1996 Honda Accord LX 2.2 from North America
Summary:
A lemon
Faults:
Smell of burning oil coming from under hood; dealer cannot diagnose this, and my mechanic says it's the oil pan gasket. I'm still trying to get the Honda dealer to diagnose it and then fix it.
Chirping noise coming from timing belt area; dealer says it's the cover rattling, my mechanic says the belt is too tight.
Awful gas mileage for a 4 cylinder. I only get about 20 miles in the city, 24 on highway, so it is the pits.
General Comments:
I bought this car a week ago and for all appearances it looks like a "mint" car. Even though it had 102,000 miles on it, I bought it because everyone says Honda is great, buy it, it's a good deal. Well, three major headaches in the first week I've owned it and the dealer's "Honda Certified Technicians" haven't diagnosed one thing right yet.
The gas mileage leaves a lot to be desired for a 4 cylinder. It's terrible.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 30th July, 2001
2nd Nov 2001, 07:30
Your chirping noise may be the water pump. I had my timing belt and balancing shaft belt replaced at a Pep Boys and it was done incorrectly (over-tightened). This caused the water pump to start having problems. I took it to the Honda dealer and they had to replace the water pump and the belts, but they did the job correctly and it is now quiet again. I have not had any other problems with this car. I have learned to take it to my local Honda dealer if I have a problem... they at least fix it correctly the first time!!
1st Jun 2004, 06:44
Beware, many of the do it yourself books about the 96 Accord 2.2L engine are wrong. I tried going by one of them when I put my new timing belt on and it was too tight, even though I did it by the book. So I did it MY way (been a mechanic for 45+ years), and not one peep out of it. You want to hear screaming, try putting the timing belt on too tight, sheesh! It sounded like I threw a little kid under the hood with out his cookies before bed time.
29th Aug 2001, 21:38
The reason why you get low mileage for the gallon is because you bought the damn car at 102K miles. I mean, what do you expect!!! You judge the whole line of Hondas according to one mistreated car. Also, you rated the reliability 1/10... that is like saying that the car won't ever start or breaks down very often.