Buy new or repair
 

Well we are at a crossroads. I really do not have the money to put on a new car but I'm wondering if I'd be throwing money into the wind repairing. My '03 Ion has been a perfect little car (excluding all of the times it wouldn't start because of the key situation) The only thing that needed to be replaced was a battery, tires, and a new gas cap. But now it needs new tires again (understandable) and I'm not sure why it: 1. Idles rough, may need engine mounts? Engine pulley and/or belt? or elect fan? 2 Ft end Clunks! may need shocks/struts or control arm bushings? 3. rear brakes squeal, they are in good condition but may need drums turned and ceramic pads?
Has anyone had any of these problems? Are they worth fixing?
Thanks in advance!

03 Ion idles like a truck!
 

Mechanics say nothing is wrong but my 03 Ion idles like a truck. I'm thinking it could be engine mounts, belts and pulleys or the electric fan. Unpluging the fan fuse seemed to help some but did not take away all of the noise/vibration. Anyone else have experience with this?

super loud squeaky Rear brakes
 

Anyone have experience with super loud squeaky rear brakes? This just happens after sitting for a while and does not need new pads but I'm thinking ceramic shoes and newly trued drums would help.

how many miles?
Which tranny in car (CVT, Auto, Manual)

1) Clean throttle body (when was it last done), run some techron fuel system treatment.
2) Pretty sure clunk may b sway bar bushings but don't quote me
3) I hate drum brakes. Usually you turn the drums if they get out of round, though I suppose it could be a resonance

Please do not ask the same question in multiple threads.
Becomes a mess to follow

I merged them all into this one thread.

Thanks

1. If the engine mounts are bad, you can actually pop the hood and look at them to see if they're cracked. You can also look if the engine sways more than normal looking at it when it starts. If it's just a rough idle, then maybe the injectors need a good cleaning. That's a $15 bottle of Seafoam that will help it. Also cleaning out the throttle body with throttle body cleaner, another $10, will help with that. Also check to see if the sensors are clean. Also, when's the last time the oil was changed. I know my car runs rough on old/low oil.

2. Front end clunks can be a couple of things. Tie rod ends, wheel bearings, c/v joints all clunk. Turn the wheel to the outside and take a look. Look for any torn rubber boots, that's a good give away. Lift the wheel up, chock the opposite back tire. See if there is any play in the noisy wheel by rocking it up and down and left and right. If there is a little play, then it's a wheel bearing. If the strut cylinders are leaking, then it's time for new struts.

3. Brakes all wear out eventually. Drum hats can be machined and pads easily replaced. Squeal might be solved by just an adjustment.


Sometimes a visual inspection can narrow down the culprit better than just guessing form a noise. Watch some videos like Eric the Car Guy on YouTube to get some basic info on what to look for.

Also spending a couple hundred bucks in repairs on a reliable car is better than spending several thousand on a car with unknown problems that you'd have to throw more money at to fix them.

Good luck with your diagnosis and your decision!

Sorry, I deliberately wanted to separate the questions because most people only answer 1 question. Wont happen again.

Thank you Dave

Dave has given you some very sound and solid advice. But I like Techron over the Seafoam. I've always had good luck with it and it's less expensive. I'm a cheap bastard and have to squeeze every penny I get my hands on. I hate living it Florida. It's too expensive.

;) thanks

No harm no foul.


The regulars here read the entire posts and we're pretty good w r t answering multi-pronged questions.


And if we miss addressing some part of your post/?, just speak up.

We don't bite..Rube just growls.

Derf and Dave4422 have listed some likely causes of the clunk that are relatively easily fixed. Everything else is also likely to be worth fixing too.

As far as the rear brakes squealing, it seems to me that ever since they outlawed asbestos and started using semi-metallic and ceramic brakes that I've had to listen to squealing brakes no matter what I did with them. Do be sure and check them of course but the constant false alarms do drive me crazy.

