so the 800 dollar super sweet awesome car deal turns out to be a Piece of garbage.
My family doesnt know a whole lot about cars and i bought it off my moms uncle. I never really met the guy but i went ahead and thought this is a steal. I should have had a more thorough look at the car besides confirming it ran ok at the time because i havnt even got to get this thing off my driveway any further than a few miles without some new Issues coming up. The transmission and engine are healthy and stable but everything else is a tossup.

Right away i knew it had a minor head gasket leaking coolant. (i went ahead and fixed this with a small bottle of blue devil)
now the waterpump/hoses are leaking ( not to bad to fix )
but it has a possible major issue

like i said the thing runs and starts fine but the alternator bracket that holds my alternator in place so my belt connecting the alternator to the waterpump is tight and straight is gone. it appears that the previous owner either hit something and broke it, attempted to change a belt and broke it or it just plain fell out due to rust. That being said a good look shows the only thing holding this alternator from falling out of the engine bay is some duct tape and the belt. im terrified to drive this thing knowing any second i could have my belt break and lose my alternator and possibly kill the engine due to heat.

i ordered a haynes manual for this car (1994 Hyundai excel) and from the looks of it i need to go to a shop and fabricate and weld me a new bracket to what appears to be the motorblock.

I was wondering is this a costly repair (over 400)


My friend that knows cars sees the future issues with this cars poor design and says Sell this car as is ASAP and try to get your money back on it he then said take your money and go buy a 90's toyota or honda even if it has 140k miles and be done with it. is this a better idea? i need RELIABLE CAR i dont want this thing if its a money vaccum and im gonna be insuring a car to sit on my driveway broken constantly.

i just need to know is it worth fixing and putting money into it now or calling it quits before i end up really broke in repairs? the interior is fine the windows are fine everything works except the alternator bracket is fucked up.

ehhhh haha.....yeah.... welcome to the wonderfull world of being an automobile owner!

my advice and, I don't care if you take it or not usually no one ever does and it just makes me laugh harder but....

Take it to the shop if you can, if not have it towed, and see what the damage is before you sell it, because buying any car for under 1G will have problems like this, and you are going to sink money into repairs sooner or later, just take it to the shop if its roadworthy, you most likely will have to spend a few hundred-thousand dollars repairing the engine to keep it roadworthy...... bought a 99 Pontiac a few years ago for 5G's and since then have spent about 10G's restoring almost every part in the engine. So if you paid 800 for this then yeah you are going to pay double to triple just to keep that thing on the road over the next year or two! like I said.... welcome to being a car owner it is not cheap!!!!!!

Take this advise. Find out what you're working with before you sell it. If you find out it's going to cost you thousands of dollars to fix and it's just not worth it to you, then sell the car. But you may find that it's cheaper than expected. People over the Internet won't be able to fully diagnose the issues. Bring it to a shop.

I'll third the shop.. also the only way to really fix a headgasket is to put on a new one (however you'll have to have the head checked for warpage/cracks) Should be able to source a new bracket at a salvage yard. The biggest problem you've listed is the head gasket. The fact that you "fixed" it and now its leaking from the pump and hoses tells me you might have coolant pasages blocked.. Heat + aluminum = dead, so when you take it to the shop mention the head gasket first, it would suck to put money in a bracket/hoses/pump only to find out the head is bad and leaked coolant into the cylinders. so once again shop :)

I agree with the general check up, see what its worth to you and if thy do a free imspection try and get multiple places. Four years ago omenplace said i was seconds away from my tranny blowing and needed a new ine, i was like F*CK that i aint spending 4k, went to another shop ad for like 100 bucks they said all they needed to so was flush it and do some minor cosmetics, always get two or more estimates before going on with repairs

As for the rest i honstly dont think you will need to junk it totally i think ot just needs some routine maintnece as does all cars for once in its life

Also what rok said

Hope that helps

You don't know anyone who owns a welder?

If you do it shouldn't cost you much more than a 6 pack and possibly a wrister.

A good option to get cheap parts would be a wrench and go type of junk yard.

Yeah. I wouldn't say to give up on it just yet either. General consensus is to take it to a shop.

However, don't take it to a F*CKING chain. Take it somewhere local where they actually work for a living, not work for telling you a bunch of horseshit to scare you so you'll pay them a shit asshole ton of money that is completely unnecessary.

Find a local one. With good reviews and take it there. If it's leaking mad fluids, tow it. Don't drive it. Ever second that engine runs with leaking coolant, you're causing potential fatal damage to that alumi block.

