Should I dump my car?
September 4, 2013 7:53 AM Subscribe
We have a 2002 Mazda Protege5 with 140k miles on it. The repair costs seem to be escalating and we are trying to decide whether to keep it on the road.
During 2013 so far this car has had two brake calipers and one rotor replaced, rear shocks and struts, and one new tire, along with a wheel alignment. Last year it got a sway bar link, front and rear engine mounts, and another tire. It is burning oil now and the garage would like to replace the valve cover gasket, the spark plugs, and the oil pan.
There are four drivers in our family, soon to be five, so it would be convenient to have another vehicle, but the two adult commuters have reliable cars without this one. Ideally a third car would be in good enough shape to drive between Boston and DC 2-3 times per year, because that would save us some airfare.
Blue book value of this car is about $2860. We could buy another used car for a little more than that, but it would be of similar age and mileage we believe.
Should we ditch it? Keep it, but confine it to short trips? Keep it and drive it up and down the East Coast?
Thanks bunches.
During 2013 so far this car has had two brake calipers and one rotor replaced, rear shocks and struts, and one new tire, along with a wheel alignment. Last year it got a sway bar link, front and rear engine mounts, and another tire. It is burning oil now and the garage would like to replace the valve cover gasket, the spark plugs, and the oil pan.
There are four drivers in our family, soon to be five, so it would be convenient to have another vehicle, but the two adult commuters have reliable cars without this one. Ideally a third car would be in good enough shape to drive between Boston and DC 2-3 times per year, because that would save us some airfare.
Blue book value of this car is about $2860. We could buy another used car for a little more than that, but it would be of similar age and mileage we believe.
Should we ditch it? Keep it, but confine it to short trips? Keep it and drive it up and down the East Coast?
Thanks bunches.
For what it's worth, if you ask a mechanic you trust about the condition of a car like yours, they'll usually give you an idea of whether they think the maintenance is just due to the age of the vehicle or if the vehicle is dying. I've found that most mechanics are generally honest, especially to people that are obviously not driving a new-model luxury car. Have you gotten any feedback from your repair place about these sorts of things? None of those things really bug me (except for the fact that you're replacing single tires - be careful with that with differing tread depths!), but I do realize that everything adds up.
Blue book value of this car is about $2860. We could buy another used car for a little more than that, but it would be of similar age and mileage we believe.
If you assume competent buyers (not always the case), it's not really possible you can sell your car and buy a different one of better age/mileage/reliability. The Blue Book value of the car isn't really meaningful; you can only sell your car for what the market will bear. Further, most people overestimate the value of their car with the Blue Book by overestimating condition.
I'm generally of the opinion that it's always cost-beneficial to keep a car and maintain the car until the cost of maintenance exceeds the value of the car. However, cost-beneficial does not mean sanity-beneficial, since you have to accept the cost of those repairs as part of the cost of driving and you have to deal with taking care of those repairs. Are you more interested in saving money or saving your sanity?
Keep it and drive it up and down the East Coast?
My personal opinion is that any car of that age should be assumed suspect and you should make plans for eventual failure. However, that's not too hard to do - just get AAA coverage (or equivalent) or save up for the inevitable towing bill. Plan all trips with the possibility you might have to ditch your car in some junkyard in New Jersey and figure out how to get home. Your reaction to my suggestion should give you an idea what you want to do - if you find that horrendous, you should start saving up for a new(er) car. If you find that acceptable to save money, you should do that.
posted by saeculorum at 8:12 AM on September 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
Blue book value of this car is about $2860. We could buy another used car for a little more than that, but it would be of similar age and mileage we believe.
If you assume competent buyers (not always the case), it's not really possible you can sell your car and buy a different one of better age/mileage/reliability. The Blue Book value of the car isn't really meaningful; you can only sell your car for what the market will bear. Further, most people overestimate the value of their car with the Blue Book by overestimating condition.
I'm generally of the opinion that it's always cost-beneficial to keep a car and maintain the car until the cost of maintenance exceeds the value of the car. However, cost-beneficial does not mean sanity-beneficial, since you have to accept the cost of those repairs as part of the cost of driving and you have to deal with taking care of those repairs. Are you more interested in saving money or saving your sanity?
