Bought a car today...
- Thread starter Altron
- Start date
A.B.Normal
New Member
Nice thought,that they would so drastically re-engineer something for us,but as far as I know the only difference in US vehicles and Canadian vehicles is DRL.
My thoughts exactly...people are gonna think it's a brake light...
Altron
Well-Known Member
Took it in today.
They're undoing whatever they did in January, so I should have vents and AC again.
-but-
The brakes are apparently almost shot, with something like 3% of the original pad left. Guy says I'd be lucky to get another month out of the current brakes. I don't notice a grinding noise, but my hubcaps squeak, so I can't really hear over the sound of them.
He wanted 300 to replace all four of them. I don't know if that means resurfaced drums and rotors, or new drums and rotors. Again, my mom talks to the mechanic, not me.
My dad wants me to take the Maxima, which is a good idea. The boat has shit for acceleration, and shit for gas mileage. It's also very temperamental in cold weather.
However, the stupid "expensive yet useless sensor has broken again"... err... "Check Engine" light is on. It also makes funny noises. There's a clunking noise that sounds like it's coming from the middle of the rear axle, except it's FWD. It used to make that noise if you were at the wrong RPM for whatever gear you were in and speed you were going. But, tonight, driving around, it made the noise a lot, even when the clutch was all the way down, and shifts were done properly. Thoughts?
I'm moving out in three months. It will be a 110 mile drive home for me. Car will be located in a relatively cold area. Fuel Injection seems the way to go.
What should I do about the boat, though? There wouldn't be any reason to hold onto it once I move out. It's nice to bounce around town in, but not for heavy driving.
Blue book value is $1250-$1300.
I paid $1300, with 138,000 miles on it.
It now has 147,000 miles. I replaced the alternator around 8,000 miles ago, and the battery at the same time. Interior is in very nice condition, as when I purchased it. Power steering, brakes, windows, locks, everything. The only problem with the power is that one of the door locks doesn't lock (but it's right behind the drivers side lock, so it's become second nature for me to reach around and push it down when getting out of the car). Also, the window in the back, the motor doesn't seem to be very good on it. It used to go up really fast, now it goes slowly, sometimes stops, and sometimes i need to pull it up myself.
The AC works and is cold.
There's a belt that squeaks during the winter, but is fine now.
There's a decent Sony CD deck, and four pretty good Kicker speakers.
It has a remote clicker for the door locks.
There are four pretty good tires on it, with only about 5,000 miles.
It will have brand new brakes tomorrow.
I think I'd be able to get maybe $1500 for it? If I can find a buyer.
My mom is not a big fan of cars. Right now we have four of them (the boat, the crv, the mazda, and the maxima) and she doesn't want any more. so, like, my dad can't buy a Jeep Wrangler (it's a midlife crisis kinda thing) unless he gets rid of the Maxima. By getting rid of it, that would mean giving it to me, and that would mean me selling the boat.
My punk brother isn't too keen on inheriting the boat. I feel bad for the kid. He's a good guy, but I always end up kinda showing him up. He gets his permit soon, and after that, he will need a car to drive on. He's probably more into the imported compact type of car.
So, you guys still think that it's worth trying to flip the boat and taking the maxima as my daily driver?
They're undoing whatever they did in January, so I should have vents and AC again.
-but-
The brakes are apparently almost shot, with something like 3% of the original pad left. Guy says I'd be lucky to get another month out of the current brakes. I don't notice a grinding noise, but my hubcaps squeak, so I can't really hear over the sound of them.
He wanted 300 to replace all four of them. I don't know if that means resurfaced drums and rotors, or new drums and rotors. Again, my mom talks to the mechanic, not me.
My dad wants me to take the Maxima, which is a good idea. The boat has shit for acceleration, and shit for gas mileage. It's also very temperamental in cold weather.
However, the stupid "expensive yet useless sensor has broken again"... err... "Check Engine" light is on. It also makes funny noises. There's a clunking noise that sounds like it's coming from the middle of the rear axle, except it's FWD. It used to make that noise if you were at the wrong RPM for whatever gear you were in and speed you were going. But, tonight, driving around, it made the noise a lot, even when the clutch was all the way down, and shifts were done properly. Thoughts?
I'm moving out in three months. It will be a 110 mile drive home for me. Car will be located in a relatively cold area. Fuel Injection seems the way to go.
What should I do about the boat, though? There wouldn't be any reason to hold onto it once I move out. It's nice to bounce around town in, but not for heavy driving.
Blue book value is $1250-$1300.
I paid $1300, with 138,000 miles on it.
