deathwobble

iTrader: (1)

So after doing the valve cover gaskets, upper and lower oil pan, (and it still leaks oil) replaced pretty much everything im the front end, replaced the Bose with a better stereo, aftermarket y-pipe and a few other things. The water pump gives out. I kinda suspect the head gasket is going also because the coolant is just starting to get oily. This is all in less then a year. I have put 5k miles on it. either I find a cheap engine with less miles or im just done! Sorry just had to rant for a second.

Quickywd01

iTrader: (16)

You can replace the water pump yourself trust me it's easy. It has a cover with a few screws easly removable by hand tools. The pump is held in by another three small easy to remove screws. You get the chain off the pump you just put slack on it by removing the other black cover. Wish I could do it for you. Either way good luck.

maxorgy

know how you feel. I started my adventure chasing an oil leak and also trying to get rid of two codes (knock sensor and o2 sensor). I replaced the both sensors and now I got a new codes for EGR, Cats monitoring, and some other unknown code. replaced the front and rear valve gasket and now the engine leaked more than ever after supposed fix. Seems like the more you tried to fix the car, the more problems rears it's ugly head.

MaxiNoob98

I'm sorry you didn't fixed your oil leak completely. I'm guessing your oil leak might be the dreaded o-rings. I just bought my maxima and after researching about this I'm pretty sure I have a leak from all the common places. I'm waiting for Thanksgiving break to tackle this headache of a problem. The adventure continues.

deathwobble

iTrader: (1)

The oil leak is the o rings, and my car did something else just now. I started it to move it so I could take my truck to work, it ran for less then a minute. I popped the hood so because I was curious about the coolant level, took the cap off and it puked coolant out of the cap, on a stone cold engine. Im wondering if one of the head gaskets are going bad and it's building pressure in the coolant system maybe? I dunno I hate all cars at the moment, timing belt tensioner pulley on my wife Subaru let go just yesterday. At least those are easy to fix...

jholley

iTrader: (13)

Cold coolant spitting from the cap points to lots of air trapped in the coolant system. Did you bleed air out of the system during the last coolant change? You bleed the air out by running the engine with the cap off. You run the engine until it reaches a warm temperature with the thermostat opening. Raising the front end during this procedure will bleed out nearly all the air.

deathwobble

iTrader: (1)

Last time I did anything with the coolant was about a year ago when I replaced the radiator. Nothing since then other then occasionally topping it off :/

JoshG

How many miles does ur car have?..

deathwobble

iTrader: (1)

232756. I got it for a song. Now its just biting me in the a$$

JoshG

damn no wonder, thats quite a lot of miles, and thats when you experience stuff like this. but once its fixed, it may be trouble free for another 50-100k.

i bought mine 125k 2 years ago, now at 133k no major problems so far.

Icemule

Well I got my 97 SE a few months ago at the auction for $500.00 and when I drove it home it was smoking pretty good from under the hood and had a miss and was missing the d/s mirror,wipers didn't work along with the interior lights along with a bad axle and broken ant. and power seat switch. I fixed all of that along with the inner/outer tie rod for around $300.00 with mostly junk yard parts except for the axle&tie rod. Not to mention interior parts also.I guess my point is that there are plenty of these cars at the junk yard to buy parts for cheap. Now my car runs great. I was going to just stop the smoking and fix the short and sell it for $1000.00 but saw how easy and cheap it was to fix and after it drove so well I decided to keep it and glad I did. I hope you can fix yours. Keep us posted on what happens. Forgot to add that the car has 225k,but the speedo was not working when I got it so who knows what the real mileage is.

JoshG

damn 225k miles.. who knows if yours has 270k-300k on it now. and yeah its awesome that plenty of parts are at junkyards for us if we need anything.

I got a loooong road till mine even hits 150k miles or 200k. I only drove 7k miles in 2 years, I drive it everyday just to work (20 miles back and forth a day), and a few other things.. thats it.

Icemule

I think the mileage is close to what is showing. You can eat off of the bottom of this car,and I think it was well taken care of for most of it's life then the last owner (female) just drove it until it started driving bad and when the speedo went she traded it in (bought at auction from a dealer). In fact my wife a lead foot speed demon wouldn't drive it with it not working and I think most woman would be that way.

Well thats what i keep telling myself.

AliasJR

you guys don't drive anything! I bough my i30 in may with 102k, now at 116k

replaced all struts, lower control arms, cv joints, ac fan (under glove compartment), radiator. I bought with all that messed up though. engine is good, transmission is giving me problem but it runs...

