.

A 7th gen that is looked after is certainly not dead pan and they are incredible value. I just decided to sell up to get a newer fresher motor.

I might regret it big time but time will tell.
 
Dude do not worry too much about the car, if we all went after 'What if'S' nothing would get done. My car is an 05 with 108k and does not miss a beat. I'm hoping for another 5 years at least ad when it does give me trouble i'll ***ess my options then. Trust me pal have more faith in these cars. Honda's first attempt at the diesel engine is not bad IMO.
 
my 54 plate 2.2 exec is still going strong. with 154k miles it certainly does not show her age. I have even had people who own new merc's saying how surprised they where at the mileage and age of the car for how refined it was.

Im only considering changing mine as i was a tourer for the extra space for the kids
 
Mines a 2003 2.4 with 83k and I'd decided that it wasn't worth changing. I have spent on it recently; new starter, new rear caliper, new dvd player for the sat nav and now the air con isn't blowing cold. That in itself wouldn't bother me however the rear arches are now starting to go. I believe this to be a problem unique to the tourer and something to do with the spot welds on the arch. I'm not sure what to do.
 
Because of the replies here, I am going to put my Accord in for the MOT and see what happens. I was thinking of a pre MOT and if anything major was needed, was going to change it whilst it still has some value as a part ex but I now see that would likely be a mistake. If it needs fixing, I'll have it fixed.

A few weeks after I bought it and whilst is was still under guarantee I put it into the Honda dealer to check it over and have the "big" service. They overfilled the oil but found nothing else wrong. I later went back to them for another service and MOT. They called me to say the car would not pass an MOT as the discs and pads all round needed renewal. I could see the rear discs were corroded and agreed to them being changed but told them to leave the fronts alone as there was nothing wrong with them.

"Our technicians are highly trained and insist the car will not pass an MOT with those front discs"

"Leave them alone", said I. I see nothing wrong with them.

They took the car to another garage for MOT and it passed with no comment on the front discs. Since then it has passed four more MOT's at two different garages with three different testers and still no one has mentioned the front discs!

I do suspect however that the fuel filter has not been changed in all that time as the fault codes mentioned above indicated a partially blocked filter. I have read it is a tricky job and often Honda techies don't bother to change it.

Must get that looked at.

Thanks again to all.

T.
 
I am in the same boat. My car is 10 years old and my wife wants to replace it. I want to keep it until it dies..... It has done 160k and is still going strong. She just wants something new as it is perceived (by her) to be safer even though she doesnt even drive the Accord.

I wonder if this 'replace if older than 10 year' mentality is because some recovery companies wont cover a car older than 10 years when driving in europe. I am with Greenflag and they wont give me european cover when the car is over 10 years old.
 
My car is 10 years old as well and currently has 168 K on it.

I have had no major issues since I bought her at 6 years old and 80K,

I hope to run her for a another five years minimum, and I have put money aside for the two main cost possibilities that could be either the exhaust or clutch.

But at the moment she is running perfectly.
I do observe much shorter oil and service intervals to account for her age and to prevent undue wear and tear (it gives me piece of mind also).

Keep it and put the money you save aside every month the trusty Accord continues to do its job is more money for when you do have to buy a new motor,
 
Thanks for all replies, folks,

I have booked the MOT for next week. One issue we have is that we don't use our cars a lot and they can get a little rust in the works, Sometime the handbrake can catch for a while when I move off so I park it with the brake off and in gear.

My wife's Corolla (sorry) had started to get some rust underneath according to the dealer and was also due to need £800 spending on new rear suspension bits, again according to the main dealer!!

They said it was all due to lack of use.

Better to wear out than rust out, I guess

Apllies to humans too!
 
There's' a really good servicing guide written by Fahad which details how to replace a pre-facelift diesel fuel filter (with pics). It really isn't such a bad job!
 
Can yoi say where the guide is,please? Is there a link?

Cheers

T.

Tiberious SG said:
My car is 10 years old as well and currently has 168 K on it.

I have had no major issues since I bought her at 6 years old and 80K,

I hope to run her for a another five years minimum, and I have put money aside for the two main cost possibilities that could be either the exhaust or clutch.

