How urgent are these repairs?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I took a potential purchase to an auto mechanic and asked for a used car inspection.

The person who interacted with me was pretty negative about the car–but it was a little hard to know how seriously to take him because inevitably, in all our conversations, he would immediately leap to “this is terrible!” before having all the relevant information. An example is he kind of sneered and muttered “I wouldn’t buy it!” on glancing at the carfax report–but only because he saw the dollar amount $971 listed on it and seeing that it had a longish list of repairs on it. The $971 was actually how much morethe car is worth (according to Carfax) than the KBB listing, and the repairs, on examination, showed no major continuing issues. (They mostly documented, in fact, how well the owner has taken care of the car.)

So like I said, he seemed to have this “negative nellie” or “debbie downer” attitude so I am not sure how seriously to take what he said as he was handing me the inspection report.

And on the inspection report, nothing at all is listed as “required”. At worst, things are listed as “recommended.”

So to get a good idea of how much to offer (and whether to offer anything) I need to know how urgent some of these things would be.

The biggie was a potential $900 repair to the rack and pinion, however the owner says he just had work done on it related to power steering, and he expects this to be warranty work. So he’s going to look into that.

Other than that, it was a few hundred dollars here, a hundred there, including parts and labor:

Tie Rod Ends (Remove and Replace)
Recondition Rear Rotors
Serpentine Belt worn, cracked (Remove and Replace)
Radiator Hose Spongey (Remove and Replace)
Cooling System Fluid Exchange (he said it looked like it had literally never been done)

He also said the oil was far too full, but this is not listed on the report as a “recommended” issue, and I don’t know what negative consequences could follow from it.

This is a Dodge Grand Caravan, 2004, 150,000 miles.

I know this is probably not a lot of information to go by, but it’s the information I have…

(I count an issue as urgent to the degree that it threatens to escalate to a more expensive repair issue. So for example, if something is listed which, if not taken care of in the next week, is likely to destroy the motor, that would be super urgent. If on the other hand something is listed which, if not taken care of in the next three months, will have to be taken care of at that point due the car becoming too difficult to operate, but at roughly the same cost as what it would take to repair it now, I would consider that not as urgent.

2

Basically, if these are all things I can do one at a time over the next three or four months, then the money I’d spend is already money I have allocated to general car repairs anyway so it is not going to bother me too much if the asking price of the car can’t be reduced as a result of these issues showing up in the inspection. (Save for the rack and pinion issue.)

3

At 150,000 miles on Dodge Caravan you’re at the point statistically where large and expensive things are probably going to start to go south. If you’re going to dump $1000 or more a year into a car to address ongoing issues it might make more sense to increase your front end budget and get a less worn out better car.

Buying a very cheap car with probable large repair(s) looming is usually not a good idea.

4

Another point to consider, that was when Chrysler was having interesting times. I would think long and hard about getting something from that era from them.

5

While I haven’t verified this independently, the current owner listed several of the things that go south at this point and said he had them replaced (or whatever was appropriate to the specific thing) recently. I haven’t seen the records yet but anyway, that’s the claim on the table right now.

6

From first- and second-hand experience, that minivan is overdue for a complete internal disintegration of the automatic transmission. Which is a multi-thousand dollar job to fix (by replacing wholesale with a rebuilt transmission).

Chrysler transaxles were ticking timebombs the first decade of the 21st Century.

7

So how about the things I listed? Those are the things that stood out to the mechanics. Do any of these seem like “fix it now or the car explodes” type things to you? I’m mostly wondering about the radiator hose and serpentine belt–those are the things I know the least about.

8

Also, what are some expensive things you’d expect to go south soon given 150,000 miles?

9

Well this is good to know.

10

ETA: FWIMBW (perhaps not much) carcomplaints.com seems to indicate that 2004 was an oasis of less problems in the midst of a half decade of lots of problems… Dodge Caravan Problems | CarComplaints.com

11

Oil too full could be a knuckleheaded mistake at the last oil change or imminent doom of coolant migrating into the oil at a leaking head gasket. Presumably, the mechanic would have noted if the oil was milky, so it’s probably just a goof.

Hard to say on the steering rack.

The rest all seems to be age-appropriate maintenance.

If the radiator hose blows, you’ll be stranded somewhere, but hoses are usually cheap and easy. If one’s on its last legs, the others are probably also nearing the end of their lives.

The timing belt is an imminent danger if it is worn and cracked. If it lets go, you’ll probably end up needing severely expensive engine repairs. I’d put this as #1 priority. If the mechanic advises replacing the water pump at the same time, do it. Water pumps are commonly hidden away under the timing belt, so 98% of the labor to change one is already done as part of replacing the belt. Have the radiator hose(s) changed and a coolant flush/fill at the same time, again, since the cooling system is being drained to change the pump. It seems like a lot to do at one time, but these jobs all share a lot of common labor.

