SixPapaCharlie
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Sixer
Going to try and stay under 40 negotiated so probably 45 asking
Needs to be IFR, preferably w/ a GPS of some sort.
Can probably do that.
Car Repair Thread
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Going to try and stay under 40 negotiated so probably 45 asking
Needs to be IFR, preferably w/ a GPS of some sort.
Can probably do that.
You need kids.
It is a crap shoot who is hauling them on a given day
True, but still, we always had the family car and the commuter car for a 4 person family and even with pre teen-teenagers and the 2 seat 280z as the commuter, we had no problems.
My buddy has three kids, the MiEV, a Honda Insight, and a '70 440-4sp Challenger.
AggieMike88
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The original "I don't know it all" of aviation.
(Shakes head) you keep forgetting to use certain resources at hand to save significant money on car repairs....
Cars are like planes, somebody has to buy the new ones or I won't have any used ones to buy.
Mrs. SixPapaCharlie
Pre-takeoff checklist
SixPapaCharlie
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Sixer
hahahah!! I know I know.
Wasn't about the money so much as the time.
I used to work on cars for fun. Both of our cars started having issues and I decided to get my hands dirty again. Late nights when I could find the time to work on them and backaches and I swear I gave myself a hernia (see other thread) tearing her engine apart.
Finally realized I have so little time for stuff like this it is better just to get covered by a warranty.
At least for 5 years / 60k miles I don't have to worry about cars. If there is an issue, they give me a loaner.
I think in the last 20 days I have had 3 calls from her "I have the kids with me and we are in the parking lot and the car was shaking so I turned it off and now it won't start"
I gave it a good honest effort and in the end, I am not sure who won, me or that car.
By the way mike, there is going to be an 06 altima at an auction near you soon. For the record, it is a great car but has a blown head gasket. The throttle body, plugs, sensors, and coils have maybe 40 miles on them
Now the right passenger mirror looks normal from about 8 feet away but it is completely formed from bondo (shhhhhhh) but the electronic tilting mech. works.
There are a couple other "fabricated" parts but the only real issue is coolant getting siphoned into cyl number 4
They gave me 3k for it. I think with the head gasket repaired, it will run for a long time.
Let me know if you come across it.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Stop feeding them. They won't grow so much.
A'yup.
As long as they're not lemons, that'll work.
We lost months out of our lives waiting on the VW to be repaired, even if we never paid anything for it.
Oh yes, I Start Tuesday. I should have changed jobs years ago.
I am plane shopping now
Edit: I am building up my plane shopping fund I should say.
That is still after I am settled in and know there are no surprises at the new gig.
Haha. Two new cars and that's during the "not sure I'm settled in" phase, but you'll wait for the airplane? Heh. Priorities man. Priorities.
It's a nice plane.
No really. Clark has a nice plane. You should talk to him about it.
If I weren't quite settled in the 182 I'd be talking to him. Turrrrrbo. It'll haul the kids too. It'll haul damn near anything.
The bank won.
Why didn't you just trade cars with her?
Or get her the new one and you get the airplane? Tee hee.
(She's going to slap me now.)
flhrci
Final Approach
flhrci
Final Approach
He's had an Outlander for several years, and we like it. Plus the safety ratings are excellent, and it comes with a great warranty. And the price is right.
So I go. And drive. And pick one out. Then I send him up to do the haggling.
AND THEN SOMEHOW WE END UP WITH TWO NEW OUTLANDERS!!!
You are supposed to have a pickup truck! Sheesh!
David
Agreed......
I didn't think it was even legal to live in Texas without at least one truck in the driveway....
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Clark1961
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Ha!, the 'kota is way better'n any Cirrus...everybody knows that!
<---for the humor impaired
MAKG1
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Agreed......
I didn't think it was even legal to live in Texas without at least on truck in the driveway....
Last time I was in Waco, I spotted a Smart. I sure gave that a double take. And it didn't even have a gun rack.
Mrs. SixPapaCharlie
Pre-takeoff checklist
The bank won.
Why didn't you just trade cars with her?
Or get her the new one and you get the airplane? Tee hee.
(She's going to slap me now.)
Yeah, you can shut your mouth too!
I did my time. I drove that car for 9 years with no complaints. I didn't even start thinking about a new one until this one kept refusing to get fixed. I don't like feeling stranded with my kids in the car.
Oh, and he offered me his. I politely declined.
Already took the new ride for a spin this morning. SO many new features have come about in the last 9 years! Bluetooth, heated seats, backup camera, push button start . . . I have a lot to learn.
Mrs. SixPapaCharlie
Pre-takeoff checklist
My first car was a Chevy S-10, which I asked for because my mom had said ladies didn't drive trucks. That was about the extent of my teenage rebellion.
It was a good truck, though I beat the crap out of it a few times. I am a little more careful driving these days. (Bryan, you can keep your mouth shut too!)
