Recently I purchased a 96 Civic DX [4-door, manual]. Very low miles, great condition, all factory parts.
I took it to the local Honda dealer to get new oil/fluids, and they ran all the usual tests. They said everything looks pretty good, except for the struts[?] are wearing out and may be leaking. How serious is this?
The car runs ok, but it just doesn't feel like I'm getting enough from the engine when I accellerate. It feels like it almost sputters when I first hit the gas, and it sounds like there's something spinning audibly up through 2nd gear [especially when the engine is cold].
I don't know much at all about auto mechanics, but I know you all do. If any of this sounds familiar, please give your ideas as to what might be going on under the hood [and what I might do to improve it!].

Thanks!
Preston

 

Struts wouldn't make those noises typically. Beware of strut recommendations, I think most novice techs mistake undercoating or road grime for a leaking strut. I would check myself for oil around the strut and then push down on the front end a couple of times and watch the recoil of the body. If it tends to bounce more than twice they need to be replaced. They will squeek to if they are on the way out,(oil leaks out, seal becomes dry).

I couldn't diagnose your problems based off what you are describing, it could be a lot of things. I would check the exhuast manifold, that model tends to crack around the "Y" where the primary o2 sensor is located. Listen to the car next time you drive it and see if you notice anything more, how fast you are going?, what RPM? what gear?
etc...

 

you'll also notice a little bit of valvetrain noise when you're running the car cold. I can't quite imagine the noise youre hearing, but if it goes away after the car warms up, it might just be the valvetrain not thoroughly oily enough... I'd be careful about driving the car too hard until its warmed. As for the car feeling sluggish, that might just be because its a DX sedan

 

I was kinda thinking like a tranny mainshaft bearing when he was saying it makes a spinning sound up to 2nd gear. i dunno, it's hard to play guess what's wrong without a lot of info.