I'll try to keep this short as possible. Cliffs at bottom if you dont want to read.

So my civic is falling apart on me (still). I bought it last year for like $1400. Within the past year I have dropped a **** ton of money into it. I somewhat bought it on a whim because I was desperate for a vehicle at the time getting back on my feet.

Including:
-Engine swap (Low mile D15B low on funds) 50k miles /w tranny @ 50k
-Full Tune up for swap ~$300+ (includes water pump, belts, all that jazz)
-Front cambers
-front axles
-new steering rack

did all of this work with a friend so i did save a ton of money but still cost me like $2.5k+ total over year that ive had it.

Problem:
-Car now needs new rotors pretty badly.. (shop quoted me $400) Don't know how to do myself

-speedometer doesnt work (cant fig out why, tried replacing VSS sensor, fuses, entire cluster still dosnt work) so this would probably cost a few hundred to diag + replace old cluster (dont need to though rpms work fine)

-will need new tires within next few months pretty badly
-oil leak by timing belt
-IACV i believe to be shorted (idle surges at random times) (performance shop couldnt diagnose was a problem they hadnt seen before)
-Distributer will prob need replacement within next 6 mnths so i was told by same shop


wtf should i do? I've already dumped a ton of cash into this thing but the exterior is fairly dinged up/faded although most of its mechanics are fairly new. With how much work it still needs I've been thinking of tossing it.

I was thinking of just selling it and throwing down another grand and just buy like a $3000 car. I just need something reliable for school. This thing is nickle and diming the **** out of me and their isnt an end in sight.

On another note i know if i buy someone elses used car im buying someone elses problems but i dont feel that is always the case if they have lots of receipts to prove work done.

I was also considering just keeping this pos and maybe just getting a my first motorcycle just a cheap *** one for like $2000 with some left over student loans and driving that when weather permits here in Oregon.

Cliffs:
-Have dropped $2k+ in past year on car (low miles now, 50k)
-Needs about $1k in parts still (if i do all the work myself)
-it's nickle and diming me with no end in sight
-thinking of selling for like $2kish and throwing down another $1k and get something better taken car of.
-should i do the repairs since ive alrdy dropped a bunch into it or sell it for something that has a better maintenance history?

 

the front rots are easy to change. i did mines myself and it wasnt a cake job but it was easy. take out the wheel,brake caliper and the nut for the cv joint and you can take it off. i am not sure how much you can get for it but you should jb weld the oil leak or just put the car on craigslist and see the offer you get for the car.

 

If I were you I would probably keep it for a while longer. You would need to spend $1000 on parts and that's also how much you would put on top, IF you actually get 2K for your car. Any car you get for $3000 is going to have plenty of problems as well, old cars break more often. Nurse it along until you graduate from school and can afford something nice.

 

d griff is right. just put that money into it. do the work yourself have a friend help you and if anything come on the forum in search for some help. if i see any postings by you i'd be happy to guide you if i know how to do the job

 

cv nut??? WTF

rotors are simple, you take the caliper off with one or 2 12mm bolts (cant remeber how eg's are) if it's one you take out the bolt then slide the caliper upwards then in towards the car. then 2 17mm bolts for the bracket that holds on your caliper/brake pads. then the two Phillip head screws on the rotor, this is usally the hardest parts because they seize. if the rotor is seized on to the spindall you can grab 2 old bolts with 12mm heads and bolt them into the 2 extra holes in the old rotor and it will pop off

 

the other posters are correct i would just keep it. a new car payment is more expensive that nicles and dimes. im not sure why you feel a 3000 doller car wont nickle and dime you but it will. brakes are simple. a couplr hours tops if you dont know what your doing. you can get a haynes manual at any auto zone and it will walk you through it.
hop ethis helps
adam jeffery

 

Just keep it, you have a solid motor and if you get another vehicle you have no clue what will happen to it.

Rotors are easy and cheap if you buy them online. The eBay seller R1Concepts has good rotors for less than Autozone charges.

Your oil leak is probably the cam seal. It's like $3 from Advance Auto or anywhere else.

For tires, go to the junkyard. $25 a piece usually. And you can get them off of Ford Escorts, Focuses, Mazda Proteges. All of them have the same lug pattern...

