Hi - my first post here. I hope I am posting in the right area. I have a '96 Civic 3 door 5 speed manual transmission, with 139,000 kilometres on it. The car has been absolutely fantastic to me - in the 6 years I have owned it, I only had to replace one part - an oxygen sensor. I have taken really good care of the engine, with all scheduled service and oil changes evey 5000km.

Yesterday, the engine warning light came on and I went immediately to a dealer (not my dealer - I bought the car privately). They told me that the diagnostic indicated a problem with the 'throttle body' and that the fix was going to be worth CAD$1700 , labour and taxes in. They said that they turned the warning light off and that I should drive the car as usual, and if it came back on, to bring it in and expect that the throttle body will need replacing. The car is apparently running normally. Now...this car has been so good to me and of course nothing lasts forever. I am just wondering - I found a schematic of the 'throttle body' assembly and it seems to be composed of some 17 different parts. Is there any chance that this repair, if necessary, can involve less than the entire throttle body package? I am trying to figure out if it is worth it to do this repair or not (how much is a new engine??). I have taken the car to Honda for everything but oil changes, etc., and a friend of mine is telling me that I should really consider finding a good private Honda mechanic because the can often do identical work for less money.

Any suggestions or information would be greatly appreciated. As you can tell, I'm not much of a mechanic, although I have a fairly clear understanding of how an internal combustion engine works. Thanks, Nick.