Likelyhood that random stuff with go wrong at high miles?

[haveblue]

Lets say I get a 1992 with 140k miles. It has been properly maintained on time by a reputable shop and has rarely been abused. All the essentials like the timing belt, brakes, and clutch have recently been replaced.

What's the likelyhood that random crap will start going wrong? Would the likelyhood be significantly higher than a car with say, half the miles?

I see examples with 200k, 300k, even the 400k mile cars that don't seem to have any problems. Admittedly, few cars have reached that many miles so the sample size is statistically small. Still, I haven't seen sob stories of someone with their engine exploding at 150k or 200k. Have I overlooked these, or have they simply not happened?

 

[SFNSXguy]

I'd add to that... What's the likelihood of random stuff to go wrong at 20 years (regardless of miles)?

These (Honda) cars are amazingly bulletproof. All of the (very few) failures in my car were (are) do mainly to age, not miles (dried up capacitors in the Bose units, master/slave cylinders, ABS system, window mechanisms, trunk struts and so forth). The big stuff (clutch, trans, engine) is fine.

FYI A lot of what I've done to the car didn't need doing (TB/WP, window regulators, water hoses - all were in perfect condition after the fact).

 

[tbromley]

I'd add to that... What's the likelihood of random stuff to go wrong at 20 years (regardless of miles)?

These (Honda) cars are amazingly bulletproof. All of the (very few) failures in my car were (are) do mainly to age, not miles (dried up capacitors in the Bose units, master/slave cylinders, ABS system, window mechanisms, trunk struts and so forth). The big stuff (clutch, trans, engine) is fine.

+1 - what SFNSXguy said. However, things do wear out with age and use- don't know what the miles are on Harry's car but I have 48k on mine and it's a 91 and it's doing fine. But I have a stack of receipts that came with the car when I bought it last year and I have put about 5k worth of maintenance items myself. So not sure what to tell you but if I was guessing I'd say you have a bigger chance of a longer list of stuff at 140k miles than you do at 48k miles even with all things being equal. My impression is with the sale of these cars is this - people - most people- sell their cars needing things - not all and surely you have a much better chance of knowing what needs to be done with a Primer's car than any other, but even that's not always true either. I've heard some good deals going on from someone that was not a Primer that took great care of his car. You will not find that to be true most likely with any of these small dealers or even some larger ones unless it's a good Acura dealer that has maintained the car impeccably for the current owner and seller. That is pretty rare.

Good luck,

 

[condumbwerkz]

I have never heard of anything randomly going wrong, unless we are talking about the mechanics of audio equipment or moving parts that wear over time. To me, it is not "random", it is expected that parts fail. There is a reason for everything.

 

[davidf]

I'm a huge fan of fix it before it leaves you stranded. Example: Main relay/Clutch master and slave/all hoses. Items like these can be problems due to years vs mileage. Alot of this is DIY. Just my .02

 

[shawn110975]

my NSX is a 1992, with 120,000 and some change miles.

I probably didnt need to do my TB/WP valves, but did it anyway for piece of mind.

now there have been simple things like the main fuel relay my ALPINE ALARM shorted it out. the ignition switch got it new just to besafe.

had the master/slave brake done. for the hell of it.

have had 3 OEM radio go bad due to age. keep buying them used my own fault.

one or two little lights in some of the dash switches needed to be replaced. when 2 went bad I ordered all of them LOL

ac control unit only blows on high but here in Florida we need the air blowing full speed anyway so I have never fixed that, one of the lights in the AC control went out. 1.36 from the dealer.

other than that I have had no major problems with it. now my clutch is next on my list but I have plenty of time for that.

ALL of these things I mentioned were due to AGE or I opt to change myself.

so your random stuff going wrong expect that with a car thats " Service Life " is way past due. LOL these cars were built to LAST.

MY NSX will be stil running when I am dead and gone. I hope my Grand kids will drive it. LOL cuz I am sure it will still be running.

 

[pgilliam1]

Random - probably less likely with an NSX than most cars because of build quality.

Cost of repairs - a little more than most, but far less than sport cars of this caliber.

Worth It - NSX's hold their value fairly well and once the maintenance is done it's usually good for a long time. Very well worth it IMO.

Happy Motoring!