Keep it and drive it up and down the East Coast?
My personal opinion is that any car of that age should be assumed suspect and you should make plans for eventual failure. However, that's not too hard to do - just get AAA coverage (or equivalent) or save up for the inevitable towing bill. Plan all trips with the possibility you might have to ditch your car in some junkyard in New Jersey and figure out how to get home. Your reaction to my suggestion should give you an idea what you want to do - if you find that horrendous, you should start saving up for a new(er) car. If you find that acceptable to save money, you should do that.
posted by saeculorum at 8:12 AM on September 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
Just throwing my 2 cents, some items (brakes, tires, wheel alignment, spark plugs and oil pan) should be considered regular maintenance and should not come as a surprise.
posted by kag at 8:15 AM on September 4, 2013 [9 favorites]
posted by kag at 8:15 AM on September 4, 2013 [9 favorites]
I had this car, and I had no end of problems with the brakes. Fixed three times (third time no cost, at the dealership). I won't buy Mazda again because of the quality problems I had.
I sold it 2 years ago for $1000 (this is also what the dealer offered me as a trade-in value. I tried to get $2k private sale but only got $1000). So to be honest I don't think you'll get anywhere close to book value for the car.
You "only" have the valve cover, sparkies and oil pan left, so depending on the cost it could be ok. I drove my beater from Toronto to Montreal and back, even though I thought it might die on the way. So depending on the cost, I might keep it and drive it into the ground. You've already done quite a bit on it (sunk cost), so if you have the self-restraint not to repair any more then maybe keep it and just spring for AAA coverage for when it dies.
For $2860 you could buy a well-maintained civic but you just don't know what quality you'll get. If someone you trust is selling one, then do it.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:17 AM on September 4, 2013
I sold it 2 years ago for $1000 (this is also what the dealer offered me as a trade-in value. I tried to get $2k private sale but only got $1000). So to be honest I don't think you'll get anywhere close to book value for the car.
You "only" have the valve cover, sparkies and oil pan left, so depending on the cost it could be ok. I drove my beater from Toronto to Montreal and back, even though I thought it might die on the way. So depending on the cost, I might keep it and drive it into the ground. You've already done quite a bit on it (sunk cost), so if you have the self-restraint not to repair any more then maybe keep it and just spring for AAA coverage for when it dies.
For $2860 you could buy a well-maintained civic but you just don't know what quality you'll get. If someone you trust is selling one, then do it.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:17 AM on September 4, 2013
We have a 2002 Protege5 that was rapidly becoming very expensive to maintain. It had developed some problems, especially engine-related, and so we'll be getting rid of it. The problems you're mentioning are less severe, and are generally to be expected with age, but can still wind up causing a greater amount of opex than you would want in an older vehicle. If those things are the only things wrong, you may wind up with a decent car if you address them, but there is always what happens next to consider. In our case, we had fixed some moderately expensive problems and then more problems popped up six months later, and then more another three months later.
posted by jgreco at 8:20 AM on September 4, 2013
posted by jgreco at 8:20 AM on September 4, 2013
When you calculate how much you are spending on the car annually, how does that compare to the annual cost of a car payment on a new car, or the note on a late model used car? Any car you can buy for about $3000 is probably going to be about in the same shape. Older cars cost money for repairs, but you don't have a car payment. So you have to do the math to figure out where the bail out point is. On a paid off car, that point is usually not until a catastrophic failure such as an automatic transmission. Unless the car is a total lemon, and your sounds like mostly routine older car stuff to me, I'd always rather have the car I know than gamble on a different car of similar value being much worse.
posted by COD at 8:27 AM on September 4, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by COD at 8:27 AM on September 4, 2013 [4 favorites]
I don't know that car, but those sound mostly like wear items that would be expected on a car of that age driving on the East Coast. I'd go to a mechanic or two for their opinions. Last time I checked, used car prices were still really high. I wouldn't necessarily trade a 2002 Mazda for a 2002 Honda. Every car is different and you may be trading one set of problems for another. If you want a beater, understand you're going to have to fix it. If you want something better, be prepared to spend significantly more money to buy it.
posted by cnc at 8:35 AM on September 4, 2013
posted by cnc at 8:35 AM on September 4, 2013
Here is my own personal theory on old cars and why/when fixing them becomes a losing battle.