Clark1961
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In Texas?
So B took my car to get assessed, and they came back and said head gasket and $2500 repair. Time to pull the plug. It's barely worth that.
So he tells me to go test-drive this afternoon. He's had an Outlander for several years, and we like it. Plus the safety ratings are excellent, and it comes with a great warranty. And the price is right.
So I go. And drive. And pick one out. Then I send him up to do the haggling.
AND THEN SOMEHOW WE END UP WITH TWO NEW OUTLANDERS!!!
I am actually really glad. I had 121k on my car, he was at 118k. He was having issues too. We didn't have to trade his in today, but we probably would have in a year or so. And they gave us a really, really good deal buying both. And they gave me $3000 for my car, which we think great.
And now maybe that our cars both have 5 year bumper-to-bumper warranties, Bryan won't have to spend so much time posting on PoA. Right? Right?!?
I am tickled you all have gotten new cars and are happy about them.
But I gotta say - are you all just harsh on cars? 121,000 miles, on a relatively recent car, is ... well, I expect, when I buy a car, to drive it without material drama for at least 150,000 miles. You might want to review how you do your maintenance, because (other than the 2003 Volkswagen, which had engine parts crafted of the finest pasta) cars these days just kinda last forever.
I have 167,000 miles on my Suburban, runs like a new car. Have about that many miles on my 1991 Oldsmobile wagon, ditto (plus, it is really retro-cool).
Biggest thing is, if you don't intend to trade every time a car gets out of warranty (and some people like to do that, and that's OK), you need to (1) get oil changes done religiously, preferably using a good, all-synthetic oil, and (2) identify a good, INDEPENDENT service shop for when the warranty is used-up. A quote of $2,500.00 to fix a head gasket is offensive in the extreme. It may have been time to replace the car (for you guys), but the dealer will take that trade-in, fix the head gasket for a hard cost to them of a few hundred bucks, and re-sell it for $5,750.00.
I use them in Florida.
MAKG1
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MAKG
A few hundred bucks?
Only if the mechanics are on salary and the car is a 4banger with no additional issues, especially a cracked head or burnt valves.
Just a head gasket is around $100, but it is VERY rare that nothing else blew or warped.
$2500 to replace a head, timing set, water pump, mate and time the valves and take care of possible air and water leaks is high, but if you're paying someone else's labor, it's short of offensive.
You could do it yourself much cheaper, but I'd still budget $1000 for it. Old heads are seldom in good shape.
I agree that low 100k miles is very low. I would want to triple that.
jesse
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I average $200 a year in maintenance total between my Accord and F150. The "newest" vehicle I've ever bought had 130k and was 10 years old. I've never paid more than 2k for a car.
Certainly understand that for some the peace of mind is new and makes sense for them. For me, not so much, I've just never had much of any major problem. If the engine in my 17 year old Honda blew up today I would most likely have it at least half ripped out and another on order before the end of the night. Unless I saw a steal on Craigslist for similar money.
Certainly understand that for some the peace of mind is new and makes sense for them. For me, not so much, I've just never had much of any major problem. If the engine in my 17 year old Honda blew up today I would most likely have it at least half ripped out and another on order before the end of the night. Unless I saw a steal on Craigslist for similar money.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Your age is showing Spike. Haha.
Don't worry. I would have said the same thing last year.
Then I saw the real bills from just the machine shop for working on a head these days.
There's a lack of good machine shops and machinists in most places and with good vehicles running easily to 200,000 miles without major work, the price of what we remember as "simple" repairs, has tripled or more.
Mike Rowe's campaign for the "blue collar" jobs out there really is smart for a lot of people. There's good bucks to be had. The skill set to do some of this stuff is disappearing.
And the vehicles are harder than ever to work on with all the computer controls and gadgetry. Just buying the diagnostic gear and licensing it (yeah, software licensing has hit the auto industry a long time ago), is a major expense for most shops.
Add that mine was a diesel with tighter tolerances, and that my mechanic is very picky about which machine shop he will use, from multiple bad experiences that ate his profit, and then some, on some repairs, and just the machine shop bill was almost three AMUs.
Plus folks just call up guys like our friend here who deals in pre-loved parts and just swap the whole engine out for not a lot more and get a much lower mileage engine. Not that much more labor to do that either with the engine puller and a hoist and the right tools.
Add also that there's upward pressure on pricing of the whole vehicle... To replace my Dodge diesel with a comparable towing model new would run $65000... Asking for a small but significant fraction of that price to rebuild its engine (my mechanic likes to buy trucks too! Ha!) isn't that unreasonable. In fact I'd say Bryan's quote is a similar percentage of new vehicle price as mine was.
Mechanic was probably right on mine too, saying that he wouldn't see me again for anything major for at least 100,000 miles. That means he has to run his business on me seeing him roughly once a decade. Maybe every half decade if I drive the truck all the time. And I don't.
