Like most people, I've had several cars that I got rid because of a pile up of myriad "small" issues. There was the 1997 Chevrolet Monte Carlo LS that that needed a water pump and an intake manifold gasket. Our 2002 Taurus had no heat for whatever reason and then there was my 2001 Monte Carlo with the short circuited electrical harness; all of those cars had problems that were fixable but rather than fix them, I replaced the entire car. The only time I ever literally traded in a perfectly good car was when I traded my 1990 Chevrolet Lumina Euro for a 1994 Lumina Z34 and that came at considerable buyer's remorse. To add insult to injury, I leased the Z34 too. Probably just as well as the Z's LQ1 V-6 was a time bomb anyway. Best it break down on somebody else.
Always, to some varying degrees at least, I've had buyers remorse for getting rid of cars before I reduced them to broken down smoldering hulks and it's the fear of buyer's remorse that motivates me to keep my current daily driver, a 2002 Monte Carlo SS, up and running. That and 2 kids in college. Best part is, I still really,
really like my car. That's a bonus. If I was less a fan of the car I may not be so inclined to keep it and the wants vs. needs equation would be different...but I digress.
Recently, though, the damn thing has driven me fairly nuts with one problem and then another. There was the blown mass air flow sensor, that I thought was a failing transmission, that came with a shop estimate of nearly $500 to replace. Another shop wanted $400 to replace the failing passenger side ABS hub that was manifesting itself with a blinking, "SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEM NOW" idiot light. There was the driver side control arm/ball joint assembly would have run me $250 to swap out, a remarkably low amount of money considering the amount of grueling labor it requires to pull those things out. Trust me, they're a big ole pain. My fuel gauge, of all things, stopped working and that would have necessitated the replacement of the entire fuel pump at more than $500. Currently, there's a bad EGR valve that could set me back $500 to replace. Right now I'm waiting for a new one to come in the mail. Hopefully just swapping it out will cure the car of drivability issues so bad we can't use the car right now. Do the math, all this it adds up. What to do?
In my family's delicate financial situation I really had no choice. Facing $2,000+ in repair estimates I had to figure out a way to cost effectively do all the repairs and I did; I did them all myself and for a grand total of less than $325. My wife, at times, thinks that I'm some sort of car Svengali or money saving machine but the honest truth is I'm not. What I am is a cost conscious consumer with a decent sense of mechanical intuition. Now, the best is, there's no mystery to this stuff either -
once you get the diagnosis from a shop. As I've said time and time again, repair work is easy it's the diagnostics that are hard. I did spring for tires and an alignment but that $700 goes under the "routine maintenance" tab.
Replacing an ABS hub and doing suspension work like replacing control arms and ball joints may be, understandably, out of the realm of comfort for a lot of people. However, if you can handle a pair of pliers and can plug in a toaster, I think you can handle any number of repairs on an older vehicle that may otherwise force you to consider getting rid of it. Good luck.
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