opinions

[2002SEsunfire]

Sorry for another question,

I am thinking of getting a different car, or keeping my sunfire but just doing a few mods to it (rims, whole car audio) that is why i kept asking questions about things, and about the rims because: would it make sense to keep the car i have now or sell it and get a better car?

I have:
-2002 sunfire sedan se
-salvage title was in a wreck (perfectly drivable now)
-133600 miles
-frame damage front pass side
-leaks, no abs, a/t trans that sometimes doesn't like to take off from starts, and sometimes hard shifts from 1st to 2nd
-2200 ohv sfi
-body panels that need to be reattached fully (rear bumper, front pass inner fender)
-damaged tail lights (around corners)
-no power accessories at all
-whole lot of dents, severely oxidized paint, scratches everywhere
-recently invested 1500+ in past year (1000 just to fix all things to make sure it was roadworthy (500 for water pump, ign switch, valve cover seal)
-probably could use a new windshield (rock chips in my field of vision, scratches also in my field of vision)

so my question is sould i keep the car till it dies or i kill it, or should i try and sell it and look for something else?

once again sorry for the potential idiotic things i say, but this site I have found most useful

 

[EaOutlaw]

Questions are fine, it is the questions that you know the answer to you should not ask. LOL So feel free ask away.

If you lived in Florida the windshield would be replaced for free with no deductible even with minimum coverage. so check with your insurance company if the same applies where you live.

The transmission I just found out yesterday should be serviced every 25K if you have a 2.4 I am not sure about the 2.2 or other engine options that may have been available.

From what I am reading about what you know is wrong with this car, plus sizing the rims is the last thing you want to spend your money on.

If you like the car and your capable of working on it, the least expensive thing you could do it buy another Sunfire with interchangeable parts and use one to keep the other one alive.

This is not for everyone especially if this car is your only transportation.

If your car was mine and I had to rely on it to get me and my family around,I would sign up with AAA just in case.

Just keep the fluids topped off, service as needed.

Get your moneys worth by driving it.

A new or used car with little down will cost anywhere from 350 to 500 per month depending on what you purchased and your credit.

So the car will not owe you much if it last 4 to 5 months after your investment repairing it.

If your going to get stuck with a payment, figure out what you can afford and save that payment amount for six months, hoping your car holds together that long.

If it does great you should have enough money saved to use as a down payment. get a estimate from CarMax on how much they will give you for your car.

If the amount they offer is very low, drive it till it drops keeping AAA for when it does.

If they offer you a decent amount of cash.

Add the amount of what you saved and what they offer and see if you can find a good car for the amount you have.

CarMax offers are good for a week I think, so you would have a week or 1K miles maybe less to find your new to you car before you need to get another offer. check with them for the specifics.

If your even considering taking on a payment and CarMax offer is very low the longer you can drive it saving your cash. the better car you will end up with.

The more you can save the better car you will have as well.
Just do not ever settle on a salvage or rebuilt title on your next car.

there are many nice one owner low mileage garage kept cars that can be purchased in the 5-6k range.

But do your home work on your cars of interest searching forums and the internet for common expensive to repair problems with that car.

For example My Brother used my Mothers money to buy a 2000 Chrysler Concord ,with know issues with the power steering and defects in the A/C.

When the rack went bad the very first trip she used it, the car sat for nearly another year while he was working on it here and there.

Had he known the car was so miserable to work on he would have never considered that car regardless of how cheap it was.

When you get to the point where you are ready to buy a car, I will help you sort through the cars to stay away from.

However nothing is guaranteed even the best maintained one owner car with Little to no know defects can bite you in the butt.

So know the final decision and risk will be yours. Have a little extra money left over to have the car you like inspected before you buy it.

Your better off losing a little money on a inspection for ac car you do not end up with then getting stuck with a car you cannot use or afford to repair.

With this in mind you have to know before paying for a inspection that the car is worthy investing in the inspection.