 

keep, if you are thinking about long term sell if you need money asap and get another project.

 

Keep it.

Welcome to the world of cars, they are money pits, regardless of the make/model/year.

Unless you lease something new or damn near it you better get used to this **** your entire life.

What do i do? I try to knock out the simple/cheap things as they happen. Like speedo? Pretty useless, just keep with the flow of traffic and heir on the side of caution if there's no other cars on the road.

Recently I had everything hit me at once, motor mounts were getting crappy because it didn't have a torque mount on the trans side because the bell housing didn't have the ear for the mount on it when I replaced it (broke off somewhere), cat is going, I can hear it, brakes were going (later the rears just blew out, it was kinda not that cool), I got a 3rd gear chip if I shift down too fast, so I just parked and drive my Tercel or my girlfriend's car (doesn't matter much anyways because I typically just take my bike everywhere unless it's a long trip or I need to haul ****).

Though that was an option for me because I had a second car, I'm assuming you're posting this because you don't.

So, what would I do if I was in your shoes? Start out with the most mechanically infringing problems and work your way up from there, so, it seems we got this list, and you take care of things in the following order:

-Car now needs new rotors pretty badly..
Okay, I can teach a 5 year old to do rotors, and they're about 20 or 30 bucks a piece. If you have 4 wheel disk brakes that's about $80-$120 then pads...but realistically just your front ones are probably warped, so you pay about $100 or less for new rotors and pads in the front and then you can get the front done. If you figure out how to replace a belt, axle, or steering rack, you can jolly well figure out how to replace a rotor, not that hard, 2 bolts on the caliper, 2 bolts on the arm, IIRC.

-oil leak by timing belt Okay, so find out which seal it's coming from, and replace it. If it was a headgasket problem then you'd be losing coolant, not oil, so it's just a $5 seal, find out where it's coming from and replace it, it's probably the valve cover or the cam seals, I'd start there, both are pretty easy to replace.

-Distributer will prob need replacement within next 6 mnths so i was told by same shop Did these guys give you a reason for this? A seal look like it's going or something? Or they just the prophecy or something? There's no reason a distributor should "go in 6 months" - at least not that I've seen, if the igniter goes, it'll be a binary thing, one day it works, next it doesn't, it's like $40 tops, you replace it, end of story. Ignore that problem.

-will need new tires within next few months pretty badly So start setting some money aside now, into a "tire fund" - and when it comes time to get new tires, you use that fund.

-speedometer doesnt work Who cares? I drove with my cluster out for like 6mo b/c I lent it to my g/f because hers was broken. Just keep with the flow of traffic and you'll be fine, in that 6mo I got pulled over once because it was a 45mph zone and I was doing 35 and everybody typically does 55 so the cop wanted to know wtf was up - rightfully so, as soon as he saw the dash, though, he quickly waved me on my way, telling me to get it fixed soon. Small problem, THOUGH EASY TO DIAGNOSE You just throwing money at the problem is the wrong approach. Get yourself a Helms manual (factory repair manual) for your car, go through it, look at the diagnostic techniques for it, it's quite easy, you already know what it isn't.

-IACV i believe to be shorted And? Besides the annoyance factor this doesn't do anything negative - deal with it until you get the extra money to fix it.

============

It doesn't seem like there's a hell of a lot wrong with your car, dude. Keep it, put money in where you NEED to put money in (all that money you spent on VSS's and like trying to get the speedo to work could have been better spent). You're stressing the hell out about small bumps in the road, not enough to sell your car over.

Keep it, fix it slowly, most important things first (it's called in computer science a priority queue), ignore the minuscule problems (like the bouncy idle) for the time being. You'll make it through - cheer up.

I got a few friends who stress out about everything and do exactly what you're doing now. It's not that bad, look at that glass as half full. You're not looking at no 1k, not immediately anyway. PM me if you need any help diagnosing or want any advice, I'd be more than happy to help a guy out.

- Keep your head up.

PS: PM me later and I'll hook you up with a Helms in PDF format, dealership repair guide

 

keep.
welcome to the world of cars, they all do this.

 

 

If you swapped the engine or even just did the timing belt your self you can definitely change rotors. Its not very hard and pretty straight forward