Used car advice needed

Hello –

To better assist you is your model the DE, ES, GTZ, or LS. Also please tell me your engine size in liter.

Model is the ES. Engine is the 2.4

Hello Roger

Glad you wrote. It is wise to ask advice etc as you are doing. It gives you different perspectives and this is a tough issue.

Sounds like you have a good mechanic…………..

The quote is about what I come up with and that isn’t counting fluids and some other things…..so hang on to them…they are hard to come by.

Now I might suggest for the radiator……..instead of going with the one from the dealer have your mechanic check out this site. I have attached two for your car….he just has to do some measuring to get the correct one…..but they are cheaper.

To be honest Roger…..I could tell you as long as you do the normal maintenance the car should last forever…..but that would be false. It really depends on your driving and how you take care of it and the parts themselves.

I purchased a used car for my daughter…..checked it out. I even ran it over to a buddy that had a fancy machine and went all through it. The car looked great and only had about 78,000 miles on it. I bought it……….2000 miles later the head gasket blew……..

We owned a 1997 Galant ES with a 2.4L. We drove it almost 190,000 miles and sold it (for a really cheap price) to our daughter/husband and they drove it and now it has about 250,000. The transmission sounds kind of bad but they just gave it to the youngest daughter/husband to drive.

Now I did do plenty of maintenance but what I call normal. Struts, AC system complete, timing belts etc.

I drive a 1995 Impala SS…..never have touched the engine……….completely replaced every single part on the suspension though………it has over 200,000 on it.

You could decide to keep it and something goes. You could buy the other car and it has a problem. You just never know.

There – have I rode the fence for ya…………..

The way I look at it, which everyone has their own way……..when my maintenance costs start to be more than a monthly payment then it is time to go………

Now that doesn’t count like in your case……$800.00. That is about 2 maybe 3 months of a car payment. So….if the car lasted for 6 months until you have to do something else, to me…you are still in the green. Plus you know what your car has been through and has had done to it….the other you don’t.

Me – in the current times I would fix my car and start making a car payment to myself…..say $450 a month. You said you would have to borrow………so to me it is the same thing. The only difference is you are putting money aside for when it does stop. In one year you will have $5400 dollars. You are almost at the $7000 you were going to borrow. In 4 more months you will have the cash to pay for the car. You know if you borrow it will cost you a lot more than the $7000 and, it will be over about 24 months or so? Here you have the cash in 16 months.

So my friend….to me…..if it were me and I knew the condition of the vehicle (you can’t know the unknown, ie blown head gaskets etc) then I would fix the car and take care of it and make car payments to myself. Who knows, let’s say the car lasts 2 years….you will have $10,800 in cash to put on an even nicer car plus trade or sell that one.

I can’t tell if it will last, nobody can………..but I hope the above helps.

I did attach some scheduled maintenance below that should be done to the car though.

Now at 60,000 miles you were to replace the timing belt, spark plugs, ignition cables/wires.

Every 15K the plugs are to be replaced.

Then I show again the timing belt at 100K needs replaced.

At 120K, you were to replace the timing belt, spark plugs, ignition cables/wires.

Well, I hope the above helps……….if you would like another moderators opinion, I will be glad to have one of our great folks give you their input……

Would you like that? Just let me know.

Hello - Oh, one other thing.........you do have a couple of recalls on your car that may apply to you. The dealer may fix these for free. Please contact the dealer service department, give them the VIN number of your car and have them check on these to see if they apply to you.

Thanks, very much. Your response was extremely thorugh and very very helpful. I really appreciate your advice!!

RC

Hello –

You are more than welcome………..I wish you the best on your decision and hope you have a great weekend.

I will let you know about the outcome. I will say that with the two bottles of Techron in the past week, there was NO rough idle or stalling today at all. Interesting! My appointment with my mechanic is not until Wednesday. It will be interesting to see if the car is idle and stall free again Tuesday.

Thanks,
R

Hello –

Yes please let me know. I also recommend running a couple of cans of BG44K through there. A little pricy on the cans……..but I have always had great luck.