But at the moment she is running perfectly.
I do observe much shorter oil and service intervals to account for her age and to prevent undue wear and tear (it gives me piece of mind also).

Keep it and put the money you save aside every month the trusty Accord continues to do its job is more money for when you do have to buy a new motor,
Click to expand...
I did have a price check from the two main trade price guides. One says the trade in value is between £2390 and £1560. Dealer retail is £3690.

Other one says trade in is between £2325 and £1800. Dealer retail £ 3500 to £3900.

Can't lose much even if it became beyond economic repair.

Just bought a newish car (2 year old) for my wife but will keep the Accord.

New car is so different to drive; petrol engine which we bought due to our short journey styles not being right for a DPF, is very quiet so I was overrevving it, gearstick and handbrake in the "wrong " places so my hand didn't fall on them naturally etc. My wife has mastered it but I can't be bothered. Accord much easier with low down power whilst the petrol engine with similar power needs more revs. Accord cheaper to tax too!!

Regards to all
 
Tafia said:
Thanks for all replies, folks,

I have booked the MOT for next week. One issue we have is that we don't use our cars a lot and they can get a little rust in the works, Sometime the handbrake can catch for a while when I move off so I park it with the brake off and in gear.

My wife's Corolla (sorry) had started to get some rust underneath according to the dealer and was also due to need £800 spending on new rear suspension bits, again according to the main dealer!!

They said it was all due to lack of use.

Better to wear out than rust out, I guess

Apllies to humans too!
Click to expand...
Buy the KYB products for the corolla mate, identical items to the OE but it cost no more than 40% of Toyota.
 
Jon_G,

Good gawd is almost all I can say. What a job. Big thanks for the link.

Best.

T
 
If, as you say, the car is running well then I wouldn't rush into replacing the fuel filter. It won't actually cause harm, as filters won't fail so as to let dirt through but will instead become restricted and cause low fuel pressure running problems (which the ECU will detect, bring up the warning light and record the diagnostic trouble codes P1065 and/or P0087). The car will not simply stop dead without warning.

While it is on the service schedule for replacement every 25k miles (and supposed to be drained during interim services), this is very conservative. I'd done nearly 50k miles in my car before replacing it and that was only because I had a running problem and needed to rule out the FF as the cause... it made no difference. I've done around 30k miles since.

I've since replaced 2 fuel filters on other pre-facelift diesel Accords because of fuel pressure problems which did fix the problems 100%, BUT in both cases they were aftermarket filters.

Only ever fit the OEM Honda (Bosch, part number ending in 442) fuel filter, others can often be absolute pants and often do cause problems.
 
Jon_G,

Thanks for this Jon_G,

I have seen the code for a partially blocked filter on diagnostics print out from a non-Honda main dealer but they thought it meant a faulty ABS unit. Luckily I put the code on these forums and was told it meant a filter problem. I doubt it has ever been changed or even drained.

No sign of an engine management light yet. If it did get too much water in it I guess that could stop the car, no?

Cheers

T
 
Oh yeah, water is a no-no! The filter unit has a drain underneath to let out accumulated water... if it's the correct Bosch part then you should be able to undo this a little with your fingers and let out, say, 100cc or so to remove the water.

It isn't unusual for stored codes to be found on the ECU. Delete them off and then only take them as current/active if they come back.
 
Update. Accord failed the MOT but no biggie. The nearside anti-roll bar drop link had come apart.

Oddly the same thing happened two years on the rear of the car. The cup that should retain the top bush had come off. I see a nylon sleeve which should be inside the cup.

Might be worth checking yours before an MOT.

Chap said otherwise the car was sound but a little rusty underneath. I guess I don't drive it enough!

Thanks to all

T.
 
Jon_G said:
Oh yeah, water is a no-no! The filter unit has a drain underneath to let out accumulated water... if it's the correct Bosch part then you should be able to undo this a little with your fingers and let out, say, 100cc or so to remove the water.

It isn't unusual for stored codes to be found on the ECU. Delete them off and then only take them as current/active if they come back.
Click to expand...
Any danger of letting air into the system by doing that?

Thanks for the tip.
 
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