smokintexas
What have I gotton myself into?!
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2008
- Messages
- 1,260
You know that bond that a man makes with his first car? The bond that you say "no matter what, I will always keep this car." The bond that makes you ignore the loud noises and dark smoke that emit from the vehicle, the bond that makes you so angry when others call your car a piece of shit. Well, this is the bond that I had with my first vehicle, my '98 F-150. We bought the vehicle used in 2003 with just over 100,000 miles and it ran perfectly. 6 years, another 100,000 miles, a few wrecks, and this is no longer the case. The truck has broken down 3 times in the last month. The first time it was the starter which I was able to replace fairly easily myself, the second time it was the serpentine belt which again I was able to easily fix. This last time, Saturday, I was driving and I noticed that the oil gauge dropped out and the oil light came on. I pulled over and put a couple of quarts of oil in to try to make it to the family friend mechanic but no such luck. Broke down on the side of the highway and I had to get it towed the rest of the way. The first day they called me and said "Good news! Your engine is fine but the reason it broke down is because a bearing in the tensioner went out and your serpentine belt busted again." I was relieved to say the least, thinking that the truck might have some more life in it. Well, today they called to let me know the bad news. The reason the oil gauge dropped out was because the oil pump is going bad and because of that there is some pretty serious knocking in the bottom part of the engine. Essentially he said it will run now and I just have to wait for it to break down which could be tomorrow, or in 8 months. At which point it will cost roughly $3 Grand for a new engine and about 20 hours of labor on top of that.
So my question to you all is... Is it worth it to spend the $4-5,000 on getting a new engine on the truck that I would assume comes with some sort of warranty, or do I spend that $4-5,000 on getting a used car? Either way it's really a crap shoot because a used car for that amount could go for a long time, but it could just as well break down the day after I get it. This, of course, is assuming that the truck will last long enough for me to be able to save up that amount of money.
So my question to you all is... Is it worth it to spend the $4-5,000 on getting a new engine on the truck that I would assume comes with some sort of warranty, or do I spend that $4-5,000 on getting a used car? Either way it's really a crap shoot because a used car for that amount could go for a long time, but it could just as well break down the day after I get it. This, of course, is assuming that the truck will last long enough for me to be able to save up that amount of money.