Fix it up or trade in and get new car?

[nisryus]

So I have an old 2004 Corolla 4 door sedan. Engines is good, but needs new tires and probably brake (still running on original brake!). It has been sitting outside the garage for two years now as we tried to cut back on spending and had cancelled the insurane and have not renewed the registration.

It runs good but since its old, when stopping you can feel the engine is kind of.. shaky. The vibration is what brothers my wife the most. she still thinks even if we fixed it up, its not safe to drive daily on the highway. Reason being I lost my job recently and are about to go on to several interviews (in person) in downtown Austin, or South Austin. If I do land one, it will be long commute every day.

now, if i sell the Corolla, it might be worth 1k or so, since someone hit it along the right rear door years ago and we didn't get it fixed. Whoever did that left because it happened at the Costco parking lot. The right side might not look nice but there is no issue when operating the vehnicle.

I can spend $400 bucks on brakes, and $360 on new tires to get it running again. Hopefully not over one grand to fix it up...

The hard question is.. is it worth it to fix it up? How many more years can i get out of it before having to buy a new car?

We are lookign at Mazda, Honda, toyota and Subaru. If trade in and get a new car (small SUV), it will be for me to drive a year or two before giving it to the kid when he goes off to college. A new Mazda CX-30 is like $24,800 before tax, and Korean cars are hard no to the wife. =/

 

[VirtualLarry]

engine mounts shot? ("engine vibration"?)

 

[repoman0]

engine mounts shot? ("engine vibration"?)

This

2004 Corolla is perfect for a college student. Brakes, tires, engine mounts and call it a day.

 

[Greenman]

How many miles are on it?

 

[RLGL]

Dump it, why throw good money after bad?

 

[nisryus]

How many miles are on it?

Last I checked, close to100k since it was mainly used by the wife to drive around locally, and a few trips to Houston or Dallas a few times a year.

 

[nisryus]

I see. Thx VirtualLarry. I have to get it to a shop to check on the engine mount.

If it is gonna costs a ton to fix it, probably sell it/trade it in.

 

[Greenman]

Last I checked, close to100k since it was mainly used by the wife to drive around locally, and a few trips to Houston or Dallas a few times a year.

100k isn't even half of the power train's service life. That car should run 250k relatively trouble free miles.

 

[VirtualLarry]

100k isn't even half of the power train's service life. That car should run 250k relatively trouble free miles.

True dat.

Also, consider having the timing belt/chain checked/replaced @ 100K mi.

Edit: Or even better, look up timing belt replacement interval in the manual.

 

[mindless1]

Considering you lost your job, now probably isn't the best time to think about buying a new vehicle, especially when the Corolla is likely to have plenty of life left in it, assuming based on your region that there's very little rust, but I don't know your finances, just leaning that direction since you didn't want to pay to fix the prior dent damage.

While you have time off working, how about DIY replace the brake pads, and rotors if they look grooved? You should be able to get mid-grade (major brand) pads and rotors for around $200, all 4 wheels.

The shaking, not enough to go on. Could be motor mounts, could be suspension or brakes (if only happening while stopping), or if it happens stopped while in gear, could be a vac leak or other fuel mix ratio issue causing low idle or misfires. You might hook up a scan tool to see what the long term fuel trim reading is.

If an engine mount, you should notice the excessive engine movement, revving it while parked.

I agree it's the perfect vehicle for a college student, unless moving to an apartment where they have to haul a lot of stuff since it's a smaller vehicle.

I'm curious why you didn't get the door fixed? Is it something that a paintless dent repair guy could do? If it's just the door, maybe search junkyards for a door from same color Corolla to avoid painting it? I guess it depends on how bad it looks, whether it's worth fixing, but you know your son would rather have a practically new CX-30 than a dented up '04 Corolla.

How much can he contribute to all this? I mean there's two schools of thought on this, spoil them (your kids) rotten, versus make them earn things to appreciate the value of work.

What is he currently driving? I'd want the corolla as a learner vehicle for him even if you do eventually give him a $25K vehicle to replace it in a few years.

