diff --git a/car/car_offset_writer.go b/car/car_offset_writer.go
index ef2271885..ac9b66c6e 100644
--- a/car/car_offset_writer.go
+++ b/car/car_offset_writer.go
@@ -106,8 +106,13 @@ func (s *CarOffsetWriter) writeBlocks(ctx context.Context, w io.Writer, headerSi
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("getting block %s: %w", c, err)
 		}
 
+		// take a copy of the links array before nd.RawData() triggers a sort
+		links := make([]*format.Link, len(nd.Links()))
+		copy(links, nd.Links())
+		byts := nd.RawData()
+
 		// Get the size of the block and metadata
-		ldsize := util.LdSize(nd.Cid().Bytes(), nd.RawData())
+		ldsize := util.LdSize(nd.Cid().Bytes(), byts)
 
 		// Check if the offset from which to start writing is in or before this
 		// block
@@ -121,7 +126,7 @@ func (s *CarOffsetWriter) writeBlocks(ctx context.Context, w io.Writer, headerSi
 
 			// Write the block data to the writer, starting at the block offset
 			_, err = skipWrite(w, blockWriteOffset, func(sw io.Writer) (int, error) {
-				return 0, util.LdWrite(sw, nd.Cid().Bytes(), nd.RawData())
+				return 0, util.LdWrite(sw, nd.Cid().Bytes(), byts)
 			})
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, fmt.Errorf("writing CAR block %s: %w", c, err)
@@ -132,13 +137,13 @@ func (s *CarOffsetWriter) writeBlocks(ctx context.Context, w io.Writer, headerSi
 		s.blockInfos.Put(nd.Cid(), &BlockInfo{
 			offset: offset,
 			size:   ldsize,
-			links:  nd.Links(),
+			links:  links,
 		})
 
 		offset = nextBlockOffset
 
 		// Return any links from this block to other DAG blocks
-		return nd.Links(), nil
+		return links, nil
 	}
 
 	seen := cid.NewSet()
diff --git a/car/car_offset_writer_test.go b/car/car_offset_writer_test.go
index 2effd13b3..0ad70fa20 100644
--- a/car/car_offset_writer_test.go
+++ b/car/car_offset_writer_test.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"math/rand"
 	"testing"
 
+	blocks "github.com/ipfs/go-block-format"
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-blockservice"
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-cidutil"
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-datastore"
@@ -15,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 	chunk "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-chunker"
 	format "github.com/ipfs/go-ipld-format"
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag"
+	merkledagpb "github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/pb"
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-unixfs/importer/balanced"
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-unixfs/importer/helpers"
 	"github.com/ipld/go-car"
@@ -22,6 +24,60 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
+func TestCarOffsetWriterDagOrder(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	ds := dss.MutexWrap(datastore.NewMapDatastore())
+	bs := bstore.NewBlockstore(ds)
+	bserv := blockservice.New(bs, nil)
+
+	// make a 3 block DAG, the links in the root aren't in DAG-PB spec sort order,
+	// they should be byte-order sorted by `Name` field, but we switch them here
+	// so we can test that traversal happens based on the links as they appear in
+	// the encoded bytes, which is what we get with go-codec-dagpb + go-ipld-prime
+	aaaa := "aaaa"
+	aaaaBlk := merkledag.NewRawNode([]byte(aaaa))
+	require.NoError(t, bserv.AddBlock(ctx, aaaaBlk))
+	bbbb := "bbbb"
+	bbbbBlk := merkledag.NewRawNode([]byte(bbbb))
+	require.NoError(t, bserv.AddBlock(ctx, bbbbBlk))
+	pbn := &merkledagpb.PBNode{
+		Links: []*merkledagpb.PBLink{
+			{Hash: bbbbBlk.Cid().Bytes(), Name: &bbbb},
+			{Hash: aaaaBlk.Cid().Bytes(), Name: &aaaa},
+		},
+	}
+	rootByts, err := pbn.Marshal()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	rootBlk := blocks.NewBlock(rootByts)
+	require.NoError(t, bserv.AddBlock(ctx, rootBlk))
+
+	// execute
+	fullCarCow := NewCarOffsetWriter(rootBlk.Cid(), bs, NewBlockInfoCache())
+	var fullBuff bytes.Buffer
+	require.NoError(t, fullCarCow.Write(context.Background(), &fullBuff, 0))
+
+	// decode result
+	reader, err := car.NewCarReader(bytes.NewReader(fullBuff.Bytes()))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	// header
+	require.Equal(t, 1, len(reader.Header.Roots))
+	require.Equal(t, rootBlk.Cid(), reader.Header.Roots[0])
+	blk, err := reader.Next()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	// 3 blocks, in the correct, unsorted order - root, bbbb, aaaa
+	require.Equal(t, blk.Cid(), rootBlk.Cid())
+	blk, err = reader.Next()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, blk.Cid(), bbbbBlk.Cid())
+	blk, err = reader.Next()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, blk.Cid(), aaaaBlk.Cid())
+	_, err = reader.Next()
+	require.Error(t, err)
+}
+
 func TestCarOffsetWriter(t *testing.T) {
 	ds := dss.MutexWrap(datastore.NewMapDatastore())
 	bs := bstore.NewBlockstore(ds)