Fixing Cars
One of my biggest hobbies is fixing and selling cars. I’ve gotten pretty good with cars over the years. Everything started with my 1997 Honda Civic (the one I drove cross-country, from Georgia to Oregon). It was a great car, but at 200k+, it seemed like I was fixing something every other week. It never left me stranded, but it definitely liked attention!!
Some of the things I learned to do were replace a clutch, change a timing belt, replace replace CV axles, inner and outer tie rods, small electrical issues (window motors, regulators, etc), replace a rear main seal, among many, many other things. It was a great learning experience.
There are a couple of really great things about owning a 1997 Honda Civic.
#1: Mid-90’s Hondas will run forever – if you keep the oil topped off / changed regularly, and change the timing belt on time (I believe these are interference engines, meaning if you snap the belt, you have a good chance of damaging valves / pistons because they will collide), you really won’t have many issues other than normal wear-and-tear
#2: Parts are cheap – you can go to Pull-a-Part and find just about any miscellaneous sensor or component that you’re going to need
#3: Resources are available – you can pretty much YouTube just about anything you want, and you will find somebody working on this EXACT generation – 1996-2000 Civics were extremely reliable and you’ll see them all over. I’d guess that 90% of them have mis-matched body panels (a gray fender here, blue door there, etc).
Speaking of YouTube, I learned a TON from a great YouTuber named EricTheCarGuy. He does a lot with these old Hondas / Acuras, and he really explains the “why”, not just the “how”. He explains a lot of these concepts in a way that anyone can understand (regardless of your mechanical knowledge or ability). I highly recommend him!!
Whew..I really didn’t mean to go on a rant there. I intended to just share some pictures of some cars I’ve bought and sold in the past. I won’t list prices, but I will list what I remember fixing. I try and keep my eye out on Craigslist, but the best deals are usually from friends of friends, through word-of-mouth.
Jump to a Car
1997 Honda Civic
This was my first “older” car that I had as a daily driver, and I bought it in September of 2012 with 150k. I sold it in June of 2015 with about 217k on it.
Below is a list of all the maintenance I did to the Civic while I owned it. Keep in mind that not all of these were necessary to keep it running – I am very meticulous with my daily driver, and I wanted this to stay in top shape. This will give you a good idea of what the actual repair / maintenance costs associated with an older vehicle can be. I bought the car for $1,450 originally, and put over 70k on it in the time I owned it.
1998 Honda Civic
I couldn’t find any pictures of the entire car, but I bought this ’98 Civic for $900. I ended up replacing the clutch AND transmission. There was a constant whining noise that I thought was due to the throwout bearing, but after replacing the clutch, the noise persisted. It turned out to be the input shaft bearing, so I had to go in and remove the transmission a second time. I also ended up replacing the timing belt, water pump, and crank / cam seals – all with OEM replacements. I highly recommend Majestic Honda for any OEM Honda needs (or for getting your local Honda dealership to price-match; just print out the “shopping cart” at Majestic Honda and bring it in!)
1990 Dodge Dakota
No pictures, unfortunately, but I purchased it for $300. It was a no-start; I had no idea what was wrong with it prior to purchasing it. The seller was living in an apartment, was unable to keep multiple vehicles there, and needed it gone. It turned out to be the distributor. Replaced that, did a tune-up (oil, spark plugs, wires) and sold it.
1994 Mazda B4000
This truck had been wrecked, was missing a back window, and had a bad hesitation upon acceleration. We did a tune-up (spark plugs, wires, and oil change) and replaced the back window. We were able to find a hood / fender at Pull-a-Part (and don’t worry, we got the hood and fender lines looking better than they did in the pictures!) We ended up trading this for the 1995 Avalon below.
1995 Toyota Avalon
This Avalon was hit in the back (obviously). Other than that, it ran great. The only other thing it needed was a battery and a radio!
1998 Honda Civic
Another mid-90’s Civic! My speciality!
1995 Lincoln Towncar
I remember this car being pretty frustrating. It needed a new driver’s side window and a window regulator. Lincoln decided to use rivets instead of screws. We had to use a drill to drill out every rivet, and replace them with nuts/bolts. I think the only other thing this needed was a tire. Very smooth ride!
2005 Kia Optima
I used to own this car back in college. I ended up selling it to a friend from high school, and he drove it for 4-5 years. Whenever it needed maintenance, he would call me.
