car crud :(

cookiemonster03

seems our subaru (bought used in 2009, its a 2002 with 125k miles) needs a new head gasket and radiator. Its about 3k in work on a car worth, without this issue, 5500. We weren't planning on getting a new car for 3ish years.

this is my pity party, but also open to input. I can't decide if this is worth it or not.

xojo1

I'm sorry, that really sucks.

I have no advice. But, is that a typical price? That just seems like A LOT to me, but I also don't know much about cars.

cookiemonster03

appearently head gaskets are big business? chris called two dealerships (the one near our house is 10% cheaper, PA v NYC metro so not weird). We're going to check with some local mechanics, but i cant imagine it'll go down by more than another 10%.

Mrs.Keith2B

Head gaskets suck. I blew mine on my 1997 Taurus and it was just under $2k. That was about 8 years ago. The car died a year later.

I would be torn if I was you. That's a lot of money to put into a car that's not worth much more than the repair costs....good luck!!

marytini

Dh says that's tough. He says you could pay the 3k and have a car worth 5500 or you could take the 3k and buy a car worth 3k. But he also thinks that once cars start to "go" it is downhill from there. He says 120k miles is when alot of cars start to crap out so even if you fix it there could be more problems around the corner. It may not hold you over an extra 3 yrs. So yea. I am totally paraphrasing what he said!

crystal1026

Do you have another car that is in better shape? That is about what my car is worth right now, and I have 133k on it. If something like that was to happen, h would fix it with junk yard parts and I'd drive it until it died, simply b/c we have just under 2 years to have his paid off. (and I don't want 2 car payments) However, Subarus should last longer than this, so it might be worth the fix and you can rely on the other car for longer trips and things with the babies, etc.

MrsAD

Ugh, that stinks. Do you still have a car payment on it? My old Saturn was 10 years old and required about 500-1k of work every year. Justin (accidentily) tore the driver door off during an ice storm (long story) so we decided to cut our losses and just get a new car instead of pay for the repairs. If you were only planning to keep it for three more years, maybe it's better to use the 3k towards something more reliable.

NineTwentyOhEight

we always look at things like this compared to a car payment. Ken had to put a lot of work into his car last year, and it was about $2,000. Since for us that is still lower than a car payment if you spread it out over the year, we figure it's worth fixing. But he has not had to put work into it since then, though he does need a new clutch.

I had an old Saab that was going and it started costing me $300-$500 a month on average (it would be like a big repair issue every 3 months) and I decided to cut my losses and get a new car.

Assuming you fix the head gasket and radiator and the car is fine, that is still lower than a car payment. BUT, it could also be the sign of the beginning of the end.

I would do some Subaru-specific research. See if you can find Subaru message boards/fan sites and ask the question. They might have better advice. Subarus are known for their longevity, but I think they still require repairs as they get older. And I don't think they're cheap to work on.

Sorry you have to deal with this. I hate car issues.

jasonsgirl1024

MrsAD:

Justin (accidentily) tore the driver door off during an ice storm (long story)

Let's come back to this.......

cookiemonster03

Thanks for the input guys.

My acura is a 2003 and has something like 135k on it, maybe a little more. The plan was to save up for the next couple of years and sell it and get something new/new to us (probably a minivan) around when I get pregnant or we can't fit car seats into it (I'm not sure if convertables will fit well), whichever comes first.  Selling the subaru wasn't at all on my mind. Both cars are paid off (I bought the acura when I graduated college and paid it off in 2006, and the Subaru we bought used with cash two years ago).  We spent about 2k on non-oil change/etc maintenance on it last year (about $1200 on the Acura in 2010, plus $450 in brakes this month, but that's 2011's bill). I know that as cars get older they get pricey, but I really planned to keep this to 200k.

I'm still torn, but our concern, as Mary said, is it will be the beginning of the end. I know Subarus typically last a long time (but am definately going to do some googling on this issue) but I don't want to sink a bunch of money into it just to have the transmission fail in another 20k (which is a year for us, maybe 14 months for us)...

 My other concern is, and always has been from when we bought this one used and old-ish, having to replace both at once. Even though we'd planned to pay cash for the next, we couldn't ever swing two at once, but we aren't prepared at all to buy one right now (well, we could get something used, but I am hesitant to clean out our next-down-payment fund, espcially since we'll likely walk away from our house with almost a complete loss of our down payment).

I think at this point we're going to call around and see if anyone can do it under 2k.  If not, I don't think its worth it.  Ugh.  I suppose a car payment isn't super different than the car savings I was planning on but still....and I don't want to buy a beater with the babies on the way, not to mention it seems silly to replace something that needs work with something that will need work.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness

wrldtravler2525@yahoo.com

I have a friend that has a 2002 Subaru Forrester that replaced her head gasket about 2 years ago, other then some minor issues, belts and what not she hasn't had any major repairs since.