Rep Power: 0

After owning dozens of cars I’ve never had a Honda

I picked up a 96 DX automatic non vtec for 650$ with 160k miles showing but I assume much higher maby 230k plus because odometer is broken kid I got it from said all I needed to do was add oil

anways it’s clean inside and out with Ac/heater and it all works I noticed it had very very low coolant
I changed the spark plugs

and began driving it I put about 1000 miles on it including a 6 hr round trip highway drive no issues anyways I forgot about the coolant being dry

and I was in McDonald’s line for about 20 minutes and all the sudden I started overheating and my coolant was steaming bad I turned it off and it instant cooled down and Made the drive back no issues

I topped it off with Prestone 50/50 and I have not gave it a test yet because I noticed a hair line crack on my exaust manifold so I put a Jb weld putty on it untill I find a new one

my engine and transmission seem very strong I notice no issues on the highway

what can I do to make sure this car last me I plan to keep it untill someone crashes me because I don’t crash my self

work I plan to do on the next few days
oil change
sparkplug wires
disturtor cap and rotor
radiator alternator
new belts
new battery
blinkers/lights

possibly a head gasket rebuild not if I don’t have to?

also each of my friends that rode in the car said it smelled like **** now I understand it has 200k miles of hauling asses but I thought the exaust leak was come in so that’s why I jb welded it

anyways how can i fix the smell

and is there any owner tips or tricks I need to keep on top of to make sure this car won’t ever bust on me

I purchased it so that I can use it to gather items on OfferUp/Craigslist

so I’m planning to do 500/1k miles a week maby more mostly stop and go city but when it’s highway it’s cruising at 80mph is that a Goldilocks sweet zone to cruise at I notice if it creeps towards 85 sometimes my front end will shake but other times naturally it will climb towards 90ish from like a decline in the road and it won’t shake at all

 
Rep Power: 126

Sounds more to me like there’s a coolant leak somewhere, assuming your oil looks fine.

Make sure the wheels are balanced. That’ll contribute to some wobble at higher speed.

Have someone look at your exhaust when revving/driving. What colour is it?