You can't figure some people.

[S.Hansen]

A guy come in to the shop with a 2000ish Forester, 160,000 miles. He is
debating to repair it or trade it, was told the head gaskets were leaking.
Looking at the car, the head gaskets are leaking. 1 cv boot torn, all 4
tires are different. rear hatch won't latch, rear wiper froze up. Heat
sheilds on cat converter and y pipe rattle (BAD). CEL on for a o2 sensor
fault. Rust. I am scared to pull the o2 sensor out, as it might damage the
cat. (where the cat bolts into the exhaust pipe is scary, so much rust)
If you tell the guy his car is a piece of crap, they may get offended. you
don't "tell" people its time to give it up, you have to let them make there
own decisions. So in order to "encourage" this man from dumping money into
this car, we made sure the estimate is high. if you low ball someone, then
when "extra's" come up they get pissed, and looking at this car I know
extras were going to happen- IE, all timing belt pullies need replacing.
From a greed part, Spend the money, give me work; but I don't like to live
that way.
So with this outragious estimate, he delt with the sales people this
weekend. He couldent get himself to spend the money on a replacement car,
and this morning I was told to get started on it. The Est. is over 4000
dollars!
Makes no sense to me.......
Steve

 

[Todd H.]

A guy come in to the shop with a 2000ish Forester, 160,000 miles. He is
debating to repair it or trade it, was told the head gaskets were leaking.
Looking at the car, the head gaskets are leaking. 1 cv boot torn, all 4
tires are different. rear hatch won't latch, rear wiper froze up. Heat
sheilds on cat converter and y pipe rattle (BAD). CEL on for a o2 sensor
fault. Rust. I am scared to pull the o2 sensor out, as it might damage the
cat. (where the cat bolts into the exhaust pipe is scary, so much rust)
If you tell the guy his car is a piece of crap, they may get offended. you
don't "tell" people its time to give it up, you have to let them make there
own decisions. So in order to "encourage" this man from dumping money into
this car, we made sure the estimate is high. if you low ball someone, then
when "extra's" come up they get pissed, and looking at this car I know
extras were going to happen- IE, all timing belt pullies need replacing.
From a greed part, Spend the money, give me work; but I don't like to live
that way.
So with this outragious estimate, he delt with the sales people this
weekend. He couldent get himself to spend the money on a replacement car,
and this morning I was told to get started on it. The Est. is over 4000
dollars!
Makes no sense to me.......

$4k and he has a car he apparently likes that runs for another 2 years at least?

For double that, does that dealership have anything even on the lot?

 

[Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B]

$4k and he has a car he apparently likes that runs for another 2 years at least?

I buy cars like this for ~$400, put $250 into them, and then feel gypped
if I only get two years from them. $4,000, the car had better run for
another 5 years, minimum.

He probably feels he knows the car is basically a good car and fixing it
will probably get another 100,000 miles out of it. I never used to buy
used cars because I knew nothing about cars and would wind up paying too
much for a car that needed too much work for what I spent. Then I learned
to fix my own cars. My '89 GL should probably be sitting in a junkyard
somewhere, but I paid $420 for it, put $200 into it and have been driving
it for 2 winters. It's starting to rust and has a nasty noise from the
engine every other week. I'll probably bondo over the rust, give it a shot
of paint and try to fix the noise (Um, I'll do that *first*) and see if I
can squeeze at least one more out of it. Why? I like the car! It's
comfortable, handles reasonably well, does everything I want. Oh, and it's
an older Japanese car...

 

[John O]

A guy come in to the shop with a 2000ish Forester, 160,000 miles. He is
debating to repair it or trade it, was told the head gaskets were leaking.
Looking at the car, the head gaskets are leaking. 1 cv boot torn, all 4
tires are different. rear hatch won't latch, rear wiper froze up. Heat
sheilds on cat converter and y pipe rattle (BAD). CEL on for a o2 sensor
fault. Rust. I am scared to pull the o2 sensor out, as it might damage the
cat. (where the cat bolts into the exhaust pipe is scary, so much rust)
If you tell the guy his car is a piece of crap, they may get offended. you
don't "tell" people its time to give it up, you have to let them make
there own decisions. So in order to "encourage" this man from dumping
money into this car, we made sure the estimate is high. if you low ball
someone, then when "extra's" come up they get pissed, and looking at this
car I know extras were going to happen- IE, all timing belt pullies need
replacing. From a greed part, Spend the money, give me work; but I don't
like to live that way.
So with this outragious estimate, he delt with the sales people this
weekend. He couldent get himself to spend the money on a replacement car,
and this morning I was told to get started on it. The Est. is over 4000
dollars!
Makes no sense to me.......
Steve

Like a vet telling you your dog needs put down. Who wants to hear that?

