My daughter is a student and needs to keep the '98 Honda Civic with 120K miles running at least another year. Yesterday, it died while driving and would not restart. It was towed to a dealership for repairs. They have said that the repair will require a new ignitor coil and battery... but have also suggested a new water pump, drive belt, and timing belt. Another package offered is a maintenance package including: spark plugs, rotation, air filter, hinges, locks, suspension, hoses, and "park and brake." The timing belt was replaced three years ago. As a student, she needs to keep her expenses to a minimum but needs reliable transportation. I know nothing about vehicles and don't want her to have to replace items that don't need to be replaced. I would really appreciate any help that you can offer.

Replacing the igniter and coil is a good idea. I usually recommend replacing them every 120,000 miles or 10 years, whichever comes first. You may want to have them replace the rotor, since Honda will have the distributor opened and this is a logical time to do it. I would go elsewhere for the battery--Costco sells 100 month batteries for Civics for $35.95, with a full 3 year replacement. I would skip the rest of the stuff--timing belts should be replaced every 90,000 miles or 7 years, whichever comes first. Depending how long the spark plugs have been in the car, it may be a good idea to replace them.

If you take good care of this car, it can go 350,000 miles. Is it a 5-speed or an automatic? If it's an automatic, make sure and change the automatic transmission fluid every 30,000 miles. This will help prevent the big unexpected transmission repair bill.