Alice, With some of the rebates, zero or low interest rates available, you may be able to afford a new car. You should check.
$1200.00 for a rebuilt engine doesn’t sound too bad. With this option you still don’t have a long term note to pay off.
If you can get by without a car for a while, drive it until the end of the year, and then you can donate it to charity, and write it off at the max blue book value on your taxes. (Make sure you do it by Dec. 31 though.) If you will be getting a sizeable return, this may significantly increase it, and give you enough for a good used car, or a down payment on a new car. Get’s you good karma too.
And, Alice, Cheers to you for your marrow donation.
If the body and running gear of the car are in good shape, and are OK with having the car for at least another 50-60K miles, replacing the engine is probably the lowest-cost solution. I had a similar situation with a '90 Ranger I bought (caveat emptor): in top condition overall but a duff motor. I elected to have a FAR (factory authorized rebuilt) engine put in and drove it for several years with no further mechanical work necessary.
If you do go the engine-replacement route, I strongly urge you to have it done by a large, reputable shop with plenty of experience. The engine should have pedigree papers stating it is Ford FAR, and a guarantee (generally 24-50K miles, depending on the supplier).
$1200 sounds a low for the above, but if you can get it done by a reliable shop for that little, more power to ya :D.
I have to disagree with the generalization that “$2,000 doesn’t buy much of a car these days.” Much of the quality of the vehicle depends on how the previous owner(s) treated it. Angie and I bought our current car in Febuary for $1050, dead-on blue book for an '89 Dodge Shadow. All the previous owners had kept every single piece of paper relating to maintance. Except for some peeling paint, which is not an unusual problem for Chrysler products of the late '80s and early '90s, so far our Shadow has mainly needed just routine maintanence work. The only serious problem we had was that both front drive axles had to be replaced, which cost $400. We later experienced some leaking oil, which turned out to be a bad pressure switch. Now we need to have the brakes done. All this is a far cry from the lemon of a Chevy station wagon that was foisted on us as our first car. I put way too much money into that thing; when the transmission started to go out during our drive back from Christmas vacation I finally had enough.
I agree with El_Kabong. If the rest of the car is fine, a rebuilt engine is a good investment.
Yup - and being that it’s insurance fraud, it would land Miss Alice in jail.
Hey alice, I have a car I don’t want anymore. Wanna buy it? Low low mileage - 18000 km, lady driven, yours for the low low price of $17000! Better yet, my kid and I will move into your house in Calgary and pay you rent to the tune of a car payment! Yah!
Are there emision laws where you live? If you are burning oil there is a good chance you fried the catalytic converter. If you do have emision laws make sure your mechanic takes care of the exhaust system.
I’ve found a replacement engine (from an insurance write-off), 175,000KM (which is lower than mine) and 160 on the compression test.
He’s asking $750, plus install. I’m going to talk to my mechanic about the install, but it should be around $300 - sooo, anyone have any thoughts on this option?
FYI - the clutch is fine (I had someone check it), the radiator will need replaced in about 18 months.
The long term plan involves me buying a new (New, NEW, NEW car in 3 years).
So - any opinions?
Al.
PS - Ginger, while I would be fine with it, I think you and your child would object to sharing space with my bunnies - they have a tendancy to hump alot…
If you can get someone to put an engine in a Probe for $300 bucks, do it. Don’t spend 750 on a used tired engine, though, there’s plenty of places to get remans cheap.here is a good place to get remanufactured engines online, they have a reman long block for your Probe for under 1500 bucks. (a long block is a complete engine minus valve covers, oilpan, and a lot of other things you already have and don’t need)This way, you’ll have an engine which (with more maintenance than you now employ) will last more than the three years you have left before your new car purchase.
Before you do ANYTHING else though, put in a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil. Get it at any Autozone. It’s a very, very high detergent oil, and it will unstick rings and swell seals to beat the band. Don’t use more than a quart. Drive like this for a couple of days/week. Change the oil and put in a higher weight oil than you would normally use.(10W40 if you use 5W30, etc.) See if this tones down the oil problem.You have nothing to lose at this point.
The Ford/Mazda engine in your Probe is pretty bulletproof, I drove mine for going on 290,000 miles, and the new owner still relies upon it to drive daily.
Humm - interesting advice, but my problem is more acute than that. Basically, I’m hoping the car will drive until Monday when I go in to see my mechanic, either to a) get a tune-up, oil change, grocery list of things that need done, or b) have him drop in my new, used engine.
My current engine is pretty much gone - the rings are completely shot. Like completely shot. When I rev or accelerate, huge, nasty black clouds of smoke billow out the back of my car. Also, as the car is now 13 years old, it will be coming up for emissions testing soon, which I will not pass, Mystery Oil or no Mystery Oil. Unfortunatly, I don’t think stop-gap measures are going to help me now.
And, FYI, I’m pretty good about maitenence - oil-changes every 3 months. Tune up once a year and a pre season check. If you read, I was told that the oil-burning problem, was NOT a problem on more than one occasion. The car also passed an inspection with flying colors before I bought it, despite the fact that it was burning oil since then. They told me they thought I might have an oil leak due to some spray on the bottom of the engine. I have no leak, I have nasty, nasty spray back from the valves.
Anyhow - I think it’s gonna be a new, used engine…
I was really only pulling your leg about the maintenance.
And I have used Marvel Mystery oil to get some pretty nasty engines running pretty smooth, you’d really be amazed. Like I said, you have nothing to lose trying, other than the 5 bucks a can of marvel costs. Marvel causes oilseals to swell around valve stems, and frees up rings in the most abused of engines. It’s a temporary fix at best, but it’s a fix.
Good luck. Hope the new used engine treats you well.
OBTW, Track Auto stores near me are going out of business, and that means up to 30% savings on everything including engines, look where you live and see if they might be able to get you a good deal.