There's too many other details missing. If the Corolla is fixed up, is that what you'd be driving on the long commute to Austin or something else? Does the air conditioning still work good?

If you'd only drive a new vehicle a couple years before giving it to your son, what will you do for transportation then?

Ultimately keeping and fixing up the Corolla is the more economical plan, nothing wrong with having it go another decade as would be normal but it doesn't address who gets what vehicle now and in two years. I wouldn't look at it as only worth $1K but rather how many more years it probably has in it and how low a cost per year that will be...

... I mean at $1K value, after your son is a good/practiced driver, I'd drop comprehensive insurance on it so that alone is a big savings over having that insurance on a young driver with an almost new vehicle. That alone might pay for all the repairs the Corolla needs over time. Plus vehicle prices are inflated right now in the post-covid era but that won't last forever. It will cost less to fix up the Corolla than a new vehicle bought today, would depreciate in 2 years. A lot less, most likely. I'd also consider that a Honda or Toyota will probably depreciate a little slower than a Mazda.

How many more years you can get out of it is about 30 if it's not rusting out. Not kidding, it's a popular vehicle and in the long run it would be cheaper to replace the engine, transmission, etc, compared to buying new vehicle after new vehicle.

On the other hand, some people would rather pay a lot more to have a more reliable vehicle (though Corollas are generally considered very reliable) with more modern conveniences, but with those conveniences also comes higher repair bills later... and higher still if you're a DIYer like a lot of us, where repairs (especially electrical/data/proprietary-OEM-parts) become complex enough that you have to pay shop labor and shop part price premiums instead of DIY.

 

[Paperdoc]

I usually estimate the lifetime of a car at about 15 years, BUT that's impacted a great deal by WHERE I live - on the north shore of Lake Superior in Ontario, Canada. Here we get lots of winter with consequent sand and salt on roads for ice, and those DO promote rust badly. I don't drive a lot of miles per year, so deterioration of the body is more of a lifetime limiter. Your situation, OP may be quite different.

Another factor is who does the repair work? Pro shops are very expensive but necessary for what you cannot do yourself. Over several decades I've become pretty good at home repairs and backyard mechanic stuff, so I do a lot myself. Modest engine repairs, brakes, exhaust systems, suspension & steering, water pump, alternator and starter replacement, electrical problems, etc. I don't change oil - do not have any good way to dispose, so I get a shop to do that. I rotate tires and swap winter / summer wheels. The most complex items I've done are replacement of head gasket a couple times. This means I have accumulated a lot of knowledge and many reasonable hand tools, but certainly not a well-equipped shop. I have a great private mechanic nearby I rely on, and he's where I go to get stubborn old bolts loosened or cut off so I can do the rest. Plus he does the larger items I can't (and that's getting to be more as I age!).

There are four cars in our household: my 2014 Mazda 3, my son and daughters' 2021 Nissan Sentras, and a 2007 Hyundai Accent my granddaughter uses going to college. Until last fall our oldest car was a 1999 Toyota Corolla with a badly rusted body and leaking gas tank but still usable until people forgot to monitor the oil level despite a known leak in the pan gasket and it ran dry and seized! Had about 110,000 Km on it (65,000 miles). I had planned to retire it to the scrap yard by this year anyway.

Because I have done my own maintenance for the most part, I keep cars until they are scrap or nearly. By the time they are 10 - 12 years old the need for repairs becomes greater, and I do not think I could hold on that long if I were paying a pro for all that work. So take that into account in making your decision.

 

[manly]

This is not a hard question at all. It could be hard if we were talking about a 2004 era Big-3 sedan with higher mileage. Those were comparatively crappy cars prior to the Great Recession that wiped out Detroit's debt load.

Dump it, why throw good money after bad?

Wrong answer. Unless the car is already a "money pit," it will always be a better value to own than buying any new car. The added facts that it's a low-mileage Toyota, and his son needs a car within 2 years seals the deal.

