Cars and their known problems (38)

A wee bit of advice needed if anyone can help me out I'd appreciate it. So the other day all the electrics went in my crappy car (renault say no more) so its been got rid of phew! Now I am VERY LIMITED with cash for a new ride around and have found a car locally that i'm going to look at tomorrow afternoon. It's a honda civic nothing suped up just a 1.4 97 18 mths nct on it, so I'm wondering does anyone know what to look for in terms of known problems if there are any to watch out for on this particular model/make of car. I've done a little research myself and they seem to be quite economical on petrol and fairly reliable ....... any tit bits of wisdom are welcome.........

I know nothing about cars,all i can say is try to bring someone with you that can check it out properly,went to view a car once,it looked immaculate but was in bits mechanically,i had brought my cousin,who knows everything about cars..and he could spot loads of faults straight away...best of luck with it B...dont start me on Renaults...

I don't really know anyone who knows too much about cars my dad lives in Kildare lol and my stepdad is uselsess with cars I lucked out huh

Trying to get a friends fianceé to come with me he's a mechanic but no joy yet. Is your renault still gathering dust somewhere or what did you do with it in the end?

Japanese cars tend to be pretty reliable. Their only downfall is when they overheat, the cylinder heads tend to warp.

So there's a couple of things to look out for.

1. White smoke (steam) from the exhaust. Make sure the engine temperature gets up to normal and stays there when you test drive it.

2. Oil in the cooling system. Just make sure the water in the overflow bottle is not black, brown or dirty and that it's not low. Ideally, just the colour of the antifreeze. Look for signs of recent work under the bonnet.

3. Check the oil level on the dipstick. (Water can get into the oil too, the opposite from 2!) If it looks far too high then there could be a problem.....and I mean far too high.

But my guess is that if it was only put through an NCT 6 months ago, then the emissions are fine and the car is tickity boo.

Like I said, the Japanese cars are pretty bullet proof! Now I have to go and get a new back box for the exhaust of my Ford Mondeo. It fell off yesterday.

My bike has a slow puncture

Rear axil main bushings are a common fail...
Also check for brake pipe corrosion at the rear up and around the fuel tank area...

Regards...Lard...

I wouldn't be an expert on cars either but another option is to try the Vehicle History check done by AA . I've never used it so don't know how accurate it is or how much it costs . Might be worth a closer look Serene G . In any case though best of luck .