car advice

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Gashouse
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car advice

Post by Gashouse »

My car died on Monday. It needs a new engine. I think I know the answer to these questions, but I'm seeking collective wisdom that's not trying to deal with the shock on a major unexpected expense.

Car: 2004 Mazda 6 wagon, 150,000 miles. OK condition. KBB says trade-in/private party value is $1500-$2200 - something like that.

New engine costs $3000 +/- New engine from salvage has 108,000 miles on it.

In past year, put $1500 worth of new brakes and tires into the car. I had hoped those would be the last of either I would buy for it. Hoping to get 2-3 more years and 25-40K more miles on it, and then be happy for any money I can get for it.

If I put the new engine in, can I actually get more than 2-3 years out of it? If the engine only has 108000 miles, can I put it in and sell the car in a year or so as something that only has 108000+ miles on it? Of course, the fact that the engine is replaced is a giant red flag and probably decreases value.

Replacing this car was already on our radar, but I was hoping to save a little more before replacing it to avoid a loan if possible, or do more to minimize a loan. We just replaced our van last year, so our car savings account hasn't had time to build up again.

The scrap yard will only give me $100 for the car.

I suppose we could try for a real low cost stop gap measure and still take our time.

I know the right answer is to donate the car to charity and do the best we can on making a decision on a replacement quickly, when we would normally spend months researching and finding a good deal. But I want/need affirmation and would appreciate any other thoughts an analysis.

Help me GRB Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

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Famous Mortimer
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Re: car advice

Post by Famous Mortimer »

Not sure how helpful this is, but:

https://stlouis.craigslist.org/search/s ... 6&sort=rel

I'm perhaps misreading a bit. A new engine costs $3000. Then you said "new engine from salvage has 108,000 miles on it". So is the 108,000 mile engine going to cost you $3,000?

Gashouse
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Re: car advice

Post by Gashouse »

Correct. A replacement engine will cost $3000.

since that's more than the car is otherwise worth, I know it's stupid to even consider it.

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Famous Mortimer
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Re: car advice

Post by Famous Mortimer »

I appreciate you don't want to consider your old car a sunk cost, I wouldn't say anything about it is stupid. Unless the only reason you don't want to get rid of it is due to a "honk if you're horny" bumper sticker. That would be pretty stupid :)

TimeForGuinness
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Re: car advice

Post by TimeForGuinness »

I would probably try to find a stopgap solution for a few years...replacing one old engine with another old engine seems to welcome in more repairs down the road.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: car advice

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »


AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: car advice

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

TimeForGuinness wrote:I would probably try to find a stopgap solution for a few years...replacing one old engine with another old engine seems to welcome in more repairs down the road.
++ Hate hate hate throwing money into old cars unless it's pretty much a guarantee that they're going to be worth it. $3k is a ton of money to throw into an older car and even if the engine performs well enough with minimal maintenance (big if), you still need to drive it a lot to get the money out of that $3k repair.

I don't know the actual number, but let's say it costs roughly $0.11/mile ($2.50/gallon of gas at 25 mpg and $40/oil change at 4k miles/change) in gas and oil. The average cost is ~$0.60/mile overall. In order to break even, you'd need to drive it about 6k miles with zero repair costs outside oil and gas to hit the average. If you think you can do that, then by all means, it may be worth it. But what do you do when the master cylinder goes out, or the alternator or the timing belt or the transmission or any slew of other repairs that can cost $100-$2k to fix?

tlombard
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Re: car advice

Post by tlombard »

Only kind of related but I just flashed back to a story about my dad years ago when he was working for straight commission as a mechanic in North County. A family came in and their Mustang needed a new motor. My dad told them what it would cost. He told them to take that money and buy a used car for the same price that would be newer and cheaper for them in the long run. They argued with him and told him that he was trying to screw them. The thing is, if they bought a used car then he made no money. If they put a motor in the Mustang, he made plenty in commission. They ended up arguing with him and then demanding to talk to his boss who couldn't convince them that my dad was trying to help them out either. He ended up putting a motor in the car and getting a nice paycheck since he got 60% of labor and I think 10% of parts. This was in the mid 90's. They could have gotten a really nice used car for what that motor cost them. Morons. At least pops made his money! I still tell him that's why he couldn't make enough money when he owned his own shop. He was too nice and honest with people. He lost $46 his first few three months in business but never lost money after that. He just didn't make enough and had to go back to working for others in an established shop. I give one friend a hard time and blame her for that $46 loss. She took her car to my dad when he first opened with a $1300 quote. She didn't need any of it. She only needed a new belt but my dad wouldn't do anything she didn't actually need instead of just doing what she told him to. Her bill was under $100.

He also used to refuse to put brakes on my friends' cars. If I was with them he'd just point to the lifts and tell me that I know how to do it and wouldn't take anything other than the price of parts and let us use the lifts, tools, etc. He is an honest man to a fault but that's not good for making money in the car repair game when you own your own shop!

tlombard
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Re: car advice

Post by tlombard »

And I'm always wary of buying a used motor. Back in HS I bought a '78 Cutlass Supreme for $80 from an older lady who figured it wasn't worth putting a motor in since she wouldn't be able to drive much longer anyway (she sold it to me for what she could get from the junkyard) and I ended up putting a used motor in it... which wasn't good after my dad put it in. It had a knock. I literally drove that car once and it was only around the block so I could hear for myself that the motor wasn't good. Ended up with $300 into the car (didn't have to pay a penny of labor) and got $450 for it even with the knocking motor. At least I made $150 but that's only because my dad works for me for free when i need something. Heck, I didn't even do any of the leg work to buy or sell the car. My dad just called me when the lady didn't want to pay to fix the car. I only handed over money for the car and motor... and then collected the profit. And that's why I gave him my Camaro when I finally got an SUV to tow my first boat. I figure I owed at least that to my dad for all the free work he's done over the years. He's saved me thousands of dollars easily.

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cardinalkarp
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Re: car advice

Post by cardinalkarp »

I would heavily suggest NOT buying a replacement motor w/ 108,000 miles on it. I'm sure service history for it is non-existent, and unless well taken care of 100k + engines could fail at any time and put you right back in the same situation. Not only that, at 140k miles other issues are going to arise w/ the suspension & steering components just do to normal wear.

It sucks that you've put $1,500 in the car the past year, but your best bet will be to either trade it in on a new vehicle (and they MIGHT give you $500-1,000 for it). If a salvage yard is only going to give you $100 for it, like you said, it might be best to just call Goodwill and see what kind of donation/tax write-off you can get for the car. Since it's not running they'll pick it up and tow it off for no charge.

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