So my civic may be dieing soon. It has 223K on it and I am smelling a sweet smell from the exhaust. The car started to over heat today from low coolant after a long trip. My guess is a bad head gasket or something alone those lines, I had the radiator presure tested and it was fine. And I don't see any leaks so its going somewhere it should not.

 

Do you see white smoke out the exhaust yet? It sounds like your correct a bad head or gasket.

 

sure does 90 civic ... get it fixed before that turns into more problems

 

No white smoke yet. Not sure if I want to replace it or just buy a used engine. What do you think?

 

just buy used engine and build the crap out of it

 

I agree buy a used engine. There are places that sell used motors with low mileage, most wrecking yards will tell you how many miles the car had on it. To get an idea go to car-parts.com you can search hundreds of yards around the nation or close to you. I have dealt with yards on this site & have had excellent service & parts as described or better.

 

head gasket only takes a few hours to change... I would just do that.