I honestly figured that front seal problem in civics during that time was because half of them were being used by young men or teenagers and half of them were buying and installing their own supercharger and exhaust kits, I figured they knew as much about powerplants as they did their audio systems (which as a youth I did for a neighbor's buisness for some spare $$) so it was most likely consumer-generated issues (lack of maintenance, installing their supercharger backwards, etc.) and not a manufacturer's defect. When I bought my current Honda ('97 civic 4-door) I made sure the previous owner didn't f!@# around with it or mod it too outrageously.
Only major problem my '97 Honda has had that was a bit odd in my book was the head gasket seals started leaking water, but due to corosion starting to set in within the head gasket itself and not the seals. The corosion was just starting and my mechanic talked me into letting someone he knew resurface the headgasket for cheaper than a new or used one, and because he had a good feeling it would do the trick because the corosion was so minimal, and it did, hasn't been a problem with it for over 4 years.
Current bi!@ on the "to be fixed when I have the $$$" list is my passenger rack and pin (also my engine mounts need a replacing, but talk about a "luxury" expence/priority in my book
), it's just a tad loose, and maaaaan have they gotten a tad more expencive than I last remember, but in the end it's all probabley my fault originaly from somewhere along the line and 100k miles I've put on it...
The only developing annoyance I'm having currently is the drivers-side wheel well. I think I may of found the only blatantly retarded thing to come off the Honda drafting boards. (now if I can describe it properly...) Where the front corner panel meets the hood ontop and joins the body is about dead-center the tire as it sits in place. Reach up into said wheele well and feel the top of the well, there's an... "outdented" crease that normaly has a heavy plastic/rubber linning over it to act as a layer of protection (from the tire I'm assuming, but could be a GP one for corrosion, etc.). Without this layer of rubber protection, this outdented crease of where two sheet of metal combine is positioned and angled perfectly to keep chewing the same 1/16"-1/8" radial bit my tire tread every time my little honda civic hits a dip or bump. So now I can't figure out if my problem is A) that protective layer is gone, exposing the metal to the tire's tread when you hit a dip or bump, so I need to replace or recoat it, B) shocks or something in the suspension is too old and needs to be replaced, or C) I won't lie, my tires are the cheapest I could find and made in some corner of Korea most of us have likely never heard of, so maybe I need better tires. (Then there's D) my driving, but anywho...)
