Talk about your klunkers here!

Life Cars & Motorcycles
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How about a place to yak about your klunkers…those cars you are still holding on to and if you should or should not and when should you finally let it go or not.

my Klunker is a 2003 Acura RSX with now about 276,000 miles . Got it in 2005 as an ex lease vehicle with about 20,000 miles on it.

It is getting old !! Now I am keeping it only as long as I can afford the repairs.

Just spend 690 for a cat converter (installed) and this is considered pretty cheap for a california cat.
Also spent 205 for a front ox sensor and 30 to install it.
And i forget now but something like 80 to install and 70 to buy a new knock sensor.

Good thing about having an old car is you get to know a lot more about cars…stuff you either never knew, never wanted to know or just plain didnt care to know.

Friend said hey its time to retire the klunker…Welll I can’t sell it without it passing smog. And the above mentioned were items that needed to be addressed to pass smog and thank God it now does…Good for two more years… i sure hope much more since i got a new cat converter. That one lasted a pretty long time really. They are supposed to last pretty much ten years and 100k miles. So this one (it was failing slowly over the last six years but now has completely failed and thus no way to pass smog) did pretty good.

Mentioned my last big bill of about 1000 for a new clutch was 8 years ago. NOt bad really !!

Most of the money spent has been for items that were at the end of their designed life.

I am on my third starter (they are about 500 plus each installed).
My third alternator (bout 300 each installed)
Think my fifth set of tires…something like 400 a set installed and lasting around 50k miles…not bad…
Replaced radiator coolant only once for about 80 bucks and that was maybe 8 years ago !

replaced tranny fluid maybe two or three times, once recently for about 100 bucks each time.

replaced one radiator fan for a couple of hundred last year.

Current issues with the beast:

My fat ass has finally ripped the leather on the drivers seat. There is no stitching it. I an maybe have an upholsterer redo the drivers seat…No idea cost.
Failed to clean and nourish the seats once a month with leather conditioner and the thing got dry and cracked just like human skin would.

IT is SOO NIce to finally have NO check engine light (its been on for the last six years ).
Since i finally replaced the cat converter which was keeping it on. I was just resetting it and passing smog the last six years. but now its kaput and needed replacement.

I still have the SRS light on and thats been on a while. I am told that
A. honda/acura will fix it for a nominal charge if it involves a seat belt as those have a life time guarantee. Other things?? maybe no coverage.
b. I think maybe its best if its deactivated as it probably is now with the SRS light on. Because who knows if its a failed takata airbag too? OR its dangerous because the airbags are near 18 years old!!

So i do hate seeing the SRS light in my face but i can’t fix it myself and i am loathe to spend money if it costs a lot to fix and im worried about very old airbags. And since seat belts are your primary safety restraints and airbags are not , maybe ok and even better not to fix these.

and tomorrow im hoping this mechanic i have used before in oakland can fix my AC without spending too much.
IF its a compressor forget it…thats probably over a grand.
IF its a freon fill up at about 100 I am in.
It has been unbearly hot these days, but cooling down now.
my AC works until it hits 70 degrees F (20c about) and then it stops working just when i need it.

Ok lets hear some horror stories

Oil changes each 5k miles running about 50 bucks each means they have been a total of about 2800 dollars since i got the car late 2005.

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Do you really need an ox sensor in Cali?

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absoluteamente.
Calif is anally obsessed with clean air (while its forests burn meantime).

My car has two ox sensors. .one before and one after the cat converter as per normal. The two ox sensors talk to each other and provide the onboard computer with how efficient the cat converter is (and lights the dang light when its below efficiency level as it has been for the last 6 years).
The ox sensors also help the engine determine how much gas to feed the engine. Apparently the ox sensor 1 is very instrumental in making the engine run lean and rich once very second and if this fails the engine goes into fail safe mode by using much more gas which then destroys the cat converter because gasoline fricks it up.

So yea, if one lived in a state where they dont have to pass smog. …a car like mine probably would NOT have gotten a thousand spent on it for a new cat converter and a new ox sensor and knock sensor.
Of course the car will eventually run rough and the engine will get affected and then the car is toast.

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And here I was thinking that California wants you to convert a seat in your Car for your Pussy Cat to safely sit in!!!

As to the SRS light, my less aged BMW had some warning lights start showing a couple of years back, SRS being one, and a few others including ABS. Of course this was only a month or so after the Warranty had expired. Turned out that one of the many sensors that exist for such things had failed, and that needed replacement. Forget how much, but not cheap when they also charge for the investigation to find out what/where.

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image

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In 13 years of driving I’ve never had a car that I’ve paid more than $1000 USD.

Currently got a 29-year-old Volvo estate. Bought that for equivalent of $500 four years ago, the head-gasket leaks and uses coolant and oil but not too much, its done about 230,000 miles and still going strong.

Battery acid has corroded a massive hole in the inside fender/front wing so that’ll probably need some sorting before its next inspection. Buying a replacement car is not really viable at the moment with the way things are, and I can’t be bothered. Although I get leaflets on the windscreen every-so-often from people and companies wanting to buy it from me.

Cheapest and most fun car was another Volvo, it had done over 400,000 miles and was used for mostly farm-work for a few years before I bought it. Someone had been storing hay bales in the back so it was an absolute mess, and the tyres were 15 years old so it skidded around like it was on ice. That was $300. Did not survive inspection as required a $12 part - such regret!

