I had a 1987 Honda CRX I bought used in 2001.  My brother-in-law bought it for me with my money or he found the car.  I took it to my usual mechanic where they did a minor tune up and didn't say anything else.  Several months after I bought it, the timing belt went out on the freeway and I was able to pull to the side of the road.  It was my mechanic who suspected the timing belt went out and said there could also be valve damage which they did find.  The cost of repair was $1900 and they said it wasn't worth it.  I had an option of replacing the engine or put a rebuilt engine into it which was a much cheaper option.  They did other work like replace the clutch and bad hoses and all together it came to $1700.  I got a lot more for my money.  My question is shouldn't the mechanic recommend replacing the timing belt which it's not known when it was last changed?  They later apologized for not inspecting the whole car and some other place replaced the engine.  Before this happened, I didn't know about engine damage if the timing goes out since I'm not a trained mechanic.  Does this happen to other people or is it common?  One classmate said the CRX's were known for this and it happened to him, but didn't cost him as much where he had the damage fixed.