Honda Civic rebuilt engine worth it?

I have a 1998 Honda civic ex with and amazing body with no rust but.. it is leaking oil from more then one place and have had it looked at more then once by many mechanics and I have been told I have a blown head gasket and exhaust smoke is coming out the oil cap, I should just put a rebuilt engine in it .. the one I have now is a 4 cylinder with 146xxx miles on it .. but I don't know if its worth putting another thousand or so into the Honda or buy a new one.. or any good Honda mechanics in the Cleveland area.

if you decide that it's not worth it the rust free shell will be worth as much if not more then an average rust runner in 7/10 condition

What kind of shape is the rest of the car in? If it's rust-free and in good shape, you could probably come out ahead even with a new engine, since Hondas hold their value very well. If it's rusty and beat, though, I'd cut my losses and drive it into the ground.

Why not grab a cheap salvage engine and swap it in? I don't like paying for the rebuilt engines.

This is a young lady high school student that really needs a honest, reliable Honda mechanic in the Cleveland area (preferably on the south or west side) that will give her an honest diagnosis of the issues with her car.

Is it a 2dr or 4dr? auto or 5 speed? If the head is warped and requires machine work, you will spend more money fixing it then the cost of replacing the engine. If you don’t want to put forth the time investment and money you can sell it as is. When it comes to mechanics you get what you pay for. I have swapped engines in the past myself in hondas/acura, than can be straight forward, but you have to watch out where you purchase your parts, I haven't had good experiences purchasing honda/Acura parts privately. There is a market and I might be interested if it is a 4dr 5 speed if sold as is.

trigun speaks the truth.

If Mustang50 is giving us an accurate description, selling may be the better option. The hours of labor it may take to do the job will certainly run the price up in addition to a rebuilt engine which will not be cheap on its own and we can add that to whatever you sell the car for.

You can take that money and put a good down payment (or pay in full) on whatever.

The suggestion may change drastically depending on how dirty you want to get.

its a 2 door automatic transmission rust free thou and everything electrical such as door moon roof so on, so its will most likely be over a $1000 fir fix everything I already put $700 into it, and am just trying to fix or get my money back on it .

id like to keep it but being in school and not having all the money to put into it again if its going to break down I don't know if its worth it or putting payments on a new car

In reply to SlickDizzy: theres no rust even on it , all the mechanics iv taken it to said its one of the best condition cars they have seen for how old, so better off selling it then fixing the engine?

In reply to trigun7469:

so would I be better off just selling it ? if so what do you think would be a reasonable price to sell for with a bad engine in it?

It does not cost anything to post it on craigslist, post as best offer. If no one is interested then I would say think about fixing it or you can see about using it as a down payment on a car that does not have issues.