 

[2002SEsunfire]

thanks, I have been driving it for a year, it runs good, gets about 18mpg city and about 28hwy (idk why)

i wouldnt plan on getting a new car but i was thinking of maybe something from 2005-2010

yeah forget the rims.

the car looks like a total beater

im going to have the engine and transmission 100% inspected (compression test and the whole 9yards)

since its a salvaged title i can only get liability at the lowest (basicly paying for a paper saying "its insured" )

heres what i am thinking of now

glasspack

whole audio system (deck speakers)

i am also going to have the suspension 100% tested and inspected

it does have frame damage (backing up theres a loud POP SNAP BOOM pulling forward after that is a loud CREEAKK BOOM)

it sounds turbod but its not (thinking a vacuum leak)

the interior is cleaner than 90% of all sunfires

maybe a maacco paint job

i just dont trust it fully on the freeway (any little gust seems like a tornado)

i will need a allignment it pulls softly to the right ( possible damaged frame is causing it)

i got a safelite windshield quote for ~$350

its a good beater but i drive it like a lambo

 

[EaOutlaw]

If that is what you want to do.

I would drive it like there is a raw egg on the gas pedal,

I would not listen to any music what so ever while I am in this car.

I wouldn't waste one dime on this car that I didn't have to.

You have a uni body so there is really no frame. the entire car acts like the frame.

The noise when backing up may be your fenders or bumpers getting caught up in the tires. so re attach whatever may be causing it.

If the noise is not the loose body parts as you say you should defiantly have the noise checked out.

I saw a home remedy online for making the scratches on the windshield less visible. I am not sure if they work but it will give you something to tinker with.

any money you put into this car will be that much less you will have for the next car provided.

Put up with the beater look for a little while and reward yourself by purchasing a much better car next time.

Even if the next car is another Sunfire.

pulling to the right can be caused by your tires, so try rotating them and making sure the tires and your spare is properly inflated (If you have a spare)

you really should treat this car like it is the last car on earth until you can afford to fix it up or replace it.

Since it has a branded title and who knows what shady work has been done to it I would replace it. But that is just my opinion.

Short of paying someone to check the transmission fluid level leave it alone.

Servicing it at this point may leave you stranded.

You sound like a nice young person with a great life ahead of you.

respect your poor Sunfire is sounds like it has been through hell and back.

it may reward you by lasting long enough to get a much better car that you will love to look at, love to drive, love to care for, and cant wait to personalize.

If you do most of what you mentioned that you want to, those decisions may be the ones you regret.

Remember this when your jamming out on the side of the road with your new system and shiny new paint facing a very expensive transmission replacement waiting on a tow truck or friend with a trailer.

When I was very young, one of my Co workers had a POS beater ford escort that he was so embarrassed to drive he always parked it behind our shop way far away from our shop. LOL

yet for years each paycheck he got he purchased at apart or two for his secret project, these parts accumulated in his bed room, living room and kitchen ( he had no garage )

One day he invited me over, to my amazement he had 99% of the parts he needed in his house to build a brand new Ford Mustang I forget what year mustang.

It took him putting up with his little escort for three years and one day he was able to drive his Mustang to work parking it in the front row as proud as he could be. he had every right to be proud because that was one Bad Ass mustang he built.

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[2002SEsunfire]

the backing up is not the bumper its the sub frame, its already been diagnosed

i almost never drive it without the radio on (drones out all its creaks, groans and moans)

I love the beater look a lot (when i forget to lock it in a bad place i come back and it is untouched)

i am 19yrs old aspiring mechanic, so it is my moms old car she almost never serviced it (drove it to empty with the light on saying theres tons of gas left)

my mechanic said put lucas trans something in it to help the hard shifts (it works)

my mom drove it to hell and back on a weekly basis
I drive it to hell and back and it does just fine

she paid the cheapest shade tree mechanics to fix it (one owns a rental place of just cavs and sunfires)

he said the sub frame is messed up where the motor mounts to the sub frame. He told me to look at the enigne, put it in R the motor lurched inside the bay, then put it in D and it lurched back. He showed me the frame damage and it is damaged but he said hes seen ones worst and it still drove fine.

I am looking at a audio system that if i totaled it or sold the car i would switch it to oem, keep my aftermarket for the new car

 

[EaOutlaw]

Ok your all set, I gave you my advice take it or leave it. Enjoy your holidays

 

[richardgriese]

Ahh I love no-payment cars! So much character. So much grease. So little time. Anyway, best of luck with it all. Post more questions s you get them.

