The Driveway: COBbies talk cars

So I think in the near future when I save up enough for a car, provided the engine runs well, I'm going to aim for a rusty/ junker looking thing, and then affix all sorts of scrap and other bitz (street legal ones) to it to make it look like something out of Mad Max.

My car's probably just at the age where everything just wears out. Back in October, my rear passenger side window randomly snapped its regulator cable. Last night, the rear driver side did the same. However, I was able to get it fixed sooner and for a hundred dollars less thanks to timing.

Last time it happened on a Thursday night and I couldn't get it to the shop until too late on Friday to get it done, so it stayed broken until Monday. Cost $300 and I was unemployed.

This time, it was a Monday, and I work in an auto parts shop delivering to mechanics, including one right across the street from my workplace that gives us family discounts. So I bought my regulator direct for only $60 and the shop charged me a reduced labor rate.

Also the mechanic who worked on it helpfully tried to turn off my headlights, discovered the switch is sticky, and helpfully broke it trying to unstick it. They offered to fix it at no labor charge if I supplied the new one, but the switch costs almost as much as the regulator, so he just wired the headlights around the switch. Which is not much worse than it was before.

My gas level sensor has also been erratic for months, and my cassette deck, which I would very much like to use as an adapter for my phone, is throwing "tape too tight" errors at everything.

So I'm going to be getting my stepdad's old '84 Cadillac. It runs ok, but it's kinda rusty and a junker, but that's ok as that was what I aiming for. Plus the thing is a solid hunk of metal, so Mad Max-esque car is a go.

and What specific model of car are you driving? How many miles? What engine?

It's an '00 Lesabre, at somewhere over 107,000 miles.

It was at something like 80k before I spent seven months delivering pizza full time.

Yeah, that sounds about right. Mine's a '99, similar mileage. I call it "Berry Lemonade" because it's purple and stuff keeps breaking.

So last year and the first part of this year, mine would randomly refuse to start. Every time, it was like, "Is it the battery?" 'Cause the battery was 5 years old. At first it was dirty terminals - and now I know how to clean battery terminals. Then it was a bad starter - and my brother had a spare starter on hand. Finally, this spring, the battery did, in fact, die. (And spit up some acid as it did so: yikes! Fortunately the cleaner spray I bought for the terminals can also be used to detect the presence of battery acid.)

Fun fact: Saturns are one of a handful of makes/models that can be towed with four wheels to the ground. Thank goodness. When the battery died, my dad and I towed my Saturn using his tiny Chevy truck and a tow rope. Pretty hair-raising, being towed through traffic and riding the brake just enough to keep the rope taut between his truck and my car.

After all that, a week later the MAP sensor died. That was another $50.

Current problem: the front bearings are wearing out. Makes a horrible roaring, grinding noise, except when I'm turning left. Hoping to get it into the shop this coming month.

If the wheel bearings are roaring, get it to the shop ASAP. Not even exaggerating. If they're so fucked that you can hear the death roar, it's only a matter of time before the wheel seizes. Yeah, you can drive on a bad bearing for several months, but I don't want to be sharing the road with you when it finally heats up to the point where it welds itself to the spindle and sends you shooting across several lanes.

Believe me, I would've gotten it fixed immediately if I hadn't been unemployed at the time. Got it fixed a couple weeks ago, and the tie rod replaced too, for the lovely sum of $400. I have to keep reminding myself, "It's cheaper than buying new!"

Now to see about these codes I'm getting: P0404 (EGR valve) and P341 (camshaft position sensor - which is odd, because I don't think it has a camshaft position sensor). It's idling rough, and it's got to be because of one of these.

There comes a point where you're better off just trading it in or selling it for whatever you can get for it in scrap value if it's that much of a money pit. Did that with my old Outback after I realized that it would need over $500 in repairs to not be sketchy as hell to drive plus another $550 or so to have AC in the middle of a very muggy and gross summer, not to mention all the other things that were probably just waiting to go. Got like $900 for that piece of shit as a trade and got something that wasn't going to be in the garage every other week and I can safely say that it was worth having payments.

Reliability is nice, no question. But the math works out in my favor.

Say I bought a 2015 Ford Focus. It's pretty similar to an SL2. A nearby dealership has one for just under $17,000. My Saturn's worth about $3,000 (if I sell it privately), and I'd use that for the downpayment. With a 5-year loan at the average rate of 2.69%, that's $250/month, or $3,000 per year.

