I went to buy a car and noticed the

I went to looked at a 92 vigor (honda engine). I noticed the timing cover
was in two pieces (at least it looked this way), and the top portion of the
timing cover was missing. The lady said she was not aware of this and stated
she has been driving it for the past year like this......isn't this a bad
thing and that I should stay away? Could dirt, rocks etc get down there to
cause major engine concerns?

Pls advise on this.

 

Not only that, you will lose some oil as the valves get moved by the
crank. I would recomend replacing the covers, and purging the engine oil.
Presuming it runs fine. Then filling with fresh oil.

 

it's got a timing belt. there should never be oil in there. the cover
missing is not a real big deal. i would replace it to keep stuff out.
that's an odd 5 cylinder engine, the used it in the acura 2.5's for a
while also.
Chip

 

As I recall from a Dodge I owned, oil inside the timing belt cover
indicated a leaking crank or cam shaft seal. Might this be the same
situation with this car?