ClareQuilty

You are talking about the fan that blows air over the aircon unit and into the car? .... I can only think of a couple of things

1 - a bad connection 'somewhere' that a bit of vibration sorts out OR

2 - fan motor brushes sticking (if it has brushes) again sorted by a few bumps in the road.

You don't seem to have an awful amount of luck with the car ... try the Thai way ... change the reg number to a lucky one .....your wife will sort you a lucky number .................

Haha, proof I am lucky - no wife!

But yeah, talking about the fan that blows air out of the dashboard vents at your face. This fan will come on eventually even if the car hasn't moved. It just takes 1-5 minutes sometimes, whether the car is sitting or driving. But yeah it does sound something like a short.

Someone mentioned 'auto air con' - if that's like what I had on my 70s and 80s Cadillacs... I never heard of that on a Japanese car. But of course it doesn't have that. You move a little lever from 1-2-3-4 for fan speed. It doesn't work at first sometimes, then comes on later.

As I said Arthur, the fan. I never mentioned the air. The air, compressor, etc, are all fine. I wonder what would make a fan be so delayed in coming on..

The car's been alright now for a while, even drove it a couple hours away a few times. Really it operates just fine once it gets warmed up, but between the lack of an automatic choke and no thermostat, it doesn't run that great for the first 5 minutes or so.

Basically you have to sit there and press the accelerator to about 1,500 rpm for a couple minutes before you can take off confidently. I think the idle is set really low as well, no idea why - maybe the same problem that occasioned the choke not working? I'll take it in next week to see if he can set the idle a bit higher, that might help.

One other small issue - the A/C fan will sometimes come on immediately, while about 25% of the time there's a long and irritating delay before it starts blowing. On hot days a 5 minute fan delay is very annoying.

Wow, got the car back already, just a 300 baht charge for the rescue and tinkering - no new parts. He said the automatic choke went out. Rather than replace it, he said he 'made it so it runs without automatic choke'. I have to admit it does run fine now, but without the high idle at start-up which is normal, but I'm a little worried the lack of the choke will be problematic in Isaan in December and January.

No, WarpSpeed, I didn't do a thing to it myself. That's as they left it. So, not bad.

Final results look great. 3500.

My mechanic came and got the car today- he managed to drive it rather than tow it. By dint of removing spark plug wired he determined that one cylinder wasn't functioning, 3 were. So we'll see, maybe tomorrow.

Do you hear any top end valve clatter when it runs? Not likely you burned a valve due to the previous overheating that wouldn't have shown up already previously.

There is zero top end valve clatter, WarpSpeed. So, yes perhaps its not the valves at all, but just the head gasket has failed.

have you performed a compression test on it to confirm it is a munted valve ?

No, no, I haven't even had it towed into the shop yet. It just happened a couple of days ago. I may get it towed tomorrow or the next day if I have time. Its hard to get together with the repair shop due to all my classes.

The valve diagnosis is just my best guess, as the symptoms precisely conform to what is listed online as the symptoms of valve failure, and also because valve failure is extremely common after the type of problems and repairs I just recently had.

And the old reliable, though it looked much worse by the time I sold it:

60K is way over the top for a honda city 1.5 engine. You friend got shafted. Personally I'd sell this car as soon as you can; it seems more problem than it's worth. Can you qualify for a loan at all? You can get practically new eco cars for about 300K now.

Well I can't 'qualify for a loan' - I'm a foreigner. I do have loans on my two cars at present, but they're from a rich Thai friend - personal connection. And at 1% monthly interest I might add.

By the way guys, I've had very good luck over the last 6 years or so with my old Toyota Ke70 - so I don't think its true to say I've had bad luck. That old car - being a simple push-rod cast iron design - only cost around 2,000-3,000 per year in repairs on average. Alas I've sold it on now (30,000 baht), but to be fair it wasn't really a super-useable car: it wasn't at all comfortable for long trips, the air was only just barely adequate, etc. Both the Soluna that I replaced it with and this Civic are far more 'overall useful' cars. Plus to all appearances the Soluna's as reliable as the old Corolla.

About this Honda, alas when I had the head-gasket done I could not afford new valves, and in any case perhaps it was just that they were 're-seated' imprecisely.

I certainly would sell this car on, but 1) obviously there won't be any buyers when its broken, and 2) I owe the 45,000 baht car loan on it, so can't sell till that's paid off - in about 20 more months.

My '93 Honda Civic, which some may remember recently had a new head gasket after an overheating episode, ran well for a few weeks, but now will barely start and won't move. It won't idle, and will only run if you gas it to between 2,000-3,000 rpms. Needless to say I'm not running it, but what I suspect is some kind of valve failure.

I'm guessing that either a valve was burnt during the overheating before the head-gasket replacement, or that the 're-seating' of the valves after that repair was faulty. To be fair the son of my mechanic suggested installing new valves, but that would have added about 12,000 more to the already mind-boggling 14,000 baht cost of the head-gasket job.

Don't know what to do now, wondering if there are second hand Honda motors available the way there are with Toyota. One things for sure, these Honda's are incredibly troublesome machines, don't know how they got such a good rep. In a side story, a Thai friend of mine confided in me just yesterday that he'd replaced his '99 Honda City engine (a somewhat similar engine I think) recently for 60,000 baht after driving the car in a flood (I'm almost certain he was cheated).

