More Car Assistance

[pilot_dude]

You can get a brand new Corolla for less than $200 a month.

Why in the hell would someone want to take out a 7 year note at $200 for an item of diminishing returns when he can fix what he has for about $1k and save money to buy cash for the next car????????

 

[pilot_dude]

Got into work this morning and my NVH engineer is on a scramble until Friday. If he shows up back at the office Friday afternoon I'll ask him to run your video through his equipment. Sorry for the delay.

 

[Henning]

Why in the hell would someone want to take out a 7 year note at $200 for an item of diminishing returns when he can fix what he has for about $1k and same money to buy cash for the next car????????

Why repair this one at all? Drive it to failure and buy another 150,000 mile car for $1200 and drive it another 100,000 to destruction.

 

[Bill]

Why repair this one at all? Drive it to failure and buy another 150,000 mile car for $1200 and drive it another 100,000 to destruction.

I had an '83 Jetta, had bad input bearings on the tranny when I bought the car for $500. I put 80k on that car and sold it to the next sucker for....you guessed it, $500. It sounded horrible but went everywhere, I even towed light trailers with the thing.

 

[pilot_dude]

Why repair this one at all? Drive it to failure and buy another 150,000 mile car for $1200 and drive it another 100,000 to destruction.

Because the hoopty you know is often better than the hoopty you don't.

 

[Henning]

Because the hoopty you know is often better than the hoopty you don't.

That is the fear based fallacy that has hindered the development of mankind for all of our history. Never fear change and the future, because it's going to happen anyway. May as well be part of it rather than observer being taken by it.

 

[Alexb2000]

Why in the hell would someone want to take out a 7 year note at $200 for an item of diminishing returns when he can fix what he has for about $1k and save money to buy cash for the next car????????

Why would someone spend $50K plus on a 40 year old aircraft, pay $300 a month to park it, $3K a year to maintain it, and fly it in circles burning $6 avgas?

Pilots…. wow.

 

[MAKG1]

Why repair this one at all? Drive it to failure and buy another 150,000 mile car for $1200 and drive it another 100,000 to destruction.

I won't quite take it that far.

A transmission failure will at least disable the vehicle, and in the worst case can cause loss of control. These things always seem to happen at the worst time.

It could last for years, or minutes. If the oil has steel chunks in it, closer to the short end. Ground up steel is much harder to gauge.

The noise is the early warning.

A junkyard transmission can be had for a few hundred bucks. R/R is labor intensive but not that hard on a Corolla. Maybe $100 in Harbor Freight tools.

 

[Henning]

Why would someone spend $50K plus on a 40 year old aircraft, pay $300 a month to park it, $3K a year to maintain it, and fly it in circles burning $6 avgas?

Pilots…. wow.

Because that's the cost of entry playing with airplanes. Fortunately cars have a much lower cost of entry. Since most of us have a limited budget, if we want to be able to play with airplanes, we have to minimize what we spend elsewhere. The most economically efficient miles a vehicle sees are the last ones. Buying a car at end of life pretty much guarantees that you drive a car for the price of consumables as it has reached its terminal value (what the junkyard will pay you for it off the side of the road, typically $450-550 are the spam texts I receive) and the only capital costs are the time value costs for the duration you drive the vehicle. On $500 that doesn't add up to much these days, wouldn't even cover the fees on a checking account.

The key to operating end of life cars effectively and economically is never repair/replace anything except consumables and low cost parts, and you get those from the junkyard (ok Mike, Recycler, sheesh) for a dime on the dollar or less. I've walked out of the Pick a Part with an ignition module for free more than once because they are impossible to determine condition on. "Just take it, if it doesn't work, I don't want to hear about it."

 

[AggieMike88]

A junkyard used transmission can be had for a few hundred bucks. R/R is labor intensive but not that hard on a Corolla. Maybe $100 in Harbor Freight tools.

Not for this Corolla... see prior post about what's available through my supplier network.

For some others, yes, a recycled transmission can be had for an average of $500-600 give or take. I actually have some for GM cars that are less than $200 with a 1 year warranty. All about supply and demand.

