Hi folks--

I have some repair questions concerning my 1990 Acura Integra I hope someone
here can help me with. The car has about 250,200 miles on it, and I am the
only owner. I've been pretty good with keeping up with services and oil
changes, but now I need to get *second opinions* on some maintenance issues,
because the place I had been taking the car the last three years has become
much less reliable, and I'm in the process of finding another reliable
mechanic. I need to keep the car running well to go to and from school (I'm
an older, nontraditional student), and keep the car for another 3 to 4
years, until I'm again gainfully employed and able to afford another newer
car. In any case, I think the car should last me at least another 100K
miles anyway!

When I took the car in for inspection this morning, I had the mechanic check
out the A/C, since I thought it was running very rough after I had more
Freon put in it two weeks ago. The A/C went out last fall and I didn't get
it fixed until now. BTW, the car passed inspection without a problem, since
I had a minor exhaust system issue addressed two weeks ago at Big Al's.

The mechanic told me that the compressor was old, and was "going," which I
knew, since I've had relatively cool (not cold) A/C the past three or four
years anyway, but the compressor didn't run nearly as rough as now. He said
that the compressor could last another three months, or another three years,
it was hard to say. He also said that the compressor would run harder in
the extreme heat, and that I should expect the compressor to run rough until
the car is warmed up anyway.

Also, I asked him about replacing the valve cover gasket, as I have some oil
leaking from the around the engine. Someone else told me that a failing
valve cover gasket would cause that. The mechanic told me that there were
two different types of gaskets now, one with Kevlar, and the older
conventional kind. He also quoted a cost (around $100.00) for the repair,
which I thought was fair. Is that in the ballpark? Is there anything else
that would cause the car to use/burn excessive oil? Until the last service
(replaced spark plugs) the car used 3/4 of a quart of oil in a month, and
nearly left me stranded until I had the spark plugs replaced.

So, is what I'm being told about the A/C compressor, and the oil leakage and
valve cover gasket repair sound accurate, or am I being scammed again?

Hopefully the valve cover gasket issue will be the last thing I'll have to
deal with right now regarding my car. The fall semester starts on August
19th, and my time to address automotive issues after that will be extremely
limited!

Right now the yearly mileage on the Acura is 10K to 11K, but could increase
to 20K if I don't move next spring when I transfer to another school that is
40 miles away, and would require a daily round-trip commute.

Thanks in advance for the help/advice. I just want/need to have a working
and reliable car to get me to and from school, errands, running events, and
occasional social outings. My *other* vehicle is a 1979 Dodge Ram van/RV,
that is even more unreliable, and with gas being so expensive, isn't
cost-effective to drive.

Jean in VA