Dear Scotty,

I've got a 2009 Honda CRV LX with 118,000 miles on it. It's got an 2.4L inline 4 with an automatic transmission and Honda Realtime 4WD. We originally bought the car with 99,000 for about $8,500 from a car dealer. We should have known it was going to be cursed as we drove off the lot and the A/C stopped working. Luckily the dealership had a return policy of 7 days and they were forced to warranty the air conditioning system. In October of this year my wife called and said the check engine light was blinking, as she was only a few miles out of town I told her to turn back and try to make it home. The car died and we towed it to the mechanic. My mechanics explanation was the #4 piston was melted and that caused a compression issue. I believe something catastrophic happened prior to the piston melting, maybe a valve got stuck open and cause the cylinder to overheat from lack of lubrication. Anyway we bought a used motor that had been run tested for $950 and had it installed for about $800 with a local mechanic. The used motor had 105,000 miles on it. Ever since the used motor was installed we have been getting weird camshaft positioning sensor codes, I replaced the sensors and it kept happening. It was also start misfiring like crazy randomly as we drove down the road. The check engine light, VSA and airbag light would come on randomly. I had my mechanic adjust the valves and he also said maybe a stretch timing chain could be the culprit. The story continues with the fact that my mechanic forgot to put the coolant return hose clamp on when he installed the used motor. The hose came off while we driving down the road and the car overheated. A week later the head gasket blew up 6 hours away from home and left us stranded. We are currently having the head gasket replaced by a mechanic 6 hours away and plan to pick it up this weekend. We will be $4500 in repairs on the Honda CRV since October. I have 3 questions: What do you think caused the motor to blow up? Did the coolant hose falling off and overheating cause the head gasket to fail? Should we get the car back and sell it right away or drive it until the wheels fall off?

Thanks for you help. Love the Youtube channel. My friend and family are all addicted.

Sincerely,

Chris Kirchner