The back yard mechanic is going the way of the DoDo bird or not? With the prices wanted to pay for 10 year old used cars and the condition they are in (mostly something catastrophic wrong with them) the cost of repairs are enormous if you have to pay for them. It seems actually to be cheaper to buy a late model used car and maintain it then it is to repair and older car.
Playing car, is an expensive game. I am preping a rear axle to replace one on a 1948 Ford Pickup truck.
The model used on that truck has a problem. The parts are no longer available and if they are it is super expensive. No one works on them so it is cheaper to obtain another axle and modify it to fit.
Something like Speedway Motors, a Hot Rod Parts catalog has everything needed to BUY a replacement and get the job done. It prices out at about $3000.00 in parts and this does not include shipping and labor costs. It will of course be new when it is said and done.
What I am doing is refurbishing one from a 1970 Plymouth Belvedere that will also work. Obtained almost for nothing as part of a parts swap. It needs sand blasting to eleminate the rust and make it look cosmetically great. New brakes, wheel cylinders and drums. The hardware kit is available but I can refurbish the ones on the axle as I can the emergency brake cables.
When done, it wll be used, functional and look good. it will be a lot of work but a cash out go of about $200.00. I can do the work, have the tools and afford the $200.00. I can't swing the 3 grand of buying from Speedway Motors.
I am a back yard mechanic. I can fix and repair most anything. There are a lot of people I know that have no idea how to do this and are in serious trouble because they can not afford to either buy a new car or fix the one they have.
And have no idea how to, or the desire to learn how to fix it them selves.
Too Bad So Sad!

 

You make a very good point. I only know three other people that actually fix their own vehicle, one being my brother and the others being close friends. All of my other friends, even if they are into cars, cant be bothered to do the work themselves.
i guess they dont even realize how easy it is to save money - that or their just lazy

 

Thinking further on this. Two thoughts. Todays cars are far more reliable and require almost no maintainence to run 100,000 miles. Routine care is just about non-existance. It used to be when I was a whole lot younger, the automotive set hung out at a local gas station where cars were repaired. You learned things by doing that. Todays gasoline station sells soda pop, sandwiches wrapped in plastic to improve the taste and coffee, lottery tickets and cigarettes. And oh, by the way, gasoline if you pump it yourself.
One can complain about smog compliance if you wish, but when Detroit finally quit bitchen and decided to actually design things that worked, they did and a side affect of it is:
I just changed the Air Cleaner Filter on my Chrysler T&C, purchased in 2007. The back yard test of if you can see the sun through it, it ain't plugged, finally caught up with it. I do my own oil changes (15W50 Mobil one and a new filter), grease the lower ball joints (removed the plug and installed grease fittings) and top off the fluids, remove the air cleaner, blow out the dust with compressed air and if I can see the sun, re-install it. 80,000 miles. In my 1970ish cars, 10,000 miles was a good number. Sparkplugs! Todays platnum plugs last for ever. I used to put new plugs in 2X a year driving 30,000 miles a year. They were fouled, burnt out and dead. I bought new plugs for my Chrysler a bit over a year ago at 60,000 miles. Pulled one, it looked just like the new one, put it back in and put the box in a pocket in the van. It is still there. I should check to see if I need them yet. One can drive a relatively new car and neglect the hell out of it and trade it running. The next buyer probably can too. By the time it gets down to where it needs work, some one buys it who has no idea how to make it run or how to work on it, has not tools nor the money to take care of it. And frankly some of the high mileage maintainence lubricants are not even available any more it seems. The automobile has become an appliance designed to be thrown out, not driven and repaired.
Even names have become buzz words.
SUV = overpriced truck
Crossover? Whats wrong with Happyover anyway?

 

You should write an article on this lol. I still fully agree.
I actually have a very good example.
My sisters 2003 mazda 6, 4cyl 5 speed, which I loved to death (It was supposed to be my first car) was bought new. It was her 3rd car, it was her DD even when she got the V. When she started teaching, she was putting roughly 80-100 miles on the car a day. Then my bro and I got our permits it was one of the cars we learned on. This car was in several accidents, and had been run dry of oil once. only went through 1 clutch (when it did she ran 6k rpm in third to get it out of harms way since she was in a construction zone, bout 3 miles), and never gave us a problem. My sister would run it 5k miles past oil changes at times. It had 180k miles until problems started, until the motor wouldnt go past 60 (around 185k miles) Car completely paid itself off. Thing hauled too if I wanted too.
All she did was put tires and gas in it, and other things when she remembered. car was tough, pretty nice too and looked great.