Right now I'm paying off my car at $75/month, which is $900/year. Within the last year I've put about $1,500 into my car, for a grand total of $2,400. That's still $600 cheaper, even before I factor in taxes and insurance.

There are times when you have to just chuck it and buy a new one. Sometimes you just want a nicer car - I know I do. But if we're talking cheapest, that's usually the car you already own.

edited 29th Oct '15 7:18:57 AM by scionofgrace

Regarding the codes and rough idling: it's the EGR valve. I ordered a new one, which should be here tomorrow. Apparently this is something I can do myself. Which is kinda cool. I've never fixed something on the engine before!

I didn't even buy new - I bought a used Corolla because it was reliable, cheap to maintain, and got great mileage.

Possibly a stupid question, but can new tires significantly affect mileage? I know it will have some effect, but since I got new tires put on I've gone from about 25 mpg down to around 21. (And, yes, when you drive 250-300 miles a week, that 4 mpg matters.)

2010 Honda Civic LX sedan, 58K miles. Old tires were Goodyear LS-2, new ones Goodyear Assurance Tripletred All Season (higher road noise, but I got them for better wet weather grip and their 80K mile lifetime warranty, the LS-2s needing replacement by a little over 20K miles).

Yes. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about tires to guess why, or how to fix it. (Sorry.)

I assume they're inflated properly?

Yes, the pressure is within a pound or two of the requirements, unless I have a leak somewhere since the last time I checked (last week).

Insurance adjuster came to inspect my car this morning. Having both parties represented by the same company is pretty confusing. I talked to a rep the other night who told me I didn't have coverage for damage to my own vehicle and I wouldn't need to have my car inspected, but another person came to have a look and he told me he'd be mailing me a check to cover the majority of the estimated $1000 repair.

My $250 deductible is going to be awkward, especially while I'm still recovering from taking a week off and flying home for Christmas, but I think I can make it work.

I didn't think it was very bad, just the bumper shell hanging down, but when I opened the hood for the adjuster, the front end was bent a bit, and I can't get the hood properly latched again.

edited 20th Jan '16 1:28:03 PM by TParadox

What happened? Did I miss that post?

I didn't post in here, but in the main COB thread, I've been complaining about trying to connect with my car insurance about a collision from last week.

Traffic at a light was advancing, the motion of my car knocked over an empty oversize cup I had sitting in my passenger seat, I looked down to pick it up because I was afraid there might still be a few drops of liquid in it, and then I came to a sudden stop when the SUV in front of me let me know that traffic wasn't advancing anymore.

Ouch. Glad it wasn't anything horrible!

Honestly, the insurance estimate doesn't surprise me. Body damage sucks that way.

I thought it was just that the bumper shell was dislodged until we opened the hood to assess it.

So a few days ago my brakes started making occasional noises that sounded, for lack of a better description, like Chewbacca talking. Take it in to the shop this afternoon, and after about an hour I'm told that the pads, rotors, and calipers for my front brake system all need replacement, to the tune of almost $900.

Yay.

But since I deliver pizzas, brakes are kinda not-optional, so tomorrow morning I take it in to get the job done. It won't bankrupt me, but that doesn't mean I like spending the money.

(And maybe afterwards it will be a while before yet another Bad Dream about not being able to stop my car at all, which occasionally pops into my head... usually when I most need to actually sleep. )

I deliver auto parts for a living, and pads and rotors rarely cost more than $50 (each, with pads coming right/left pairs). I haven't taken note of how much calipers cost, and of course there's labor, but I still think you're getting ripped off.

That story is also one of the biggest reasons I'm glad to no longer be using my personal vehicle for work.

edited 14th Apr '16 6:15:30 PM by TParadox

Not really, from calling around for estimates.

Also, I'm not getting low-end parts, which ups the cost a bit. It doesn't seem like it when I'm driving, but apparently I'm harder on brakes than normal, so getting the ~$60/ea (including a $20 core charge) calipers from Autozone or whatnot is not ultimately cost-effective.

(Yes, I'm aware that "more expensive" doesn't guarantee better quality. It's not, however, non-indicative either.)

Yeah, most of what we sell is house brand.

Perk of working for an auto parts store: getting to combine a two for one sale on wiper blades with an employee discount that in this case was 50-60%, so I got a pair of upper middle grade wipers for less than nine dollars total.