Well I'm really not that picky.. and the guy did come recommended by 2-3 people whose opinions I trust. I just hated to spend the money, and care more about how the door/window works, particularly the door seal, than the details of the look. It should be done in a day or two, and I'll post some pics.

Next step will be changing the tint on the drivers door window, and maybe the passenger side as well.

Work in progress:

Got an estimate on fixing the Soluna door - that is, fixing without replacing it. He quoted 3,500 baht... any idea if this is reasonable or not?

Personally. I would get that tint changed ASAP.. IT'S dangerous!

Yeah that's on the ASAP list for sure, for when I have the money to spare for it. Say 3-4 months from now! Ah, the life of a teacher...

Please don't tell me that it's the same car that was overheated not too long ago, please.....

No, this Soluna is my 'good car'. It was a Honda Civic that overheated - its been fixed up and running great now for a couple weeks, I drive it often. Really should've used it that night as it has much less of that awful window tinting.

BTW, is the moped driver still alive?

Well we buried him pretty deep, so it seems unlikely...

But seriously, the poor fool just got up and went on his way. I didn't even bother to get out to talk to him - just peered at him through the hole in the tinting. My passenger got out and exchanged a few words with him, said he was wearing a helmet, nothing broken.

PS: are you sure this only happened a day or so ago? There's a lot of rust there already...

Yes, just a couple of days ago.

I'm surprised you saw the motorcycle coming at all with that window tint!

I didn't, not until he was about 3 feet away. I really hate tinting, particularly since I do about 90% of my driving at night, but what can you do?

Well then do nothing because your concerns are addressed. Except for the window going up and down and the aesthetics of it. Now it has battle scars, they'll be more cautious around you now.

I think regardless of the 'stretching of the metal' it could be made to look slightly better by pulling it out a bit (which would also, importantly, free the very slight binding of the window), putting a bit of bondo into the hole, spraying a similar color (with a spray can?) and buffing a bit would make it look better, even if in fact the metal is all screwed up. I'll wager a Thai would be able to 'fix' it in this way, and I think for me that would be a LOT better than just leaving it as it is.

On my '93 Honda Civic, the mechanic who fixed the engine also fixed (for no additional charge!) a slightly smashed up right front: he did charge me for a new parking light, but then built up around it with bondo, spray painted it and buffed it a bit, no extra charge. It clearly looks "jury rigged" and not original, but its a huge improvement over a smashed in hole. In my mind, this kind of "poor man's" patching is the most apropos way to deal with superannuated vehicles: it shows more self-respect and respect for the poor old vehicle soldiering on its its decrepitude than just driving it totally wrecked, but it also shows a certain realism - the car is never again going to 'look good' in the standard of the dominant paradigm.

What about the insurance?

What insurance?? 60,000 baht cars typically only have 'liability insurance' - coverage for the other motorist, not for your own car!

Water gets inside your door all the time, it won't harm your motor, the motors are sealed and not on the bottom of the door so no immersion will occur, on the bottom of the door there are drains to allow water to escape. What will harm your motor is rolling it up and down if it's binding and straining to get past the dent too often and it will burn it out and you may end up with it not rolling up one day so refrain from using it as much as possible. I would not even repair something like that I'd request the shop locate a donor door and just repaint it to match your car if you're not lucky enough to get one the same color. But that would be the quickest best fix overall IMO.

Thanks WarpSpeed for the advice. I was hoping for a patch-up job in the, oh, maybe 2,000-3,000 baht range. I'm guessing a new door would be more than that... Just thought they could pull it out a bit, press out the crease, spray and buff it a little, and of course Bondo the hole... I'm really looking for the cheapest possible fix here - the old car is a good one but its only a 60,000 baht machine.

A day or so ago my Soluna was hit in the driver's door by a rather reckless fellow driving in a thunderstorm holding an umbrella in front of his face. He must have seen nothing as he drove directly into me at full speed without braking or slowing at all. Almost funny, but now I have a hole in my door:

Anybody have something similar fixed? I'm looking for armchair guesses about how much that might cost. The power window still works, though it is very slightly slowed down/binding as it passed the pressed in part of the door metal. I won't be able to afford to fix this for several months, so I'm also curious what would be a good method of temporarily sealing the small hole in the door (to prevent rain getting inside and onto the electric window motor).

(as an aside, I was quite often hit far harder than this back in the States by large automobiles and sustained no damage at all.. testimony I suppose, to the difference between a 70s full sized American automobile and a 1990s Japanese one! )

Most Clicks had a lemon engine.

Are they still built with poor engines ?

Well someone more mechanically inclined than I told me they've changed to a different (more durable) engine in the last couple of years. I have an approximately 2007 Click, it has been a lot of trouble, had to have it rebuilt at 38,000 kms, but to be fair bought it used for 5,000 baht.

I'm not disputing what many have said here, that 150,000 kms is possible from a motorbike, its just not likely. More of a best case scenario if all goes perfectly.

Honda Click - maybe 35-70k between rebuilds, depending on the year and model. Honda Wave, yes could be 100-150k in a best case scenario. It all depends on the model, mostly on the engine installed. Most Clicks had a lemon engine.

Does this mean that one's finance company is liable for one's traffic mishaps during the payment period? Given that they are the owner of the car during this period.