When you drive 'em hard, you end up paying for it. With that being said: Bought the car with 185000 KS on it already, drove it like a banshee, and replaced the motor at over 260000. By that time it was blowing blue so bad that it was gross and the aluminum head was definitely done. Got a new (used) motor in it, it's currently at 160000 on the new one.
I have replaced:
Valves, valve guides and valve seals (on an old motor)
The clutch when we did the motor
Timing belts every 100000 KS (preventative maintenance)
Tires
Brakes more than 4 times
Fuel pumps (I'm on at least my third one) and Fuel filters
The distributor (electronic, so expensive)
The radiator (the old one was rotten)
So many cooling system hoses (never a bad thing with a car that's 17 years old)
Front CV axles, usually the passenger side (probably my driving)
The struts
Oh, and the window on the driver's side has been apart and re-glued at least 3 times.
Now I'm told that there's either a short or a broken wire somewhere on my fuel pump's wiring, and that's why sometimes it won't start.
It doesn't matter how much has gone into this car, I still love it. I love to drive it and I don't mind fixing it so I can drive it more.
It's wicked good on gas, I can go anywhere and it doesn't cost me an arm, a leg, my first born, my later in life pension, etc, etc.
Someday I'm going to have to actually sell it, and buy something else, and I'll be looking at a civic again (but not the 08's or anything, I like the hatchbacks).
If you are using cheaper aftermarket fuel pumps, could be another bad fuel pump. I went through 3 of them on an old BMW 320i. Also, if you run an electric fuel pump out of fuel, you can easily damage it.
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