Alright, here's the meat of the list (had my car inspected by Honda dealership; rebuilt/salvage title; original post: https://honda-tech.com/forums/showth...hp?t=3064292):

side engine mount bracket missing*
major oil leak (about a 3-inch puddle over 8 hours)
power steering rack leaking fluid*
right inner tie rod loose*
trailing arm bushings broken*

*needs fixing to pass safety inspection the mechanic says

All the rest is minor stuff, but one interesting thing he said was that the side mounting hole was manually cut wider and he wasn't sure why. He called it a "Frankenstein" engine. Now this car was in a major accident but he didn't say there was any frame bending but couldn't tell if the engine had major damage causing the oil leak, just some jerry-rigging. He honestly couldn't say how much work or cost it would be to do it proper (or even workable) to fix the oil leak and get it prepared for safety inspection.

Since they were backed up I decided to take the car to my mechanic instead of paying the extra $89 for them to do a more in-depth inspection. My mechanic is great but less likely to do it "proper" like the dealership does which might include unnecessarily expensive parts and labor.

Any advice on these issues? Any clue on what this might cost?

 

This non-technical question belongs in the Value Thread, but it may be difficult for most to answer without more information.

 

Sounds like the car is not worth fixing. The hole could of been rigged to fit a different engine mount for a different engine that was taken out.

Do you know what engine is in there now?

I am surprised he could not locate the source of the leak if the puddle was that large?

 

Some pictures of the mount situation would be helpful.

 

How much information do you guys need? This is already a lot of information for me, a non-technical car buyer. I'm not sure my mechanic is going to take pictures. I have a handwritten list of problems with the car that came from the mechanic, and those are the problems that he wrote that I need to fix to pass safety. My mechanic is looking at it right now but I might not hear from him until tomorrow. So far one user replied that I shouldn't keep the car, but I got it at an $1800 discount from book value, so it might be OK if I can get things to work for the next year or more. Hell, I could probably sell the car for what I paid for it since two other people were going to buy the car that day for the price I paid for it.

 

It's pretty simple. The answers that you seek from members are only as good as the information that you provide.

 

I don't want to sound like an *******, I appreciate that you found your way to this forum. However... the typical adult human today 1) owns a camera and 2) knows how to spot obvious damage on just about anything.

Some car basics: If it's been in a "major accident" as you say, things wont line up. A major accident to me means that the frame of the vehicle bent as a result of the accident. Look at the gaps between the side panels, hood, doors, trunk, and see if the spacing is consistent on each side of the car. This will give you some indication as to where the accident occurred.

You don't need to wait on a mechanic to take pictures. Blindly buying a vehicle without having someone who knows what to look for is a painful mistake as you are finding out.

Use your own eyes and see if you can spot obvious signs of damage and leaks. Use a camera and take a picture. Post the pictures on Honda tech and we will do the best that we can to help you.

 

as above ..
A picture speaks a thousand words to the trained eye
HT has thousands of trained eyes

now you understand why we all ask for pic's

 

fixed :p

OP: there's an entire engine mount missing?

I think you're doing fine, most of the time you're not going to find a 98 civic in great condition.. and lets face it, they're not expensive to fix. i'm sure things will turn out fine.. just keep us posted with info

 

Yes, I own a camera, yes, I know how to spot obvious damage on just about anything... I wasn't inspecting it, I didn't think you needed pictures. I have no idea if my mechanic is going to take pictures, and I'm not sure it's worth asking him to so I can show you guys on the forum. I'm not a mechanic, I'm not a car enthusiast, I'm just a normal car buyer, so I guess I'm on the wrong forum.

 

Maybe you should state exactly what you wish to get from this technical forum.

In your first post, it seemed that you wanted advice on some technical issues, but you provided less than the required minimal amount of information needed to advise you.

 

I'm not a mind reader. Some things really don't require pictures, but this one one of those times where a picture really is worth 1000 words.

I think common sense would tell you no, and that it would probably be a bad idea to ask. That was never the intent. The intent was you would take the pictures on your own.

What exactly was it you were expecting? I'm genuinely curious. Also even if you aren't particularly interested in cars I still think there's a lot of good info that can be taken from H-T in terms of knowing if you're being ripped off, probably causes for various problems etc.