Honda Car Forum

Okay, Guys (and Gals)!

I just recently purchased a 1991 Honda Civic DX 1.5 ltr. I'm not a mechanic, but I'm a bit of a grease monkey, though most of my experience is on Toyotas and Volkswagen Beetles. When I purchased the car, I was told by the previous owner that the car was in need of a gasket seal, but other than that, the car was fine.

On my way home, the car was billowing white smoke from the exhaust. I checked the coolant and there was *NONE*. I also checked the oil and the resevoir was practically empty. Since then, I've replaced the thermostat, flushed the coolant and changed the oil and filter. I know the gasket is blown, but I'm wondering if the cylinder heads are bad, too.

I took the car into a Honda dealership and they told me that my engine was completely shot and I needed to fork over 1800$ for a replacement engine. After talking to my neighbor, who's a mechanic, he informed me that the *ONLY* Honda dealership in the area has a bad reputation and I was probably getting screwed (conveniently, the Honda dealership had *ONE* engine in the area - my thoughts are they bought it for someone, who decided to scrap their car and wanted to get rid of it). I got a second opinion from another mechanic who told me that the head was indeed bad, but I could still drive the car, if I needed to (which I do, as I need it for work) until I get it fixed.

After I added coolant and changed the oil, the car blows a *HORRENDOUS* amount of white smoke. It doesn't back fire and will occasionally stall, but the car itself, seems to be in decent shape besides the fact the previous owner was a douche and did nothing to upkeep his car (I'm thinking he blew the head from not changing the oil, doing maintenance and minor tune ups - when I confronted him about misleading me about the car, his response was "I'm not a mechanic!"). I need the car to work, but I don't have the money to replace the head now.

Tax Season is right around the corner. I can get a new gasket seal for around 20$. When tax season comes, I can buy a new car if I need to. It just puts my moving to California behind schedule. If I re-seal the gasket, would the car be operable enough to drive, without giving me *TOO* many problems? So far the car has only stalled out two or three times, when I first purchased the vehicle (I've had it about a month and only driven it back to my house, to the dealership and then back to my house again), but the check engine light popped on one time and it took me almost 10 minutes to start the thing. Since I've replaced the thermostat, coolant and oil change, I can start the car, no problems, but I haven't risked driving it anywhere, for fear of it completely dying on me. As I said, I'm not a mechanic. I can give my car a tune up, change the oils, filters, brake shoes, shocks, etc., but beyond resealing a gasket, this is beyond my abilities (I'm a chilton mechanic - I can fix anything, I can tear apart).

My friend has offered to help me replace the entire gasket, but with him, it's more than a one day job and it being the holiday season, he doesn't have the time to do it for me. Of course the car ran fine, when I test drove it and didn't give me problems, until I was almost at my house. Now, I'm stuck with the vehicle and I need it, to get around.

Any help and stop gab measures would be appreciated. If I can get this car fixed enough to get me to Los Angeles, even better, but right now, I just need it for work.

Madin

[EDIT] - Oh, the engine itself seems remarkably clean and has 109k miles on it, but it's a safe assumption that if this guy was the sole owner (which he wasn't - but he's the type that would just drive his car into the ground), it's all factory parts.