[car advice] At what point do you trade in?

T

-Timber

Veteran XX
I've got a 2001 Toyota Rav 4 that hasn't given me hardly any trouble it's entire life until now. It's got 119,000 miles on it and right now it's sitting in the shop with a wonky transmission module. They won't know if the transmission is damaged until I pay $1k for the module to be fixed.

They say that usually there isn't any transmission damage unless it's been driven for a while like that, and I don't believe it has since I just started noticing something wrong the other day.

It's also leaking underneath I believe from one or two of the boots.

So at what point do I say that the repairs are too much and put that money towards something newer?

119k should just be broken-in for a Toyota. ;)
 
My car was over 100k miles and the way i decided was by setting a max as to what i would pay for (3k for me). As soon as i got a repair bill that high i sold the bitch.
 
I'm sort of at this point with my 1996 Honda Civic (175k miles) - but now I have a job where I walk to work so I'm going to keep putting off the decision.
 
Whoop said:
My car was over 100k miles and the way i decided was by setting a max as to what i would pay for (3k for me). As soon as i got a repair bill that high i sold the bitch.
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this.

except it gets into a bit of slippery slope sometimes (as with your situation).

Repair Shop: We think $1000 will fix it.
Repair Shop: That didn't work. We need another $1000 to replace the tranny.

When the amount gets to my limit, or once I lose my 'trust' in the vehicles reliability, I get rid of it.

You need to decide what those thresholds are.
 
Usually once I hear the word "transmission" from the mechanic unless it is followed by "is fine".

It depends on where you are financially, what the kbb is on the car and your tolerance for more repairs.
 
The bad part is I'm guessing I'll have to at least pay the $1000 either way since I doubt I could sell it for very much with it not working.
 
Whoop said:
My car was over 100k miles and the way i decided was by setting a max as to what i would pay for (3k for me). As soon as i got a repair bill that high i sold the bitch.
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The problem with this approach is that you'll run into a string of repairs literally month after month that aren't necessarily expensive but do add up.

I drive a piece of shit 97 Accord with 145k miles on it. It really doesn't get much use because I take public trans to/from work. The only driving I really do is on the weekends and its usually pretty limited. I probably put on no more than 4-5k miles per year. However, despite not using the piece of shit, its constantly giving me issues. Muffler needed replacing recently (again), oil pan was replaced, car axles have been replaced, radiator was replaced about 4 years ago, new tires, plus other miscellaneous shit that I'm sure I'm forgetting. Old cars just seem to break down even without getting much action on the road. Luckily I have a handy brother that has repaired most of the issues but at this point hes getting sick of it.

Just yesterday I was sitting in the thing idle waiting for someone and noticed the temp gauge was reading fairly hot. Shut the car off, turned it back on and the temp was normal and never got hot again. I'm sure its probably some early symptom of another awesome $300 repair that the car will need. I keep putting a little bit of money into the piece of shit month by month thinking "nice, if I replace the left axle, this baby is easily going to deliver for another year or two without an issue". Wrong.

The worst thing that could have ever happened to me with my car is the thing getting stolen and then being found. At this point I wish they had never found the thing.
 
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Toyota has a Technical Bulletin about this issues.
http://www.kerkerinck.de/xa2/tsb/files/TC002-06.pdf
Time to get your hands dirty (kinda), if you don't want to get hosed.

Replace the ECM/PCM on your own. It's should be easy enough. Here's a place that will sell the part and is fully aware of what your are going through. Just make sure you pull the old one first so you can give them the part number off of it. Comes with a year warranty. Might even be able to get it cheaper elsewhere.
Toyota RAV4 ECM ECU Engine / Transmission Computer | eBay

An ECM is usually under the dash or by the firewall, held in place with a couple bolts and has a wiring harness or 2 connected. Super simple to remove.

Buying it here should save you money and give you a little gratification. Even if it does still need the transmission you at least saved tons on the diagnosis doing it yourself. If not, good luck.

If all does go well and you come out ahead, replace the axleshafts on your own too. Or hire a mechanically inclined friend to do it... You will save even more.

