Traffic-Sense And Road Awareness

I’m having some problems with my 96 accord (lx, four cylinder, automatic transmission). I bought it about six months ago with about 158k on it, and thought it was a good deal. unfortunately, I ended up having to pay to fix warped rotors, other brake problems, wheel balance, engine mount, and the front left ball joint w/ alignment. the service records showed something like a glass replacement on the driver’s side window, so I’m wondering if some minor accident involving that side of the car is what caused the ball joint to go bad. the guy at the shop said a bad ball joint at 158k just didn’t make any sense to him. I need to replace the radiator soon, and things just have me worried. I’m beginning to think the guy who owned it before must have driven it like a maniac.

oh, and I need to flush the brake system and the power steering system. the shop guys said the fluids are black. the previous owner only took car of the oil and the 100k service.

now, what I don’t understand is as follows. my car has a difficult time in what I suppose to be first gear. driving around my townhouse complex, it feels like it is dragging, struggling, before it gets into second gear (I drive slowly in residential areas), and is smooth once it gets there. it shifts a little hard into second, too. I’m getting a brief groan from almost the center of the car underneath when taking off from a stop light, and sometimes I get a loud vibrating groan when gently accelerating (especially around 38mph and gently uphill). I’m also getting some occasional surging when driving through rush hour traffic, starting and stopping (and starting and stopping frequently just feels unhealthy). oh, and when it’s cold (I park outside), it idles kind of rough when I stop at a light or sign.

I don’t know what’s wrong! I’m wondering if a simple engine tune-up and transmission service would fix things, but I’m really worried. I only know the basics about cars, and don’t have a clue what could be causing these problems. I put quite a bit into this car, and I believe that if I can fix the rest of this up it will be a very good investment, but I am worried. Does anybody know what the problem may be or what I need to put it in the shop for to work out these problems? I’m hoping I’m not looking at the tip of an iceberg, but it it IS an iceberg, I’d rather know sooner than later. any professional advice/knowledge-by-experience is greatly appreciated.

158k miles especially if driven hard is not a low mileage for a ball joint. If there are wider then normal tires then the wear will also be quickened. As far as brake fluid and power steering go 1996 was not yesterday and only God knows when if ever it was last changed. The same would go for your transmission fluid and filter. If the pads and rotors were just replaced then the brake fluid should have been spotted then and the system cleaned and bled. I would start with a good flush and clean of everything and then see how the engine runs. Of course you can do a compression check and a vacuum check now but a more fair reading would be after a little cleaning was done, you are keeping the car any ways and the fluids need changing.