Should I buy? Neighbor sick of his car special

Talked to my neighbor. He has a 1998 accord ex, which has had the front driver side wheel lifted up on the factory jack for about 3 months. The driver side tire was leaking air and going flat

When I asked him what was wrong with it I get. I think it might have a cracked block. I asked, why do you think that? He said, well I lose a little bit of coolant, and I don't see where it's leaking it anywhere. He originally said he was going to try to sale it for $1000.

He also said the transmission acts up on really hot days, it's a 5 speed.

Fast forward to today, and he said he would make me a deal on it. I asked how much, I get $700.

We proceed to start it, and it does fire up and idles smooth for a minute. Then starts idling up and down, I'm guessing IAC valve if these cars have one. It is smoking a little bit under the hood, looks like valve cover gasket is leaking oil on the manifold.

Long story short, for $700 should I take my chances. It would be nice to have a 4 door car that gets decent gas mileage for work. It's a 1998 accord ex, 5 speed transmission, and around 220,000 miles.

Yeah, that year Accord had a reputation for spontaneous block cracking.

Seriously, ask him if it has ever been overheated. If the body and interior are nice, I don't see how you could go wrong. Worst case is probably a head gasket.

In reply to 1988RedT2:

I'll ask about the overheating, head gasket was the first thing that I thought of as well.

The interior is in pretty good shape, the body has a few dents and dings. A couple of small surface rust spots.

That's about $300 less then the going rate on a running/driving one of those around here with 200K+ on it.

Offer him $500.

Let him sit on it until he's so sick of looking at it that he'll GIVE it to you.

Go for it. But I would try to talk him down by $50-200.

racinginc215 wrote: I won't buy anything that someones trying to sale.

I think he meant he was going to sail it to him.

If only it was for sell.

no

racinginc215 wrote: I won't buy anything that someones trying to sale.

Apostrophes...how do they work?

I wouldn't.

Do you have desire to own a '98 Accord EX? What's the price on a similar condition running one? Is the difference really worth the cost of parts/time in diagnostics/labor to get this one running reliably?

I could understand this if it was something interesting, but for a commuter this just sounds like extra headache for no good reason.

Personally, purely practical considerations would NOT be enough to motivate me through the repairs to a car i have zero love for. Not that its a bad car, but it doesnt press ANY of my buttons.

Wade wrote: We proceed to start it, and it does fire up and idles smooth for a minute. Then starts idling up and down, I'm guessing IAC valve if these cars have one.

The highest point of the cooling system is the thermowax thingy for the idle speed control. When it doesn't have coolant in it, the idle fluctuates horribly. (like, near stall to 2500rpm cycling sometimes) It can be a real pain to bleed the air out.

Or maybe I'm thinking of the D-series.

I've never seen an F22 engine crack a block, head, or lose a head gasket. Plenty had leaks at the water junction mess at the back of the cylinder head, though. 99% of the time the radiator is leaking. Honda plastic tanks love to crack.

If I had a free thousand, I'd buy it. Then advertise it for $3000, daily drive it, and ignore the lowballers. Someone would eventually buy it, and in the meantime, it's transportation.

(No, an S2000 engine won't work, unless you want five reverse gears...)

I would NOT buy it unless I had the money the repairs would cost available. I also would NOT buy it if I hated driving boring, beige, sedans (assuming you don't drop in an H22 or similar engine). I finally, would NOT buy it if it could not be sold for at least what you put into it. In some areas, even low mileage, reasonably clean 10 year old Accords won't sell with a 5 speed transmission. An automatic? Well, that could go quickly.

P.S. if it was me? Yeah, I'd buy it and swap in the H22 from a Prelude, mildly modded....assuming it can be done on my shrinking funds.