Cars are made of a large number of parts that will all, given enough time, fail. The time it takes for any given part to fail is generally somewhere between 1 and 25 years. Some parts are defective and will fail soon. Some are extra durable and will last extra long. *Most* parts, aside from wear parts like tires and break pads, tend to last somewhere between 10 and 20 years. They'll last a bit longer if the car is well maintained and a bit shorter if it's not.
So, here's the thing:
In the first few years of a car's life, not very much fails. Maybe there's a defective part or two, but mostly it's fine. Once you get close to that 10-year mark, a *lot* more of the parts are getting close to failure, especially on a car that's been driven hard. As you keep going with this car, *lots* of parts are going to be hitting their lifespan and need replacement. Eventually, you will need to replace pretty much everything.
This period of "peak failure" as the car ages ends up being more expensive than it's worth. You're better off getting a new car than replacing parts on a 15-year-old car every couple months as something else wears out.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 8:42 AM on September 4, 2013
Cars are made of a large number of parts that will all, given enough time, fail. The time it takes for any given part to fail is generally somewhere between 1 and 25 years. Some parts are defective and will fail soon. Some are extra durable and will last extra long. *Most* parts, aside from wear parts like tires and break pads, tend to last somewhere between 10 and 20 years. They'll last a bit longer if the car is well maintained and a bit shorter if it's not.
So, here's the thing:
In the first few years of a car's life, not very much fails. Maybe there's a defective part or two, but mostly it's fine. Once you get close to that 10-year mark, a *lot* more of the parts are getting close to failure, especially on a car that's been driven hard. As you keep going with this car, *lots* of parts are going to be hitting their lifespan and need replacement. Eventually, you will need to replace pretty much everything.
This period of "peak failure" as the car ages ends up being more expensive than it's worth. You're better off getting a new car than replacing parts on a 15-year-old car every couple months as something else wears out.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 8:42 AM on September 4, 2013
I don't think it makes sense to sell this car and buy another of similar age and condition. The transaction costs would be significant so unless you add a substantial amount of cash the replacement would probably be worse than what you have now.
Many of the repairs you've had done recently are normal wear items, not signs of impending doom. I would want to know more about the oil burning, though; a leaky valve cover gasket doesn't explain oil burning unless you mean that oil is dripping onto the exhaust manifold, smoking and smelling bad. "Burning oil" usually refers to oil consumption due to larger internal engine problems like piston rings and valve seals. Also, why do they want to replace the oil pan? Could it be just the oil pan gasket?
Contrary to popular belief, I think it often makes sense in purely financial terms to unload an older car well before the end of its service life. A few years ago I worked up a spreadsheet tracking all of the maintenance and depreciation costs on the VW Jetta we had. Costs were very high when we first bought the car, because of our instant loss of the dealer's markup, loan interest and rapid depreciation. Then there were a few years after the loan was paid off and depreciation had slowed, during which the costs were very low, until we started to have the regular problems you're having and costs started to rise again. The question is, then, how far do you want to push it past that point? I found that the average cost per month to own and maintain the car bottomed out at around 90K miles, and then started to rise; past that point it was actually cheaper to sell our VW and buy an almost-new Honda so long as we shopped carefully and negotiated a good deal. Which is what we did. The newer car wasn't an indulgence, it just made sense by the numbers. The other, less tangible benefits like reliability were just icing on the cake.
If you can spare the cash or credit, go ahead and get a different car. But get one that's substantially newer and less worn.
posted by jon1270 at 8:45 AM on September 4, 2013
Many of the repairs you've had done recently are normal wear items, not signs of impending doom. I would want to know more about the oil burning, though; a leaky valve cover gasket doesn't explain oil burning unless you mean that oil is dripping onto the exhaust manifold, smoking and smelling bad. "Burning oil" usually refers to oil consumption due to larger internal engine problems like piston rings and valve seals. Also, why do they want to replace the oil pan? Could it be just the oil pan gasket?