 

[Alexb2000]

Because that's the cost of entry playing with airplanes. Fortunately cars have a much lower cost of entry. Since most of us have a limited budget, if we want to be able to play with airplanes, we have to minimize what we spend elsewhere. The most economically efficient miles a vehicle sees are the last ones. Buying a car at end of life pretty much guarantees that you drive a car for the price of consumables as it has reached its terminal value (what the junkyard will pay you for it off the side of the road, typically $450-550 are the spam texts I receive) and the only capital costs are the time value costs for the duration you drive the vehicle. On $500 that doesn't add up to much these days, wouldn't even cover the fees on a checking account.

The key to operating end of life cars effectively and economically is never repair/replace anything except consumables and low cost parts, and you get those from the junkyard (ok Mike, Recycler, sheesh) for a dime on the dollar or less. I've walked out of the Pick a Part with an ignition module for free more than once because they are impossible to determine condition on. "Just take it, if it doesn't work, I don't want to hear about it."

Anyone with time, skills, tools, a place to work, desire, AND most importantly a spare car or no immediate need for transportation can do as you suggest.

Most people have one car per driver and NEED to use it to get to work everyday. They don't have a full shop, tools, knowledge, etc. so everything they do is an experiment that MAY save them some money and MAY mean their car is more f-uped than before they started. Junk yard parts are great if you have the time. Most people, myself included, think spending the labor to put a 200K mile part in to replace a broken 220K mile part is false economy, unless you are a ghetto used car dealer that could care less. Also most people have to pay for their repairs or parts using a credit card with a 20+% interest rate.

Compare that to new. 0-2% real simple interest. Warranty. Everything is new and therefore reliable. Predictable cost, no $1000 repair surprises at Christmas. Pick a car like a Corolla or Civic with HUGE resale. $200 a month and you are done, trade it in before the warranty expires, rinse and repeat. Now you always drive a safe car, good brakes, tires, struts, etc. no drama no surprises.

Why not limit the fun of unpredictable expenses, junkyard parts, old machine maladies, dealing with mechanics, unreliability, just to aircraft? Most of us don't need any more than that.

 

[Henning]

A new car depreciates 30% when you register it, then there is the interest on the note (very few people get the 0-2% interest), and the higher insurance premiums. The ability for a warranty, especially on a Toyota or a Honda to out value the cost premium over buying (if you want a nice and 'reliable' car lets say, although the 20 year old vehicles I drive rarely are anything but reliable) a 5 year old car with 100k miles on it will not typically pay off in the consumer's best interest. Remember, warranties are like insurance, they won't offer them if they don't make money off of them. BTW, I do most of my repairs in the auto parts store or junkyard parking lot with a minimal tool kit.

 

[asechrest]

At work, but will update you all later today. 95% of the miles put on my car are at 80 mph on the highway. I'm not real keen on a transmission failure in the middle of the Everglades.

Alexb has it about right for my situation. My previous car repair and rebuild goals were predicated on the fact that I'd have a working daily driver and be doing that on the side. And I still want to do that. But now I've got an imminent decision to make and I need a dependable daily driver.

 

[Henning]

At work, but will update you all later today. 95% of the miles put on my car are at 80 mph on the highway. I'm not real keen on a transmission failure in the middle of the Everglades.

Alexb has it about right for my situation. My previous car repair and rebuild goals were predicated on the fact that I'd have a working daily driver and be doing that on the side. And I still want to do that. But now I've got an imminent decision to make and I need a dependable daily driver.

No, you need a POS daily driver and an airplane to get you across the Everglades. I bet if you just go to Jiffy Lube and have them do a full lube and oil change you drive another couple years in that thing without touching it. I finally got in the video and all I could hear was a catalytic converter shield rattling.

 

[asechrest]

Update:

I had the car up last night looking at the front end. Tires are definitely end of life but I couldn't hear much regarding wheel bearings and there wasn't play in the wheels. So the low hum lately is likely just tire noise. I opted not to fire up the engine because my driveway has a slight incline (need to clean out the garage), I was alone, and it was dark. I did take it for another test drive though and confirmed I can hear it in 3rd gear in addition to 4th and 5th gear when up around 35-50 mph, whether giving it gas or off the gas (but in gear). The moment the clutch disengages the noise is gone.

Took it to a local shop this morning. Was up front with them about my desire to just have it diagnosed and I'd pay a fair diagnosis fee. They called me back moments ago and they say it's in the transmission. ~$2k repair cost at this shop, using a used transmission. That doesn't sound terribly far off given Mike's estimate of used Corolla transmission at $1,200, plus some random markup and labor.

