What to do with my MP3....

[bmacster]

I'm at an impasse on what I want to do with my MP3 - I am sitting at 160k miles as of today and the car needs quite a bit of work. I've done some maintenance but it was neglected pretty bad from the prior owner. I've been on the fence if I should sell it or keep it and lay down the $4000 to get it to 300-500k miles.

In short, the car needs all 4 struts replaced. Timing belt, water pump, etc needs to be done. I just ordered the SU front, rear, and passenger side engine mounts for the car. All of the sway bar bushings needs to be replaced as well, along with a few other minor things (basically the entire suspension will need to be gone through)

What are your thought? I got it used for a good deal, can't really afford a new car at this point and I really don't want to sell it (first owned car..) so I am a bit attached to it...

Thanks!

 

[Spiced MSP]

keep it and work on it a little at a time. Timing belt and water pump one day, struts another and so on

 

[DarkAngel]

I'm at an impasse on what I want to do with my MP3 - I am sitting at 160k miles as of today and the car needs quite a bit of work. I've done some maintenance but it was neglected pretty bad from the prior owner. I've been on the fence if I should sell it or keep it and lay down the $4000 to get it to 300-500k miles.

In short, the car needs all 4 struts replaced. Timing belt, water pump, etc needs to be done. I just ordered the SU front, rear, and passenger side engine mounts for the car. All of the sway bar bushings needs to be replaced as well, along with a few other minor things (basically the entire suspension will need to be gone through)

What are your thought? I got it used for a good deal, can't really afford a new car at this point and I really don't want to sell it (first owned car..) so I am a bit attached to it...

Thanks!

You basically answered your own question......... just keep it and do what Spiced stated.

 

[pat_neumerz]

Yeah all that work is relatively simple too. (I only say this because I went through it all im now at 180k strong ha) when your done you will find it was worth it. I did mine in the driveway over a week. Deff should put the work in.

 

[shootz]

I agree with the rest of the guys here... this is the first car I ever worked on and I've done all of those things you listed. The timing belt takes the longest, but can be done in a day or less. There are good how-to's on here. The motor mounts are mostly easy, just the rear will give you the most problems.

I could go on, but I should say that having the right tools will make the process much easier. Have you done much work on any kind of car? Do you have many metric tools?

Where are you from anyhow???

 

[bmacster]

That is all I basically was thinking regarding the car. Though it does seem I fix one thing, something else happens. Too be expected I suppose!

I've done some work on cars before, nothing too in-depth but it shouldn't be too difficult for me to work on (I work on steam engines mostly...so a modern car "should" be simple enough..)

I live in Auburn, Washington and frequent Portland pretty often though (sometimes drive or take Amtrak down)

 

[shootz]

That is all I basically was thinking regarding the car. Though it does seem I fix one thing, something else happens. Too be expected I suppose!

I've done some work on cars before, nothing too in-depth but it shouldn't be too difficult for me to work on (I work on steam engines mostly...so a modern car "should" be simple enough..)

I live in Auburn, Washington and frequent Portland pretty often though (sometimes drive or take Amtrak down)

Wow, steam hugh? That sounds pretty interesting.

Let me know if you are in the area, maybe we can connect.

 

[bmacster]

Well, I think the engine itself is "done".

Started it up this morning and a huge cloud of white/blueish smoke came out of the exhaust. First time this has happened after I have done an oil change and still have been using the same oil as I have since I have had the car. Only did it when it was cold and after I drove it around for a little bit the smoke was a light blue haze. It was completely gone after a few miles of driving though.

Any ideas as to why this would happen? EGR, PCV? Valve seals shot?

Also, there is this very noticeable bog/hesitation under mild/heavy acceleration that wasn't there before. Like I said, only thing that was done yesterday was an oil change and air filter change.

(sighs)

Thanks for your guys help!

 

[bmacster]

Wow, steam hugh? That sounds pretty interesting.

Let me know if you are in the area, maybe we can connect.

Yeah, it's a lot of fun! No computers makes life a lot easier =)

Here is a video of me running the engine earlier this Summer that a friend of mine took.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI_ZZvbiY94

 

[tweety2300]

sounds like valve seals. does it only do it after it sits for 6+ hours? you can get a head off here for around 100 bucks

btw your no where near the $4000 mark. im doing everything your doing plus a few others and im planing on spending around $1600. unless of course your gona take it to a mechanic and let them **** you in labor fees...

id say keep it and fix it its a good car as long as its maintained and it gets 30+mpg which most new cars wont get.

 

[bmacster]

sounds like valve seals. does it only do it after it sits for 6+ hours? you can get a head off here for around 100 bucks

btw your no where near the $4000 mark. im doing everything your doing plus a few others and im planing on spending around $1600. unless of course your gona take it to a mechanic and let them **** you in labor fees...

id say keep it and fix it its a good car as long as its maintained and it gets 30+mpg which most new cars wont get.

Where can I get the head at? The car hasn't overheated but it appears that it is the head gasket that has let go after I changed the radiator cap was replaced (old cap was not holding a seal..)

Thanks.

 

[tweety2300]

look in the forsale section on here for part outs and some people usually sell some by them selves

 

[CulRidr]

If your headgasket is done, then replace that, get a used head on here for cheap (definitely sounds like valve seals only if you get NO blue smoke after startup) while you are in there, and you'll need to do the timing belt for that job as well so all that's left is the water pump when you are doing that... One BIG job but at least you won't be starting over a bunch of times...

 

[bmacster]

Cool thanks guys! I'll upload the video so you all can see it.

 

[bmacster]

It appears it's actually the water pump and wrong radiator cap that is giving me hell. It's going into the shop to get the work done tomorrow...$800 bones but it'll be all done. Gotta make sure it's done before these job interviews next week.