Tires and brakes are actually maintenance costs, and not even repairs. These are costs he should have incurred years ago (original brakes lasting 100k miles is wild). Late model or old cars, you have to spend money on maintenance to operate a vehicle safely and reliably. With many Toyotas, maintenance+repair costs turn out to be very modest. A well maintained Corolla, even a 19 year old one, can be very reliable. Most people would replace it for image reasons, not for mechanical or cost reasons.

If you had a buy another car, in a normal market, you're still better off buying a used one. The sweet spot tends to be around 5 years (or less if you want a low mileage example). But auto prices remain inflated from what I've read, so any purchase is the relatively worse decision.

Finally, Hyundai/Kia are really killing it and make very competitive cars for the money. Glance at the U.S. News "best of" lists and you'll see they dominated the 2022 rankings.

 

[lsd]

Do not put money into to. The worst thing you can do to an older car is to let it sit and it sat for 2 years you say. I'm a proponent of keeping older cars but that one is a hard pass. Drive it til it's dead and move on.

 

[Fenixgoon]

do you have the ability (space, tools...or friends with said space and tools) to do the brake work? that can easily save you $$ right there.

not sure about how easy it is to replace engine mounts on that car, but that could also be a $$ saver.

tire tools are less common, so getting a shop to do that for you is understandable.

but brakes and tires are two items worth $, seeing as they are both wear and safety items.

 

[mindless1]

^ Yeah being wear items, you're paying per miles & years of use, and that cost will be a little more for larger rimmed SUV tires as well, then eventually TPMS sensors too, on a newer vehicle. We could think in terms of new vehicle coming with new tires so it's set for a while, but the buyer is essentially still paying for the tires that come on it.

Mounting tires, almost no consumer has a wheel balance machine so have to take them somewhere and pay for that anyway, well worth the additional ~$10/wheel (even more so if the vehicle is road-worthy on the old tires so can be driven there instead of pulling the wheels off) for the same shop to pull old tire and mount new one.

Engine mounts (which don't yet seem 100% certain to be the problem), probably just a floor jack, plywood on jack saddle to spread the load raising the engine weight off the mounts, a few bolts after moving a few things out of the way. Could be done in an afternoon, most likely.

 

[RLGL]

Engine mounts (which don't yet seem 100% certain to be the problem), probably just a floor jack, plywood on jack saddle to spread the load raising the engine weight off the mounts, a few bolts after moving a few things out of the way. Could be done in an afternoon, most likely.

Dreamer

 

[mindless1]

^ How so? It almost is a dream, to work on a vehicle in a low rust region compared to what I have to deal with where half the battle is the rusty fasteners.

I glanced at a few youtube videos for that generation Corolla, didn't look like brain surgery or need any exotic tools. I was doing family and my own repairs long before YT came around but YT is almost a dream in itself, to have other people showing repairs, even down to socket sizes!

 

[nisryus]

We didn't report the door issue since it was a hit and run, and wife was afraid the insurance rate would be affected. Thinking of it now, we should have gotten it fixed eventhough it's only a cosmatic issue.

The engine vibrates only when full stopped.. sometimes. which is weird. I opened the hood and have my son looked at the engine when i started the car and shifted into gear, but the engine looked ok. Not shaking or moving like some of the video i saw on Youtube about bad engine mount.

Wife doesn't wants me to do brake, since brake = life and death. I am allow to change oil, tires, took the clock out and resolder the broken parts, fixed the motor of the passenger side door so the window works again.. etc.. just not brakes.

Tires are 8 years old, with 2 years outside under the element, so probably good idea to change them. Willc haneg oil and filter.

Good callon timing belt, will have the shop check it. I changed the serpentine belt just 3 years ago, so it should still be good.

 

[nisryus]

Oh, the kid still has a learner license. he will be getting his driver license this summer.

I called brake check and they quoted me $450 for the brakes. I can get four new tires (Coopers) from discounted tires for $370. I will chanegd the oil, filters, engine air filter.. etc.

