need some advice... my 91 accord has 223000 miles and the head gasket and possibly the head is badly damaged. will barely stay running and overheats. I purchased the car for super cheap almost 2 years ago and got a good 50000 miles out of it. I dont really want to put more money into it, in the past 15,000 miles i put a new alternator, starter, radiator, distributor, thermostat, and almost every coolant hose possible. Its automatic and i really want a manual so my question is, do you think anyone would want to buy this car? Im pretty wrench capable; should i fix it, or would parting it out make more sense? the body is pretty trashed but interior and engine parts are in good shape, and all those parts i listed are almost new. Or should i just sell it to a junk yard for 100$. Also if i parted it, would a junkyard still give me money for an incomplete car? Thanks in advance for your input.

 

i can tell you what i've done in the past. hopefully i can give some insight for you to make the final decision that is best for you.

i parted out a car i had originally intended to fix and drive. i see it as a success; i profited more than $150 and kept many useful parts for myself. the particular model had a good market demand for spare parts (as yours does ) so several parts sold very quickly. the downside: i have limited space and the car became a bit of an eyesore for the few months it took me to completely strip and sell it. once i had made my original investment back, i wanted what was left (and useless to me) gone as quickly as possible. i checked into selling what was left to a nearby metal recycler. if i owned a tow dolly and a truck i would have made another $40 for the scrap metal. since i didn't the cost to tow it the 10 miles to the scraper would have cost me money! i ended up finding someone to come tow it off for free..

in your case, it's a car with a transmission you don't really want and a motor you don't want to spend anything on. there seem to be plenty of good parts left on it, and i know there is a good market (at least here in the south...) for that model of Accord. if you have the means to remove the valuable parts of the car and sell them locally, at a fair price you could expect more money parting it out compared to selling it as-is. however, you would need a place to store it and a way to get rid of what doesn't sell. if you sell it as-is you could be done with it in a few days and move on to the next one.

selling it for scrap would be my last resort.

 

Thanks for the advice mark, i have time and a garage at my disposal, so i will attempt at parting it out. Big question tho. What are parts i should definitely take off and sell, and what parts should i just skip for thier insignificance or removal difficulty? Any advice would be extremely helpful, thanks.

 

i spent a good amount of time researching when it came to this. first though, i went over the car and decided what was still in pretty good condition or still usable. then, i searched the web to gage the demand and price folks are willing to pay for each part. i also posted a part-out for sale thread so anyone could request parts they needed.

other thoughts:
-exterior trim, bumpers, hood, doors, lights, trunk.. "crash" parts are a good place to start. any body work that's not banged up should be easy to sell and remove.
-anything still in good working order under the hood; radiator fans, alternator, distributor, A/C components (you'll need to get the Freon pulled out), wiring harness... offer the engine as-is or separate into major parts (manifolds, head, bottom end), CV axles- if they're still good.

anything else that still works that may be not working on someone else's accord..

good luck, and enjoy the teardown

 

Head gasket is a cheap and easy fix if you are capable - if you are capable of a timing belt change, then this should be no more difficult, just more work. Might as well put a timing belt on too if you do it. I am fairly wrench capable too and it would take me about 6 hours to do the head gasket and timing belt. If you do it, replace the balance shaft and main seal... about 250K mine started to leak the instant after I put a new timing belt on.

If you have another car, then I would put a hundy or two into it and fix the head gasket and try and get another year out of it. If this is your only car, then you might want something more reliable... I fix my accord every time that it needs it, but I put about 30-40K a year on a car for work and I hate to burn miles on a newer car. ...plus, I have a goal of 500K on my 92.

I bought a oil pan, mirror and a door panel from a guy parting out a 92 accord here in Kansas City - he said that he made about 2K parting it out over 6 or 8 months, if you can believe him. Good money, but lots of time required. When I was there, a guy was buying the trunk latch thingy (by the drivers seat) with the cable for $40 and was more than happy to pay the money to get this part.