Thread: To Keep or Not to Keep?

I bought my GP a week ago today and brought it to my mechanic today for an oil change.
He's a trusted family friend, so I'm not worried about unnecessary repairs.

He told me there's a very bad oil leak and he's recommending I replace the intake manifold gasket, valve cover gaskets & oil sending switch. He said this will be about a day's worth of work.
He also said I need new front brakes with brake hoses (starting to get dry rot splits) by next oil change.
Also, upper and lower radiator hoses.
I'm expecting all of this to cost about $1500, which is what I paid for the car.

Please don't lecture me on how I should have had him look at it before I bought it. I learned my lesson.

Basically, I'm contemplating whether I should keep the car. I'm really sad, because I love it and I never would have guessed all of this was wrong, but it is.

My question is: If I dump the $1500 into this car to fix all of this, do you think I'll be okay for a little while before I have to put more money into it or should I be expecting large amounts of money on a frequent basis for the upkeep of this car?

Basically, I'm asking if I should I cut my losses and try to sell it or keep it and put the money into it to get it in good shape and get another year or so out of it (which is all I'm wanting)?

He did mention that the Transmission looks like it's never had work done to it, and it has 143k original miles on it. How expensive is tranny repair? Is it worth it?

I'm sorry for all the questions. I've only ever owned leased vehicles before, so I'm not used to dealing with used car issues.

I'd appreciate any input. Thank you.

Originally Posted by matt5112

Yeah, thats the cost of buying a used car though.

Most cars will need new rubber parts especially the older ones.

remember a 97 is now 13 years old.

Thanks for your input. But I guess my question is, do you think once I take care of these big things, I'll be okay for a little while? I can't afford to keep putting $1000 worth of work into it every month or so

You paid $1,500 for the car and you're looking at $1,500 (possibly less) for the work. Even if you sold the car for $1,500, and put the $1,500 for the work towards a new car, you'd be looking at a $3,000 car. Any car you buy for that price is going to be just as likely to have the same problems, or worse.

If you get these problems fixed right, you'll know you won't have to deal with them again. Parts for GP's are pretty cheap, and if you're mechanically inclined at all the work's usually not too hard, so these are pretty cheap cars to keep running. I think you'd save money in the long run if you keep the GP and take care of it.

for $3000 I think you can find another car with less mileage. however, every car has its problems.

Originally Posted by CSteen85

I bought my GP a week ago today and brought it to my mechanic today for an oil change.
He's a trusted family friend, so I'm not worried about unnecessary repairs.

He told me there's a very bad oil leak and he's recommending I replace the intake manifold gasket, valve cover gaskets & oil sending switch. He said this will be about a day's worth of work.
He also said I need new front brakes with brake hoses (starting to get dry rot splits) by next oil change.
Also, upper and lower radiator hoses.
I'm expecting all of this to cost about $1500, which is what I paid for the car.

Please don't lecture me on how I should have had him look at it before I bought it. I learned my lesson.

Basically, I'm contemplating whether I should keep the car. I'm really sad, because I love it and I never would have guessed all of this was wrong, but it is.

My question is: If I dump the $1500 into this car to fix all of this, do you think I'll be okay for a little while before I have to put more money into it or should I be expecting large amounts of money on a frequent basis for the upkeep of this car?

Basically, I'm asking if I should I cut my losses and try to sell it or keep it and put the money into it to get it in good shape and get another year or so out of it (which is all I'm wanting)?

He did mention that the Transmission looks like it's never had work done to it, and it has 143k original miles on it. How expensive is tranny repair? Is it worth it?

I'm sorry for all the questions. I've only ever owned leased vehicles before, so I'm not used to dealing with used car issues.

I'd appreciate any input. Thank you.

LIM gasket is almost turning into a "need to do" on all these cars. The older versions used plastic, the new improved is aluminum, it should last a while.

Brakes are a normal maintenance thing, hoses are cheap, i think my mechanic charged me $50.00 to do the rears, since it was winter and i didn't feel like laying in snow to do it.

Radiator hoses aren't all that bad.

As far as the trans goes, you have the weak vacuum controlled trans, its a pos.

I would look for another, newer gp

I think I'm going to have the work done and see if I can keep the car.

I don't know how to explain it - I know anything can go wrong at any second, but I have a good feeling about this car. If I get what's wrong with it fixed, I think I can get at least another year out of it. By then, I'll hopefully be in another place - better job, living elsewhere, etc.

It's a daily driver, but I'm not driving it a lot. I must be putting about 20 miles on it, weekly, which is why I think it should last me at least another year if I'm putting mileage on it so slowly.

The car looks and FEELS great. I didn't even know ANYTHING was wrong with it (although, I could feel the brakes going). So, I'll take care of the regular maintenance work. Maybe if the tranny starts going, I'll reconsider, but it feels great right now.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

Time to start saving -- good thing I've got a tax refund coming to me!!

just happens that everything that commonly goes on these cars needs to be replaced all at once prob because of neglectful owner. I had a 97 GT sold it with over 200k miles running good. only major prob was one transmission failure.

these motors can go forever

You are looking at about $100 worth of parts. Now is a great time to learn how to work on your own car.

Originally Posted by JoshMcMadMac

You are looking at about $100 worth of parts. Now is a great time to learn how to work on your own car.

Haha, you read my mind. I googled around for some step-by-step instructions on how to do some of these things. I won't lie... I'm petrified. The only thing I've "done" to a car was replace a fuse and replace the winshield washing fluid pump (yes, really) and I was SO proud of myself for those two things.

I don't have a Dad around to ask for help. I have my brother, who's pretty mechanical (works on computers and some car stuff), but I don't know if he'd be willing to tackle these issues with me.

So, I'm hoping whatever I CAN take care of myself, I'd like to try. I feel like when it comes to things like Brakes, I REALLY don't want to risk screwing it up, because well, I sort of need those to be working .

I feel like for a girl, I might be on the mechanically-inclined side. I'm pretty logical and I know what most tools are and what they do. I can put Ikea furniture together with the best of them.

Here is where I'm at: Of these five things listed below, which ones SHOULD I try to tackle myself and which ones should I try to find someone else to do for me?

1) Intake Manifold Gasket (how do I know if it's upper, lower or both?)
2) Valve Cover Gaskets
3) Oil Sending Switch
4) Front Brakes WITH Brake Hoses
5) Upper and Lower Radiator Hoses

More importantly, which order should I do them in or have them done in?

I just got an oil change last Saturday. Is there something listed that should be easy to do WHILE I'm already in there doing something else?

I'm so nervous, but if I can figure out a way to do this stuff, I'll do it. I just don't want to screw it up. Right now, it runs and drives fine, I just notice some oil on the ground where I'm parked.

I'll take any and all of the help I can get.

Thank you!

http://www.cpaclubgp.com/misc/lim-gasket.html

same thing, you're car just doesn't have the s/c

do it all at once. set aside a saturday, get off your bed early and enjoy working your GP