Contrary to popular belief, I think it often makes sense in purely financial terms to unload an older car well before the end of its service life. A few years ago I worked up a spreadsheet tracking all of the maintenance and depreciation costs on the VW Jetta we had. Costs were very high when we first bought the car, because of our instant loss of the dealer's markup, loan interest and rapid depreciation. Then there were a few years after the loan was paid off and depreciation had slowed, during which the costs were very low, until we started to have the regular problems you're having and costs started to rise again. The question is, then, how far do you want to push it past that point? I found that the average cost per month to own and maintain the car bottomed out at around 90K miles, and then started to rise; past that point it was actually cheaper to sell our VW and buy an almost-new Honda so long as we shopped carefully and negotiated a good deal. Which is what we did. The newer car wasn't an indulgence, it just made sense by the numbers. The other, less tangible benefits like reliability were just icing on the cake.
If you can spare the cash or credit, go ahead and get a different car. But get one that's substantially newer and less worn.
posted by jon1270 at 8:45 AM on September 4, 2013
These sound like wear items to me also. You will get these issues in the future. The hard and fast decision point for getting rid is if and when you need to replace something major in the engine or gearbox. Until then, you car has basically lost the bulk of its value. By contrast, buying something newer will cost you less on repairs but unless you buy used after values tend to stop decreasing rapidly (3-5 years) you need to factor in the cost of depreciation on a newer vehicle.
If I had five drivers in my family and any future car was going to be used by some or all of them I'd be inclined to keep it. It'll get used and abused and if (I'm guessing) two or three of those drivers are young drivers they'll probably not treat it with the kind of tender loving care you might.
Like saeculorum says - a good local mechanic can guide you on whether it's likely to keep throwing up big issues. My experience of most Japanese brands is that they wear and tear like anything else but they do keep going. My old Corolla used to burn through oil but other than that the engine never gave me any bother. I spent $750 on new gearbox bearings and the wiper motor went and I used to pay over the odds on a service to fix niggles. But then it cost me $6k to buy and at that point it was nearly 10 years old. My newer car has lost $5k in two years in depreciation.
posted by MuffinMan at 8:46 AM on September 4, 2013
If I had five drivers in my family and any future car was going to be used by some or all of them I'd be inclined to keep it. It'll get used and abused and if (I'm guessing) two or three of those drivers are young drivers they'll probably not treat it with the kind of tender loving care you might.
Like saeculorum says - a good local mechanic can guide you on whether it's likely to keep throwing up big issues. My experience of most Japanese brands is that they wear and tear like anything else but they do keep going. My old Corolla used to burn through oil but other than that the engine never gave me any bother. I spent $750 on new gearbox bearings and the wiper motor went and I used to pay over the odds on a service to fix niggles. But then it cost me $6k to buy and at that point it was nearly 10 years old. My newer car has lost $5k in two years in depreciation.
posted by MuffinMan at 8:46 AM on September 4, 2013
The items you list are (with the exception of a oil pan) regular maintenance items on any car. Any 10 year old car with 140K on it is going to have those problems. Especially brakes and tires as those are wear items.
If you are otherwise happy with the car I'd keep it vs. trading for another car of unknown providence.
posted by Mitheral at 8:52 AM on September 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
If you are otherwise happy with the car I'd keep it vs. trading for another car of unknown providence.
posted by Mitheral at 8:52 AM on September 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
My father drives Mazdas, had some Proteges before they were replaced by the Mazda 3, which he now drives.
The way he neglects cars, it is about like he is trying to abuse them -- I've checked his oil when his car was about at your Mazda's age and mileage and it was low and like mud -- and the Mazdas soldier on.
When you say it's burning oil, I trust it's coming out of the gaskets; is it a lot? Assuming it's not pouring out, it's no big deal, if you keep an eye on the level.
Any chance you can do the plugs yourself? I'm far from a mechanic, but it's sooooooooooooooooo easy.
That stuff aside, no small amount of work and money has gone into this thing, and most cars in that price range won't have had that work done, or have maintenance records.
Too, you know how it's been driven, if the oil's been changed regularly, etc.
I vote for keeping the car.
posted by ambient2 at 9:46 AM on September 4, 2013
The way he neglects cars, it is about like he is trying to abuse them -- I've checked his oil when his car was about at your Mazda's age and mileage and it was low and like mud -- and the Mazdas soldier on.