Tie rod ends could either break suddenly causing loss of control and a possible crash or just vague handling and faster tire wear.

Reconditioning rotors is normally part of a brake service. This is probably the safest thing to defer, actually. Usually, the only problem caused by funky rotors is faster pad wear, or noise/vibration when braking. There’s a fair chance that resurfacing the rotors is actually not recommended unless they’re so badly grooved or so thin that they should be replaced. To make cars lighter and cheaper, it’s been common to build them with rotors that don’t have enough thickness to be safely resurfaced, so they just get replaced when needed.

12

If the coolant has never been changed I would very leery. How much are you proposing to pay for the van? What “warranty” will the owner be having the steering repairs done under?

13

The descriptions aren’t detailed enough to make a sound judgment as to urgency of these items.

Tie Rod Ends
Presumably they have play. While any amount of play would fail a Missouri Vehicle Inspection, in the real world it matters how much play. A tiny bit and it can go for months with no real worries. A lot and it’s possible to lose steering control.

Recondition Rear Rotors
Recondition as in resurface, and not replace? I find it quite odd that this is listed without also calling for rear brake pads. And if the rotors are thick enough to not require replacement, there’s no reason to deal with them now. Wait until pads are needed.

Serpentine Belt worn, cracked
Ten cracks per inch is the textbook criterion. If the belt breaks you can’t drive very far without overheating and/or depleting the battery. If it didn’t say badly cracked/worn, I’d imagine it can wait a few months.

Radiator Hose Spongey
One radiator hose, or both radiator hoses? How about heater and bypass and throttle body hoses? Anyway, a spongy hose is weak and could burst at any time. It probably won’t destroy anything (if the driver is attentive and stops), but it’s a breakdown (tow, can’t drive until it’s fixed).

Cooling System Fluid Exchange (he said it looked like it had literally never been done)
If it hasn’t been done, the worry is corrosion of metal parts of the cooling system – radiator, pipes, heater core, water pump impeller, even the cylinder head. The amount of damage that will be done in a three-month span is small, it’s just hard to know how much, if any, has already occurred. It would be helpful to know the pH of the coolant.

He also said the oil was far too full, but this is not listed on the report as a “recommended” issue, and I don’t know what negative consequences could follow from it.
How much is “far?” A half quart high is no worry, a quart high is pushing luck, much higher than that risks aerating the oil and subsequent major engine damage.

14

What timing belt?

15

I would add up most of those repair costs and combine them with the purchase price and consider whether the car is still worth it. You may not need any of those things fixed right away, but it sounds like you’ll need most or all of them done in the next year. On top of that are things he didn’t catch because they don’t have obvious indications of upcoming failure. So in buying a used car I expect an alternator to fail, or the radiator to spring a leak, or something like that. So now you have a bunch of known costs on top of the predictable repair bills that go along with a used car.

16

Most of this stuff is Mickey Mouse bs - if he can’t be bothered to list it as “required - needs to be done” he’s basically saying the parts are there but not brand new, hardly a shock given the mileage. You drove the car there, so any real issues would be apparent. Bad tie rod ends mean the car creaks and groans like an old buckboard going over inclines - if it’s not doing that you’re fine. Really bad ones affect the handling, which you also didn’t complain about.

The car didn’t overheat on the way there and this time I’ve year I’m guessing you ran the heater - ancient coolant would lead to sludge making the heater core less efficient and so crappy heat. If you didn’t see that, move on.

Most of your braking is done with the front brakes. It’s odd (outside of a bill-padding situation) for someone to claim the rears need resurfacing while the fronts are hunky dory, especially since cheap Chinese parts can be had for less than resurfacing, which is why pretty much no one does it anymore. No mention of the pads, no mention of squeaking or groaning from you on the drive over - sounds like bs to me.

17

Just to clarify one thing: The rear pads were mentioned along with the rear rotors, I just didn’t include that because I do have a handle on how urgent or non-urgent the pad situation is.

18

No, bad tie rod ends means there’s slop in the steering linkage. Really bad ones means they can come apart and the car won’t steer. Creaking and groaning is a typical symptom of stiff ball joints or deteriorating control arm bushings, not of tie rods.

It could, but not necessarily. Corrosion is the main concern, and you can’t see that until something gives way.

19

[QUOTE=Gary T]
What timing belt?
[/QUOTE]

The one that isn’t in the OP’s vehicle unless they have the wimpy 3 liter engine. :smack: Too much morning, not enough coffee…

But for people that have an “elderly” car with a timing belt, the advice still holds.

20

Also in addition to the possibility of steering failure, one of the big reasons to replace a bad tie rod is that if they’ve got too much slop, you can’t get the front end aligned. Minivans already tend to eat front tires, so you really don’t need a messed up front end aggravating the problem.