1998 Mitsubishi Montero Should I or shouldn't I?

Tiny
TXHERON
  • MEMBER
  • 1998 MITSUBISHI MONTERO
  • 6 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 130,000 MILES
Basically, is it a smart move to fix up this care in the hope of getting another 5 years of work out of it, or should I plan on getting a new/used care in a year?

My Montero is currently suffering from a series of oil leaks. All are minor as I have to real leakage when the vehicle sits (can't see any drops on the garage floor). It looks like it occurs only when the engine is on as the oil has blown back to coat the undercarriage. It does mount up though. I took it into the shop to get looked at and to find out what's wrong. Here's what they found:

-Front cam and crank seals leaking
-Valve cover gaskets leaking
-Rear cam plug seals leaking
-Recommended replacement of the timing belt and water pump since they'd have to do the labor to get into those areas anyway

Bill came in to around $1300 if want to get the work done.

In addition, if I were to keep this vehicle I'd want to replace the shocks (pretty bad in back), likely have to replace at least one of my rear drums (can hear ticking when I break), and I'm sure there is other work down the line.
Thursday, February 11th, 2010 AT 12:08 AM

1 Reply

Tiny
MHPAUTOS
  • MECHANIC
  • 31,937 POSTS
Hi there,

Bit of a hard call, its really what your hip pocket nerve does. The repairs are not unusual for a car of that age and as you say there may be other problems down the road, I think I would be doing the repairs as these cars are fairly reliable, with the intention of looking to up grade sooner rather than later.

Mark (mhpautos)
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Thursday, February 11th, 2010 AT 2:43 AM

Please login or register to post a reply.

Sponsored links