The other day I was driving down the highway and my engine stopped. Had it towed to a shop and they said the timing belt broke. They replaced the belt and said now there's low compression in 1 cylinder but the other 3 were fine. He seemed non-committal on whether or not we could drive it for a week or 2 until we can trade it in. If the compression is only low in one cylinder will it be okay to drive for a little bit or is it unsafe or will it leave me stranded? I'm hoping I can drive it for a week or two at least to give me time to get a new car but I don't want to be unsafe or be stuck alongside the road either. Any help would be reallly appreciated. Thanks!

 

I think it's kind of ****ed up to trade the car in for someone else to get with a bent valve. That's my opinion.

 

It's all in how much you want to wreck it before you trade. I mean, I drove a 97 escort wagon on 2 cyls. for three weeks. Hey, the plates were still good and it was family. I originally intended to demolition derby it anyway. It ran over 600 miles with a cracked head and then placed fifth in the compact car class. You could get lucky. I also beleive that this is how you can buy a "good" used car from a dealer, and it craps out 2weeks after the 1,000 mile/30 day warranty runs out.

 

I guess I was under the naive impression that if I told the dealer the issue they'd at least disclose it to the next person. I wasn't expecting to get much for it. Even if I decide to sell to a private party for parts or a junkyard the question remains, however.