Hey, cars are cars. Hondas are cars. Things go wrong. You can go to any board and find people who will swear that their chosen make will run until it's rusted to the frame. Maybe you've got a lemon. My first 2 months working on my ZC motor, I've replaced a radiator, thermostat, TWO head gaskets, soldered sensors left and right, and dealt with a myriad of problems related to my cooling system. And you know what? Everything I had to do was the result of just 1 stinkin' bad decision, not to put enough water in when I first swapped in the engine. I know exactly how I got every other problem as a result of that first one. But I only know that now, with the experience I got from fixing the same problem over and over. So understand that cars can be something of a black art, and if you don't know what you're doing, you can easily get discouraged. It sounds to me like you can't do the maintenance yourself, so owning a old car is NOT a wise decision for you. Just buy another car. You can buy another civic for the couple thou you need to invest to solve the problems you mentioned, or you can buy any other old car that will last you a few months, maybe a couple years, and you'll come out ahead.