Why is there rust in this engine bay

[tyler]

Ok so my friend has been in love with the honda prelude since about 6th grade well he just sold his
Car (that he hated) and found this lude and is hell bent on buying it he showed me pictures of the car and its very clean only one imperfection on the body interior is emasculate and he has every paper for the car there is zero rust and we live in NH so salt kills the cars around here the thing that has me worried is the items that are rusted in the engine bay if you look at the pic there’s rust on the radiator support upper rad. Hose clamp some stuff over near the a/c compressor and the brake/clutch over flow tanks at the base and other stuff now this car was bought drive for a year sat inside a garage for 5 years the bought driven a lil garaged never driven in winter with 48,000 original miles can any one shed some light on this for me or tell me if its a good buy or bad buy

Thanks- wildabeast

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[Tom]

That’s a pretty small picture there lol Looks like one of the clamps for the radiator is rusted. I have a pair that look just like that. If nothing is rusted through, don’t sweat it. He can always clean up the rusted clamp, and give it a coat of primer and paint, and be done with it.

[Bill]

The pic is a little small to see details but since you didn’t supply the year it’s hard to have an opinion. You can’t expect a car that’s been sitting for years to have NO rust.

Is it a good deal? I dunno what a good deal is..$500.00 is a good deal but if the car is really clean $5000.00 might be a good deal.

[college man]

Rust never sleeps.

[Walter Cheryba]

I’m not there to see it but from the pic it is what I call “barn rust.” What you really want to check is the undercarriage-look for rusted brake lines, fuel lines, gas tank support brackets and straps etc. Wherever it was stored had some degree of moisture. I’m not versed in the material Honda uses for fuel tanks but if it is metal there is the possibility of internal rust there too. Older low mileage cars that are pressed into daily driver duty can present a domino failure scenario. College Man says rust never sleeps and I agree-neither does time……
Check or have the car checked out THOROUGHLY by an experienced auto person. I’d get it up on a lift before I spent any purchase money.

[Bluesnut]

I have no idea if it’s a good buy or a bad one. The year model is not even known.

Before making any decision, I’d want that car up in the air on a rack for a thorough inspection underneath and not fret so much over the engine compartment.

[Author]

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