How many miles on your GVR-4?

[LIV4PSI]

I agree, they are old cars, and that is what makes them unreliable. But I also owned a 1991 Honda Accord with the same mileage, drove it for 3 years, and only replaced a brake caliper and the radiator. Mitsus don't age as gracefully.

I can't blame any of my issues on the previous owner either. They weren't maintenance items that broke. They are things that get replaced if/when they fail.

 

[minneSNOWta]

189K on the chassis and barely 3 miles on the new 2.3.

 

[ktmrider]

Quoting LIV4PSI:
In the 4-6 months I have been daily driving my VR4, the following has failed
-power steering pump
-power steering rack
-alternator
-ebrake cable snapped
-metal brake line
-carrier bearings in driveshaft
-transfer case started leaking
-oil pan started leaking

It has never been launched and doesn't even see boost. I would love for someone to explain how any of those are due to me being a bad owner? I properly fix all the issues as they occur, but that doesn't stop new things from breaking.

For every story like KTMs, there are five more like mine.

Didn't specifically mention YOU.

General maintenance is the killer, not just on these cars but all makes/models. Too many people wait for something to break instead of being diligent about PM and service intervals. Then add in "cheap" quality parts, shadetree mechanics, etc.

 

[LIV4PSI]

I know. Just saying that some of us own very unreliable VR4s, and it's not because of the owner. Its because they are not as reliable as other Japanese cars of the same age. You mentioned how great yours has been, I wanted to mention how mine has been a total whore. I don't think I'm the minority

 

[turbowop]

Nobody with a 20 year old car is in the minority that has zero problems. Some of us have just replaced everything that might be an issue. It's expected at this age.

I sold 503 because I was sick of wrenching on it. The thing has almost 200k and ran great, but required a lot of maintenance that I was sick of dealing with for a daily driver. Otherwise, neither car has left me stranded and both are on the stock bottom end. Hell, the engine in 503 has never even had the head removed.

 

[turbohf]

i agree. the CRX got a built motor, everything was touched by me. i wanted to know what was done, how it was done. i even took apart the tranny to check it over for issues that may arise. so far the issues that have come up are like said above, maintenance kind of items. just a little oil leak, wastegate gasket that disappeared, and a squeaky belt.


now. its time for the Galant to receive the same... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif

 

[ktmrider]

Quoting LIV4PSI:
I know. Just saying that some of us own very unreliable VR4s, and it's not because of the owner. Its because they are not as reliable as other Japanese cars of the same age. You mentioned how great yours has been, I wanted to mention how mine has been a total whore. I don't think I'm the minority

Sorry to keep hounding this.

How many Japanese CARS were turbo and AWD in this era? How many of said cars could produce 300+whp with very few mods? Wop stated it perfectly, PM on these cars is tedious and demanding. A tranny and TC service with PROPER fluids can close in on $100. Many will grab the "non proper" fluids to save a few $$$ then blame the car for bad syncros and failed TC's. Don't get started on AWS and its side effects like leaks that run the fluid system dry and bork all racks. Or shite rebuilt alternators from big box stores that fail every few months ( Chinese voltage regulators mainly ) cuz the owner didn't get one with OEM/Bosch parts.

Yes you've had a tough time, yes others have, yes others haven't. I'll still continue to blame bad owners vs the car.

 

[EROCK970]

Got my with 122xxx but not sure if its right the car has 1 of then JDM motors

 

193k on 390/2000. Only had for about 3 weeks, but bought from the original owner.

 

[LIV4PSI]

Quoting ktmrider:
Sorry to keep hounding this



Breaking news from the community that brought the world Jack Stand Ballin', this just in. It has been recently concluded that Galant VR4s are in fact now reliable! Constant, tedious maintenance does not equal unreliable. We now return to our regular scheduled programming

 

[ktmrider]

Quoting LIV4PSI:
Breaking news from the community that brought the world Jack Stand Ballin', this just in. It has been recently concluded that Galant VR4s are in fact now reliable! Constant, tedious maintenance does not equal unreliable. We now return to our regular scheduled programming

He sees the light and error of his ways! Who says you can't teach a young dog old tricks... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[iceman69510]

Hondas in stock form are notoriously understressed. Thus I think they (driven regularly) do tend to be able to roll up lots of miles when left stock. I would agree that thus they are better engineered for long life. I think most Galants were very reliable at stock power levels.

It is a fact that many components on vehicles in general may have accelerated failure when they sit. A lot of these cars suffered from cap failures or timing belts that caused owners to let them sit (partially because of the complexity and perhaps general market repair unfamiliarity). I resurrected 828/1k after sitting 6~10 years, but it has been running for 20k miles now. Yeah it needed some work.

I had a 2g GST that went about 190 k miles before it overheated when my daughter was driving on the freeway. She obviously missed it getting hot. I never could find where the water went, as I checked it the day before and it was fine. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif Engine still was running great, and mechanically other than a leaking i/c hose I had had almost no trouble with the car.

My other daughter has 2002 Galant with about 150k. Yes, previous owners did maintenance, and it shows as the car works well.

828/1k has 154k. Bought at 134 k.

855/2k has about 148, but off the road for about 4 years now. Bought at 124k.

 

[JNR]

Also need to be careful on low miles cars sometimes, as they are in worse shape then higher mileage highway cars that are driven regularly...when the oils and so on aren't allowed to get up to operating temp and stay there, you never really burn off the condensation...of course, things like bushings, tie rods, shocks/springs and stuff get more worn with higher miles, but those are easy to replace.

With proper maintenance and doing things right and not going overboard on the mods, these cars and any others (provided they aren't lemons or abused) will last as long as any honda. I've never had issues with any of my vehicles from a reliability standpoint, but I do keep on top of them and don't abuse them.

 

[Tre3zy]

i have over 270k on the old motor... less than 500 on the new one i swapped 3 months ago...

 

[SleepinGVR4]

I bet my chassis has around 300K. Motor has probably 60K.

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

just drove mine today, 246,000

 

[fuel]

I have a lot of respect for Honda engines, they are always well engineered and seem to consistently get good performance, good fuel economy AND good reliability out of them. It's just a shame about the rest of the car around the engines - if Honda had a turbocharged AWD Accord with good motorsport history I'm sure many of us would be driving them instead! I've only had one Honda in my life so far out of 60 odd cars (a Honda Domani 1.6 VTEC) and have been meaning to get another Honda at some stage.

My very first 6G Galant was an NZDM '89 Galant GLX with the 1.8L 4G37 and 5 speeder - that thing racked up 410,000 by the time I sold it and a few months back I saw it for sale again and it was up to 480,000ish. Nearly half a million! Though there was not much to go wrong on it - no power windows or mirrors, no fuel injection, no air con etc.

 

[nemovr4]

Brought mine back to life on Sunday, and its got 270k miles.

 

[RedTwo]

Think it's just on 150,000km
However it seems someone swapped out the instrument cluster at some point and this may not be an accurate figure. :/

 

[GVR47111K]

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