April 29th, 2017 at 1:24 AM
I currently drive a 97 civic as my primary driver. I bought it for 800 dollars thinking I had a good deal. Not a bad price at all for a car with less than 140K miles. Well, needless to say, I learned the lesson of the 800 dollar car pretty quick. Need I say, it's pretty bare-bones. Terrible paint job, no power steering, no tach, no nothing.
Honestly, it ain't really a loss. It's absolutely great on gas (33-34 in the CITY), and it served its intended purpose of allowing me to learn how to fluently drive a stick shift. And to be honest, after driving a stick for almost a year I can say I don't know that I'd ever want to go back to an automatic. On one hand the automatic is like a breath of fresh air. On the other? Feels like it's got a mind of its own. You get used to feeling like you're in control. The stick brings a new feeling.
Anyway, that aside, it's got the original clutch so that's probably gonna go out sooner or later. Had some minor issues, namely accessory belt issues and what not, but meh those can be fixed.
Anyway, one week after purchase, I pull out of my driveway and next thing you know I see the whitest cloud of white smoke I'd ever seen coming from the tailpipe. I'm talking call the f*** fire department thick. Like, really really thick. If you've ever seen a car being sea foamed through the intake, we're talking sea foam thick. Definitely not normal.
My stupid a** drives it to work anyway. Well, it runs.
Did everything I could to fix the simple stuff. Full tune up, PCV valve (hardest PCV valve ever by the way, took two hours to yank it out and broke in its hole), fluid changes, everything. Fair enough.
Well, the problem persists, so I decide just to keep adding coolant and oil. Looks like a blown head gasket. I'll give it two weeks before it blows and call it quits.
And you might not expect a car with a blown head gasket to last a year, but it has. It's taken me to and from work with no problems, on many vacations, and over 15K miles of driving. No problems... just adding coolant and oil. Actually more oil than coolant. The coolant doesn't seem to burn much anymore. Otherwise a solid car...
Well, until the electrical problems begin. It dies in the middle of the road. Randomly. Now, being that it's a manual, it'll come back to life once the power comes back without need of a starter. It stays in gear and the wheels turn the engine which in turn fires the ignition. Therefore I don't get stranded. But the car suddenly being killed in the middle of the interstate intermittently has me thinking it's a tad bit possessed at this point.
Next comes the headlights... bye bye headlights. Been driving without them for two months. Then comes loud rattling noises from the engine. No idea what this could be... And then next come to find out my AC doesn't hardly work. It's one thing after another. Yes, I literally have no headlights in this bitch.
Well, I figure, okay then, I can still drive it, that's cool. I'll drive it until the wheels fall off. Well, that phrase has a whole new meaning for me now.
I was driving home on the interstate, hear this loud rattling/bumping sound. SOunds like the brakes, I pull off. I kid you not, the wheel was falling off the car. Never seen this until now but well, it happened. Aaaaaannnnddddd it f*** up my brakes while it was at it. Bye bye brakes. Bye bye wheel. Bye bye car.
Well the brakes are fixed. I needed those. Kinda a necessity at this point. Even more than the headlights=. And you know, original clutch, no power steering, no AC, no tachometer, no CD player, tape player, nothing, terrible paint job, and an otherwise unsatisfactory appearance, it still "runs" like a champ, getting 34 MPG every day.
much as I love my clunker, the wheel has finally killed it for me. it might finally be time to sell. My wish of driving a car into the ground has finally come true.
My buddies tell me it's a $600 car. Imma try for a grand... hehe, hehe
Honestly, it ain't really a loss. It's absolutely great on gas (33-34 in the CITY), and it served its intended purpose of allowing me to learn how to fluently drive a stick shift. And to be honest, after driving a stick for almost a year I can say I don't know that I'd ever want to go back to an automatic. On one hand the automatic is like a breath of fresh air. On the other? Feels like it's got a mind of its own. You get used to feeling like you're in control. The stick brings a new feeling.
Anyway, that aside, it's got the original clutch so that's probably gonna go out sooner or later. Had some minor issues, namely accessory belt issues and what not, but meh those can be fixed.
Anyway, one week after purchase, I pull out of my driveway and next thing you know I see the whitest cloud of white smoke I'd ever seen coming from the tailpipe. I'm talking call the f*** fire department thick. Like, really really thick. If you've ever seen a car being sea foamed through the intake, we're talking sea foam thick. Definitely not normal.
My stupid a** drives it to work anyway. Well, it runs.
Did everything I could to fix the simple stuff. Full tune up, PCV valve (hardest PCV valve ever by the way, took two hours to yank it out and broke in its hole), fluid changes, everything. Fair enough.
Well, the problem persists, so I decide just to keep adding coolant and oil. Looks like a blown head gasket. I'll give it two weeks before it blows and call it quits.
And you might not expect a car with a blown head gasket to last a year, but it has. It's taken me to and from work with no problems, on many vacations, and over 15K miles of driving. No problems... just adding coolant and oil. Actually more oil than coolant. The coolant doesn't seem to burn much anymore. Otherwise a solid car...
Well, until the electrical problems begin. It dies in the middle of the road. Randomly. Now, being that it's a manual, it'll come back to life once the power comes back without need of a starter. It stays in gear and the wheels turn the engine which in turn fires the ignition. Therefore I don't get stranded. But the car suddenly being killed in the middle of the interstate intermittently has me thinking it's a tad bit possessed at this point.
Next comes the headlights... bye bye headlights. Been driving without them for two months. Then comes loud rattling noises from the engine. No idea what this could be... And then next come to find out my AC doesn't hardly work. It's one thing after another. Yes, I literally have no headlights in this bitch.
Well, I figure, okay then, I can still drive it, that's cool. I'll drive it until the wheels fall off. Well, that phrase has a whole new meaning for me now.
I was driving home on the interstate, hear this loud rattling/bumping sound. SOunds like the brakes, I pull off. I kid you not, the wheel was falling off the car. Never seen this until now but well, it happened. Aaaaaannnnddddd it f*** up my brakes while it was at it. Bye bye brakes. Bye bye wheel. Bye bye car.
Well the brakes are fixed. I needed those. Kinda a necessity at this point. Even more than the headlights=. And you know, original clutch, no power steering, no AC, no tachometer, no CD player, tape player, nothing, terrible paint job, and an otherwise unsatisfactory appearance, it still "runs" like a champ, getting 34 MPG every day.
much as I love my clunker, the wheel has finally killed it for me. it might finally be time to sell. My wish of driving a car into the ground has finally come true.
My buddies tell me it's a $600 car. Imma try for a grand... hehe, hehe
