Would you dump money into this car?

[runwad]

DH has a 2001 Chevy Malibu with 185k miles. He drives around 80 miles round trip to work each day. The car is paid off and our mechanic thinks the gasket needs replaced cause it spews out antifreeze. He said it might be around $500 or $600 to fix but he's just not sure what else he may find wrong. It makes this awful ticking sound but has since DH got it; but I swear it sounds like a bomb is going to go off. I'm figuring 1k to just figure on the high side. We just bought a new honda odyssey in the fall and paid cash so we don't have the money for another new car but we do have a '01 Buick LeSabre with 85k miles. The buick was my car and the malibu DH, then we got the van as a 3rd vehicle for travel and when we go places as a family (have 3 kids). So 3 cars all paid off. My thing is if we go down to 2 cars I'm stuck driving the van everyday and I love my buick. What we were doing was DH was alternating drving the malibu and the buick and I drove the van on the days DH had my buick. I just can't decide if we should put that kind of money in DH's car or just scrap it and stick with the 2 till we can save up for another car for DH? Would you put almost 1k in his Malibu?

 

[KKB]

It's not cost effective to pay taxes & insurance on 3 vehicles with only 2 drivers.
Make the logical decision not the emotional one. (not trying to sound harsh...but I know you KNOW the right decision...)

 

[jen42002]

No. Drive the Honda and Buick, get rid of the Malibu. You and DH can work out who drives which.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I wouldn't. The car sounds like a money pit waiting to happen. I have a friend that has had his share.

 

[Disney Commando]

No way I would pump cash into a car with 185K. Sounds like a head gasket is shot. A car with that many miles only turns into a money pit. If it is good shape otherwise, don't scrap it since alot of people like this model and might like it for parts or have a engine for it, selling it as is would bring in alot more cash then what a junkyard will give you.
If you figure out the cost of repair + what you get for it, you can most likely find something decent to replace it!

 

[4Seasons]

When you say gasket, is he saying the head gasket? The problem when the head gasket(s) fail is antifreeze can get into the oil and ruin the engine.

Have you checked to see what the book value is on the car? I'm thinking probably around $1000 or so with that mileage. It's a tough call, but if you are having to pay someone to fix it, plus you already have 2 vehicles, I think I'd pass.

I know that ticking sound well, we've had vehicles that did that for years to one degree or another. Sometimes it's a problem, sometimes it's not. Hard to say without further investigation.

I agree with the others, let it go.

 

[runwad]

Oh ok i knew this in my heart but dang it its so nice having that 3rd vehicle for when one of them is in the shop or what not. Even my mechanic kinda sounded hesitant about fixing it. Drat, I just don't want to drive the dang mini van and DH won't cause of the commute and the area he goes to. I guess I will be more motivated to save up for another work car for DH so I can get my buick back, just hope i get it back in the same shape it was given.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

If it is the head gasket you may already have antifreeze in the oil. It will probably be $500-$1,000 (as the mechanic says) to replace the head gasket. And what major thing will go next on a high-mileage car?

 

[seashoreCM]

For a car this old leave the radiator cap loose. This reduces the pressure and may lessen the loss of antifreeze from spewing out, to a point. The level of antifreeze will settle down a few inches below the top. Do not top it off.

A regular ticking sound, several ticks per second, usually means a worn out valve lifter. This requires disassembling the engine to fix, therefore another expense. For a car this old, you can leave it as-is.

To summarize:

A. Put money in to fix this car.
C. Junk this car immediately to cut your insurance bill.

I suggest B in the middle. Keep driving the car as is, preferably for short trips so if it does break down it isn't that long a taxi ride to get home to fetch car no. 3 which now became car no.2.

 

[KKB]

Oh ok i knew this in my heart but dang it its so nice having that 3rd vehicle for when one of them is in the shop or what not. Even my mechanic kinda sounded hesitant about fixing it. Drat, I just don't want to drive the dang mini van and DH won't cause of the commute and the area he goes to. I guess I will be more motivated to save up for another work car for DH so I can get my buick back, just hope i get it back in the same shape it was given.

We have a 2002 Mazda Millenia (90K mi.) and 2003 Odyssey (55Kmi.)...basically the only time they are in the shop is to be serviced...
This suggests your vehicles are in the shop too much...but I think you figured that out.

 

[DawnM]

I do know what you mean about having a 3rd car. About 9 years ago we bought a new car and then had 3 cars. We tried to sell one and couldn't, so we ended up keeping all 3 and even replaced one when we needed to to keep 3 cars! Now we love having 3 cars. All are paid for and all run. BUT, we have vowed that when the '96 Saturn station wagon with 150K miles on it starts having major problems, we will go down to two cars.

It is a tough call. Does your DH know how to fix cars? Mine has learned over the years through a cousin who is a mechanic. We no longer live near him, but DH learned a lot from him.

Do you know a mechanic who can do it for some bartering or lower cost?

The frugal person in me says to see if there are alternatives for fixing it and making it last, but the worried part of me says to get rid of it and move on.

Keeping title, insurance, and inspection on an older car is usually minimal (ours is less than $100 total for all 3 per year on our 3rd car.) So I don't really see that as an argument if your car is running well.

Dawn

 

[englishteacha]

If it were your only vehicle option, I'd say fix it. However, since you have 2 functioning cars, I'd sell it for parts or let it sit in your driveway until you can trade it in on a different car. I agree that 3 cars for 2 drivers seems a bit much, especially since you have to register, inspect, and insure all 3. Even on paid-for cars, that adds up.

 

[runwad]

For a car this old leave the radiator cap loose. This reduces the pressure and may lessen the loss of antifreeze from spewing out, to a point. The level of antifreeze will settle down a few inches below the top. Do not top it off.

A regular ticking sound, several ticks per second, usually means a worn out valve lifter. This requires disassembling the engine to fix, therefore another expense. For a car this old, you can leave it as-is.

To summarize:

A. Put money in to fix this car.
C. Junk this car immediately to cut your insurance bill.

I suggest B in the middle. Keep driving the car as is, preferably for short trips so if it does break down it isn't that long a taxi ride to get home to fetch car no. 3 which now became car no.2.

Sound advice, thanks!! I talked to our mechanic and he said he will put some plug a leak or something like that in it and it would still be useful for around town. The insurance on this car (liabilty isn't much, less then 100 for the year. We'll hold on to it and save up and see if we can do one of those drag it in pull it in push it in deals they sometimes have.

And actually our car's aren't in the shop too much it's just that our mechanic is only open mon-fri 8-6 so for things like oil changes and tire rotations we just leave the car for the day and take the other car He's a great mechanic and does a lot of free stuff for us, I really trust him he always keeps our car's running at the lowest possible price for us.