Plan right now is to pick up the car and sleep on it. Maybe I'll get another car as a dependable daily driver, clean out my garage, and keep this one for education. That way I could work on it in the evenings and on the weekends as time permits, allowing me to learn at a pace that's workable rather than scrambling to research and repair a vehicle I depend on every day.

Thanks as always for the help and discussion. You all are great. Who's going to Sun N Fun next year? I'll buy you drinks.

 

[Henning]

Update:

I had the car up last night looking at the front end. Tires are definitely end of life but I couldn't hear much regarding wheel bearings and there wasn't play in the wheels. So the low hum lately is likely just tire noise. I opted not to fire up the engine because my driveway has a slight incline (need to clean out the garage), I was alone, and it was dark. I did take it for another test drive though and confirmed I can hear it in 3rd gear in addition to 4th and 5th gear when up around 35-50 mph, whether giving it gas or off the gas (but in gear). The moment the clutch disengages the noise is gone.

Took it to a local shop this morning. Was up front with them about my desire to just have it diagnosed and I'd pay a fair diagnosis fee. They called me back moments ago and they say it's in the transmission. ~$2k repair cost at this shop, using a used transmission. That doesn't sound terribly far off given Mike's estimate of used Corolla transmission at $1,200, plus some random markup and labor.

Plan right now is to pick up the car and sleep on it. Maybe I'll get another car as a dependable daily driver, clean out my garage, and keep this one for education. That way I could work on it in the evenings and on the weekends as time permits, allowing me to learn at a pace that's workable rather than scrambling to research and repair a vehicle I depend on every day.

Thanks as always for the help and discussion. You all are great. Who's going to Sun N Fun next year? I'll buy you drinks.

If it's a manual transmission, take it apart (have fun with the hundreds of roller bearings inside lol, hint, stick them in place with wads of grease for reassembly), see what you can see, do some polishing on the races... If the noise changes pitch with shifting gears, it's either the input shaft bearing (simplest to deal with, just make sure when you drop it out you do it nose down so the needle bearings don't fall in the transmission) or cluster/counter shaft bearing, if the noise remains constant in pitch and is there in 4th gear, it's going to be the output shaft bearing.

 

[Alexb2000]

Update:

I had the car up last night looking at the front end. Tires are definitely end of life but I couldn't hear much regarding wheel bearings and there wasn't play in the wheels. So the low hum lately is likely just tire noise. I opted not to fire up the engine because my driveway has a slight incline (need to clean out the garage), I was alone, and it was dark. I did take it for another test drive though and confirmed I can hear it in 3rd gear in addition to 4th and 5th gear when up around 35-50 mph, whether giving it gas or off the gas (but in gear). The moment the clutch disengages the noise is gone.

Took it to a local shop this morning. Was up front with them about my desire to just have it diagnosed and I'd pay a fair diagnosis fee. They called me back moments ago and they say it's in the transmission. ~$2k repair cost at this shop, using a used transmission. That doesn't sound terribly far off given Mike's estimate of used Corolla transmission at $1,200, plus some random markup and labor.

Plan right now is to pick up the car and sleep on it. Maybe I'll get another car as a dependable daily driver, clean out my garage, and keep this one for education. That way I could work on it in the evenings and on the weekends as time permits, allowing me to learn at a pace that's workable rather than scrambling to research and repair a vehicle I depend on every day.

Thanks as always for the help and discussion. You all are great. Who's going to Sun N Fun next year? I'll buy you drinks.

It runs and drives = good trade in. I'd take the money and spend my free time flying.

Regardless sounds like you're making good decisions. Thanks for letting us know.

 

[AggieMike88]

Got a call this morning from a 2005 Corolla owner who had a wreck last night and was asking for a salvage bid....

Unfortunately it's an Automatic Transmission setup....

But I was thinking of ya and would have reached out if it was the 5spd.


If $2000 gets you a relaible transmission with a good warranty behind it (ask the provider if a few more dollars gets you longer warranty), and a few hundred more fixes the other squawks and cosmetics, then compare that cost against "can you get as nice of a car for that low of a price". Maybe so, maybe not. But keeping the existing means you know all of the existing performance and quirks, not having to sort out new ones with a new to you car.

