Hi everyone.
Here's a chat I sent a friend describing my car/situation the other day
There's been this car in a tow yard bought at lien sale at another tow yard's auction that was put on c/l for $250 firm probably 6 months ago I've been trying to see but the owner had to coordinate my viewing it with the tow yard owner but he was rarely there so I just started driving by looking to see if I saw the truck. I could have call him and set up something but I wasn't ready for the car yet so I was kind of trying to delay. The other day I saw him there and he let me look at the car. Turns out the owner is a buddy of his and he towed it over and let him keep it there as a favor but his patience was wearing thin and he was going to insist he move the car in the next day or so.
The car is a. 04 dodge intrepid gray sedan that is cosmetically really nice but had a real bad water leak coming out of the water pump weep hole. I went and did a leakdown test to make sure it didn't have a bad valve or blown head gasket then I told him I'd take it. The next morning a friend and I went down there and got it. We put water and a big bottle of bars leak in it, jump started it and drove it around the corner to a us forest service tree farm that has a nice picnic area near a creek.
We gave it a bath cuz it was covered in dirt and pitch from the trees it was parked under.
At the tree farm it wouldn't start again even with a jump so we pushed it out the gate cuz they close at 3 and there was a good parking space till 7 outside we could back in to to hide the tag till we got back from running errands around town for a couple hours
There I was able to disconnect the battery cable on the intrepid and using the other car's battery with both jumpers on the other connection and a pair of vice grips to connect the former cable to its post, start it. Then I reconnected the whole mess and went to leave and it died!
Aaaarrrrggg!
I did it all again a couple more times then said screw it and we went looking for a place to hide the car overnight.
We ended up pushing the car about a mile down the road to a lumber yard parking lot. I thought I should take the intrepid battery so I could see if I could charge it so I got on my phone to watch a video on how to remove it. They bury it under a bunch of stuff in the left front fender
While watching it I realized it was also a top post battery like the car I brought unlike the side post in the convertible I have that is much more similar to the intrepid
So I get the bright idea to swap batteries cuz the intrepid is a 6 cylinder and the other car a 4 cylinder which is much easier to start and doesn't die all the time
The intrepid battery barely fits but it does if you don't fully latch the hood so we fill with water again and start off. Both cars have overheating problems and it's a hot afternoon and we r 15 miles and 3000 feet in elevation away from home.
My friend doesn't have enough gas in her car so we still have to make one stop. We started climbing the hill on this little windy road. No traffic, but where it gets really narrow a couple cars are coming down and I have to let a couple tires leave the paved road to make room. When I do my car dies and won't restart apparently due to overheating.
My friend's car is hot too but we are not far from the top where there is a restaurant where we can stop and buy some cheap Mex food and split a bottomless ice tea
She starts pushing me with her car but we don't make it so we stop to put water in hers
Eventually we get there, the parking lot is crowded but we are able to push it up and roll it back into a shady spot way on the back
When we come back out we lie there in the intrepid (it has a cavernous interior) trying to figure out what to do re getting a trailer to come get it the next morning. I figure might as well try and start it for the hell of it and it starts so we r off 2 the races again
We make it up the hill to a friend's auto repair shop and leave it there
The thing that had me worried was the heat gage doesn't work on these cars when they leak coolant because the sensor is high up and the oil light would come on after a few miles
So the next day I was able to drive it home
So now I've got it all apart and it looks like the water pump gasket was leaking and it was all sludged up in the oil from using the wrong type and leaving it in too long
I've been making a study of these engines for a couple years now. They are amazing and low maintenance but the maintenance MUST be done and done exactly right or they self destruct quickly so the cars can be had in really nice shape super cheap
Since the water pump is inside the engine it's about a $1200 job if u have to pay someone to do it
So I'll have about $600 and about 40 hours into it and it will be around a $4000 car in like new condition. I'm also putting a ultracapacitor battery in it so no more funny biz with that battery
My other car only goes about 4 miles before overheating
So if need to take it out of service for a while
Here's a chat I sent a friend describing my car/situation the other day
There's been this car in a tow yard bought at lien sale at another tow yard's auction that was put on c/l for $250 firm probably 6 months ago I've been trying to see but the owner had to coordinate my viewing it with the tow yard owner but he was rarely there so I just started driving by looking to see if I saw the truck. I could have call him and set up something but I wasn't ready for the car yet so I was kind of trying to delay. The other day I saw him there and he let me look at the car. Turns out the owner is a buddy of his and he towed it over and let him keep it there as a favor but his patience was wearing thin and he was going to insist he move the car in the next day or so.