Eventually it developed a problem where the driver’s side door wouldn’t unlock. He was quoted $1,600 from the dealership, to remove the interior door panel and replace the locking mechanism. He ended up parking it in his yard and bought a newer car.
I bought the car back from him and found a video on YouTube, detailing the exact repair. I had to fiddle with the door, using a coat hanger, for a few hours to get it to even unlatch and open. I was able to disassemble it and use a dremel on the locking mechanism, because it binds up (due to a poor design, I guess). After shaving off a couple mm from the mechanism, it worked like new! I also did a oil change and oil pressure sensor (as well as a water pump, shortly before it came into my possession).
2002 Nissan Altima
This was a unique one. A lady brought her car to us because a shop had replaced the engine, but couldn’t get it to start after the replacement. It had been sitting at the shop for over a month before she got fed up, and had it towed.
There were two reasons for it not starting – there was a ground wire that was completely disconnected on the timing belt cover, and the parking mechanism (that tells the car if it’s in P-N-D) was out of alignment. After fixing those two things, we got the car to crank.
It quickly became apparent that there was a bad head gasket leak. After filling the radiator with coolant, it would shoot out 1-2 feet out of the top of the radiator, after you pressed the gas gently.
My personal opinion is that the shop knew this was a bad motor and decided to “not be able to get it to start” as a quick way out. She had already paid the shop about $1,500 at this point, and had little recourse because it had been so long.
We ended up buying the car from her and replacing the motor with one from a dismantler. After that, it ran great and was actually a very nice car!
1999 Nissan Altima
This is my friend’s car, but I’ve been helping him work on it / sell it. It originally wouldn’t pass emissions due to an EGR code. We had to remove the intake manifold (NOT a fun task on a 1999 Altima – believe me!!!!). To get the manifold off, we really had to jump through some hoops.
Some unexpected things that needed to come off included – passenger side CV axle, oil filter, oil filter housing, and I’m sure I’m forgetting something else too. It was a mess.
We had also replaced the water pump in the past. The car had developed a leak somewhere near the roof, which damaged the headliner and gave the car a real musty smell. To fix that, we cleared out the sunroof drain passages with compressed air, and then we replaced the headliner.
We ended up having to use a portable carpet shampooer on all of the floors, but it turned out really well. We definitely lifted up 18 years of grime out of those floors, and gave the car a new chance!
We ended up selling it for $1,200 – someone got a good deal!
1997 Honda Civic
We got to learn / practice a bit of body work on this car. My friend has been driving this car daily for about the past two years, and it was involved in two wrecks. The first one damaged the hood, core support, fender, bumper, and bumper bracket. We ended up finding a good match for all of those (except the core support – that was from a gray car), and I think it turned out pretty well!
1997 Honda Civic
This Civic was owned by my friend’s niece. It had an oil leak and she let it go too long without checking the oil – it developed a bad rod knock. Now we’re torn as to whether or not it’s worth putting an engine in it or selling it as-is.
1986 Chevy C-10
My friend picked up this 1986 Chevy C-10 the other week. So far, I know it’s in desperate need of some new tires. It feels like a Flintstones car when you’re driving it. It also need the A/C charged and a few interior pieces (pull handles, locking mechanism for the glove box). It’s got a Chevy small block 350 in it, which runs great! It appears that the original 350 has been replaced with a crate Goodwrench 350. Good find!
1994 Toyota Corolla
I bought this Corolla for $250 – the engine was only firing on three cylinders. Myself and the guy I bought it from both figured it needed an engine, and I was prepared to put one in. After bringing it home, I found the spark coming from certain cylinders was super weak, so I took a chance and replaced the spark plug wires. Success! It ran and drove great – it wouldn’t pass emissions, so I needed to replace the catalytic converter, which I did. Then I had a laundry list of small things – head unit, replacement speakers, window regulators, etc. I also ended up replacing the shocks and the gas tank because one shock was blown, and my exhaust pipe actually knocked a hole into the bottom of the gas tank. That could have ended badly if I wouldn’t have noticed the big puddle of gas on the ground one day! All in all, it’s been a great car, but it’s an extra car so I’m trying to sell it.
2010 Nissan Sentra
This car needed a CVT transmission. It is a 2010 Nissan Sentra, otherwise in great shape. The owner had already replaced the engine with a lower-mileage one, and then the transmission went out. We knocked it out in a few days and now it’s up for sale!