Consider the salvage value too. You can call about to different auto/truck recyclers to get bids. But 227k is going to bring the value down. The 2005 one I mentioned in this post has 130k and the owner agreed to my $600 offer (supply demand software shows I am out of stock on the motor, transmission will sell within 180 days (that's very slow) and the remainder of the parts are not in high demand). Projected sales at 90 days is $1100 and $1700 at 180 days.

 

[asechrest]

Thanks, Mike! Appreciate you thinking of me. I'll give this all some thought tonight.

 

[MAKG1]

Tampa's a little far, or I'd help you out with the R/R.

I would have thought $2000 was a bit high. I can get a transmission with no guarantees for $100 if I pull it myself, and Newark Pick'n'Pull is a GREAT site for Corollas (it's down the street from the plant where they were assembled until 2008). Labor is "in the book," but I'd expect under $1000 assuming 8 hours and a really expensive mechanic.

Add in a guarantee and a full service yard, and now you're talking about a $500 transmission. Maybe another few hundred for shipping.

So, I'm not seeing where that $2000 comes from. I can't get there even if I assume $120/hour techs and twice what it should take for an R/R.

 

[dell30rb]

If you drive on the highway a lot I have a nice 2005 TDI diesel Jetta for sale.

If you like the car and its in good shape otherwise, try and get the price down for transmission and fix it.

I've only junked one high mileage car for a blown transmission. Cause I was tired of it, and the engine burned oil too. Sold it on Craig's to some guy who parted it out.

I have two cars now that are both over 200k miles but I like them and have budgeted for one major expense per vehicle should I need to put a transmission or engine in one. However they are both in good shape and I don't expect to need that anytime soon.

 

[AggieMike88]

So, I'm not seeing where that $2000 comes from. I can't get there even if I assume $120/hour techs and twice what it should take for an R/R.

Your prices for a Pick-n-Pull yard are within a good guessing range. Especially if there is no warranty and the car owner is assuming all risk of the item functioning.

Yards like that are essentially scrap metal processors. Main focus is getting the valuable stuff quick, the scrap steel later, and letting the carcass produce a few additional dollars of parts over 45-60 days before it's flattened. These yards also operate on a much lower overhead and higher vehicle volume (think 500 vehicles per month or more). Combine that with the main revenue is from the scrap metals, they will always offer their parts at a reduced price.

But for the "full service" yards that remove the part, provide a 90- to 180- to 365 day warranty (like me) and offer a lower mile, "higher" quality product, we have a higher demand for parts from the professional repair facilities. We operate with fewer vehicles and higher overhead. Plus the risk associated with the guarantee of the part is on me, so it's proper to account for that in my pricing.

To get "comps" for pricing on this product, do a search for this transmission on www.car-part.com . From there, you will see where I was pulling the $1100 +/- pricing for the transmission.

The labor + "consumables" (gear oil, seals, widgets, etc) comes from the estimation guides (such as Mitchell or All Data).

But in my "Full Service" world, $2000 for the shop to do a turn key install on a recycled transmission isn't that bad.

And I agree, MAKG1, that you might be fortunate to find one for $400-ish with a 30 day warranty. And then a day of wrenches, shade tree, pizza, and busted knuckles get it done.

-------------------------------------

I'll put out the invitation to anyone on the board to stop by my facility and I'll share with you how a modern day auto/truck recycler does his business. Much has changed since I started nearly 20 years ago and what you learn during your visit might surprise you. I just ask that you call ahead and set up a visit appointment with me so I can make time for you.

 

[dell30rb]

But in my "Full Service" world, $2000 for the shop to do a turn key install on a recycled transmission isn't that bad.

Agreed.

One more suggestion though, find an import shop that does a LOT of work on cars like yours. Get them to diagnose it. It sounds like it could be just one bearing or something like that causing your noise and a $1100 transmission might be overkill.

If its a common problem the shop may know how to take the transmission only partially apart and fix it in an hour or two.

As an example I bought a 1992 Saab that wouldn't go into 5th gear for $600. Transmission shop wanted $1800 for a transmission swap with a used transmission + warranty. So I took it to an import shop that did a lot of Saab work. Guy knew exactly what was wrong, I paid for 10 hrs of labor and a $60 part in the transmission. Worked perfectly after that.

 

[pilot_dude]

Why would someone spend $50K plus on a 40 year old aircraft, pay $300 a month to park it, $3K a year to maintain it, and fly it in circles burning $6 avgas?

Pilots…. wow.

Because one is a necessity and the other a luxury????