JoshG

Mine was owned by some old grandpa who knew about cars alot, and used to race back in his early days. When I bought it it was spotless and paint was like new for pearl white. didnt give a crap about the price, bought it in a heartbeat.

max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

hence the reason i'm doing a replacement vq in the spring cause my miles are almost at 260,000 and my valve covers and my timing cover are leaking as well as i'm losing coolant somewhere. i was going to do the timing chain replacement job but decided after much thought, that would be a waste of time.

deathwobble

iTrader: (1)

That's were im at, I really like the car. Just getting aggravated that every time i fix one thing in the engine something else gose.

max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

you can get a low mileage vq for much less than the headache of trying to track down all the issues with a high mileage motor. only problem is the cost of a swap aint cheap either!!!

deathwobble

iTrader: (1)

I have the tools and ability to swap motors that's not to big of a deal. I have zero luck finding a good used vq. seams every one in Utah wants $900+ for one that has 150K miles on it, and that's just not in the budget.

max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

i can get a low mileage vq for 400.00 right up the street. damn man, why can't you live in pa??

deathwobble

iTrader: (1)

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like you bought someone elses problem! I would stick it out and pull the timing cover and heads, have them rebuilt replace your chain, tensioners and guides with OEM or Japanese (Stay away from Cloyes) ITM is a good brand...do the work yourself, take your time, refresh timing cover seal (orings) and do your W/P and you should be good for a good longtime....It's cheaper than a new car and what's to say if you get a used engine it'll be better than what you already have????

JoshG

Always keep the car ya got, when u buy new cars and the moment u sign that paper... u lose $7k-10k instantly. You think u can drop that amount of $ on a new car rather than a old car that needs maybe $500-1k of work and no problems for a while after that? it just seems a bit silly to me that some people think that way...

gettin new cars are one of the worse financial thing anyone can do.. and besides new cars are overrated. be different on the road.

deathwobble

iTrader: (1)

The more I think about it, that is probably what ill do. The engine its self runs perfect and burns zero oil. It just leaks like a siv. That would also be the most economical way to go about it. I have my truck so i can have my max out of commission and still get around. I have a question, whats bad about Cloyes stuff? I have done sevral timing belts but only one chain, and that was a Mopar performance double roller for my truck. So I really have no knowledge on whats good and bad as far as timing chains.



I could not agree with this anymore. I just don't understand why some people go out and buy a 50K suv only to have it be worth 41k as soon as you drive away. Wait 2 or 3 years let some one else take the hit and then buy a low mileage one of what ever you want. But your right, It's a better option just to spend $5-700 on what I have

JoshG

I agree, i've seen 4-5 year old cars with 50k-70k miles and orginally $35k new and they sell it for $7k-9k that is a $25k-28k loss for them! its funny how they don't realize how much they just did buying a new car. When if they kept the their car they had with a bit over 100,000-200k that needed $500-1k Worth of work to last ya another good 30k-60k miles. Car's last forever, Just replace or fix things that break. its just common sense.

CS_AR

It's always hard to figure out a car's past history.

My first 4th gen (SE 5MT) had roughly 150,000 miles. It was an Ohio car with some rust starting to develop. Roughly 3 years ago some texting SUV driver rammed the back end for a total loss. I kept the car and sold it to a guy that needed something to drive instead of a motor cycle in winter. He's still driving it with the back in all torn up three years later.

My second 4th gen (I30) had 220,000 miles on it. It was a severely abused car with a bad ECU that I got for less than $300. To my amazement at 275,000+ miles, it just keeps on running.

My 3rd 4th gen was a another Black on Gray SE 5MT that looks like the first one. I got it with roughly 160,000 miles. I thought it would be the best. It turned out the previous owner's daughter ran it hot multiple times. Then they filled up the radiator with stop leak to sell it. About this time last year I found it had lost compression -- bad engine.



So I found a wrecked (granny owned) 95 model engine with roughly ~75,000 miles. I saw the car at you pull it and paid them to pull the engine and drop it in the back of my pickup for $500. Then I spent another $1,500 for the swap (included a new clutch and water pump) and more than I want to remember on replacing everything else. So far that motor has been running like a new one -- that is after I found a problem with a failing EGR and a couple of injectors with broken pintle caps.

JoshG

2 grand to get a low mile engine and good for so many years, better than thinking getting a new car to lose 7 grand the second u hit 2 miles on the odometer! lol

CS_AR

When you think you have it bad, just look at taking over $14,000 in first year depreciation. H

How do you spell "upside down" loan value?

http://www.cars.com/chrysler/300c/20...TabsOnTop=true

JoshG

5-Year Cost of Ownership


Original Starting MSRP:
$38,845
Average Additional Cost to Own:
$15,945

Average Total Cost to Own:
$54,790

And jeez $21k to just own it the first year Lolll then drops to $7k the 2nd year. yeah some people.... Don't thinkkk!

max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

if your smart, you lease with an option to buy. refinance at end of lease or before if you want to lower payments. i prefer to buy parts and keep my almost 20 y/o paid off max. thank you

Daniel VQ30life

iTrader: (2)

Thats why i only buy used, with all cash in hand, never in my life have i made a car payment, title in hand from day one

KP11520

Hey Josh,

If any of those cars are actually very decent cars, please point me at them. That sounds perfect for what we have to spend. A car with at least 2/3 of its life left and already depreciated 80%. If it was well kept, even better!

Hopefully they are before CVT Transmissions as well! (Hate 'em)