Feel free to comment with your thoughts, on whether you think one way is cheaper then another!
So January 1st I was given a 97 Saturn SL1 with 170,000 miles. I was expecting to pay $100 but when I met the dude at the notary, he said “just take it, Im glad to see it gone”. My parents thought maybe he stole it and was trying to unload it haha. It Did appear to have a bullet hole in the side of the door, covered in duck tape, but other then that, seemed like a normal old car. Nothing pretty. The point of this blog post to write down my expenses and work I have to do to the car and see if its actually cheaper to drive a old car and fix it up, or buy a new one.
So my first expense was the 15$ for gas to tow the car to my dads place, where he has a garage. The second expense was the notary charge, which seemed like a lot. 124$ just to transfer a 100$ car (100$ is what we told the notary the sale price was)
Before I bought it, I knew it would defiantly need some work. But I did know it ran and drove, and didn’t knock or make any really bad noises. The valve cover was leaking, and was for awhile, as was the oil pan. The oil was completely black, so I didn’t want to drive it to long before changing it. The front and rear bumpers were replaced because they’re just plastic grey. The clear coat is pealing at some spots. The brakes work, but nothing to write home about. The car does really look like a turd, but if I can drive it and save money, then I’ll succeed at my goal!
Okay so the few good stuff. The tires looked next to new, but not top of the line, not that I care. The car has like no rust, mainly because its all plastic. Which it probably why there is a hole in the door. He most likely opened the door and hit something, and just cracked out a small piece. The car was still inspected when i bought it, but only till the end of this month. The interior stank, and needed cleaned, but wasn’t stained or have any rips.
So the first repair, was a vacuum line, going from the intake to the valve cover. It was leaking and making a weird rattling noise. That was a free and easy fix, seeing how we had some hose laying around that worked. The second repair was the valve cover. Who ever did it before just used rtv. I went out and spent 30$ on a seal. Took the valve cover off, and cleaned all the old rtv off with a die grinder, and a
Roloc bristle disk which works really well. Put the gasket in, put a thin coat of rtv on the seal, and tightened it down. My next task was to change the oil pan gasket, which I "thought" would be easy.....But nothings easy. :p
I jacked the car up, and went about looking at what would need done to drop the pan. Well it turns out, everything. First had to unbolt exhaust from manifold, and of course, I twisted off the head of one of the bolts. Next unbolted a bracket that helped hold the trans, to the motor. Yes! Now I can drop the pan.... Wait I gotta unbolt the sway bar. Oh and of course a side engine mount. So finally got the oil pan down. Cleaned it up,
grey rtv'd it, let it set up a little, then squished it back up. Going back together wasn't to bad, until I came to the part where, I had to (somehow) remove the bolt stuck in the exhaust manifold. I tried (to many times) welding a nut to it, But that bugger was tight! (Also tried heating) After spending more time then I should have, I unbolted the manifold, and drilled out the hole, Reinstalled the manifold, with a 9$
Fel-pro gasket, then bolted the exhaust up with a new gasket there too (5$).
So before I had taken the oil pan off, I had noticed a rattling noise when the car was in reverse. It seemed to happen when, I had my foot on the brake (putting car under load). After looking around, found it was the serpentine idler pulley. And under further investigation, found it only had one bolt holding it on, allowing it to slack off and kinda bounce around a little. I love being able to fix stuff for free! (used a bolt I had laying around)
Took it out for a spin, and ran pretty good! Its no luxury car, but it works! My next task was to get a battery, It would die over night when it was cold. I didn't feel like dishing out the money, but after looking closer at the battery, noticed it was still in its 3 year warranty!! Took it into pepboy, and bam! walked out with a free 131$ battery!! Haha I was so happy, I love blessings like that! So, pretty much as of now (If you take off the free new battery cost) I only got like 40$ in the car!
I have my figures crossed that the cover, that covers the timing chain isn't leaking oil, so time will tell. Goes in for inspecting in 2 days, Hoping she passes! Welp so long for now, Ill be back with more updates as they come! Thanks for reading =)
I regret to say, it didn't pass. Wipers were bad, and the
exhaust flex (20$) pipe was leaking. So got a flex pipe, and hoping to put it in next time I have a few hours to spare. This is when I wish I had a newer car haha.
So, after a late night at work, I got the exhaust welded up, got some new cheap wipers,(10$) and headed off to get it inspected. She passed! (60$). Been driving her to work every day for the last week, 17 miles one way. Checked the mpg and it was about 29 mpg, so not to bad! One problem I have noticed is, when trying to start it, it can crank for awhile and start kinda rough. But once running, it idles fine. Friend of mine was saying maybe fuel pump is getting weak. I'm thinking of checking the spark plugs, and maybe replacing them and see if that helps, cause I have no idea how old they are.
Lately Iv been getting 32 mpg, which is awesome!