 

[Henning]

Agreed.

One more suggestion though, find an import shop that does a LOT of work on cars like yours. Get them to diagnose it. It sounds like it could be just one bearing or something like that causing your noise and a $1100 transmission might be overkill.

If its a common problem the shop may know how to take the transmission only partially apart and fix it in an hour or two.

As an example I bought a 1992 Saab that wouldn't go into 5th gear for $600. Transmission shop wanted $1800 for a transmission swap with a used transmission + warranty. So I took it to an import shop that did a lot of Saab work. Guy knew exactly what was wrong, I paid for 10 hrs of labor and a $60 part in the transmission. Worked perfectly after that.

Of course replacing the transmission is overkill. Unless the case or a gear was broke, it's never cost me more than $50 to fix a manual transmission, takes about 3 hours to go through one once you have it out. Bearings are cheap.

 

[dell30rb]

Of course replacing the transmission is overkill. Unless the case or a gear was broke, it's never cost me more than $50 to fix a manual transmission, takes about 3 hours to go through one once you have it out. Bearings are cheap.

You're right about that. Problem is finding someone that knows what the heck they are doing if you cant DIY.

 

[Henning]

You're right about that. Problem is finding someone that knows what the heck they are doing if you cant DIY.

Nothing simpler than a manual transmission, just don't lose the needle bearings and pack them with grease to hold them in place for assembly. If you can change the transmission out, you can disassemble and reassemble it as well, no worries, much easier even. If you can read this message, you can read the manual.

 

[Alexb2000]

The transmission rebuild kit even from a wholesaler like drivetrain is $580 for a C50 5-speed. Then you're not going to put all that in without a new clutch $100. Fluids, machining, etc. $100. That assumes no hard parts or differential problems (doubtful, probably a wild card expense of some amount). Then 18-20 hours labor with experience and a fully equipped shop. The average price out of a professional shop is $2700 so all that adds about right. If a novice could do all that at home under 40 hours I'd be truly amazed. It takes lots of equipment to do this right.

If someone can find one in a pick and pull for $100 they got there at exactly the right time. Toyota's here are stripped in the first few hours. Then all you have to do is pull it without a jack, shop, tools other than a basic box, no pneumatics etc. laying on the ground. Then, pull the other one install the pick and pull unit and.... Hope like hell it works. Otherwise they've wasted a couple hard days of work.

If that makes sense you've got a lot of time on your hands.


Keep in mind, this is a $2000 car tops. It just doesn't make sense.

 

[Henning]

The transmission rebuild kit even from a wholesaler like drivetrain is $580 for a C50 5-speed. Then you're not going to put all that in without a new clutch $100. Fluids, machining, etc. $100. That assumes no hard parts or differential problems (doubtful, probably a wild card expense of some amount). Then 18-20 hours labor with experience and a fully equipped shop. The average price out of a professional shop is $2700 so all that adds about right. If a novice could do all that at home under 40 hours I'd be truly amazed. It takes lots of equipment to do this right.

If someone can find one in a pick and pull for $100 they got there at exactly the right time. Toyota's here are stripped in the first few hours. Then all you have to do is pull it without a jack, shop, tools other than a basic box, no pneumatics etc. laying on the ground. Then, pull the other one install the pick and pull unit and.... Hope like hell it works. Otherwise they've wasted a couple hard days of work.

If that makes sense you've got a lot of time on your hands.


Keep in mind, this is a $2000 car tops. It just doesn't make sense.

An automatic takes a lot of equipment and specialty stuff, a manual does not. If there is anything wrong with his transmission it's going to be the input shaft bearing from his description. This doesn't take an overhaul kit, it takes an inexpensive bearing from the local bearing shop and a gasket along with grease. A pro shop will do a rebuild because they know it will come back on them if they only replace the input shaft bearing and something else fails. There is no incentive for them to do an IRAN on it. For the guy looking to get another couple of years out of an end of life car, fixing it yourself for less than $100 and some evenings with your buddies in the garage doing manly things, farting, and drinking beer, fine. Otherwise putting a $2700 transmission in this end of life POS Toyota isn't particularly wise, just sell the car and replace it.

 

[us AAirways]

Why in the hell would someone want to take out a 7 year note at $200 for an item of diminishing returns when he can fix what he has for about $1k and save money to buy cash for the next car????????

