Advice please, car problems

[Microcell]

Just spoke to the auto repair place, and it could end up being close to $2000.00 to fix the engine of the car- a Dodge Intrepid. Might be as little as $650, but it would snowball from there if just replacing the timing chain does not work. There is no guarantee that it will not happen again because the engines are bad on these cars when the timing chain goes, it bends valves or something. We still owe $8500 or so on the car and have three years left on the loan. No, the car is not under warranty.

I am at a loss as to whether to proceed getting a fix that might not work even long term. I do not have the money to assume another car payment on top of this one.

What would you all do? I have to take DS out for a preschool event, so forgive me for not responding right away.

 

[AllyandJack]

We ran into this problem with DH's car. His transmission went at 125,000 miles. We both drive a LOT, so we still owe about $10,000 on his car. It cost $2,500 to fix it. We had to do it. We didn't have a choice, really. The option of trading it in and rolling over about $5,000 onto the price of another car wasn't an option for us. It IS an option, however, so you could look into that.

We figured if we didn't fix the transmission, we could get about $5,000 since the car was perfect other than that (of course) and the problem was relatively cheap to fix. So, we'd trade it in and roll the other $5,000 onto the price of another car. For the car that we'd need (an SUV or a pick-up with 4WD that would accommodate a plow), it would bring a loan to over $30,000 - even if we managed to put the $2,500 down that we paid for the transmission.

We were left with no choice, so we fixed it.

Good luck!

 

[barkley]

see what you could get for it as a trade in. you may not get enuf to pay off the note, but if you get the loan from the same place (i'm thinking the car company) they can restructure the new loan so that it's bundled and you won't have any out of pocket cost (just a longer car payment committment). there are some great deals on used cars right now (dealerships are flooded with suv's from those who need to lower the fuel expenses, and other smaller models because allot of folks took advantage of the "employee price" promotions of a few years back) through dealerships that provide warranties of a reasonable duration.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

Unfortunately I have no idea what to do. I always seem to choose the wrong option when it comes to car repairs. I just want to offer good luck and some pixie dust. I had a timing chain go on an older car. What a PIA that was.

 

[DawnCt1]

I don't think that you have much choice. You will be upside down (owe more than its worth) if you don't get it fixed. Look at it as 5 extra car payments. I know that's not pleasant but I think that fixing it is your best choice.

 

[safetymom]

Most cars have problems with the engine if the timing belt or chain breaks. I would fix it. Unless you plan on driving it for another 100,000 miles or so you shouldn't have any more problems with the timing belt.

 

[Tiggeroo]

if there is engine damage from the broken timing chain you are basically going to end up with a new engine so other then your tranny you'll get alot of miles out of the repair.If you have an overhead cam motor and the timing belt went most likely the damage is bad. You might do better to call around now to get a price to put a rebuilt or used motor into the car. There are companies who specialize in this. You might be able to get this done for as low as $1500. and get at least a one year warranty on the new motor. In OHC motors if the timing belt is broken most people know what that means. Nobody will buy the car for more then $500. that way.

 

[tar heel]

Would replacing the motor be an option? We ran into a problem with our van when we still owed $5,000 or so on it and were able to get a used engine and have it installed for a little over $2,000. The salvage place we worked with (which came highly recommended by our mechanic) is owned by an IBM retiree, so it is a junkyard that is very highly computerized. He found multiple motors for our van in about 15 minutes. We chose the most expensive one b/c it had a mere 18,000 miles on it and have had no problems at all.

We're going to be replacing a transmission in the next few months. It's a lot of $, but only equal to about 5 car payments. In the case of the transmission, we're going to go with the new one to get the three-year warranty even though we could save 1/3 by getting a rebuilt one.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I don't think that you have much choice. You will be upside down (owe more than its worth) if you don't get it fixed. Look at it as 5 extra car payments. I know that's not pleasant but I think that fixing it is your best choice.

You owe too much on your loan to give up the car. Replace the motor if you know the engine is bad instead of just the timing chain.
They have to take out the motor to do the timing chain anyway, I think....you don't want to do that twice!

 

[Microcell]

You owe too much on your loan to give up the car. Replace the motor if you know the engine is bad instead of just the timing chain.
They have to take out the motor to do the timing chain anyway, I think....you don't want to do that twice!

Exactly my dilemma. They said it would drive up the cost to try just replacing the chain if it didn't work. I am leaning toward engine replacement at this point and dumping the thing as soon as I can! We also have a great interest rate of 4.5% on it and probably couldn't do that well on a different loan even if we could. That is such a huge amount to pay this close to Christmas. I will have to change my siggy to say I am not going for five years to Disney!