What's up everyone? Bought a black '98 last weekend. It's an automatic. I'm coming over from driving American cars for quite a few years and I miss the torque of my old LT1 but I wanted something different.
I'm waiting on the title so I haven't hardly driven the car. Current challenges are getting the code for the radio, replacing the driver-side mirror glass and support (the motor is still good) and I'm in the process of claying the paint and applying several coats of wax.
After that, I'll be doing the timing belt and water pump because the car's right at 107k miles. I don't want to risk having a big problem. Been turning my own wrenches for quite a few years so don't anticipate any problems. I'll take it slow and allocate a whole weekend if necessary.
I just met a guy last weekend with a 1998 auto 'lude. He has owned it since it was new and now it has 181,000 mi and his SS tranny HAS NEVER GIVEN HIM ANY PROBLEMS. So they all aren't prone to fail.
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i was talking to a girl who owns a red auto lude, she had owned it from new and never used the sport shift. afyer havihg the lude for 4 years with out using the ss she began using the sport shift. within one year of her using the ss she had trans failure. After she had gotten it fixed she had told me that the dealership told her her toque converter went and had she not used the ss her trans would have been fine.
I dunno, i stay away from autos, but her experience has made me wonder if the trans only fail becuase the ss or if they fail becuse they suck regardless of ss use.
well to help you out with the radio code. Honda now has a place on their website to find the radio code. So now you can just find it from home https://radio-navicode.honda.com/
i was talking to a girl who owns a red auto lude, she had owned it from new and never used the sport shift. afyer havihg the lude for 4 years with out using the ss she began using the sport shift. within one year of her using the ss she had trans failure. After she had gotten it fixed she had told me that the dealership told her her toque converter went and had she not used the ss her trans would have been fine.
I dunno, i stay away from autos, but her experience has made me wonder if the trans only fail becuase the ss or if they fail becuse they suck regardless of ss use.
i think they fail more for the ss. i've met other people with 150k+ on the auto that have never had an issue, but they also never use the ss. i personally don't see the point of ss - although when i rent a car with it i abuse the crap out of it, i'd never use ss it if it were my own car (honda or not).
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well either way welcome to the lude family.hope we can help with any future problems or questions. happy luding
Thanks for the kind thoughts!
I tried to use the radio code website but you have to have the phone number of the owner that's in Honda's database...and it ain't me, so I'm screwed . I'll work something out.
This isn't the first auto I've had, just the first auto prelude. It seems like people criticize autos on every car. I bought a 2004 Accord V6 and everyone said "That Auto is no good!". Never gave me any trouble and I traded it for a Suburban at 36k miles, so who cares? And that Suburban's got 70k, I tow all the time, auto runs fine. The 'Lude's a $3,000 beater for me to drive when I don't feel like riding my motorcycle, it's not a lifetime investment. I'm sure it will be fine (enough). If it takes a dump, I'll either fix it myself or sell it as-is.
Looking forward to being a part of the forum and learning more about the cars. I'm pretty excited as this is the first sporty car I've had in a long time, but I'm also realistic -- it's not fast nor will I ever race it (drag or autox). I think it's a good looking car and I don't see them all the time (like civics ) so I bought it.
I tried to use the radio code website but you have to have the phone number of the owner that's in Honda's database...and it ain't me, so I'm screwed . I'll work something out.
Well just get the serial code out of the glove box and call honda. Thats what I did and they just gave it to me.
This isn't the first auto I've had, just the first auto prelude. It seems like people criticize autos on every car. I bought a 2004 Accord V6 and everyone said "That Auto is no good!". Never gave me any trouble and I traded it for a Suburban at 36k miles, so who cares? And that Suburban's got 70k, I tow all the time, auto runs fine. The 'Lude's a $3,000 beater for me to drive when I don't feel like riding my motorcycle, it's not a lifetime investment. I'm sure it will be fine (enough). If it takes a dump, I'll either fix it myself or sell it as-is.
read the thread in the sticky at the top, autos in the 5th gen go bad all the time. i drive other auto's, they just aren't reliable on the 5th gen. don't use the SS mode, just drive it like a regular auto and it'll last longer.
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If you don't know what you want, you end up with a lot you don't.
ss was made to attract ppl into buying the car thinking it was this really cool feature...even though it does not make it faster or any other advantages to be honest....get rid of the auto your first mod should be to do a tranny conversion
ss was made to attract ppl into buying the car thinking it was this really cool feature...even though it does not make it faster or any other advantages to be honest....get rid of the auto your first mod should be to do a tranny conversion
Thanks for the input. I didn't buy the car because it had the Sport Shift so probably won't use it. Correct me if I'm wrong but converting to a manual would cost me about as much as I spent on the car, and that would be with me doing the labor myself. No freaking way... It'd be simpler to just write the car off as a total loss if tranny went than to do all that on a beater car.
Congrats on your Lude man!! It sounds like you got a good deal and the Lude isn't that slow - test drove my auto on the highway and the top end surprised me. I AM selling my auto b/c the fun I had in it doubled when I purchased a manual, but I've had no trouble with the tranny at all, lucky or not. Anyway congrats and enjoy!
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Current
01 Prelude Base SS (Is that my tranny ticking? )
98 Prelude SH (FGP and loving it! )
Congrats on your Lude man!! It sounds like you got a good deal and the Lude isn't that slow - test drove my auto on the highway and the top end surprised me. I AM selling my auto b/c the fun I had in it doubled when I purchased a manual, but I've had no trouble with the tranny at all, lucky or not. Anyway congrats and enjoy!
The car is far from perfect but it's a good 10 footer (looks good from 10 feet). It's got some small paint chips that are rusting a little, so I'm going to decide whether I want to try my hand at bondo and spraying paint . The good part about having a car that you like, but that isn't worth much is it's a good learning platform.
My last car was significantly faster and more powerful than a Prelude so I'm really not worried about performance. I have a bike for going fast. Cars are for going to work. If it's fun, that's just a bonus.
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. I'll work something out.
) so I bought it.
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