 

[LJZ]

I echo the various sentiments above. For my part, I bought a /94 in November of /09 with very low mileage (18,900). In the past year I drove it 10,000 miles (2,000 of which was the trip back to MI from AZ) and aside from deferred maintenance items nothing has gone wrong. IMHO that's pretty darn good for a 16 year old car notwithstanding the low mileage. I also agree that lots of things that might go wrong have to do with the age of the car as opposed to the number of miles driven. I'm no expert but my feeling is that its better for the car to be driven as opposed to keeping it off the road to keep the miles low. Finally, after owning a series of Acura TLs and my parents having had an Accord or two in the /90s it seems to me that the NSX should be pretty similar to those vehicles in terms of how long its going to last and how much trouble one is going to have so this should provide some level of comfort. If we were talking about BMW/Porsche/Audi/MB, etc. I'd be worried about expensive repairs at higher mileages but my experience with Honda is that this is really not an issue to worry about. Just my 2 cents.
Cheers,
Jeff

 

[SUNEDAZ]

Nothings going to "randomly" break, wear items wear out, and all things have a life span.

NSX'S are tried and true HONDAS that were HAND BUILT. Back in 1991 I'd been nervous to plunk down the cash for a new one, but since this is a "morph" car you can't go wrong.

 

[NSXclear]

It appears that you have already replaced most of the stuff that would leave you stranded. The other things that might need replacement can be replaced at your convenience.

Replacement items that could leave you stranded or worst:

- Timing Belt
- Water Pump
- Harmonic Balancer
- Clutch Master/ Slave Cylinder
- Main Relay
- Ignition Switch
- Fuel Pump Relay (Rare Failure)
- Coolant Bottle
- Coolant Hoses
- Window Fix-it Thingy (not to be confused with Hugo's window regulator fix)...helps from glass fallling in door.
- Starter (Rare Failure)
- Alternator (Rare Failure)

Replacement items to be replaced or fixed at your convenience:
- Worn/Tired Fuel Pump
- Window Regulator
- Speakers
- Climate Control Unit
- Aspirator Fan
- Trunk/Engine Struts
- Water in Tail Lights / Tail light Gasket
- R12 to R134a AC conversion
- Antenna Mask Problem
- Worn Booster Seat Sides
- Cam Plug/ Cam Seals (best to do this with timing belt replacement)
- Valve cover gaskets/ Tube Seals
- Vtech (Spool Valve) Gaskets
- Front Chin Spoiler
- Valve Clearance adjustment
- Coil Pack Cover Gasket
- Hugo Window Regulator Fix-it Kit (helps with slow operatiing windows)

 

[davidf]

LOL, I've been meaning to replace my slow leaking spool valve gaskets for awhile.:redface: I've had the parts just lack the motivation.

 

[mcano]

I have a 1995 Auto with 110,000 miles. Problematic items are as follows:

• Worn radiator hoses (4)
• Clock went out
• O2 Sensors
• Leaking V-Tech Seals
• Leaking Axel seal
• Leaking CV Boots
• Sub Woofer Amp failure
• OEM Antenna failure, twice
• Blown Radar Speaker - after market item
• Trunk and engine hatch strut failure
• Blown trans at 109,000 miles - 3K cost to rebuild

 

[tbromley]

I have a 1995 Auto with 110,000 miles. Problematic items are as follows:

• Worn radiator hoses (4)
• Clock went out
• O2 Sensors
• Leaking V-Tech Seals
• Leaking Axel seal
• Leaking CV Boots
• Sub Woofer Amp failure
• OEM Antenna failure, twice
• Blown Radar Speaker - after market item
• Trunk and engine hatch strut failure
• Blown trans at 109,000 miles - 3K cost to rebuild

Blown Transmission?? What does that mean - what happened. That sound ominous. The other stuff is typical. Looks like to me the 02 sensors are part of the mileage thing and not the age thing. The other stuff happens at different intervals. The radio stuff - mines already had that before I bought it and was fixed, fortunately. But stuff wears out.

 

[FogCityNSX]

dry cv joints

 

[ozone]

Blown Transmission?? What does that mean - what happened. That sound ominous. The other stuff is typical. Looks like to me the 02 sensors are part of the mileage thing and not the age thing. The other stuff happens at different intervals. The radio stuff - mines already had that before I bought it and was fixed, fortunately. But stuff wears out.

My O2 sensors went out at 6 years but only 15k miles. Sounds age related unless my case is an outlier.

 

[BlackWindEXE]

Blown Transmission?? What does that mean - what happened. That sound ominous. The other stuff is typical. Looks like to me the 02 sensors are part of the mileage thing and not the age thing. The other stuff happens at different intervals. The radio stuff - mines already had that before I bought it and was fixed, fortunately. But stuff wears out.

