How reliable are 2nd Gens. I know they are rather unreliable but what parts are unreliable on them. What kind of costs do I have to watch for if I do decide to get a 2nd gen? How much are these parts?

 

They aren't unreliable if you have everything fixed =/ I drove mine 8 hours to San Diego and later on made the trip back. Nothing broke.

 

A stock 2nd gen NA is as reliable as any car. A stock TII is even quite reliable as long as they are taken care of. Its the modded, and mainly carelessly modded ones that are unreliable (I am an example). Fast, Cheap, Reliable, pick 2 because you cant have all 3.

 

it all depends on how oyu treat the damn thing . . .

 

It's only as realiable as the care that the owner gives it.......the newest FC will be 14 years old so if you think that all those parts will still be new then you should not buy an FC......you should expect wear and tear and some parts to need re[placement....once you replace all the broken parts then expect the other old parts to fail......it's an old car....you have to deral with maintenance.

like it was said above.......pick 2.....

FAST
CHEAP
RELIABLE

 

any car is reliable aslong as you do regular maintenance and treat the car good.

 

180k and still running strong

 

Yep I totally agree. If you watch out for issues and do REGULAR maintenance on the car, you will have an engine that will last up to 200000 miles for the NA indefenitly.

I've seen some engine bays that are stock from some of the people here and they are for a word, immaculate. Everything looks amazing, its all stock of course, but it seriously looks like its still brand new. Of course it isn't, but what im trying to say is that you CAN find an FC that is very close to mint out there.

 

but the parts are still 14 years old....whether or not they have been used (30K miles or 60K miles)

 

but dont get me wrong im saving for a rebuild.(just in case)

 

168k w good compression, and the only problem i've had is a few leaky hoses. Passes smog like a champ

 

Generally, even the perfectly maintained car is going to have its rubber parts wear out eventually. Hoses, belts, bushings, PULSATION DAMPER for the fuel line, o-rings, etc. It's just the nature of things... pre-emptively replacing all the rubber on the car would be massively expensive in labor alone, so a large part of not getting stranded as a driver of a rather geriatric car is knowing your car well, and spotting problems before they get to the "you're stranded" stage.

Beyond the rubber stuff, there's the electrical stuff.. grounds get weak, cold solder joints get erratic, etc. Those are a little tougher to "keep an eye on", but they're more likely to cause the car to develop "personality" or "quirks" than to leave you stranded.

It's old-- it's going to need more maintenance than an '04 civic/protege/corolla.. It's when the maintenance needs start to leave you stranded, or start to approach new car payment money that I get ready to part with an old friend. My 86 GXL (NA) hasn't quite gotten there yet.. (but a recent problem with an alternator that I just installed 2 years ago is starting to bring up the subject..)

 

I've driven my car 16000 miles since I wrecked the old FC... Only problems i've had was alternators, I've gone through 4 in 3 months. I finally gave in and bought a brand new one(Not a refurb) and Its worked quite well since. No real engine complaints... Just make sure to get your oil changed regularly and add oil as needed. I've noticed that my gas mileage goes down as the mileage btwn oil changes goes up. I typically get around 200-230 a tank. When its been a while since an oil change that goes to around 160-200. I took my car to Texas and back 3 times in the past 2 months... 800 miles each way and I had no problems. an NA is a good reliable car if you take care of it...

 

oil change every 3000 miles!!!!! no later.......My FC goes through 2 quarts every 3K miles with easy to moderate driving(shift at 7K every once in a while) so if you redline all the time you should change the oil/add oil every 1500 miles otherwise BOOM goes the motor.

 

yea i mentioned that.

 

there reliable i got a 87 n/a and the coolant seal blew... but t had 197k miles NEVER REBUILT so i got a motor with 40k

 

I am more looking at a turbo not a n/a.

 

ive seen a gsl-se with 410,000 all original miles on it, thats what good maintanence does for you. And those rubber parts mentioned earlier are regular maintanence, so is a pulsation damper which is on the fuel RAIL(every 10 years). And what other car doesn't have these rubber or electric part anyway, not to mention an 04' civic/protege/whatever should need basically the same maintanence. but the electrical problems are kind of annoying. my turbo II has 96000 miles. they are reliable in my eyes.

 

i drove my turbo2 across the us....(WA to NY) in 3 days, it did just fine, i didnt have a single problem with it. and now ive put about 10k miles on it since ive owned it, and still not a problem! its got about 20K in rebuild and 109k on body

 

I am more looking at a turbo not a n/a.

Edit: Please delete this post double post by mistake.

 

same **** applies.....take care of it..........LET IT COOL AFTER YOU DRIVE........As NZconvertible says: take the last mile or two from the drive really easy......don't boost.....and then u can just shut it off......boost spikes are a bitch(scared the **** out of me when I spiked to 13!!!) I can/'t think of any more TII ONLY problems....the NA problems apply to the TII also.

 

Just think of what any sports car could be like after 14-20 years, issues will be there, just address them promptly. If you want a good comparison, take an 86 civic or prelude for a test drive and you'll see it just isn't the same car. Then check out an old camaro or mustang for the same money, nowhere near the refinement. Any car can be reliable, I had an 81 Olds Omega for 8 years and ran her up over 300,000km after paying only 850.00 for the car in the begining. My last 7 was an 83 tan first gen with 250,000 km. I looked after it. Find a nice one and treat her well.

 

they last til inifinity,... seriously though this is covered in the FAQ section.Look a little next time.

 

I bought an '89 vert that 'only' had 89k on it. Sounds great right?? Low mileage, clean, well taken care of?? Didn't pay much attention to the cobwebs in the corner of the engine bay. That should have been a clue. The motor began to smoke more and more. I pulled it out and I have rebuilt it. Its not back in yet so the outcome is up in the air.

My point is (I know,,, my hair covers it well) My car sat up for a while. The oil seals, vacuum lines and injector o-rings were all dried out. Not to mention the leather seats and the top. A car that has beed used and maintained well is better than one that has sat for years, even if it was in a garage. Dry rot doesn't mind if you inside or outside.

Find a car that has been maintained well.

 

Pretty much the way it goes with the RX7 is that once you know how to fix everything on the car, it's very cheap to own and fix...

But until you know how to do those fixes yourself it's expensive as hell... and semi-unreliable because if you can't do those fixes yourself you'll be towing your car more than driving it.

I drive around with a gallon of distilled water, a bottle of coolant, zipties, needlenose pliers, screwdriver, temporary hose-sealing stretch tape, wire cutters and a little fuel line hose.

That's because lately I've had some coolant hoses going out on me and I don't have the money or time to buy all new hoses and install them all right now... I will asap, but for now I just drive fairly easy and listen for the buzzer.

But this car has all kinds of little quirky problems with it... eletrical, engine, etc. It's because it's an old car and it wasn't taken PERFECT care of.

Think of those old corollas and civics from 89... would you expect the parts in those cars to be in very good shape at all? hell no! Same goes for the 7's... they just don't LOOK like 80's cars 'cause they're sexy... but they are old, and the parts are worn. You might get lucky and get a well taken care of one, or get one that was abused like my parts car was... (poor thing had cut springs and someone seems to have purposely "tuned" the throttle body to backfire. =()

I think once you have all the bugs that you WILL have to work out done, it's a very reliable car... cheap and awesome... which is why I have it. =)

--Gary