Only thing left is to take to a shop to check the vibration and transmission

 

[Paperdoc]

Your wife is right about brakes = life. BUT you CAN learn to do the brakes! I do not recommend you simply try to figure them out yourself! But if you can find a buddy who DOES know how, doing it with help to learn can work.

The key thing here is that replacing the brake PADS and maybe ROTORS (for disc brakes) and SHOES or DRUMS (for drum brakes maybe on rear) is not too complicated. You DO need to clean lots of parts and ensure they will operate smoothly when re-installed. Some parts are tricky to remove and re-install until you learn how. You must NOT disconnect or damage any of the brake fluid hoses or lines unless you want to deal with bleeding air out, etc., but moving parts around carefully and supporting them when not mounted can be done to avoid actually opening up the hydraulic system. I do all kinds of brake system repairs now. But at first (decades ago) I did only brake shoes, then drums, too, then learned disc brake pads and calipers and discs. Took me 15 to 20 years of those before I decided to tackle a faulty brake wheel cylinder because the garage that had installed a new replacement unit did a bad job. You can learn and expand your knowledge, but don't leap into the deep end right from the start.

Replacing tires DOES require some specialized equipment and knowledge even for the small wheels of a Corolla. I never do that job myself - just treat the cost of having the shop do that as part of the total replacement cost.

It is certainly recommended that the timing belt inside the end of the engine be replaced at 100,000 miles or so as a precaution. A sudden failure of that item means the engine is dead until it's replaced, and I had to have that done once on another old car. But even on my old 1999 Corolla I never had that job done before it failed for a completely unrelated problem. Maybe I was just lucky. But be warned. On some cars it's not too hard to do. On SOME, however, there is no space to reach the work area and you nearly have to lift the entire engine out to get at it!

 

[mindless1]

Oh, the kid still has a learner license. he will be getting his driver license this summer.

I called brake check and they quoted me $450 for the brakes. I can get four new tires (Coopers) from discounted tires for $370. I will chanegd the oil, filters, engine air filter.. etc.

Only thing left is to take to a shop to check the vibration and transmission

I'd definitely start him out on a low value car rather than high value, higher center of gravity SUV, even if a CX-30/similar is barely an SUV.

$450 isn't outside the range of reasonable if it includes major brand rotors. If it is generic rotors or not including rotors then too high. I don't necessarily mean Toyota OEM rotors, as there are several reputable brands in the aftermarket.

Transmission... I didn't notice you mentioning transmission yet, is this a separate problem or you think might be related to the vibration? These kinds of repairs can be a bit like opening a can of worms because you're highly dependent on the competence (and honesty) of the shop assessing the vehicle.

If the shop wants a lot of money then I'd ask for specifics of what made them reach their diagnosis, including specific error code #'s if they claim they saw some. It could even be as simple as a $3 piece of vacuum hose rotted out or popped off its connector nipple... but some shops would love to bill for more than that.

 

[nisryus]

I didn't noticed any issue with the transmission yet, but it is probably time for a flush.

Will haev to see if timing belt need replacing... or not. Hope it will make it through a few more years!

The shop that gave me the quote was referring to generic parts, hmm, i might have to shop around.

 

[BoomerD]

Depending on the vehicle, timing belt recommendations can start at around 60,000 miles. If the timing belt breaks while driving, it might just strand you pending replacement...or it could cause serious engine damage.
Brakes aren't terribly difficult...as long as you have a decent place to work and the right tools. Do NOT take apart more than one wheel at a time. You MIGHT need to see how it came apart!

 

[WilliamM2]

I didn't noticed any issue with the transmission yet, but it is probably time for a flush.

Will haev to see if timing belt need replacing... or not. Hope it will make it through a few more years!

The shop that gave me the quote was referring to generic parts, hmm, i might have to shop around.

The 2003 and newer Corolla's have a timing chain not a belt. No replacement needed, If they tell you it does need replacing, find a new shop.

 

[BoomerD]

The 2003 and newer Corolla's have a timing chain not a belt. No replacement needed, If they tell you it does need replacing, find a new shop.

Good catch.