edeloach1

I am strongly considering buying this prelude: 1997 base, 167k miles $5500 very good condition.
The only thing I noticed is the blower motor is loud and hardly blows- Can this affect engine cooling? will need fixing or replacing
During the short 10-15 min test drive, the car was silent in idle. Should I hear the fan running?

CLEAN CARFAX with 1 owner, consistant services at honda dealer in Maryland
Car is now in a dealer lot in ga so I don't know exactly what was done is sevices.

thanks

pIERCE

No responses. It is worth 4.9k-5100 at best, but they probably won't let you get away with it for less than 5.3k. You are on the east cost I presume, preludees for some reason are easier to find(more plentiful) over there. Do some searchin man, give yourself another 5-6 months, I know it sounds like a lot, but it will pay off. There are many lower milage cheaper cars out there, but if you're inexperienced and impatient much like I was, you will get an OK car for an OK deal, and thats it...You may be satisfied, but you will regret not looking harder for longer later on, I gaurantee it. Just take a few months of looking on ebay, autotrader.com, and cars.com(those are the three I used). Other popular ones are craiglist and others. Look on them all everyday and you'll find a good deal.

Duster

looked a guessimate up on kelly blue book and from a dealer in excellent cond its saying a little over 7K... as long as its runs and drives good it sounds like a fair deal...
one owner is nice sounds like somebody took care of it so that is definitely a plus.

with a car with 160K + not for sure what the carfax says about the service stops... but think about whether its going to need brakes, tires, clutch, struts when was the last time the belts were changed?....

i replaced the original clutch at 242K in my 89 but let me tell you it was on its very last leg so....

i picked up an 01 and i needed brakes, struts, tires and unfortunately found out the hard way a clutch. I talked him down a little but i wish i would have talked him down more.

if any of those are in question you have leverage to talk the price down.

as far as the fan question. the fan can be moderately loud depending on how hot the engine is. it may take a little more that 15 min to really warm the engine to require the fan to kick on driving.

though if is sat idling for 5 minutes or so i would think that it would come on and you should be able to hear it i believe that when mine comes on at idle it only says on for 30 to 40 seconds...

it is possible for the bearing to be going out of the fan; when motors get out of balance or worn they can cause some extra noise.

quick ebay search turned up a 30 to 50 dollar range for a new fan and shroud assembly. w/out hearing it its a little hard to tell.

again if it rides, shifts, and brakes well sounds like a fair deal.... though keep in mind you might have some shop bills coming if you don't work on stuff yourself when old parts fail..

hope this helps...

put some more info on the car if you want more info... is it 5 spd...etc...

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-->Keep It Real

'89 Prelude SI
'01 Prelude SH

edeloach1

thanks yes its a 5 speed . dealer says hes absolutley firm on price. I still might try talking down because of no proof of timing belt, water pump etc.

Also, carfax show that the car grew up in maryland for first 6 yrs before moving to ga.
How big of an issue is rust?

Wsteun

I wouldn't be spending that kind of money on a car with that mileage.

Everyone will just say "Ohh it's just getting broken in, blah blah blah." But you have to look at other things besides the motor. All of the suspension parts, unless replaced, have 167k on them, along with every other bushing in the car. The parts are going to be worn.

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97 Prelude SH
98 Camaro Z28 *SOLD 4/30*

twisterfx

With those kind of miles the asking price IMO is kind of high. There is a reason he is asking for 5,500, and that reason is the price always gets talked down atleast a few hundred dollars. I would keep lookin till you find the one that really catches your eye. How long have you been looking for? I would also possibly look for a lude that was born in 00' or 01' they are generally around the same price as long as the miles are similar.

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edeloach1

I've been looking off and on for about 2 months. Yeah I'll have to wait on the 5500. Now I am considering integra gsr as well. I will say IMO preludes look a whole lot better but I believe Id get the same entertaining handling + vtec and reliability am I wrong?

twisterfx

imo no you aren't wrong, people just have different tastes and we think the lude looks a whole lot better :P

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Duster

well it depends if it was a daily driver... so if it was and with the miles i would assume it was it saw much snow sand and salt.... like every honda it will start to rust out behind the rear fender well..... i had a quarter panel replaced to fix my cancer.... (check the sig)

but agreeing w/ other posts.... too many miles for that price. there's more out there... keep looking.

__________________
-->Keep It Real

'89 Prelude SI
'01 Prelude SH

edeloach1

The dealer just posted an ad and dropped the price to $5000. If I offer him $4800, would thet be a good price?