The car is a. 04 dodge intrepid gray sedan that is cosmetically really nice but had a real bad water leak coming out of the water pump weep hole. I went and did a leakdown test to make sure it didn't have a bad valve or blown head gasket then I told him I'd take it. The next morning a friend and I went down there and got it. We put water and a big bottle of bars leak in it, jump started it and drove it around the corner to a us forest service tree farm that has a nice picnic area near a creek.
We gave it a bath cuz it was covered in dirt and pitch from the trees it was parked under.
At the tree farm it wouldn't start again even with a jump so we pushed it out the gate cuz they close at 3 and there was a good parking space till 7 outside we could back in to to hide the tag till we got back from running errands around town for a couple hours
There I was able to disconnect the battery cable on the intrepid and using the other car's battery with both jumpers on the other connection and a pair of vice grips to connect the former cable to its post, start it. Then I reconnected the whole mess and went to leave and it died!
Aaaarrrrggg!
I did it all again a couple more times then said screw it and we went looking for a place to hide the car overnight.
We ended up pushing the car about a mile down the road to a lumber yard parking lot. I thought I should take the intrepid battery so I could see if I could charge it so I got on my phone to watch a video on how to remove it. They bury it under a bunch of stuff in the left front fender
While watching it I realized it was also a top post battery like the car I brought unlike the side post in the convertible I have that is much more similar to the intrepid
So I get the bright idea to swap batteries cuz the intrepid is a 6 cylinder and the other car a 4 cylinder which is much easier to start and doesn't die all the time
The intrepid battery barely fits but it does if you don't fully latch the hood so we fill with water again and start off. Both cars have overheating problems and it's a hot afternoon and we r 15 miles and 3000 feet in elevation away from home.
My friend doesn't have enough gas in her car so we still have to make one stop. We started climbing the hill on this little windy road. No traffic, but where it gets really narrow a couple cars are coming down and I have to let a couple tires leave the paved road to make room. When I do my car dies and won't restart apparently due to overheating.
My friend's car is hot too but we are not far from the top where there is a restaurant where we can stop and buy some cheap Mex food and split a bottomless ice tea
She starts pushing me with her car but we don't make it so we stop to put water in hers
Eventually we get there, the parking lot is crowded but we are able to push it up and roll it back into a shady spot way on the back
When we come back out we lie there in the intrepid (it has a cavernous interior) trying to figure out what to do re getting a trailer to come get it the next morning. I figure might as well try and start it for the hell of it and it starts so we r off 2 the races again
We make it up the hill to a friend's auto repair shop and leave it there
The thing that had me worried was the heat gage doesn't work on these cars when they leak coolant because the sensor is high up and the oil light would come on after a few miles
So the next day I was able to drive it home
So now I've got it all apart and it looks like the water pump gasket was leaking and it was all sludged up in the oil from using the wrong type and leaving it in too long
I've been making a study of these engines for a couple years now. They are amazing and low maintenance but the maintenance MUST be done and done exactly right or they self destruct quickly so the cars can be had in really nice shape super cheap
Since the water pump is inside the engine it's about a $1200 job if u have to pay someone to do it
So I'll have about $600 and about 40 hours into it and it will be around a $4000 car in like new condition. I'm also putting a ultracapacitor battery in it so no more funny biz with that battery
My other car only goes about 4 miles before overheating
So if need to take it out of service for a while