Why did you buy a 20yr old car? Money? You are leaning towards replacing it. With another cheap car? Why is there a language barrier? Are you from the area?
Things are different in Costa Rica. I donāt speak Spanish well at all, and most Ticos in the rural area where I live speak even less English. Regarding money, to give you perspective, that 20 year old car cost $9000 (something that would probably have been half that amount in the US) a year and a half ago. I have also learned that there are gringo/gringa prices and Tico prices. It is what it is. Iām looking for solutions at this point. There are also no loans here.
The white smoke out the exhaust along with the gurgling in the overflow certainly sound like a bad head gasket.
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Given the fact your mechanical knowledge is limited I would think that your best solution is to find a Honda dealer . They would likely have an English speaking person on staff . Pay for a diagnostic and state no repairs with out your approval .
As for no loans , does that just apply to people like you who may not be a citizen ? What about a credit card ?
6 of one , half dozen of the other. Normally in this situation moving onto to another used car would make the most sense given what you say from the last mechanic, but this isnāt a great time to be buying a used car either. I guess if I were in that situation Iād probably just bite the bullet and purchase another car, paying whatever it cost. If you decide to go that route, before agreeing to or signing anything, make sure to have the prospective used car inspected by your own mechanic. Itās called a pre-purchase inspection.
That was a good suggestion. I called the Honda dealership and the language situation is not much better, unfortunately. It would also cost about $300 to get the car there, and they charge at least $300 more to do the repairs compared to the local shop.
Iām currently exploring if it makes sense to fix the car and sell it or let it go for next to nothing or find some other miracle solution.
Why do you say itās not a great time to be buying a used car?
Iām likely getting a newer, used and more expensive car. I learned so much from purchasing the first car. I had someone inspect it but he was linked to the seller (and the guy who introduced me to both). I didnāt know anyone at that time, so I was in a vulnerable place. I paid $100 for an inspection and realized after I purchased it that so many things were not inspected/reported to me. Next time I will provide the pre-purchase car inspection list to someone I trust. Thank you for validating that.
I love the beautiful nature of this country - the nature sounds, lush forests, wildlife, sounds, and the slower pace that comes with itā¦but sometimes I really do miss the reliable, count-on-able ways of the USAā¦oh and the English language 
.
Thank you all for your input on this matter. I will let you know what I end up doing.
Used cars have greatly increased in price b/c of Covid. In the USA I think itās a 40% price hike. In fact some used cars are now worth more than the owner paid for them new.
Ask around, folks you have a personal relationship with, coworkers, family, friends, fellow church-goers and the like. Ask them who they use to repair their cars. Interview a few, choose the best of the lot, and tell them which of their customers it was that recommended them to you. Itās a bit of work, but thatās the best way to find a mechanic. Best to do that before you need one, then youāll have someone to ask about which cars are the easiest to repair and find parts in your area. Itās hard to imagine a Honda CRV would be a problem, but maybe Hondaās just arenāt very common there. The three used cars Iād focus on were I in your situation but in the USA, are the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, and Mazda III.
With current car prices, maybe itās worth a bit as is?
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I believe used car prices in Central America are always high. The U.S. car dealers inflating prices should have little influence on used car prices in Costa Rica.
All this speculation about the cause of your troubles should focus on the codes, which indicate a misfire at several cylinders, including #2 and #3. Incorrect valve lash (a measure of how much clearance there is between two critical parts of the valve system) can create this problem, as can a bad head gasket. Valve lash can be adjusted, but a head gasket is a very big job and before you do it you need to know whether the rest of the engine is also worn out. In your case it probably is.
If the car is otherwise in good shape, not rusty and the transmission, brakes, steering and other running gear is working well, some people replace the engine with a used engine imported from Japan. The engines are in good shape, with a warranty, and cost around $1,000 (in the US), and then you must pay a mechanic to do the work. If you google the used engines for your car youāll see many companies offering them and I suppose you could contact them and ask about Costa Rica. Or find an importer in San Jose?
UPDATE: I ended up replacing the engine and that definitely fixed the white smoke problem.
REMAINING PROBLEM: I still had starting problems after getting it. It would start fine on a cold engine, but struggle to start again after I drove it for awhile (hot engine). Similar problem as before. My mechanic did a fuel line pressure test and the longer the car ran, the lower the pressure dropped. So he changed the pump. The fuel filters (the one connected to the pump and the fuel filter) were both extremely dirty. He did not have new filters at the time the pump was changed as he had to order them in our tiny rural town. He only changed the pump which did perform better with the pressure test.
I drove for a few hours yesterday and it stalled twice while driving it. It started up easily, thankfully.
While waiting on the new filters to arrive and be installed,
- would it seem dirty fuel filters could cause this problem, and/or something else?
- is it ok to drive the car like this until then?
Dirty filters can kill a fuel pump and yes the filters can cause problems like this.
Personally, I think the car should be parked until new filters are installed.
if the filters are partially clogged the engine will starve for fuel. if they are so dirty that they are clogged you might want to clean the gas tank and fuel lines. there is a reason they are so bad.
Was it burning excessive amounts of oil?
It sounds like you have a fuel pressure issue from those very dirty fuel filters that were never changed. Usually catalytic converters fail from an engine running too rich due to a bad oxygen sensor, but in your case maybe age and excessive oil burning did it. Maybe large fuel pressure variations from the fuel pressure issue caused the mixture to go all over the place and that damaged the catalytic converter.
If the catalytic converter clogs the engine will crank more slowly than normal when restarting due to high exhaust pressure.
White smoke was probably coolant in the exhaust from a blown head gasket or cracked head, which can cause misfires (he indicated he had misfire codes), which will ruin a cat converter also. My guess as to what the original issue was anyway.
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