Author Topic: Hello Dear Jazz Enthusiasts and Fit Lovers  (Read 3573 times)

CarJackManDoe

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Hello Dear Jazz Enthusiasts and Fit Lovers
« on: May 04, 2017, 11:11:16 PM »
(I've already written this introduction on a general Honda forum so I will copy it here too)
I'm CarJackManDoe from a forgotten country in the middle east.
Short background: I bought a used Honda Jazz few days ago as my first car and I'm pleased to join your ranks.
Little bit about myself, I'm a student near the end of my studies so I thought it would be a good idea to buy a car for transportation. I was somehow getting by with public transportation but the ever increasing demand for travel and the decreasing convenience of public transportation forced me to search for a car.
Because I had a tight budget (in a very pricey car market) I chose to look for models from 2000 to 2010, then I narrowed down the models to fit living in the capital with tight parking spaces and my requirement for reliability, I ended up with Honda Jazz or Toyota Yaris.
After several months of searching and checking different cars on the local used-cars forum (yes I took my time searching and looking for the best candidate) I stumbled upon a 2003 Jazz currently with it's 3'rd owner and with only 130 km. I hastily googled for "things to check in Jazz before buying" but couldn't find anything and thought to myself "well I can't find anything specific probably because this model is so good. I checked the car myself and was very surprised by the mint condition of the interior and good condition outside (few scratches and little dents from parking lots). I also took the car to a certified car mechanic to perform a thorough test and he gave me an "ok" on the car, though he mentioned few small things and one of them was a noisy rear wheel bearing... Only now, after I'm investigating further I found this guide https://hondakarma.com/threads/hi-guys.182480/#post-2290306 and that thread from here http://clubjazz.org/forum/index.php?topic=304.45 which warns for a rear bearing problem that I think I should've paid more attention to while buying.

Anyway, a bit about the car - its a 2003 manual 1399 Jazz as the owner (and the mechanic) told me everything mechanically is stock, only the radio was changed for an LCD screen with aux and Bluetooth (still not sure if I like it because it has a "generic" look to it while the factory tape/cd player is more fitting).
I drove it only for a few hours and noticed this one thing - a pretty noticeable humming/howling noise (strong enough that you need to talk loudly to others in the car but not too strong that you need to shout) while driving over 90-100 km/h coming probably from the rear. I'm not sure how bad that is because the mechanic did a pretty thorough inspection and he mentioned it as a "small/side" problem which should not concern me too much.
Now to the most surprising part for you, forum readers, is the price - as I saw from the posts over here a reasonable price for a car like this would be something in the region of 1K euro ? I got mine for about 4200 EUR (or 4600 USD) and it was under it's "market value" and generally a good deal compared to other options I checked in the months before... Yeah, it's tough out here.

That was my intro, in the next few days I plan to wash my car thoroughly inside and outside (and in the engine bay) and take this opportunity to inspect the car mechanically as much as I can, things like checking engine oil, steering oil (does this car has one? with the electronic steering?) and maybe other fluids and other parts to see what needs to be replaced/topped/fixed.

Do you have any suggestions on what to inspect in particular?

Do you have any thoughts on the issue with the rear bearing/noise in high speeds? Should I inspect it myself? take it to a "general mechanic"? or take it to a honda certified mechanic?
I'm already looking for a bearing from amazon like this onehttps://www.amazon.com/Febest-Honda-Rear-Wheel-42200-Saa-G02/dp/B00C6MZ7J4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493935126&sr=8-1&keywords=jazz+Rear+Wheel+Bearing Do you think I should order it? or should I check with a mechanic?

Thanks for your time and suggestions.
Truly yours, CarJackManDoe.

guest1372

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Re: Hello Dear Jazz Enthusiasts and Fit Lovers
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2017, 11:50:57 PM »
Hello and welcome, and your country is certainly not forgotten in UK newspapers.

Changing the rear wheel bearing is quite straightforward, if you have a large enough socket (30mm? it says in the other post) to undo the nut that holds it on.  It is tightened to a high torque so you need a long bar or wrench to move it.  I would let your mechanic purchase and change it for you if you do not have the tools to do it yourself.  To check it you can leave the car in 1st gear, put blocks around the front wheel to stop the car moving, release the handbrake and jack up the car.  When you rotate the wheel you may hear or feel it sound rough.  It should take a mechanic maybe 30 minutes to change this part, but sometimes a nut or a part on an older car can be hard to move.

The power steering is very similar to older systems, it is just the steering oil pump is electric and only switched on when needed,  older cars had a pump that was driven by a belt on the engine all the time.  This should help save some fuel.

It may be wise to have brake fluid and other oils and fluids changed at some point if you do not know when they were last changed.

I assume there is a large duty or tax on imported cars otherwise we would all be driving our cars to Israel to sell them.  Good luck.
--
TG

culzean

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Re: Hello Dear Jazz Enthusiasts and Fit Lovers
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2017, 09:11:53 AM »
Welcome to forum and good luck with your Jazz, at least you should not have corrosion problems (especially rear brake pipes) that we have in UK.  Don't think we have forgotten Israel,  it is just that Syria and Iran take up much space in our media these days.

I would be more worried if the noise was a 'low speed whine' from the gearbox that is worse in lower gears,  as this is the dreaded gearbox bearing failure.  While the bearing in question is cheap, getting to it is the expensive part as it involves removing the gearbox from car.  While you are doing your mechanical checks drive the car and accelerate hard in lower gears, any sign of a whine means bearing is liable to give problems in near future,  there are also threads on here about 'gearbox bearing problem'.
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

CarJackManDoe

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Re: Hello Dear Jazz Enthusiasts and Fit Lovers
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2017, 08:37:50 PM »
Oh I meant forgotten in a "market prices so high, most of us can only afford old cars..." meaning, I'm certain we are not forgotten in all the other ways (for the good and bad reasons) considering the most controversial president is visiting our country as his second destination in his presidency (right after Saudi Arabia...lol).

boring politics aside, I took a long trip today and I noticed the noise/howling starts after 80-90 km/h and at about 120 km/h kind of "rhythmic"howling is added (the best I can describe that is that about 2 times a second the noise becomes a bit louder and then quite and then louder again... etc) Though the noise is not super noticeable at first but in a long trip it's definitely noticeable. So I'm looking forward to fix this problem sooner rather then later.
Should I change both of the bearings? because I've seen somewhere that most people get the problem on their left wheel. Also, is there a recommended brand/manufacturer for Jazz bearings available on amazon or ebay ? (or some other online store shipping worldwide with affordable prices?)

And about the oil and other fluids - I've checked the engine oil and it's near the max and has a brown color (darker brown) I guess I could change it and the oil filter too.
About other fluids - is there a good comprehensive guide available for fluid changes for Jazz? (The car came without a manual and it will take me some time to read it's manual and find all the critical information from a PDF)

Thanks,
CarJackManDoe.

jazzway

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Hello Dear Jazz Enthusiasts and Fit Lovers
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2017, 09:14:17 PM »
Welcome to Clubjazz. :)

You said you also wrote an introduction for a general Honda forum. When that's Honda Karma you can find the Honda maintenance schedules on that forum.

 Btw, a price like you have paid for your Jazz, is here in the Netherlands also normal for a 2003/2004 Jazz. I guess the 1K cars are only to find in the UK. ;)
« Last Edit: May 05, 2017, 09:16:33 PM by jazzway »

RichardA

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Re: Hello Dear Jazz Enthusiasts and Fit Lovers
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2017, 09:16:53 PM »
Hello and welcome. :)

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