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It's pointless to spend 2k for repair valve on a 4banger with 100k miles. That's way too much. I wouldn't fix it. i d sell it for a few grand less than blue book.
Take the money you got from the sale and add in what you were about to pay for repair. Go buy a newer better car, with less miles.
The problem with these repairs are, you don't know who's doing it, 6 months down the road, what if the block gets a spun bearing. You re gonna spend another 2500 to fix the block?
I don't know what it is, many times, I ve seen these repairs done.. The engine is never the same again.
Sure there are warranty, but the parts are never free and the time being in the shop is just not worth it.
Mechanic is such an honest guy. Hubby went to pick up the car & mechanic said he personally wouldn't dump the money into it if it were his car. Said to sell it and move on. When we factored rental car costs in, we are looking at $3100 PLUS $500 to fix the muffler issue (separate from this).
You could sell this car as a "mechanic's special" to someone who would DIY the valve fix.
Me, (assuming the condition of the rest of the car warranted it) I would fix it but I would be doing the work myself. As noted, there are probably upgraded exhaust valves available, if you replace all 4 valves you should not have to re-visit the issue. I think this one has an aluminum head and iron block, so you would be in there to do the head gasket in about the next 50K miles or so.
To me it would depend on how well you like the car, and on the general condition of the rest of the car.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Despite consumer reliability data and professional review, you just never know what a car is going to do. My neighbor has a 2003 Escape going strong with
180k miles. I have a 1997 Escort with 172,000. Both would be considered great luck. We had a 2002 Jeep Liberty that we traded in at 99,000 miles after putting close to $4,000 into repairs. For me, the thought of the car "letting you down" is hard to overcome. When you repair it, every time you drive it you wonder what will happen next. That lack of confidence and constant worry is something you should avoid, it's not good for your health.
I would not do a valve job on a vehicle with that many miles. A ring and valve job, with bearing inspection, perhaps, because with that many miles the rings may be on a downhill slide and won't last long.
I would say sell it or trade it in and get something with much lower miles!
You'd take too much of a loss to sell now with the work that's needed. Lucky if someone gave you $2000 with the work that's needed. I'd fix then sell it private party. You can still get around 6-7k with that mileage.
It all depends. I once listed an 06 Mazda 3 with 130k miles that had a blown tranny for $3,000. Sold it that same night. Drove back from the nissan dealership with the new car and the buyer was in front of my house with cash in hand.
Kelly blue book value is $8200... In good condition... Which, aside from the muffler and engine problems it is in good condition. Do you think pricing it at $5k and disclosing those issues would find me a buyer? Is that reasonable?
You could sell this car as a "mechanic's special" to someone who would DIY the valve fix.
Me, (assuming the condition of the rest of the car warranted it) I would fix it but I would be doing the work myself. As noted, there are probably upgraded exhaust valves available, if you replace all 4 valves you should not have to re-visit the issue. I think this one has an aluminum head and iron block, so you would be in there to do the head gasket in about the next 50K miles or so.
To me it would depend on how well you like the car, and on the general condition of the rest of the car.
Agreed. I'd do it myself, but short of that, sell it for under book value and move on. Putting the money into it just to make it worth book value is not worth it.
The reputation of the escape is not that great...even at a young 100K miles.
Kelly blue book value is $8200... In good condition... Which, aside from the muffler and engine problems it is in good condition. Do you think pricing it at $5k and disclosing those issues would find me a buyer? Is that reasonable?
Personally I wouldnt buy a car with over a 100k miles that has engine problems for $5k.
Usually someone would dump it and sell it as is and move on if the cost to fix exceeds the actual value of the car. Now if it's costing you $1800 - $2500 to get running correctly and the book value is $8,000, it may be worth fixing. That's just my opinion though. I once spent $2,300 for a complete tranny rebuild on a car that I paid $3500 for just because everything else about the car was in absolute pristine condition. Drove the car for another 2yrs and sold it for $3500.
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