 

[EaOutlaw]

I said in the first post there is nothing wrong with asking questions unless you know the answer to your question. After all the time I put into your post to have you stick your nose up at very good advice. You clearly knew the answer to your own question before you even asked it..
Driving around in a beater car driving it like its a sports car with a loud stereo drowning out the many noises your car is making makes you a menace to everyone around you.
Not because of the music but because you will not hear the new noise that will warn you of a major mechanical failure.
This failure if it is a wheel bearing that goes unnoticed could cause your wheel to go past you causing you to lose control and potentially hurt yourself or others.
I sure am glad your not on the road with my wife.
When you do cause a wreck and your unfortunate enough for it to be a fatality collision you can count on attorneys probing every aspect of your life including this forum.
Using the information here they will determine that you knowingly drove an unsafe vehicle in a unsafe manor opening you up to manslaughter charges.and liability way beyond your insurance coverage.
This may be a bit of a stretch but it is not without possibility. I ask you to reconsider your lack of respect for your life and the other innocent people around you.
That is all you will get from me. Enjoy your youth and your hearing while you can.
I sure hope some of this sinks in before your Disabled like me or depressed for harming some poor innocent person.

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[richardgriese]

@EA did you re-read it?

i just dont trust it fully on the freeway (any little gust seems like a tornado)

its a good beater but i drive it like a lambo

I actually do what you do; every so often just turn the radio off and listen. Hear the car from a mechanical stand point and to take a break from the radio.

 

[EaOutlaw]

I am not sure what I should read again, the part where the engine is Lurching around in the engine bay tugging on fuel lines wiring harnesses, power steering hoses etc.
What I said stands. a menace to himself or others at any speed.
Not because the car needs work but because his fix is done with the radio volume. He doesn't respect himself or others. One day after his injuries have accumulated and he cannot feed his family he will think back to the grumpy old bastard that warned him.
That's all I can do. But when your young you know it all and are invincible just like I was many years ago.
A 40 mile an hour head on crash can be very serious and deadly. He is more likely to crash with another car because of mechanical failure in town on a two lane road than blasting down the interstate. With dividers.
In town on a two lane road two cars just feet apart going different directions when something lets loose and causes the car to get out of control he will not have a chance to even pucker up for the crash.
But he knows better and is willing to do what he wants I do not care until he is driving along side of my family.

 

[2002SEsunfire]

dont worry i have been taking your advice, it just takes a while for it to sink in because i am young and have the air of knowing everything. Thank you

 

[EaOutlaw]

I will be the first to admit the older I get the less I know.
at one time I was so broke I couldn't afford fuel let alone repairs for my car somI know what your going through.
Yet there are many things you can do if the metal from your subframe has been torn away allowing your engine to flop around like a dying fish.
A few well placed chains would do wonders to make this car a little safer. If a more permanat repair is out of reach.
This is where you could take pictures of the problem and ask us for ideas of an inexpensive easy to do repair.
There is the right way to fix things whenever possible that is the best way, when finances do not allow it. Do something other than ignor it.
Every single problem your car has there may be a possible inexpensive solution. Even if it is a temporary solution. Acting like you do not care surely will not get anyone here motivated to line up to help you.

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[2002SEsunfire]

tell me if this would work-

unbolt the motor mount, support the enigne, get 2 1/4in thick pieces of metal drill holes for the motor mount bolt and another 2 holes and bolt it on to the damaged part of the frame, acting like a brace.

i do care because I dont want the engine to break loose and potentially cause a wreck and take some innocent lives

imaybe i should add its on the passenger side and might be close to a pulley so a chain might not work as for if it loosened up it could end up in a pulley

I can get pictures in a couple of weeks (its the end of the semester in CA)

 

[EaOutlaw]

I can't tell you if your idea will work or not without pictures of what is wrong in the first place. But anything that will lock down the mount to the car or cradel couldn't hurt.
If you try something and it fails try something else. You sound like a smart person just do your best and I am sure it will work better than the radio fix