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And I thought I was frugal lol

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My father had a corvair he kept
In the garage since 1970

My brother is having it restored to driveable state finally after 50 some years of just sitting in the garage

A corvair specialist is handling it
Bill expected to exceed 12000 US dollars

Ouch. The car was probably only a few thousand when new

But then houses were 20k then in SF and now they are a million bucks

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Yeah. I like cars themselves but where I live people judge you by them as a reflection of your personality, which i’m not into at all. Just want something that gets me place to place and i won’t be financially ruined if something happens to it.

If only i could say the same about my bicycle but then that’s a much more positive thing in my life overall (fitness, environment, enjoyment etc.)

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Despite my username lol

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Would it be a good guess that it’s a 1992 Volvo Estate?

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I have a Toyota Altis that’s around 15 years old. Around 200,000 km. I think the first owner rode that thing a bit hard because it seems more run down than it should be for that mileage (or maybe the mileage is fake). Bought it for 135,000 nt.

We leave it in Hualien at our (very) small vacation home. There’s nothing wrong with it but it looks its age. Clean but far from perfect. I absolutely love it. We have a newer car in Taipei with far less mileage (a basic Nissan), but I love our Altis because to me it means vacation, freedom, a simple life, don’t give a rat’s ass about impressing people with a car, etc. It has an 8 CD changer which I make full use of. The stereo system also can play tapes but I don’t have tapes anymore. It might be fun finding some old tapes to play in that car. My youngest didn’t even know what the hole to insert tapes was for.

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Bought a second hand 13 year old Suzuki Grand Vitara here in Forumosa 8 years ago.

Grand Vitara for Sale!

Dude was kind enough to sell it to me for NT$40,000. Car is still doing great and very reliable despite the age (21 years).

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IMG_9203637×849 134 KB

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see some klunkers remain useful. I get attached to my cars…so i really dont like getting rid of them.

I have nightmares where I wake up in a sweat because i had forgotten my car at some car park and i needed to get it out :slight_smile: Thing is i have not had that vehicle for years even decades. My telstar sent me dreams to come get it…and so does my contour and audi a4. geee weird right?

i havent had many cars in my life so far. and i remember each one of them…mmostly because i have had so few
my first was a telstar which i had for 11 years in wanli and that thing just completely rusted apart from the ocean air. It was crumbling. And everything was just going to pot finally when i sold it for 30,000 nt.
I came to the usa and i got a mondeo (called contour here) second hand. 22k when new, one year later from hertz rentals with 20k miles it was down to 11k plus tax
drove that 4 years and then got an A4 lease (mistake, as i felt so fraudulent driving that thing…Audi are for rich people) then i got rid of it after only ten months and got my acura (used 2 year old MSRP about 22k, got it for 16k plus tax with 20k miles) financed that over five years at about 330/month with zero down and still have that thing.
have added the prius C to the mix for wifey. That car is actualy quite nice to drive and can cruise all day long at 80mph up to maxing out at 90mph.

It takes a firm foot on the pedal once you jump on the freeway to exercise its full 100hp (and thats with the electric motor running too) and get you to sixty five. but once there the thing chills and you can literally cruise all day long at 80mph (watching out for cops of course).

driving the prius C to tahoe is an adventure as you go past sacramento and into the hills of the sierra nevadas… max height on interstate 80 is near donner lake at about 8000 feet or so. And going up i have to act like a truck and get in the truck lane but going downhill the thing pretends its a formula 1 car and it just zips along capable of exceeding 100mph because its going downhill. But next uphill back to being a truck.

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oh just for those interested in the money aspect. The contour was the cheapest at about 2500 down payment and 198/month for sixty months ! I traded that in to the audi dealer with one year to go on payments owing about 2400 and the dealer paid that off and i put zero down and got the audi A4 for 15,000 miles a year, 36 months lease for about 460/month. Which was pretty decent.

Traded the audi in to the same dealer when i went for my 15k oil change (first one at 5k, each one thereafter at 10k increments…service was free then for audi for five years) and saw the acura and traded it in for the acura with zero down and lowered my payment to 330/month or so. forget the pennies for sixty months.
finally paid off that thing and its been and is still a good car. Drives really nice.
Thinking of taking it to reno/tahoe this coming few days instead of the prius as the acura is much more powerful and faster and more fun in the hills. Doesnt ever have to get into the slow lane with the trucks.
now that i got it all working again (except for the AC) which i think reno wont be that hot. will see, if reno is going to have hot weather i better take the prius with a working aC.

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1986 Daihatsu Skywing. Pretty common when I bought it about 8 years ago but rare now, so parts are probably getting scarce. I paid 15000 NT

It has had a used exhaust downpipe, used steering column switchgear unit, a used alternator, new alternator drive belt, couple of new wheel cylinders, maybe 3 sets of brake shoes (the linings come off) set of used tyres , brake fluid, oil, coolant, and filter changes.

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I had that, every dream i had that involved a car was a Volvo estate. In the dream it was left hand drive though and we’re right hand drive over here.

Duno what to get next, volvo needs repairs and i can’t really be bothered. Maybe a V8 something or other

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If I dreamed about a car it would be a Mini Marcos that I failed to buy once, but fortunately I don’t think that has happened.

At least not yet. Things can always get worse.

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Its 29 years old, so no, it wouldn’t.

It’d be arithmetic

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friend had his bmw checked out by this bmw/mini specialist in berkely and he was fuming mad because 80pct of his business has to do with the mini and he said all those people are buying Tesla 3 now.

He said his business is really suffering and he bought and built up his premises and bought his house all on the strength of the MANY failings of the Mini !! Haha.
I liked them but some of my friends always warned me about them.

Bmw quality is not where it used to be in the 90s and Mini has never been good , even under the stewardship of Bmw. I believe the engines are made in Brazil by a Chysler facility there. They should have bought toyota engines.