Advice needed - sell or fix my 96 Regal?

[dougman]

Hello all, I'm a long-time lurker, looking for your wise advice. I've already learned a bunch by reading this forum, and I'd really like to hear what you all think of my situation.

 

The Dilemma:

I bought a 96 Regal GS this past spring that is costing me more than I expected. 3800 motor, 157K miles. I was in a hurry when I bought it, and now I'm starting to regret my choice. I paid $2800 for the car(too much, I think) and I have probably $500 more into miscellaneous repairs and general maintenance. I'm wondering if its time to let this W-body go at a loss and find something better?

 

The Good:

Body is straight and 99% rust free. Decent but not perfect repaint.

Recent tires, struts and tie rods (previous owner)

New battery

New front brakes

Fresh oil change

Fresh trans fluid/filter

 

The Bad

Needs rear bearings

Needs rear brakes

Needs a tune up (plugs, wires, fuel filter)

Needs exhaust

Trans is doing the TCC shudder at speed (talked to a pro he says rebuild is only fix)

Upper intake has been leaking for what looks like a long time

Motor sounds like it has a light rod knock or rattle when its warm.

 

The $64,000 Question:

What would you all do with this car? Would you keep it and keep fixing the problems, or sell it before the small problems become large ones? I'm really on the fence and I would love to hear your opinions. Thanks in advance!

 

 

[Breakdown]

Compared to the value of the car, those are NOT small problems in my opinon.

 

You're kind of hanging upside down on this one (I'm just shooting straight with ya).

 

If you trade-in you're not going to get much, and if you sell it privately you'd pretty much have to be an A-hole and lie about what's wrong with it. (I'm not A-hole enough to do that myself).

 

If you go to a regular shop (not GM, not franchised) you're in for:

 

$600 minimum on the rear bearings (if it's both of them)

$250 minimum on the rear brakes

$100 Tune up minimum

$75 minimum for exhaust

$400 minimum for the upper intake manifold

========

I've got you over $1400 before attack any engine tranny problems, and that's on the happy side. I was quoted about $400 each for rear bearings on the Grand Prix, it turned out it was the pads were ground down to triangles and they were the source of the weird noise.

 

In my opinion your car is worth $2800 probably a little less in 100% working condition (that is without any of those problems), fixing those problems to even sell it will take you down to zero.

 

I would attempt to dump it personally & I'm a person who does not like giving up on anything, call it a learning experience and a day. Just don't screw the next owner out of their mind, let them know what's wrong with it, if you trade it in, I wouldn't really feel that you have to disclose all of the problems, if they don't find them, that's their fault. Just negotiate the entire price first and then drop in the trade-in, make up some stupid story, my cousin/girlfriend/garden gnome was planning on driving the car, but lost their job and now can't afford it.

[Crazy K]

I always fix stuff like that with cars myself.

 

If you cannot fix it yourself, or at least work your way through 1 problem at a time.. you are stuck in over your head.

 

 

pros for keeping:

you already own the car and don't need to locate a substitute vehicle

every car will have something to worry about. at least you know what needs done on this one.

 

cons for keeping:

you gotta fix it or pay to get it fixed.

 

 

pros for getting rid of it:

it is someone else's hassle.

maybe you'll find something that you really like!

 

cons for getting rid of it:

you'll be lucky to even get $1000 back out of it.

your replacement vehicle could easily be a can of worms needing many more repairs than this one does.

maybe you'll find something that you really like... but it breaks down alot more!

 

 

 

hows that?

do you have the ability to fix things yourself?

 

[88red4cyl]

If you can fix it yourself, then I say do that.. If you end up selling it, you're going to take a fairly substantial loss.. However, the knock could be a cause of concern if you do keep it...

[AL]

Where are you located? And maybe a local member can help you fix most of the problems for cheap

[dougman]

Thanks for the input. "hanging upside down" is the best assessment of this car that I've heard and I think you're right on.

 

I do have the skill to do the work, and we budget some for repairs, so I could drag this thing out and spend a few weekends and a couple more hundred dollars over the next few months (and hopefully the wife's van doesn't need anything major...) and I suspect I could make the regal last six more months? a year?

 

I do think I need to cut and run, its just a question of when, and bracing myself for the inevitable ouch when I sell it for a grand... or less.

 

[Breakdown]

Thanks for the input. "hanging upside down" is the best assessment of this car that I've heard and I think you're right on.

 

I do have the skill to do the work, and we budget some for repairs, so I could drag this thing out and spend a few weekends and a couple more hundred dollars over the next few months (and hopefully the wife's van doesn't need anything major...) and I suspect I could make the regal last six more months? a year?

 

I do think I need to cut and run, its just a question of when, and bracing myself for the inevitable ouch when I sell it for a grand... or less.

