AZhitman wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2020 9:58 pm
Man, we've all been there I think.
Here's my quick-and-dirty: A classic Q (yep, she's a classic) isn't a DD, unfortunately. They're finicky and difficult.
Take a break and regroup.
My next advice won't be what you want to hear, but it's solid and you'll thank me later: Go find you a 2003-2008 Corolla or Camry with under 150k miles. Bulletproof, reliable, and simple to fix, and great DD transportation. Not glamorous, not cool, and not stylish, but fantastic A-to-B cars.
You've been here long enough to know I've got a cool car collection and more cars than I deserve, more than I can drive.
Know what my DD beater is? A raggedy-a$$ 04 Corolla with a missing rear bumper, tons of dents, 290k miles, and it looks like it was pulled out of a junkyard. BUT, it always starts, parts are CHEAP, a drunk monkey could repair it with basic tools, and the AC works. I paid $1k for it 6 years ago, it's been through 2 kids, I've loaned it to friends, and IDGAF if someone hits it. It's cheap to fix, insure, and fuel, and I wouldn't sell it for $3k. No payments, no worries, no drama. If and when it finally dies, I'll donate it and find another one.
My daughters both drive an 04 Camry, and same deal - Cheap, reliable, and efficient. That should be your goal as well.
Good luck brother.
Solid advice there, I don't like cloth seats but I'll receive it lol. I actually used to have a 96 Camry. Unfortunately it was previously neglected and came with its fair share of issues from the 1st week I had it. However, like most of my cars I "trained" it for highway driving and did a couple cross country trips. Thing I hated the most was the timing belt/water pump. Went out twice. Each time is $500. Similar to the Qs starter: The hardest thing to fix on this car, and I've had it happen twice THIS YEAR lol. But my fault not buying Denso the first time.
But that was actually my 2nd car (87 Buick century my first). I guess the reason I'm so irritated is because my other car, the 97 Maxima which is very similar (shares same spark plugs, oil filter, fuel filter, etc) has clocked in 390,000 miles, and the only things ever to leave me stranded were the 2 alternators and 2 radiators I've replaced. But it has it has had it's fair share of annoying problems though (motor mounts, rack and pinion vibration, cranking issues, alignment woes). But it seems like once I got something fixed, it didn't come back. The Q seems to have the same problems over and over, and it'll happen out of NOWHERE. Like no warning. Well, maybe a little warning...But not much lol.
As an update: I'm feeling a little better today. Was able to temporarily get the a/c cold again, only needed 6 ounces of R134 to get back up to 35-40 PSI. Only cost me $5 because I have the gauges already and know how to not overfill the system m Must be a small leak somewhere, but at-least it's not a clog like before. It's been 2 months since vac/recharge, so I don't mind adding a couple ounces once a month til it starts getting cold next month. Labor day weekend was in the 90s, and it held up well.
The starting issue, i was able to also cure that for now by adding seafoam to oil and just gave it a hard a** Italian tune up doing 90-110 mph for about 5 miles. Now it's back to starting up the second I turn the key. It's leading me to believe it has to do with something getting gummed up, but I can't figure it out. I might just buy Napa pcv valve instead of the oreiley one's I have. The previous Napa ones I installed went a good 60K before giving me trouble. But it took a long time to realize what was causing it. Once I changed it last month, engine cranked over nice each time, but it's not even been 5,000 miles and the problem came back. Then I'd change the oil, and it would fix it. I've been on 1,500 mile oil change intervals all summer, but it's leading me to believe it's not that. Gotta be spark plugs getting carbonized, but those have been changed also.
But anyhow...Idk if I can go back to a 4 cyl car again (I don't feel safe lol), but maybe an American truck like everybody in my town drives could be a possibility. I've been eyeing Lincoln navigators and the discontinued Mercury Mariners aka Ford escape (future money pit lol).
I just wish NEW cars were more accessible. The dealers lie and say they'll approve anybody and take any trade. I went to trade my Q for a Nissan pathfinder couple months ago, they wanted to check my credit, and tried to put me in a base Chevy Malibu and put $2,000 down. Yet they don't think a $49,900 car can easily sell for 3-5K if they give it a fresh paint job. I was hoping to use it as a down payment. They didn't want to deal.