When you say it's burning oil, I trust it's coming out of the gaskets; is it a lot? Assuming it's not pouring out, it's no big deal, if you keep an eye on the level.
Any chance you can do the plugs yourself? I'm far from a mechanic, but it's sooooooooooooooooo easy.
That stuff aside, no small amount of work and money has gone into this thing, and most cars in that price range won't have had that work done, or have maintenance records.
Too, you know how it's been driven, if the oil's been changed regularly, etc.
I vote for keeping the car.
posted by ambient2 at 9:46 AM on September 4, 2013
These seem like pretty standard repairs for a car with 140k of any brand that has had a normal life of urban, stop-and-go traffic, etc. Unless you have enough $$ to buy a newer car, I also vote for keeping it -- better the devil you know.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 10:30 AM on September 4, 2013
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 10:30 AM on September 4, 2013
We have a 2003 Mazda Protege5 with 151k miles. It also burns oil, although no oil can be seen coming out of any gaskets, so we probably have some valve or bearing clearance issue cropping up. Little four cylinder motors are pretty low stress though, so as others have mentioned the car can probably soldier on. HOWEVER, I recently switched from Mobil 1 full synthetic oil to Castrol GTX High Mileage in part because I had read that full synthetics tend to burn more and faster in the engine than part synthetics. I have only had it in the car for about 1200 miles, but it does seem to have slowed the rate of burn. CHECK the oil in a Protege5 with that mileage every week. Also, pull out the dipstick and put a cloth over the dipstick tube for a few minutes, then put the dipstick back in and check the oil. I have found on this car that the initial reading from the dipstick can be changed by the tube itself.
Our brakes are due for service. I can do it myself but may not have the time between overtime and a toddler...
If it makes you feel any better our cars are : 18 years old with 101k miles, 10 years old with 151k miles and 24 years old with 171k miles.
posted by Slothrop at 10:41 AM on September 4, 2013
Our brakes are due for service. I can do it myself but may not have the time between overtime and a toddler...
If it makes you feel any better our cars are : 18 years old with 101k miles, 10 years old with 151k miles and 24 years old with 171k miles.
posted by Slothrop at 10:41 AM on September 4, 2013
The items you list are (with the exception of a oil pan) regular maintenance items on any car. Any 10 year old car with 140K on it is going to have those problems. Especially brakes and tires as those are wear items.
Seconding this. My parents are still driving a car with >200k that's had a bit more than this done.
I would absolutely keep this car, and would do so until something actually major cropped up like engine or transmission issues. Everything you've listed is small items that either wear out, or mostly are designed to wear out like motor mounts.
Also, replacing one tire is generally a bad idea. What shop signed off on that? I've always been adamantly told(and understand why, as well, it's not just them trying to rip you off) that you replace TWO tires at least as a set or you'll just cause more uneven wear.
So yea, this is cost of doing business stuff. Stay the course until something really expensive and irritating that's central to the the drivetrain blows out.
posted by emptythought at 12:24 PM on September 4, 2013
Seconding this. My parents are still driving a car with >200k that's had a bit more than this done.
I would absolutely keep this car, and would do so until something actually major cropped up like engine or transmission issues. Everything you've listed is small items that either wear out, or mostly are designed to wear out like motor mounts.
Also, replacing one tire is generally a bad idea. What shop signed off on that? I've always been adamantly told(and understand why, as well, it's not just them trying to rip you off) that you replace TWO tires at least as a set or you'll just cause more uneven wear.
So yea, this is cost of doing business stuff. Stay the course until something really expensive and irritating that's central to the the drivetrain blows out.
posted by emptythought at 12:24 PM on September 4, 2013
Just a data point really. My car is of a similar age as yours. Replacing it with another of the same year and model would cost around £3500 in the UK. So in some ways it's a similar situation to yours.
Recently, when it looked like a local garage wouldn't be able to fix a problem with the engine, I looked into sourcing a factory-remanufactured engine. That's about as good an engine as you'll get that isn't brand new - the factory has an excellent reputation for its work. Engine plus fitting by my mechanic would have cost around £1800.
