This 31 mpg '88 Civic was dead in the water literally. It was sitting in a huge puddle down the street for months after an overheating issue grounded it. The tree it was under was shedding pines needles and branches all over the car. It was almost scrapped, but then I made a proposition to fix it for ownership.
My buddy had this car at first, and when he got it, the radiator was shot. After bugging him for a while he replaced it, but forgot to refill the radiator with coolant a second time after he ran the first amount through the engine. In turn, he blew the head gasket, so then he replaced that and ripped out the thermostat. Unfortunately he neglected to replace the intake manifold gasket, which is why the issue was never fully resolved after blowing the head. THERE WAS A VACUUM LEAK TO THE ENGINE AND WAS IDLING HIGH.
This is the point when I got the car. Another friend of mine and I replaced the intake manifold gasket first, this fixed the vacuum leak. After that we adjusted the timing and firing with a timing gun which fixed the high idling problem. I then had to get the battery charged up by driving it on the highway for a while and again a few days later after a push start. At this point I noticed I was leaking coolant, and had to ad more every time I drove.
Before fixing the coolant leak, I installed a new thermostat, which did wonders and made it so i could read the engine temp on the dash gauge. I then replaced the hose that was leaking coolant everywhere, which obviously fixed the collant leak. Finnally, I changed the oil and oil filter (also ran some new oil through the system), and made sure the radiator and coolant resevior were topped off correctly. Now she purs like a kitten at 265,000 miles.
RESULT: I have a commuter car that will get me 31 mpg on the highway. That is double the fuel efficiency of my 86 4runner I have been driving everywhere. Now I will use my truck more for road trips and bad weather instead of driving it into the ground.
Later I will replace the air intake filter and run a multi-stage sea-foam treatment through the engine to clear out some unwanted gunk that has likely built up over the years on the Civic. I hope to get a good 75,000 miles on this car before something I can't handle breaks, hopefully even longer. I look forward to saving many dollaz on gas with this baby.
Always re-use what you already have, especially if it is feasible. You never know what the rewards could be. I always love the reward of a healthier planet, but a fuel efficient vehicle is a nice bonus also that goes hand in hand. Blessings everyone!