reliability

[Wayne Cox]

Hey Everyone...  just read about Omer's fuel pump troubles, and have been
wanting to ask:  What are the most common failures that I should worry
about on a B13?  Lisa & I got stranded in her NX last month when the
alternator died.  I'm trying to avoid her demanding a new car, due to
reliability concerns ;)

I'm not worried about the little "annoyance" problems - just the stuff that
will leave you stranded on the highway.

Here's my list:
* Fuel Pump (recall on affected B13s;  chances are everyone has fixed this
by now)
* Alternator - seems like anything past 120K miles is on borrowed time.
* Battery - replaced this for her, just to be safe.  Probably depends a lot
on climate, but I'll say beyond 4 years is asking for trouble.
* Belts - replaced these last Dec.  Very chewed up on her '93.
* Hoses - all my B13s' radiator hoses hoses (1991,92,93) are "crunchy" if
you squeeze them, though I do not recall anyone on the list reporting
unexpected failures.  I have a set on order from Courtesy to put in
it.  Courtesy doesn't stock them, and AutoZone and Advance Auto do not even
have them AVAILABLE - so maybe that's a indication or their reliability.

* WATER PUMP - this is a big concern for me;  failures on the list seem to
have been rare.  But we do have 150K on both the NXen.  Anyone have data or
input on failure frequency or age?   I'd put one on just to be safe if it
wasn't such a bitch of a job!

   -Wayne