PSA: that $700 Civic I bought last month needed a $40 part, not a new motor like the seller swore

Quinn Mitchell · 2026-10-11T05:35:05.231408+00:00

Bought a 2001 Civic off a guy in Bakersfield last month for $700. He told me the motor was knocking and it needed a full rebuild, so he let it go cheap. My brother in law is a retired mechanic and he came by my garage two Saturdays ago to listen to it. He poked around for ten minutes, pulled the valve cover, and pointed at a cracked exhaust manifold gasket that was making a ticking sound the seller mistook for rod knock. We threw a $40 gasket and some new bolts on it and that car runs dead quiet now. I have put about 600 miles on it since and the temp gauge sits right in the middle. The lesson here is pay the 20 bucks for a second opinion before you trust a stranger's diagnosis on a cheap car. Has anyone else bought a so called dead motor car that turned out to be one dumb cheap fix? What was yours?

Rigidtalk

Loading…

PSA: that $700 Civic I bought last month needed a $40 part, not a new motor like the seller swore | Cars We Bought Broken - Rigidtalk