What's weird is that people are still trying to convince me that I'd be better off getting a loan and buying a brand new car. Nothing I can do on paper brings me anywhere near that conclusion. This recent issue aside, I spend a few hundred a year on servicing, and that's mostly brakes and tyres.
As it happens, a relative who is a very good mechanic thinks he can repair the existing engine for a reasonable price, so it's not a decision I'm going to have to make. But given the choice, I'd pay close to the full value of the car to get it back to a reliable, running condition. Buying another used car is really just swapping a known set of problems for an unknown set, and paying for the privilege.
posted by pipeski at 12:47 PM on September 4, 2013
Recently, when it looked like a local garage wouldn't be able to fix a problem with the engine, I looked into sourcing a factory-remanufactured engine. That's about as good an engine as you'll get that isn't brand new - the factory has an excellent reputation for its work. Engine plus fitting by my mechanic would have cost around £1800.
What's weird is that people are still trying to convince me that I'd be better off getting a loan and buying a brand new car. Nothing I can do on paper brings me anywhere near that conclusion. This recent issue aside, I spend a few hundred a year on servicing, and that's mostly brakes and tyres.
As it happens, a relative who is a very good mechanic thinks he can repair the existing engine for a reasonable price, so it's not a decision I'm going to have to make. But given the choice, I'd pay close to the full value of the car to get it back to a reliable, running condition. Buying another used car is really just swapping a known set of problems for an unknown set, and paying for the privilege.
posted by pipeski at 12:47 PM on September 4, 2013
We sadly just got rid of our P5. I loved it over the years, the super fun but hilariously underpowered little go kart had a dream of being a race car, but our growing family made it not to be. Ours had roughly the same mileage....
During 2013 so far this car has had two brake calipers and one rotor replaced, rear shocks and struts, and one new tire, along with a wheel alignment. Last year it got a sway bar link, front and rear engine mounts, and another tire. It is burning oil now and the garage would like to replace the valve cover gasket, the spark plugs, and the oil pan.
If this is the first time the calipers, shocks, struts, sway bar link, and engine mounts were replaced then great. With that many miles that sounds about right based on our experience. The valve cover gasket is actually pretty easy - it's rubber and the cover comes off easily with the caveat that there are a few things that have to be removed. The spark plugs are very easy. Just need a long extension. I'm surprised you haven't had to replace the coil packs. Those aren't too cheap.... I don't know about the oil pan. But if it is "burning oil" then that won't fix it. Burning means in the combustion chamber and out the exhaust. The valve cover gasket and oil pan gaskets are for leaks on the outside.
Have you had the timing belt changed? It is a non-interference motor, but ours looked pretty bad at 125,000. Ran much better afterwards. If they are doing valve cover and oil pan gasket it would be silly to not do the timing belt and water pump while there.
Brakes are actually pretty easy to do on this car. I got to where I could do one in an hour in a driveway. It's wierd that someone would replace just one rotor though - maybe one caliper (that had to be replaced...) was causing uneven wear?
Either way as mentioned above this are pretty standard stuff for a car with that many miles. It's just that you're hitting all the costs now when you probably haven't had to put any money into it for years.
With any older car these things can be replaced/fixed. Our other problem was that the interior was starting to fall apart. It was always parked outside and even with dark tinted windows (which looked awesome with the Laser Blue Mica paint...) things were clearly getting damaged by UV.
I miss that car.
posted by Big_B at 3:50 PM on September 4, 2013
During 2013 so far this car has had two brake calipers and one rotor replaced, rear shocks and struts, and one new tire, along with a wheel alignment. Last year it got a sway bar link, front and rear engine mounts, and another tire. It is burning oil now and the garage would like to replace the valve cover gasket, the spark plugs, and the oil pan.
If this is the first time the calipers, shocks, struts, sway bar link, and engine mounts were replaced then great. With that many miles that sounds about right based on our experience. The valve cover gasket is actually pretty easy - it's rubber and the cover comes off easily with the caveat that there are a few things that have to be removed. The spark plugs are very easy. Just need a long extension. I'm surprised you haven't had to replace the coil packs. Those aren't too cheap.... I don't know about the oil pan. But if it is "burning oil" then that won't fix it. Burning means in the combustion chamber and out the exhaust. The valve cover gasket and oil pan gaskets are for leaks on the outside.
