I just bought a 97 civic ex coupe with 104k for $3500 (it has some body damage) and I was wondering where I should take it to get it inspected. I called a local dealer and they said it would cost $180 for a full inspection...

I don't know much about cars... I just checked the oil (a bit dark, I'm gonna get it changed), transmission fluid (pink, but maybe a little low), and cv joints (good) before I bought it. It doesn't have the owner's manual and the gears are: p, r, n, d4, d3, 2. At first I just assumed d4 and d3 worked like drive and overdrive, so I drove it in d4 but the car would rev up to 4000rpm when changing from 3rd to 4th. There's also a smell comming from somewhere and I don't know what it is [sm=smiley5.gif]

 

Would the best thing be to buy an owner's manual from a dealership and get a full inspection from one of these places?:

http://www.icarumba.com/icarumba/sch...rd/default.asp

 

I think Honda Dealerships are still doing the free 40 point inspection. I know it's not a full one, but it's better than nothing.

 

I just did one of those free 40 point inspections a couple days ago. I dunno if there all that cracked up to be.....I brought mine in and they looked at it for like 15 minutes. And put an 'S' for satisfactory for everything, and I knew that my brake fluid was a little low befor bringing it in....For comments they wrote, "a lot of aftermarket parts on the car". Waste of time I think but hey who knows maybe dealership near you would be different.

 

They said I needed a coupon...

 

Thanks guys for the help! I went down there anyways and they did it for free
The bad news is that they quoted me about 1200+ to get everything fixed :|
Some of this stuff seems a little bit extreme though... like $700 for a t-belt package and $250 in labor to change the left axel seal...