Piece of mind. New car is less likely to break down. $200/month looks pretty nice when you are stuck on the side of the road for a few hours waiting for a tow truck.

 

[asechrest]

Let's be honest about my situation. I can't even picture a transmission in my head. Don't know what one looks like. Have only a high level understanding of how it works. Don't know procedure to remove one.

The mentor mentioned in previous threads is on the EAST coast (edit: of FL). Me, my shabby car, and my job, are on the west coast. I have no car buddies on this coast.

I have utter confidence I could do the job. I'm confident that I could do it because I'm a quick learner, stubborn, thirsty for knowledge, and the internet is a wonderful thing. In fact, I consider the costs associated with struggling through it myself to be worth it if nothing else but for the knowledge.

But I work a 9 - 7 or 8 job, with busy weekends. I have only one means of transportation. If I go home tonight, put this thing on jack stands, and start tearing it apart, I can easily see it taking me a couple weeks, heading out to the garage each night for a few hours, with substantial additional costs because I'll suck at it. And then I'll have to put it back together. Meanwhile I'm taking the bus, or renting a car, or hitching a ride. I'm not sure that's worth it to me.

It'd be one thing if this was a project car and I had other transportation. I'd put this thing up on jack stands and tinker with it for years. But I need a car.

 

[dell30rb]

Piece of mind. New car is less likely to break down. $200/month looks pretty nice when you are stuck on the side of the road for a few hours waiting for a tow truck.

I've only owned one sub 150,000 mile vehicle in my life and have never been stranded waiting for a tow truck. Knock on wood!

Sure i've done a share of wrenching on them, things wear out. But i've never had anything just break down. There are usually plenty of warning signs.

OTOH my girlfriend bought a brand new 2011 equinox and is currently paying $300/month on it. 6 months ago the timing chain broke while she was at work (it made some noise before it broke, was taken to dealer who dismissed the noise). Took out the whole engine and she had to get it towed, get a ride home and the car was down for 2 weeks. THEN when she picked it up she got 15 minutes down the road before it overheated and shut down, because the morons at the dealership did not burp the system when they filled it with coolant.

 

[dell30rb]

But I work a 9 - 7 or 8 job, with busy weekends. I have only one means of transportation. If I go home tonight, put this thing on jack stands, and start tearing it apart, I can easily see it taking me a couple weeks, heading out to the garage each night for a few hours, with substantial additional costs because I'll suck at it. And then I'll have to put it back together. Meanwhile I'm taking the bus, or renting a car, or hitching a ride. I'm not sure that's worth it to me.

I work on my own vehicles less now that I am working similar hours.

Big jobs go to a shop I trust and have a long relationship with. For example, my daily driver acura needs a timing belt and the rear heater core is leaking. Thats about 10 hours of work and I would rather spend my weekends fishing or flying cubs or something.

I still do all the diagnostic stuff myself and smaller jobs. It takes me at least an hour to drop a car at the shop for work to be done on it. So if something will take me less than 3 hours to complete I will just do it myself on weekday evenings.

 

[asechrest]

PS - The good news is I have the cash to buy a similar car used, new, or anything in between. If I opt to finance, my credit union'll give me 1.99% on used, or 1.74% new. But that's flying money, man! A car is a tool to me. I would have driven this thing until it rotted around me (and it had already started on the clearcoat). I had abosulutely no desire for a new or new-to-me car. None at all. So I'm disheartened that this happened.

 

[Henning]

PS - The good news is I have the cash to buy a similar car used, new, or anything in between. If I opt to finance, my credit union'll give me 1.99% on used, or 1.74% new. But that's flying money, man! A car is a tool to me. I would have driven this thing until it rotted around me (and it had already started on the clearcoat). I had abosulutely no desire for a new or new-to-me car. None at all. So I'm disheartened that this happened.

Well, it did, so deal with it. Personally, I would drive it until it sounded like a cement mixer was installed under my hood (manual transmissions are extremely rugged and will get you home even with 2/3rds of their bearings missing and the cluster shaft flopping around). Either that or go ahead and sell it now for whatever you can get $1200-1500 is fair and will get it out the door and buy something else. For most people who don't really understand cars and have the skills and tools to do some diagnostics and work, the most economic cars are the Toyotas and Hondas you buy between $5000-$7500 with 125,000 miles or so.

Cars don't last forever, not without a lot of money.