Have you had the timing belt changed? It is a non-interference motor, but ours looked pretty bad at 125,000. Ran much better afterwards. If they are doing valve cover and oil pan gasket it would be silly to not do the timing belt and water pump while there.
Brakes are actually pretty easy to do on this car. I got to where I could do one in an hour in a driveway. It's wierd that someone would replace just one rotor though - maybe one caliper (that had to be replaced...) was causing uneven wear?
Either way as mentioned above this are pretty standard stuff for a car with that many miles. It's just that you're hitting all the costs now when you probably haven't had to put any money into it for years.
With any older car these things can be replaced/fixed. Our other problem was that the interior was starting to fall apart. It was always parked outside and even with dark tinted windows (which looked awesome with the Laser Blue Mica paint...) things were clearly getting damaged by UV.
I miss that car.
posted by Big_B at 3:50 PM on September 4, 2013
I would ask you one very, very important question: When you leave a stoplight, does slivery-blueish smoke come out of the tailpipe? You will probably need a friend to help you see this, since it might not be visible to you from the driver's seat (and if it is, that's an even worse sign).
If so, that means that your car is not just consuming oil at a slightly faster rate, it is leaking oil into the cylinders where it is burning. There are multiple potential causes for that, almost all of which are very expensive (certainly more than the worth of the car). If it is, then ditch it as soon as you can, because it is about to become a very expensive headache.
If not, then the rest is just normal wear and tear (I'd be worried about, as was mentioned before, the timing belt and water pump especially) and probably not much to be worried about. My rule with replacing cars is, unless you want to keep the car for sentimental or personal reasons, if the cost of any impending repair or series of repairs is half the value of the car or more, ditch it.
Craigslist and eBay are full of cheap beaters in good condition, the basement for "I can drive this and reasonably expect it won't explode" is usually around $3000-5000. If you're buying from an individual and not a dealership, insist on having the car inspected by a licensed mechanic (preferably one certified by the manufacturer in question). It's about $100-150, but it will guarantee that you will know if it has any of the most common problems with that particular car, and most importantly should include a compression test, which will let you know if the engine is in good shape or not. eBay also has a pretty robust buyer protection program for used cars, plus there's nothing stopping you from contacting the buyer for a test drive prior to the auction's close.
posted by Punkey at 12:15 AM on September 5, 2013
If so, that means that your car is not just consuming oil at a slightly faster rate, it is leaking oil into the cylinders where it is burning. There are multiple potential causes for that, almost all of which are very expensive (certainly more than the worth of the car). If it is, then ditch it as soon as you can, because it is about to become a very expensive headache.
If not, then the rest is just normal wear and tear (I'd be worried about, as was mentioned before, the timing belt and water pump especially) and probably not much to be worried about. My rule with replacing cars is, unless you want to keep the car for sentimental or personal reasons, if the cost of any impending repair or series of repairs is half the value of the car or more, ditch it.
Craigslist and eBay are full of cheap beaters in good condition, the basement for "I can drive this and reasonably expect it won't explode" is usually around $3000-5000. If you're buying from an individual and not a dealership, insist on having the car inspected by a licensed mechanic (preferably one certified by the manufacturer in question). It's about $100-150, but it will guarantee that you will know if it has any of the most common problems with that particular car, and most importantly should include a compression test, which will let you know if the engine is in good shape or not. eBay also has a pretty robust buyer protection program for used cars, plus there's nothing stopping you from contacting the buyer for a test drive prior to the auction's close.
posted by Punkey at 12:15 AM on September 5, 2013
If it was a 20 year old car, I'd say dump it. But a 10 year old car that is the third car in the family? And you would be replacing it with something of similar vintage? I would keep it if it is in otherwise decent shape.
The value of a car is not how much you can sell it for, but the utility/reliability you need out of it and how much it would cost to replace that car with one that meets your reliability needs.
posted by gjc at 1:27 AM on September 5, 2013
The value of a car is not how much you can sell it for, but the utility/reliability you need out of it and how much it would cost to replace that car with one that meets your reliability needs.
posted by gjc at 1:27 AM on September 5, 2013
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posted by Kruger5 at 8:12 AM on September 4, 2013