Any people save money on car repairment like I do?

[teetee]

Ok so last month I took my 96 Honda Accord to the dealership for their once-a-year 40-point free check-up and they found out several things needs to be fixed/replaced:
1. The engine valve cover gasket, oil pan gasket are leaking oil. I am thinking my head gasket needs to be replaced too because there is this sweet smell coming out of my exhaust pipe when I first start the car in the cold morning day - which indicates the coolant leaks into the cylinder(s).
2. There are only 1.0mm thickness on my both brake shoes (rear brake drums) so they need to be replaced.
3. The rear brake drums are all rustly and need to be replaced.
4. Both of the front outter CV boots are ready to tear and the grease is coming out.
5. There is a hole at the joint between the exhaust pipe and the muffler.

Well it's a 160K-mile car so I wasn't surprised to get such many problems. However, as much as I would like to get them all fixed/replaced, I just don't have that kind of budget for the garage to do so. Some of my relatives told me to just get rid of it and buy another car but I wasn't sure about that either. The way I see it is that if I could buy the parts and do it myself then I would save loads of money and the car might not need to be repaired for another 100K miles.

So far I have been buying parts such as brake drums/shoes/gaskets/axles from online and found it's actually not that cheap:
* new aftermarket Drums(pair) $52 shipped
* new Honda brake shoes(four) kit $48 shipped
* new gasket kit(eBay#270111149994) $52 shipped+$9 (eBay#190107218674 )
* I haven't decided whether if I want to get both of the axles replaced or buy the CV boot kits to replace the old ones myself(and get greasy all over) but I know it's going to be around $110 for both new/remanufactored axles while the new CV replacement boots cost ~$20

Anyway, I know it's going to be a lot of money if I have all the work done by the garage(~$1500 maybe?) However I was just thinking if anyone here had the same experience in terms of working on cars to save some money.

[ronbo613]

I do all the work on my 1990 Toyota truck, it's never seen the inside of a repair shop, but I've worked on vehicles all my life, so I know what I'm doing and have the right tools to do the job.
In your case, there are some repairs you describe that need special tools, like replacing the head gasket and fixing the brakes. Replacing the oil pan gasket may require lifting the engine off the engine mounts.
There may be hidden problems as well. What if you pull the head, replace the head gasket and find out you have a cracked head or engine block? Usually you can look at the head gasket to see if it is leaking, but you have to know what you're looking at. Messing with axles, bearings and such may also require special tools like bearing pullers and you may need to replace things like brake lines and fittings. You'll have to deal with rusty nuts and bolts, you'll need penetrating oil at least and maybe a torch to loosen the nuts and bolts.
Sounds like a big job unless you have done this kind of work before and have the tools to do it.

[RealBlackStuff]

Before you started buying parts on eBay, you should have asked a few places for a quote for all the work incl. parts.
That way you could figure out (from pricing the parts first) how much labour was going to be.
Your 'problems' sound rather beyond the capabilities of a 'homegrown' car repair man.

(I could do it myself if I had to, but I'd rather let someone else get dirty and pay them to do the work for me.)

[teetee]

Thanks for all the opinions. I was reading Haynes Manual and found out that to replace the oil pan seal one needs to remove the center bin without lifting the engine. That sounds doable to me. However the head gasket replacement is a very different story. Not only I have to remove the valve cover, drain the oil, I also have to drain the coolant, remove distributor and alternator, relieve fuel pressure and so on. It looks to me that in order to replace the head gasket I have to tear at least half of the engine apart. In that case either I will replace the intake manifold and exhaust manifold gaskets all together while I am at it or I will just wait until I save enough money for other people to do it for me.

[RealBlackStuff]

Regardless of your other options, you should do the rear brakes immediately, and you may as well replace the front disc pads at the same time.
Someone else's child, or that frail little old lady will be most grateful!

[carbon_unit]

I have found that with brake pads, shoes, drums and rotors, The local parts store is cheaper than most online shops and it is much easier to exchange if there is a problem.

[dsigma6]

I like www.rockauto.com for parts.

[ronbo613]

Usually a head gasket kit comes with the exhaust and intake manifold gaskets and any other gaskets needed to replace the head. You might consider doing a valve job while the head is off, or perhaps you can buy a rebuilt one ready to go. You might think about repairing your exhaust pipe while the exhaust manifold is off as well.
Brake parts, except for rotors and drums, are usually pretty cheap, getting them locally is probably a good idea. Check the brake wheel cylinders for leaking as well. While the wheels are off, loosen up the bleeder valves so you can do a good job of bleeding the brake system. Probably a good idea to let all the rusty brake fluid out and flush the system.

[Rob Mayercik]

4. Both of the front outter CV boots are ready to tear and the grease is coming out.

<snip>

* I haven't decided whether if I want to get both of the axles replaced or buy the CV boot kits to replace the old ones myself(and get greasy all over) but I know it's going to be around $110 for both new/remanufactored axles while the new CV replacement boots cost ~$20

Be sure to take a good look at those CV joints and the boots - once the boots breach and you start getting contaminants into them, they're going to fail rather quickly. In the long run, it might be better to see if one of your local auto parts stores will take the old axles as cores if you buy new/remanufactured axles from them.

As to the head gasket, some folks can do that themselves, but generally it's a good idea to have the head "decked" (also called "planed") to ensure a good seal against the block.

If I might be so bold to suggest, the exhaust leak, axles, and brakes are more likely to be things you can accomplish. A word of advice: take lots of pictures as you do the brakes and axles - there's likely to be a whole bunch of things to take out and reinstall (replace, in the case of the brakes - you DID get the spring/hardware kits, didn't you?), and pictures will be a great help in figuring out how that pile of parts goes back together.

The valve gasket seal you could probably do as well, but it'd have to be taken apart again to do the head gasket, which should be left to a pro. I'd suggest the same on the oil pan gasket, simply because no driveway ramps will ever give the same access to the underside of a sedan like yours that a full-on vehicle lift will.

Oh, and definitely bleed the entire brake system when you're done - brake fluid absorbs water, and should be completely replaced every couple of years (especially critical on ABS-equipped cars).

Rob

[teetee]

Thanks for all the suggestions Rob! And thanks to dsigma6's recommendation of rockauto store. I tried several different places including e-Bay but couldn't find the spring sets (and adjusters) for my drum brake replacement project until I went to ruckauto online shop. The shipment was fast(~5 days) compare to other online stores. Here are the parts I collected so far:
1. Rear brake shoes kit(a set of four+U springs)($48)
2. Drum brake hardware kit($20)
3. RAYBESTOS 9458R Drums(2) ($39)(still waiting for delivery)
4. Oil pan gasket ($9)(still waiting for delivery)
5. Gasket set e-Bay#270111149994 ($52)
6. Pair of used front axles ($60)(still waiting for delivery)

I think I will be ready once I get some of those thermo grease, RTV sealant, and some lubricants(penetrating oil, etc). I also need to rent/borrow torque wrench, breakbar, bearing pullers from Autozone.

I will definitely do the rear drum brake, the CV axles, and the oil pan replacement by myself because they look pretty straight forward. I am not sure about the valve/head/intake/exhaust gasket replacement because they look pretty complicated and risky for a newbie like me. Also as ronbo613 said I am not sure what I will see after I remove the head block. Maybe I should do what I plan to do first and think about the rest later.