But, your description of that wreck makes me feel good about my 99 Outback,
it's in comparatively great shape at the same mileage.

-John O

 

[S.Hansen]

A guy come in to the shop with a 2000ish Forester, 160,000 miles. He is
debating to repair it or trade it, was told the head gaskets were leaking.
Looking at the car, the head gaskets are leaking. 1 cv boot torn, all 4
tires are different. rear hatch won't latch, rear wiper froze up. Heat
sheilds on cat converter and y pipe rattle (BAD). CEL on for a o2 sensor
fault. Rust. I am scared to pull the o2 sensor out, as it might damage the
cat. (where the cat bolts into the exhaust pipe is scary, so much rust)
If you tell the guy his car is a piece of crap, they may get offended. you
don't "tell" people its time to give it up, you have to let them make
there own decisions. So in order to "encourage" this man from dumping
money into this car, we made sure the estimate is high. if you low ball
someone, then when "extra's" come up they get pissed, and looking at this
car I know extras were going to happen- IE, all timing belt pullies need
replacing. From a greed part, Spend the money, give me work; but I don't
like to live that way.
So with this outragious estimate, he delt with the sales people this
weekend. He couldent get himself to spend the money on a replacement car,
and this morning I was told to get started on it. The Est. is over 4000
dollars!
Makes no sense to me.......
Steve

update:
Right head on, left head lost threads for 2 of the valve cover bolts. I had
to remove it again. Will bring in my helicoil set tommorow.
Went to remove the axle to repair the DOJ (Inside cv boot) The 14 mm bolt
that holds the ball joint in broke off. (the car is from Wisconson) So a
junkyard hub assy on its way, get it thursday. add a alignment to it on a
rusty car-couldent even pull the cotter keys out!
He wants us to reuse the lower eng cover :-/ it was held on with twine
when it came in.
Dosn't want to touch the heat shields or the CEL (Whew, that could have
mutiplied in cost.)
Anyway-it is progressing, will start it tommorow.

 

[tconway]

Like a vet telling you your dog needs put down. Who wants to hear that?


But, your description of that wreck makes me feel good about my 99
Outback, it's in comparatively great shape at the same mileage.

-John O

I have a 2000 Forester with 162,000 miles. I've been told both head gaskets
are leaking too. Mine is in great shape otherwise. How long do I have to
come up with the money ($2200 including timing belts/water pump etc.) before
something bad happens. In other words, I can't afford it right now and must
continue to drive it a while until I can.
tim

 

[S.Hansen]

I have a 2000 Forester with 162,000 miles. I've been told both head
gaskets
are leaking too. Mine is in great shape otherwise. How long do I have to
come up with the money ($2200 including timing belts/water pump etc.)
before something bad happens. In other words, I can't afford it right now
and must continue to drive it a while until I can.
tim

If I could predict the future.....
No set time, but on occasion the heads start leaking internally and cause a
overheat. We did see one that the customer didn't pay attention to the leaks
and it was going inside- the overhead killed the engine.
Another line of thought, A engine from a junkyard may be less in cost and
would have less miles. My forester has 158,000, and the engine I'll be
putting in will have about 80,000. I put about 1000, repairing a engine for
it and something went wrong- lasted 500 miles; I would have been ahead time
wise doing the used engine first.
Do you have any mechanical friend or skills yourself?
Steve

 

[tconway]

If I could predict the future.....
No set time, but on occasion the heads start leaking internally and cause
a overheat. We did see one that the customer didn't pay attention to the
leaks and it was going inside- the overhead killed the engine.
Another line of thought, A engine from a junkyard may be less in cost and
would have less miles. My forester has 158,000, and the engine I'll be
putting in will have about 80,000. I put about 1000, repairing a engine
for it and something went wrong- lasted 500 miles; I would have been ahead
time wise doing the used engine first.
Do you have any mechanical friend or skills yourself?
Steve

Thanks for the info. The quote was from the dealer, but I have another
reputable shop in mind. I may look into the used engine solution.
tim

 

[sndive]