 

It is incredible how some cars can hold together and run with neglect and others? Junk!
Some one mentioned success with a 1996 Dodge Caravan or T&C. I bought a nice one with leather interior as a used car with a smidgeon over 100,000 miles on it. The thing over heated, had electrical glitches where stuff would turn on and off as if a Gremlin were running it and I bout 4 transmissions in it with in 35,000 miles. And it already had a replacement in it when I bought it.
I also had an Eagle Summit Wagon, a car sold by Chrysler also as a Plymouth Something, don't remember, but built by Mitsubishi as an Expo LRV.
1.8 16 valve mechanical lisfters 5 speed transmission car. I drove it 11 years, put 275,000 miles on it, tires and occaisionally brakes.
Yes I changed the oil on it and cared for it with in reason, my reason. It was not negletected, but it was driven. It blew a head gasket at 240,000 miles. The transmission was getting notchy but still shifted, the clutch was orginial and I drove it on business. It rans so cheap that the tax refund made the car payments until it was paid for then it paid for a Camero and a build of a custom car. Just before that car I had a new Lincoln which there was no way I was going to pay for fixing the damned thing when the warrentee ran out. At 60,000 miles I made it go away and took an $8,000 dollor shot in the pocket book to do it. Which is why I bought the Mitsubishi, I did not have enough money to buy another Lincoln and by that time, did not want one.
I heard through the Grapevine that person that bought it had put 4 grand into it already after owning it 3 months.
Go figure.
My current T&C I have put over 80,000 trouble free miles on it since Dec. 2007.

 

I have a 99 Grand Caravan. Has 186,000 miles on it. The key to the Mopars with the four speed automatic overdrive transmissions is using ONLY Mopar ATF+4 transmission fluid in them. Most shops want to put Dexron with an "additive" in it on these vehicles. That's the death of them because the ATF+4 has a different viscosity than the Dexron. The Dexron is too abrasive and kills Mopar transmissions. Mine has the 3.3 engine and so far, it's been bullet proof with regular maintenance. I get 23 to 26 mpg out of it too. Not bad for such a heavy vehicle. I know this isn't Saturn connected and I apologize, I'm just wondering what fluid UnclJohn was putting in the transmissions? I maintain all 3 of my vehicles. I don't trust other people to work on them.

 

Rube,
at the time, I lost the first transmission that was in it about 4 days after I bought it. I lost the next 3 before the warrentee ran out. While I do not disagree with the assement on the fluids, the thing went through transmissions faster than I could service them. 3 with in 35,000 miles is a bit much in my book and running an problem search on MOPAR and transmissions, they had an incredibly lousy reputation. This kind of reputation for a Torqueflyte which prior to this had a reputation of being bullet proof is more than a bit dissappointing. Add to this the electictrical glitches, an apparent also bad reputation and the over heating which may or may not be attributed to previous owner neglect, I was not a happy camper with the car. My particular contact with in MOPAR indicates that Chrysler went through an extensive redisign of the transmission in 2002 was to solve on going transmission reliability problems and a few others seemed to be solving something. This is my 3rd MOPAR van and the transmission in my 2007 definatly works different than previous ones. It shifts at different times for both up and down shifts and seems to be better matched to the engine. I have had both 3.3 and 3.8 engines and like them both. They no longer use them. I would have like to have a 4.0, but that is no longer used either. The current crop of overhead cam V6's come some somewhere, I am not even sure that Chrysler makes them. Although I think one of the was based on a Mercedes design. The one used in 2011 I have no idea where it comes from.
Mine gets around 17 mpg in town and on a long trip on Freeways out here gets 24mph.
The last East Coast run I made took me down route 40 into Georgia and loaded up with me, all my belongings at the time and an engine I bought in Florida would still knock back 24 mpg set on Cruise with all the A/C running. This one has been one of the best cars I have ever owned. I just passed 80,000 miles on it. Right now I let Chrysler service the transmission according the extended warrentee I bought for it which will run out at 105,000 miles. I run 15W50 Mobile 1 synthetic oil in the engine, a new filter every 4000 miles and a full oil change every 12,000 miles. I have overloads which let me carry a load of 1 ton dead weight and do it rather frequently. I have an alternator going, but at the moment have not changed it. It growls like a bearing is going. I have no complaints with it as it stands. But in this area, the transmissions in those things kept a lot of shops busy!

 

I agree with you about the transmissions, UnclJohn. Most of the Mopar vans you see for sell at cheap prices on the internet have tranny problems. I'm sure a lot of them are due to the wrong fluid being used. A friend of mine just picked up an 08 model with the 4.0 in it. She loves it and says it gets very good mileage too. On a recent trip from FL (where she lives) to New Orleans, she said she averaged 24.4 mpg.

 

I try and fix whatever I can myself. I have very limited knowledge of Saturns, but I am trying to learn. I don't have the money to pay people to fix something if there is any chance I can fix it myself. I fix my diesel trucks, and my Expedition, my motorcycles, and as much of my Saturn as I can.

It may have something to do with age. It is getting harder all the time to crawl under a car. But there is no choice. I have plenty of tools. I try mechanical repairs and some body stuff as well, including painting.

 

It may have something to do with age. It is getting harder all the time to crawl under a car. But there is no choice. I have plenty of tools. I try mechanical repairs and some body stuff as well, including painting.
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Bob
99 SL2
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You are in good company! A lot of us represent that!