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should i keep my car?

1K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  GTXKen 
#1 ·
Hey guys i just found out my old girl needs some real work. Its a 97 trep with 200k miles the motor seems to run great so does the tranny but the bad is the motor ticks and i just found out it needs struts and a rack and pinion replaced. The interior is in alright shape just needs one door panel and for some stupid reason none of my electric locks work but my back driver door lol. so my question is should i fix this car or sell it and try to get a newer one? I got it for 800 a few months ago, so any advice? also any help on fixing my little problems would be nice to lol
 

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#2 ·
I kind of answered in your other thread...

Looks like you have some minor paint issues on the hood - a car with a decent body that runs well is worth about 2K...

Really, the choice to repair it from a practical standpoint comes hinges on what the ticking motor REALLY is... it could just be your purge valve clicking on the passenger strut tower - or, it could be a 3.5 giving the tick they almost all develop at the 180K mark, and indicates an overhaul in the future... But one just doesn't know from here, and it has been my experience that most garages will look at the car, and the miles, and just tell you the worst news on the engine.

If the tick is nothing, it is cheaper to buy a rack and install it once, and buy struts and be done, and keep driving the car. Sure, it will be a big repair bill, but once you pay it, you're done.

You could buy another $2000 car, and have to put a rack, struts, tires, and brakes in it in 6 months...

Unless you need to change car types (bigger or smaller, truck or econo-box), and are going to buy brand new (or significantly newer), you're likely better off fixing what you have.

Besides, we like your car.

If you get rid of it, put it up for sale here.
 
#3 ·
i think a lot of it comes down to how much you like the car yourself, personally i LOVE my trep i have yet to be in a car around the same age with nearly as many features, very nice leather interior, not to mention the 3.5 pulls hard, dont get me started on leg room, and the car is very easy to work on.

buying a new older car scares me esp when i see what new car my buddy has each week, then asks me to come over and work on it because the things falling apart. his last one i went to put in a stereo for him and pulled it out to see the worse clusterf*ck of wires ive seen, then had to trace colors to each speaker with 2/4 of the speakers held in by nothing more then zipties.

but like i said i see it as personal choice if you dont like your trep overall in comparison to another car in your price range i would go for it, but sometimes the devil you know is better then the devil you dont.
 
#4 ·
Sorry for not getting on that much, Ive been busy working and replacing a few things on the trep. So far i replaced the column shifter. (It was not locking in place) I also been trying to get my heater to work. I got the ac pump to stop running no matter what. and i got the airbag light to stop flashing. I also got the check engine light off. The tick is still scaring me a little its not a purge valve. I will put a video up soon of the tick. I also just replaced the exhaust, I found out it was partly clogged and it being a az car it needs to pass a admissions so it needed fixed lol. My next thing is to replace the rack soonish. Right now im just been putting a 12 oz bottle of power steering fluid in a week. Im hoping to add a center column to it because it dont have it instead it has the front bench seat. which i don't really care for. Also the 3.3L motor is a tad slow so i might look into a way to make it a little faster. I just recently bought new plugs wires and put royal purple oil in it (to see if the tick will go away) but it didnt. dont worry guys i didnt spend a lot of money on the oil my friends dad owns a shop and he had some spare sitting a side that was the right weight so i got it for 20 bucks. that's filter and all =D Well thats pretty much it for now, Hope to get some feed back from you guys. i really like the car and hope to buy another one day but newer lol oh before I forget I have to replace the motor on driver side but when i toke door panel off all i can see is how to take the case of the motor. Do i have to take the gear off and everything?
 
#7 ·
The window motors are a *****, you need to loosen all the window mechanism bolts to get to the backside and take the window motor bolts out.
 
#5 ·
I'd be interested in hearing this tick that you describe. Is it possibly a rod knock? If not, it could be a stuck lifter. I would try a quart of transmission fluid in place of one quart of oil to free a stuck lifter. I would steer clear of engine flush products which are sometimes recommended as they can be too aggressive. I think the right balance for a sticking lifter is the ATF thing. I've never done it, in fact, I *have* used Gunk engine flush, but I consider myself lucky that I didn't have a major issue after that after reading others' horror stories.
 
#6 ·
93' 3.3. Bought @ 108k miles. Has ALWAYS rattled. Now, 210K miles got a new exhaust today and then few hours ago spent 20 or some minutes above 4k rpm climbing a mountain at speed.

You could ask what I would say but after 100K miles and 8-9 years I am Biased some would say.
 
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