I've never seen transmission issues with all my reading. This could be just a random chance of something going wrong with the auto transmission. Hope he chimes in though. I'm interested in hearing about this.

 

[tbromley]

Now that I think on it - isn't this auto tranny blow up with the guy that tracked his car and burned up the tranny doing it? It may be. That would explain it - which goes to show - don't track an automatic.

 

[Briank]

With the age of the NSX most common issues have been identified. Most random events are related to abuse or lack of maintenance.

 

[NSX2398]

I have a '91 that's somewhere north of 175k miles .. some of which are track miles, and probably 30k are winter miles with temperatures down to -40F. I'm the third owner (bought at about 90k) and the car has had 2 TP/WP and 1 clutch that I know of.

Things that might be 'random' and 'big ticket':
- If you're looking at a car that has a manual transmission, you should make sure it isn't in the snap range otherwise an expensive tranny rebuild might be in your future
- A/C condensors (the big piece under the dash) are known to occasionally develop a leak and replacing them can be labour intensive as the whole dash often needs to come out
- not sure about the clutch master/slave thing .. haven't needed to do it yet but sounds expensive

Things that I've replaced that I consider to be age/wear items (in addition to major service parts, TP/WP and clutch) are:
- CV boots
- major coolant hoses
- A/C compressor (upgraded to R134 at the same time)
- Right a/c condensor fan (maybe due to weather & exposure to elements)
- CD changer (I think the cold finally got it; upgraded to S634; and recently to iPOD instead)
- OEM muffler
- O2 sensors (along with headers)
- engine and trunk lid supports
- brake pads (took a lot of abuse at NSXPO but lasted me 85k+ miles)
- shocks (also 85k+ miles but still working ok - preventative)
- oil pressure sending switch (failed - probably due to winter)
- both front ball joints/steering knuckles (at about 140k I think) - this was an expensive item ($1500) but could probably caught with an inspection so not likely 'random'

Things that I've replaced that I consider to be known 'bad design' or NSX-unique weak spots are:
- upgrade to the SOS ABS kit
- main relay (preventative)
- Bose amps (twice)
- window 'thingy'
- SOS door handle 'connectors' (preventative)
- oil pressure sending gauge (replaced with SOS kit)
- coolant tank
- harmonic balancer (preventative)

The only thing I can honestly chalk up as 'random' was a plastic bleed screw on the radiator failed and started slowly leaking antifreeze. Cheap fix. The only other one might have been the a/c condensor fax which probably isn't on a list of 'service items'.

 

[BlackWindEXE]

I didn't know tie rods were so expensive. I thought I saw them for $70 each on daliracing but maybe that was for something else.

 

[mcano]

Blown Transmission?? What does that mean - what happened. That sound ominous. The other stuff is typical. Looks like to me the 02 sensors are part of the mileage thing and not the age thing. The other stuff happens at different intervals. The radio stuff - mines already had that before I bought it and was fixed, fortunately. But stuff wears out.

Lost 1st, 3rd and 4th gears during HPDE at NSXPO. Mechanic indicated that the trans failed partially due to wear and tear, and that the HPDE hastened the failure of the trans. See link for detailed transmission discussion.


http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142479

 

[NSX2398]

I didn't know tie rods were so expensive. I thought I saw them for $70 each on daliracing but maybe that was for something else.

My mistake .. it was ball joints .. tie rods are next

 

[tbromley]

Lost 1st, 3rd and 4th gears during HPDE at NSXPO. Mechanic indicated that the trans failed partially due to wear and tear, and that the HPDE hastened the failure of the trans. See link for detailed transmission discussion.


http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142479

My next email just a bit later -said isn't this the guys car that tracked his automatic....yep I thought so. Hope that's going ok for you - that was too bad - but it sounds like automatics don't do track time well. I'd stay off the track with it or sell and get a straight shift. I remember your thread now.

Good luck to you!

 

[mcano]

My next email just a bit later -said isn't this the guys car that tracked his automatic....yep I thought so. Hope that's going ok for you - that was too bad - but it sounds like automatics don't do track time well. I'd stay off the track with it or sell and get a straight shift. I remember your thread now.

Good luck to you![/QUOTE]

Hello,

Actually, I am selling my car, not because of the trans problem ($3k cost which was much cheaper than other quotes), but because I've been out of work for over 6 months. However, when I do find employment again, I will get another NSX and it will be a manual this time, to ensure that it is trackable.

Thanks agin for your well wishes.