It's a toyota, fix it, keep it, drive the shit out of it. That what makes Toyotas great. (Never owned a Rav4)


paulmezick said:
Just yesterday I was sitting in the thing idle waiting for someone and noticed the temp gauge was reading fairly hot. Shut the car off, turned it back on and the temp was normal and never got hot again. I'm sure its probably some early symptom of another awesome $300 repair that the car will need.
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Sounds like air in your coolant system. Air goes through, thermostat reads super hot since no coolant, followed by a flow of coolant which puts it back into regular temperature. Or a bad sensor maybe. I am no expert, but a bit of a DIYer.
 
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I had a Saturn that I loved but at 99k miles the fuel pump died. I did a little research online and found out there and from my mechanic that this particular model tended to need about 2-3k in repairs sometime between the 80 and 120k mark. Fuel pump, starter, a few sensors and something else I can't remember all usually went around the same time.
I owed 3k on the car, the kbb for the car at that mileage and condition was 4200 private sale. I managed to get 4600 for it from some chick who had an insurance check.

I put 1000 down on my civic over the summer and am really glad I did, even tho I miss the extra 65 horses in the Saturn.
 
Evolution said:
Time to get your hands dirty (kinda), if you don't want to get hosed.


Buying it here should save you money and give you a little gratification. Even if it does still need the transmission you at least saved tons on the diagnosis doing it yourself. If not, good luck.
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I second this. Man up and try it yourself.
 
I drive a 95 jeep with 185 on it. Ive put maybe $300/yr into it for 4 years

i just found out it has no floors left, for $100 i can fix that.
Needs a couple rocker panels, 150 for both.

Im going to sell it for no less than $2k next year or the year after. I wont trade in until the wheels fall off or i just get sick of it

also, i remember a time before sig lines when people would put trick sentences at the end of their posts
 
D. Not enough information to answer the question.

Really depends on a lot of things. How much does a broken down vehicle cost you, how much does an 'unreliable' vehicle cost you?(money, headache, reputation). How happy are you with the vehicle? How much would a new vehicle be worth to you? So on and so forth.

You can generally figure out, from a pure money standpoint, whether it's time to replace(and it almost never is). But a lot more can factor into it.
 
Just got rid of my 2003 Ford Explorer, here are the things that were wrong with it:

Exterior:
Major Front Bumper Damage
Minor Back Bumper Damage
Dents/Dings/Paint Damage

Interior:
Cruise Control Nonfunctional
Passenger-side Backseat Power Window Broken
Blend Door Actuator Nonfunctional
Thermostat looking Coolant

About 1.5k (retail) worth of work just to get the heater working again
About 1.5k (retail) to fix the rest

I feel like I ripped off that dealership

If they only KNEW how drunk I was when I drove that thing into buildings
 
My rule is fix it until you spend more than a new car's monthly payment for 3 consecutive months. A $1k repair doesn't count towards 2-3 months though, just one.

$1k is still a hell of a lot less than 12 months of payments.
 
Animo said:
Just got rid of my 2003 Ford Explorer, here are the things that were wrong with it:

Exterior:
Major Front Bumper Damage
Minor Back Bumper Damage
Dents/Dings/Paint Damage

Interior:
Cruise Control Nonfunctional
Passenger-side Backseat Power Window Broken
Blend Door Actuator Nonfunctional
Thermostat looking Coolant

About 1.5k (retail) worth of work just to get the heater working again
About 1.5k (retail) to fix the rest

I feel like I ripped off that dealership

If they only KNEW how drunk I was when I drove that thing into buildings
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I dont think anyone, anywhere has ever ripped off a dealership. Though they want you to think thats what happened.

A fraction of the cost for parts and labor, it'd be tough for them to not at least break even in even the worst of deals.
 
Animo said:
Just got rid of my 2003 Ford Explorer, here are the things that were wrong with it:

Exterior:
Major Front Bumper Damage
Minor Back Bumper Damage
Dents/Dings/Paint Damage

Interior:
Cruise Control Nonfunctional
Passenger-side Backseat Power Window Broken
Blend Door Actuator Nonfunctional
Thermostat looking Coolant

About 1.5k (retail) worth of work just to get the heater working again
About 1.5k (retail) to fix the rest

I feel like I ripped off that dealership

If they only KNEW how drunk I was when I drove that thing into buildings
Click to expand...

A dealer will never give you more for a car than they will get from a whole seller.
 
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