It now has 147,000 miles. I replaced the alternator around 8,000 miles ago, and the battery at the same time. Interior is in very nice condition, as when I purchased it. Power steering, brakes, windows, locks, everything. The only problem with the power is that one of the door locks doesn't lock (but it's right behind the drivers side lock, so it's become second nature for me to reach around and push it down when getting out of the car). Also, the window in the back, the motor doesn't seem to be very good on it. It used to go up really fast, now it goes slowly, sometimes stops, and sometimes i need to pull it up myself.
The AC works and is cold.
There's a belt that squeaks during the winter, but is fine now.
There's a decent Sony CD deck, and four pretty good Kicker speakers.
It has a remote clicker for the door locks.
There are four pretty good tires on it, with only about 5,000 miles.
It will have brand new brakes tomorrow.
I think I'd be able to get maybe $1500 for it? If I can find a buyer.
My mom is not a big fan of cars. Right now we have four of them (the boat, the crv, the mazda, and the maxima) and she doesn't want any more. so, like, my dad can't buy a Jeep Wrangler (it's a midlife crisis kinda thing) unless he gets rid of the Maxima. By getting rid of it, that would mean giving it to me, and that would mean me selling the boat.
My punk brother isn't too keen on inheriting the boat. I feel bad for the kid. He's a good guy, but I always end up kinda showing him up. He gets his permit soon, and after that, he will need a car to drive on. He's probably more into the imported compact type of car.
So, you guys still think that it's worth trying to flip the boat and taking the maxima as my daily driver?
Aunty Em
Well-Known Member
Sell the boat, take the Maxima. It no longer meets your needs, it's not practical to keep it and the longer you hang on to it the less you will get for it. You can always buy another classic at a later date if you really want to, but all it's going to do is right now is suck up money you don't have and you need something more reliable for longer trips.
You know youself it's the sensible thing to do.
You know youself it's the sensible thing to do.
Altron
Well-Known Member
I don't really know. We know that there was a fuckload of electronic problems with it a year ago (which is why we have the Mazda), but they seem to have been resolved. Unless the check engine light is on because they're coming back?
And there's the low, grinding, rattling noise. I don't know what it is.
To be honest, the electronics scare me a bit. It cost like $2k to fix the problems a year ago.
With the boat, I have the comfort of knowing that it's not at all uncommon for most of the stuff to last for like a billion miles, and if anything goes wrong, it's a straightforward swap. Stuff like a carb, solid rear axle, a timing chain, etc. are more durable than crap like CV joints and timing belts and ECUs
And there's the low, grinding, rattling noise. I don't know what it is.
To be honest, the electronics scare me a bit. It cost like $2k to fix the problems a year ago.
With the boat, I have the comfort of knowing that it's not at all uncommon for most of the stuff to last for like a billion miles, and if anything goes wrong, it's a straightforward swap. Stuff like a carb, solid rear axle, a timing chain, etc. are more durable than crap like CV joints and timing belts and ECUs
Inkara1
Well-Known Member
The check engine light is probably one of the oxygen sensors. There are two of them, one before the cat converter and one after (or maybe four depending on if you have dual exhaust). There are plenty of other things it could be too, but that's most common from what I've seen. But the check engine light wouldn't be because of electrical gremlins.
Altron
Well-Known Member
The old rotors didn't look that bad. I don't really know what they're supposed to look like though.
At first I didn't see anything wrong with the pads. They were flat curved pieces of metal with some holes on them, a little less than a quarter inch thick.
Then I looked at the pictures on the box the new ones came in. Apparantly, there's supposed to be ceramic stuff on top of the metal?
At first I didn't see anything wrong with the pads. They were flat curved pieces of metal with some holes on them, a little less than a quarter inch thick.
Then I looked at the pictures on the box the new ones came in. Apparantly, there's supposed to be ceramic stuff on top of the metal?
Altron
Well-Known Member
Yeah, but the Mazda had fuel injection, and it worked even when the exhaust leaked through holes in the manifold, before hitting any oxygen sensors.
RDX
Member
I think I missed it somewhere, but what year is the maxima? I've been driving a 1996 for quite a while now and it's treated me well. The things that have needed to be replaced with mine (and frequenty go with high mileage maxima's) are the CV boots, knock sensor, and oxygen sensors. The knock sensor is almost guarenteed to go sometime before you hit 120k miles and is possibly the cause of the engine light.
I highly doubt you're going to get over blue book value for an old car with heat/AC problems and problems with a lock and with a window...not unless you find a sucker to sell it to. Anyone with a head on their shoulders is gonna check the blue book value and they're not gonna pay over that value if there are things wrong with the car. True, they're all convenience things but people pay for convenience in every aspect of their lives and they're gonna pay less if things about the object they're purchasing are an inconvenince (actually, i'd say the heat/AC thing is more than an inconvenience...it's a down right piss off...spring/fall sometimes one needs AC or vents in the day and heat at night...I wouldn't buy any car if it didn't have both in working order...having to have a mechanic switch it over doesn't count as having both in working order).