Everyone else has said it, but all in all, you're only 800 bucks into it. If it takes you say another 800 to get it fixed, you're still winning on the whole getting a car for damn cheap.

I just looked up your car on Kelly Blue Book. Looks like they have your exact make/model/millage ride in fair condition selling for $1,725. So take that thing to a shop, and if you can fix it and keep your total cost below that amount its a good deal, if its going to cost more than that might look into selling it...just my 2 cents

Even at $1725, it's an aging car, and it will likely come with it's issues as well. If not right away, then very shortly. I'de say you would be good if you went over the Blue book value. But not by a ridiculous amount.


I also second Rok's suggestion. When you get that car to the shop, the very first issue you should be mentioning is the head gasket issue. When I bought my car, they had just installed new head gaskets, water pump and timing belt. But they installed the head gaskets improperly. 5 months later, my car was in the shop(Fortunately it was mostly covered.) Even though they were somewhat new, they couldn't just fix the head gaskets. So get the car to the shop. Tell them you have issues with the head gaskets, and other parts. Maybe mention the car is recently bought and you'de like them to inspect for other arising issues as well. Find out what you'll likely be getting into if you keep the car. Then you can decide to sell it, or keep it.

Take this man's advice. He's into this kinda thing if i remember correctly :)

Get full coverage insurance then a week later wrap it around a tree!

I stopped reading at this point. To be honest if the hoses started leaking after u put that blue devil stuff in their you most likely dont just have a leaking head gasket. Warped or cracked heads can cause extra pressure to get into your cooling system and they will cause a leak at your weakest point until fixed properly. With that being said i would try to get rid of it ASAP. If you need to drive it until you can get something else I would suggest to remove the thermostat to relieve pressure off the cooling system(if it hasnt already been removed). I had a subaru legacy back in the day that i drove for over a year like this until hail damage from a storm totaled the car out.

Do this!

If your head gasket fix holds and doesn't leak,that will be ok.If it starts mixing oil and coolant you got a problem,park it and replace the gasket.If its just leaking a little coolant its ok if you keep it topped off,as long as it doesnt leak more than you can keep in it.Dont run it hot,if you do your gonna need a head and maybe more.The alternator is no biggie just drill and tap the hole the bracket bolted to and use a bigger bolt.If its broke on the alternator itself just buy a new one.If its the bracket thats gone just whip one up out of a piece of flat bar qtr inch thick and drill some bolt holes.If you cant do it yourself i say this would be a 25-50 dollar job.Find a old parts house,not one of these F*CKERS that have to use a computer to sell a battery.Tell the dude you need a new bracket and a good parts man will find something that will work.

I worked on crap cars most of my life.For 800 bucks some of this is to be expected.Try to do as much as you can yourself and later in life you will be glad you dont have to run to a shop everytime something happens.

now what you should really is to take the pos to the Junk yard and get more than 800 bucks for it. and go get something else with you're money. ($800 car is always a pos) family or not

been driving a $500.00 pontiac for the last two years.. all i put in it is gas. Good Day Sir.

This my friend, is the man you want to talk to, since he atleast attempted ot start up his own shop, and knows a fair bit about what's going on. TBH it doesn't matter what kind of shop you take it to, although I would first ensure they run certified mechanics, as some shops train guys from scratch and the occasional greaser doesn't have anyone with a F*CKING clue. Ive taken my cars to chain shops, local shops and dealerships and I now just deal with the dealership since Honda guarantees all their work and if anything goes wrong with their work they don't charge me for the fix <-- big winner of a point right there.

Once you have taken it to the shop weigh the potential cost with the longevity cost. IE. If you put 2k into the car how long can you expect to ride it out for? My first pile of shit $800 car lastd me a year till the tranny blew since I had no previous car knowledge and it ran out of fluid. I currently drive a 2001 honda accord that I sometimes put a few hundred into to fix things but for the most part put gas in and drive for about 40k miles a year. (life on the road, sucks)

Also if you know anyone mechanically inclined, scrap yards are indeed you friend.

I didnt read everyone's post but if you go to the mechanic and tell them about the leaking head gasket, it is going to cost you! A normal head gasket repair is anywhere from $500-$750 in the shop. And that is without anything else that might have been damaged because of this and without the other repairs it obviously needs. You might just be better off selling it and getting a toyota or honda.

Now this is one hell of an idea. I second this notion!