Obviously he has other customers, but he can't stay in business and offer high quality work on vehicles that only show up every 8-10 years at his shop or so, without being a bit higher than us old farts remember repair places to run on.
There's no bulk repairs of this type of thing anymore.
He was wrong, by the way. I've actually been back once. He was surprised to see me. The exhaust brake started whistling. It had a small leak.
In and out of the shop in two hours when his appointment for that day couldn't get his truck there in a snowstorm. Mine was dropped off on the lot 12 hours before the storm hit with a note to "get to it when you can", another thing that'll endear you to your mechanic. He can roll it in on a slow day when something goes wrong in the schedule and knows you won't be calling whining for a status.
Having a beater car to run around in, while the other is at the shop is a great way to do it. Ironically that always seems to get the work done faster for me.
Speaking of auto repairs I need to go punch in the tracking number and see if the dude who rebuilt my instrument cluster for the Yukon and put LEDs in it has shipped yet. $165 for resoldering every one of GM's bad solder joints and replacing the servos, installing LED lighting, and fixing the bad capacitors in the power supply and VFD display, out of his garage in AZ, is a pretty good deal for both of us. Especially since I've already done the servos and didn't want to investigate the stupid power supply issues. He probably still pulled my servos and used his. I wouldn't trust me, either. But I let him know they're the new style.
The hilarious Indian couple who runs the UPS Store franchise nearby refused to let me put down to ship it back to my house instead of to the store and waived their charges for pickup there when they saw UPS would charge me $8 more to ship to the boonies. "That's $8! You just stop by on your way into town and pick it up. We'll hold it for you! No charge!"
I joke with Karen that I must need to update my wardrobe. They think I'm broke or something haha. And you don't argue with the lady at the UPS Store. I've seen her husband try to do that. LOL.
ollopa
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ollopa
I respectfully disagree with that, having worked on both. The mechanical bits are still the same and the on-board diagnostics are an asset, not a liability. You do have to understand what the sensors are telling you, which might not be the obvious answer, but in any case I've never found it harder to work on computerized engines. And you can get adequate tools without breaking the bank--it's just like hand-tools: You can buy something affordable that gets the job done or you can buy top-of-the-line and invest tens or hundreds of thousands. These days you can get a fairly good code reader with basic graphing and logging capability from HF for under $100 and a cheap digital scope for a couple hundred bucks. With modern cars there's no timing to set, no leaking ignition wires to check for, no mixture screws to fiddle with or floats to adjust--once you have the engine physically assembled you're done (except for valves on some cars).
The advantage to buying cars around 100k miles is that all the lemons of that model have already made it to the junk yard, or the underlying problem has been solved. If they're running/driving good at 130k, the chances that you get another relatively cheap 100k are really good.
denverpilot
Tied Down
So you're saying the typical good car shop has a HF handheld scanner and an oscilloscope and that's where you're going to take your new $40K car on a regular basis
Re-read my post. I was talking about real businesses. Not some doofus fixing his own cars in his own garage.
A good shop WILL pay for better tools than you just described. And they won't be cheap. And they'll be able to find problems the above tools can't. And those tools now have recurring licensing costs.
Some tools, the dealers still have a monopoly on. Ask even your well-equipped local shop if they can reset an odometer to the correct mileage when installing a used instrument cluster, for example. Dealers and the manufacturers don't want that tool on the street for obvious reasons...
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jsstevens
I just (last fall) bought a new Volvo for my wife. I've got Mini (which is an oddball requiring special tools and techniques) and I go to a european specialist shop. These guys have quite a setup and work on Mercedes, BMWs, Porches, Jaguars, etc. I asked about the Volvo and they "Nope. Only the dealer can get the computer to deal with that."
John
Alexb2000
En-Route
This thread is an example of where we are on modern cars. There are many more factors to consider than repairs when choosing to keep a car or get rid of it.
Financing is key when talking about used cars. If the payment isn't significantly less than a new one then it won't sell. That means when a car (any car) is beyond the age and mileage for first tier credit institutions then you take a huge hit in value.
Repairs are lost money, period. The car isn't worth one dollar more than it was before it was fixed. Put a set of $1K new tires on and it is worth just what it was before. People refuse to believe this.
Accidents and repairs are a major issue with everyone so focused on Carfax records. Right or wrong any reported insurance repair will be a huge negative to value even if the repair was done perfectly. I have sold several cars that were damaged as is vs. fixing them for this reason.
For most non-mechanical people, if you want to drive cheap and with predictable cost buy new and sell while still a first tier used car. For example a Honda Civic holds its value so well that you will easily get ahead of negative equity if you buy a new one and trade it every 3-5 years or ~60K miles. That means you are driving a newish car for ~$2k per year. In a time when a simple alternator repair is often $1k many would be better off just doing this. If interest rates were 10% it might be different, but that's how I see it in this economy of free money.