A guy come in to the shop with a 2000ish Forester, 160,000 miles. He is
debating to repair it or trade it, was told the head gaskets were leaking..
Looking at the car, the head gaskets are leaking. 1 cv boot torn, all 4
tires are different. rear hatch won't latch, rear wiper froze up. Heat
sheilds on cat converter and y pipe rattle (BAD). CEL on for a o2 sensor
fault. Rust. I am scared to pull the o2 sensor out, as it might damage the
cat. (where the cat bolts into the exhaust pipe is scary, so much rust)
If you tell the guy his car is a piece of crap, they may get offended. you
don't "tell" people its time to give it up, you have to let them make there
own decisions. So in order to "encourage" this man from dumping money into
this car, we made sure the estimate is high. if you low ball someone, then
when "extra's" come up they get pissed, and looking at this car I know
extras were going to happen- IE, all timing belt pullies need replacing.
From a greed part, Spend the money, give me work; but I don't like to live
that way.
So with this outragious estimate, he delt with the sales people this
weekend. He couldent get himself to spend the money on a replacement car,
and this morning I was told to get started on it. The Est. is over 4000
dollars!
Makes no sense to me.......
Steve

Problem is, 2000 and 2009 are different foresters. It might not make
sense to you
but a lot of people are much rather buy Evo III thru IX then the
current crap X.
Same sort of dilution happened with the Subaru line. Modern ones are
coaches on wheels
stuffed with gobs of useless options. So don't judge the guy: he is
not buying
a forester in a modern sense. It's a very different animal. Does
everything
really have to make sense for you to be happy?

 

[S.Hansen]

A guy come in to the shop with a 2000ish Forester, 160,000 miles. He is
debating to repair it or trade it, was told the head gaskets were leaking.
Looking at the car, the head gaskets are leaking. 1 cv boot torn, all 4
tires are different. rear hatch won't latch, rear wiper froze up. Heat
sheilds on cat converter and y pipe rattle (BAD). CEL on for a o2 sensor
fault. Rust. I am scared to pull the o2 sensor out, as it might damage the
cat. (where the cat bolts into the exhaust pipe is scary, so much rust)
If you tell the guy his car is a piece of crap, they may get offended. you
don't "tell" people its time to give it up, you have to let them make
there
own decisions. So in order to "encourage" this man from dumping money into
this car, we made sure the estimate is high. if you low ball someone, then
when "extra's" come up they get pissed, and looking at this car I know
extras were going to happen- IE, all timing belt pullies need replacing.
From a greed part, Spend the money, give me work; but I don't like to live
that way.
So with this outragious estimate, he delt with the sales people this
weekend. He couldent get himself to spend the money on a replacement car,
and this morning I was told to get started on it. The Est. is over 4000
dollars!
Makes no sense to me.......
Steve

Problem is, 2000 and 2009 are different foresters. It might not make
sense to you
but a lot of people are much rather buy Evo III thru IX then the
current crap X.
Same sort of dilution happened with the Subaru line. Modern ones are
coaches on wheels
stuffed with gobs of useless options. So don't judge the guy: he is
not buying
a forester in a modern sense. It's a very different animal. Does
everything
really have to make sense for you to be happy?

No not always; but we have plenty of Cars with 80K and a warrenty, This is
like doing open heart surgery on someone with cancer. where is the balance?
Anyway, the car is done, out the door and the guy wrote us a bad
check........

 

[Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B]

Same sort of dilution happened with the Subaru line. Modern ones are
coaches on wheels
stuffed with gobs of useless options.

This goes for just about any car, but the Japanese cars in particular.
What I liked about my 'early' Toyotas was that the effort went into making
a good car, not the bells and whistles. No power windows? WHO CARES?!?!
The windows go down in three turns of the crank!!

Simple cars are sometimes the best cars!

 

[Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B]

stuffed with gobs of useless options. So don't judge the guy: he is
not buying
a forester in a modern sense. It's a very different animal. Does
everything
really have to make sense for you to be happy?

No not always; but we have plenty of Cars with 80K and a warrenty, This is
like doing open heart surgery on someone with cancer. where is the balance?



Anyway, the car is done, out the door and the guy wrote us a bad
check........

And there's the *REAL* reason for fixing the old rusty beater!!!!

 

[sndive]

This goes for just about any car, but the Japanese cars in particular.
What I liked about my 'early' Toyotas was that the effort went into making
a good car, not the bells and whistles. No power windows? WHO CARES?!?!
The windows go down in three turns of the crank!!

Simple cars are sometimes the best cars!

Are you buying Cobalt SS then?