 

[MAKG1]

It sucks that you can't get someone to help you, 'cause R/R ing a transmission can be done in a weekend.

If you've never done it before and you're doing it by yourself, your guess that you might spend weeks on it is only a little high.

I disagree with Henning that it only needs a bearing. When a bearing dies, it usually takes whatever hard part it is connected to with it, plus any gears that mesh with it. This can be inspected easily (the contact area is the shiny part of the teeth, and pitting in that area is the kiss of death), but the answer isn't often good. In a bad case, the bearing spins in its bore and the case is trash. This happens all too often with aluminum transmissions, and they virtually all are aluminum these days.

Transmissions aren't hard to assemble and disassemble, but some of them have shims that you have to fit. Usually, the old ones work fine (as long as you don't interchange them), but the new bearings can change the fit.

The grease tip (though I prefer Vaseline as it dissolves easily in gear oil without discoloring it) works great if there are loose bearings in there. Except no one has built car transmissions like that since the GM G-10 vans with cast iron five speeds (and those suckers weigh 150 lb). You can't do that with an aluminum case, except perhaps between shafts, or the vehicle will die in 10 miles. Generally, transmissions these days come with integrated ball bearings (much like your front wheel bearings), or opposed cone bearings, that have to be pressed on. The latter are very sensitive to shimming, but are generally used in medium duty applications like pickup trucks.

Can you afford to get another beater while you fix this one? I picked up my VW for $1300 with 70K miles when my wife totaled the Corolla (300K), and I've put another 140K on it so far. I wouldn't suggest this particular vintage (1990) unless you're really good with electronics, as it has an electronic control system with no diagnostics whatsoever.

 

[FormerHangie]

To me, that sounds like the input shaft bearing, being that as soon as you clutch it it stops making noise. Transaxles are a PITA to R&R, and many of them require special tools to disssemble and reassemble. Replacing a single bearing is most likely a false economy. Either get a used one or a rebuild. If you don't have experience working on gearcases I wouldn't attempt to rebuild it.

If it were me, I'd keep driving it until I couldn't tolerate the noise, then replace the car. I prefer to buy new and keep the car for 10 - 12 years, but what you do is up to you.

 

[asechrest]

As a final update:

I purchased a certified used 2010 Corolla. I sold my old Corolla to my good friend, likely for quite a bit less than it was worth (but more than I'd get on trade-in...I think).

While looking for the new car, come to find out manual transmission is quite rare these days, and I had a bear of a time finding another stick-shift Corolla. I really wasn't willing to budge on my requirement for manual, so once I found one I settled for a bit higher mileage than I'd hoped for.

Pics attached. Hoping to drive this one until the wheels fall off, just like the last one. I also plan to take care of the the vehicle better than my last. Planning to keep a maintenance diary, and I've already begun protecting the exterior thanks to Jay and Henning.

Thanks, everyone, for the help and advice in this thread.

 

[Alexb2000]

As a final update:

I purchased a certified used 2010 Corolla. I sold my old Corolla to my good friend, likely for quite a bit less than it was worth (but more than I'd get on trade-in...I think).

While looking for the new car, come to find out manual transmission is quite rare these days, and I had a bear of a time finding another stick-shift Corolla. I really wasn't willing to budge on my requirement for manual, so once I found one I settled for a bit higher mileage than I'd hoped for.

Pics attached. Hoping to drive this one until the wheels fall off, just like the last one. I also plan to take care of the the vehicle better than my last. Planning to keep a maintenance diary, and I've already begun protecting the exterior thanks to Jay and Henning.

Thanks, everyone, for the help and advice in this thread.

Very nice. They are great cars.

 

[asechrest]

Very nice. They are great cars.

Agreed. I drove a Subaru Legacy (which I really liked - big fan of Subaru since I first saw a rally racing video), a bunch of automatic Corollas that did nothing for me, looked at some Nissan Sentras (including a nice S-ER Spec V that brought out my inner teenager), and a couple others.

After finding the stick-shift Corolla S online, I took the plunge. I'm hoping they still make them like they used to.

[edit] - Paid more than a third down in cash, financing the rest at 1.75% over 72 months (the lowest rate I'd seen), but I'll end up paying far more than is required each month so I can pay it off quickly. I wanted to keep the bulk of my liquid cash because I'm still considering buying a crashed car for my girlfriend and fixing it up with that friend of mine. We'll see.