Financing is key when talking about used cars. If the payment isn't significantly less than a new one then it won't sell. That means when a car (any car) is beyond the age and mileage for first tier credit institutions then you take a huge hit in value.
Repairs are lost money, period. The car isn't worth one dollar more than it was before it was fixed. Put a set of $1K new tires on and it is worth just what it was before. People refuse to believe this.
Accidents and repairs are a major issue with everyone so focused on Carfax records. Right or wrong any reported insurance repair will be a huge negative to value even if the repair was done perfectly. I have sold several cars that were damaged as is vs. fixing them for this reason.
For most non-mechanical people, if you want to drive cheap and with predictable cost buy new and sell while still a first tier used car. For example a Honda Civic holds its value so well that you will easily get ahead of negative equity if you buy a new one and trade it every 3-5 years or ~60K miles. That means you are driving a newish car for ~$2k per year. In a time when a simple alternator repair is often $1k many would be better off just doing this. If interest rates were 10% it might be different, but that's how I see it in this economy of free money.
AggieMike88
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The original "I don't know it all" of aviation.
Frequent conversation when someone calls me to sell their car:
"How much will you give me for my end-of-life Honda/Mazda/Toyota that the engine is locked up and has damage on this corner?"
"Due to the bad motor, that I have 3 of the transmissions already, and scrap is bringing less than $100/ton, the most I can offer is $180 and I'll send a wrecker for it at my cost."
"I just put brand new tires on it last month and an alternator from AutoZone... can't you give me any more??"
"Due to the bad motor, that I have 3 of the transmissions already, and scrap is bringing less than $100/ton, the most I can offer is $180 and I'll send a wrecker for it at my cost."
"I just put brand new tires on it last month and an alternator from AutoZone... can't you give me any more??"
Ummm... no.
What's difficult for them to comprehend is the "added items" they spent too much money on are like Alex says, add no value to the part. And they are items that bring no revenue to me.
Plus, the customers for the ELV's are dwindling rapidly, so any investment in the parts needs to be kept small since my return is going to be small and a long time coming.
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Matthew
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You bought a new car and a whole lot of spare parts.
I can buy the box and code subscription from Snap On and be fed a simplified data set result, or I can save $2500 and buy the lower function data readers and apply some extra research time and end up with the exact same resultant data set 20-30 minutes later.
For the working mechanic who will use the equipment multiple times daily saving them a couple + hours a day at flat rate, they make complete sense. However, that situation typically exists in the high dollar shops with high overheads to cover.
The neighborhood guy that fixes cars on the side this doesn't make much sense for especially as the databases are sold by the make and you have to keep them current. This does not have any significance though on the knowledge of, ability, or data available to, the mechanic and the quality of service they can render you.
Alexb2000
En-Route
I have the Snap-On Solus Ultra and I believe its over-rated. It is $4K and the updates are about $1200 a year. The problem with Snap-On and every other scanner is that they are read only and are often limited to engine data (no transmission or BCM on many models). The advantage it has over a $50 tool is that it has a fix database and a reference set of correct values which saves time, but can also be found on the net.
If you really want to fix cars fast, get the OEM tool, period. I've had several and there is NO comparison. You also get the ability to write updates, change parameters, etc. Some are not even that expensive like the VW-Audi Vag-Com is only a few hundred dollars.
Mrs. SixPapaCharlie
Pre-takeoff checklist
I am LOVING my spare parts!
I am so happy with this car, I'm happy with the deal we got on the two of them, I'm happy that Bryan won't be spending hours in the garage working on them for quite some time, and I am loving all the bells and whistles.
Satisfied customer, right here.
Matthew
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I am LOVING my spare parts!
I am so happy with this car, I'm happy with the deal we got on the two of them, I'm happy that Bryan won't be spending hours in the garage working on them for quite some time, and I am loving all the bells and whistles.
Satisfied customer, right here.
AggieMike88
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The original "I don't know it all" of aviation.
I am LOVING my spare parts!
I am so happy with this car, I'm happy with the deal we got on the two of them, I'm happy that Bryan won't be spending hours in the garage working on them for quite some time, and I am loving all the bells and whistles.
Satisfied customer, right here.
So when does this get attached to your new set of parts?
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Mrs. SixPapaCharlie
Pre-takeoff checklist
I like it!!!! Though I'll wait till it can be the tail number of our own plane.
Matthew
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Speaking of license plates:
This morning I was behind a minivan with a tag that said:
"N2SINGN"
From a distance, the first thing I thought it said was:
"N2SWNGN"
This morning I was behind a minivan with a tag that said:
"N2SINGN"
From a distance, the first thing I thought it said was:
"N2SWNGN"