Need advice on maintaining my '00 Civic?
 

We bought the car 5-6 years ago. It was wrecked and rebuilt. Now it's around 80,000 miles. There's a rattle coming from the front end, usually when accelerating. The exhaust pipe has had some welding repair done but probably needs more. Also, Honda calls for a new timing belt and water pump around 75-80k miles. I have never changed the spark plug wires. My questions:































1) How can I check some of these things myself?















2) How can I get them checked out by someone who knows what he's doing?















3) How can I efficiently (cheaply) get everything taken care of? Perhaps Craigslist?















I guess it's weird that I'm asking for car advice on y!a, considering they don't have categories for it or anything.















I'm not looking for a walkthrough on how to rebuild my transmission. Just a simple 'unplug one of your wires and check the resistance with your multimeter' will do fine. Or, a 'no, you're better off not wasting your time looking for a mechanic on craigslist'.

It is not easy to tell someone how to check these things themselves since most auto repairs need to be seen. My advice, don't do this yourself since you have no clue what you are doing.