 

 

Sorry, couple of things:

 

-I just realized that I wrote, blah, blah, blah upper intake and then continued saying that was everything without any work on the engine, reffering to the knock.

 

-When you said that you didn't do your homework, I just assumed that you have no ability to fix your car (I personally don't, I've just had a lot of work done on a number of W-bodies, so I know), so that does change my perception a little.

 

We have a visual aid in our boardroom at work: Remove the biggest rocks first there's a rock and some stones and sand in a clear plastic box. The saying reffers to eliminating the biggest problems first. Right now (correct me if I'm wrong) the tranny is the biggest problem you have dollar wise until you get into that engine and have a look to determine why the rod knock and get the upper intake manifold done as well. I'm assuming that you cannot work on the transmission, get that quoted and then start strategizing from there. If it's going to be $1200 and you don't really have too much time to work on the rest of the car, cut your losses type of thing. If you're confident in who you're working with and the price is lower, you may want to take a run at things.

 

Best of luck, just remember if you're going to pull the parachute and sell it, it would be advisable to do it sooner than later, because if it's a tow-job to get the car off of your property it is worth significantly less.

[dougman]

Agreed, the trans is the big dollar problem. I've been kicking around another option this morning: nurse this thing along for the winter, and swap the trans (maybe the motor too if I can get a crashed donor car?) whole in the spring. I will have more time, and a skilled helper (and his nice 3 car garage) available then.

 

changing the trans fluid did seem to help the trans. The TCC shudder isn't as bad, but it still ain't right.

 

I mean, if the trans pukes completely, grandted I'm in a bigger pinch, but not by much. I'm sure I can beg or borrow a car to get to work while either I swap a used trans or pay a shop to do that or rebuild for me. Either way, the big rock is the trans. I wonder how long I can put off the inevitable before the rock rolls over on me.

 

Thanks again for the insight.

[Crazy K]

I realized what your issue is most likely with the trans

 

Cut the Pulse Width Modulator selonoid wire on the transmission. it is the all black wire. if it fixes the problem, it is due to a bad PWN... and your tranny will be good to go. the PWM is a "comfort" device that softens the TCC engagement, you can do without it.

 

 

[88red4cyl]

I realized what your issue is most likely with the trans

 

Cut the Pulse Width Modulator selonoid wire on the transmission. it is the all black wire. if it fixes the problem, it is due to a bad PWN... and your tranny will be good to go. the PWM is a "comfort" device that softens the TCC engagement, you can do without it.

 

 

 

Couldn't he just unplug the TCC or just drive the car in D (if that's an option in regals, I'm not sure)?

[Crazy K]

I realized what your issue is most likely with the trans

 

Cut the Pulse Width Modulator selonoid wire on the transmission. it is the all black wire. if it fixes the problem, it is due to a bad PWN... and your tranny will be good to go. the PWM is a "comfort" device that softens the TCC engagement, you can do without it.

 

 

 

Couldn't he just unplug the TCC or just drive the car in D (if that's an option in regals, I'm not sure)?

yes he could.... but this sympton could be caused by a bad PWM not allowing full engagement of the tcc. if that doesn't fix the problem, then cutting the wire for the tcc would be the next step. It is possible that the tcc is damaged from the use it has received with a malfunctioning PWM.

 

p.s. O/D will still work w/o a working TCC. Also, the rest of the wiring must remain attached to the transmission since it is electronically shifted.

[88red4cyl]

I realized what your issue is most likely with the trans

 

Cut the Pulse Width Modulator selonoid wire on the transmission. it is the all black wire. if it fixes the problem, it is due to a bad PWN... and your tranny will be good to go. the PWM is a "comfort" device that softens the TCC engagement, you can do without it.

 

 

 

p.s. O/D will still work w/o a working TCC. Also, the rest of the wiring must remain attached to the transmission since it is electronically shifted.

 

Thanks for the info Ken! I just remember on Pennocks people would always say that they unplugged their TCC when it caused problems, but I think the Fiero is a much different beast than the regal...

[dougman]

Okay, so step 1 is cut the PWM wire at the trans. This would take a faulty PWM out of the equation if it were the culprit.

(I assume that the TCC will still work when its supposed to?)

 

If that doesn't work, next step is to disable the TCC completely--would disconnecting the switch at the brake pedal accomplish this, or is that another wire at the trans?

 

 

 

 

[Crazy K]

Okay, so step 1 is cut the PWM wire at the trans. This would take a faulty PWM out of the equation if it were the culprit.

(I assume that the TCC will still work when its supposed to?)

yes.

 

If that doesn't work, next step is to disable the TCC completely--would disconnecting the switch at the brake pedal accomplish this, or is that another wire at the trans?

you can do either.

 

i can look up the wiring momentarily...