There is a possibility that the clunk is related to the idle and the tires. If you have a failure in the suspension that's allowing things to flex and or sag then it can result in a couple of additional issues.
1. You can have excessive tire wear from the resulting misaligned suspension.
2. Stressed or broken engine/transmission mounts (because of things moving that weren't supposed to) can result in engine vibrations being transmitted directly to the body and can make a normal idle seem rough. I actually have that particular situation right now with my SW2. An engine mount is worn out and even though the engine itself is actually running quite well now my whole dash, my left headlight and rear view mirror shake and buzz.

One thing to keep in mind is that unless it's been in a crusher or burned to a crisp, everything is pretty much repairable if you throw enough time and money at it. So to ask if it's worth it you have to qualify that by stating how much is too much for you. Most people compare the cost of repairs to the cost of replacing the car. If it's less than replacement, then go for it. Of course there's lots of other factors that can modify that result like sentimentality, previous frustrations, whether you can fix it yourself or need to take it to a mechanic, new money, familiarity with the cops, etc.
That being said, I think the one thing on your list that could possibly be the most expensive to fix if you had to take it to a mechanic would be the clunking issue. If the body/frame is rusted out at a suspension attachment point then that's going to be expensive to fix. That's when most people sell it for parts or buy a like vehicle and use this one for parts. These cars will last and last and can be very reliable not to mention economical. For me, my SW2 is in the same category with my Geo Metro: if it can be fixed, it's worth it to me.

Thanks for the replys guys. As I said in my first post the car is in perfect visual condition and only has 76k easy miles on it. But lets face it, this is not the most robust car on the road and I was curious what people thought about life expectancy, etc. Sound like a couple of you have over 180k, that sounds pretty good and if I thought I'd get that out of mine, it would probably be worth repairing!
One last question, are the motor mounts a common repair and how much does this normally run?

First, where do you live? Cars from the rust belt and cars from the rest of the country are two separate kinds. A thirteen year old car in Ohio and one from California are entirely different.

I lived in the snow belt for the 1st 17 of my 19 1997 SC2's life. I'm rolling 252K


SOHC's generally last longer than DOHCs. SOHCs have been known to last 300K + ; DOHC's not as long on average. but well into the 2xxK range is not unreasonable for a properly maintained vehicle


The key? MAINTENANCE. REGULAR and PREVENTATIVE.


Many many parts on a car are wear items---you just don't normally think about it that way for some of them.

Like all rubber things, they wear out with continued use. Mounts dampen the vibrations of your engine every time it runs. After 100k miles, thats a lot of hours of constant shaking. They also have to deal with heat from the engine and dampness of the environment. This leads to dry rotting. So they have to live in a pretty brutal place. Replacing them is not uncommon.

Also, if you think letting one go for a while when it's broken, it puts strain on the other mounts on the engine and leads to their premature failure. If one deteriorates, the others might not be too far behind.

As for a price, if you're a DIYer, ask a parts store. Otherwise, ask a garage for an estimate. It usually involves an hour of labor, so keep that in mind as well.

oops...missed responding to motor mounts question.

Upper and lower torque axis mounts (upper torque axis mounts in particular) on S cars are what I consider wear items -- as in they do wear out but it takes a long time.

Torque axis mounting helps to reduce engine vibration transmission to the vehicle via the mount locations being optimized such that the engine's oscillations are predominantly about the torque axis (the crankshaft axis) [ https://www.brachengineering.com/con...ngineering.pdf ].

The upper torque axis mount takes much of the beating and usually seems to last betw 70K to 100K before you really start to feel the engine vibes in the cabin. It is a gradual increase so you don't notice the incremental changes but eventually, something that never rattled in the dashboard starts to rattle and then you are tuned in to it.

Easily fixed w new mounting studs, nuts, a mount, a floor jack, a decent sized square of 1/2 or 3/4" plywood and some deep metric sockets.

USE AN OEM UPPER MOUNT. Be sure you get the one that matches your vehicle, as they changed design back and forth over the years.

If you want to know why I recommend OEM, surf the internet.
Make sure you release the lower torque axis bolts (see net for procedure) and tighten them back up.

Nice article, thanks derf.

You're quite welcome.