Fix it up or trade in and get new car?

[nisryus]

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.

Ahh. Thx William

 

[NutBucket]

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.

Years ago I took my car to get a smog check. They correctly tried to sell me a new timing belt. They incorrectly tried to sell me a trans flush for an MT.

 

[pauldun170]

"It has been sitting outside the garage for two years "
"When stopping you can feel the engine is kind of.. shaky"
"100k"

What I got out of this is that it has 2 year old gas in the tank. How many fresh tankful's of gas have you gone through since taking it out of storage? Did you checked the airbox for "rodent gifts"

Do you have a check engine light?

A rust free 2004 Corolla with 100K has a LOT of life left in it.
Replace the fluids (including brake fluid)

 

[pauldun170]

Another thing that to think about is if the car had no battery in it, it may have reset the sensor maps to defaults. For example, let say your throttle body has accumulated some build up over the years the ecu reading the maf sensor adjusts accordingly.
Yank the battery and all that learning disappears.
Now once you hook up the new battery, combined with bad gas the engine is running rough be a use it's trying to run old gas using factory sensor maps on sensors that have crud on them.

The immediate fix is to clean out the throttle body with a tooth brush and carb cleaner, get fresh gas in the tank and then drive the car. Things should start smoothing out.

Slow route is cross fingers that ecu relearns based on sensor data.

 

[mindless1]

^ Good idea about the old fuel, but I suspect if the ECM resorts to default values, it should still be able to use the lower airflow sensed by the MAF due to the throttle body restriction, should then run a little rich until it has completed the relearn process.

After sitting that long, could also have a sticking idle air control valve, especially if it bogs down at idle when the A/C compressor engages.

 

[pauldun170]

^ Good idea about the old fuel, but I suspect if the ECM resorts to default values, it should still be able to use the lower airflow sensed by the MAF due to the throttle body restriction, should then run a little rich until it has completed the relearn process.

After sitting that long, could also have a sticking idle air control valve, especially if it bogs down at idle when the A/C compressor engages.

If I recall correctly on my 2002 Toyota, when I ran into the situation where the battery swap occured at the time when the throttle body had seen better days it idled horrendously.

I can't remember if I drove it far enough to relearn but I pretty much tackled the throttle body that afternoon.

Good idea on the idle control valve. In addition to sticking, another thing to check is that vacuum hose that feeds it. It's a prime candidate for drying out and splitting resulting in vacuum leaks.
The easy test would be to see how the idle responds to wiper or rear defogger.

Op what's being described are very simple tasks that can be done with basic tools and YouTube.

 

[nisryus]

Thx guys. I did put in new gas as the tank was almost empty when I park in outside (it was still covered with a car cover though).

The battery is new. I might drive it a bit for it to relearn.

 

[pauldun170]

Thx guys. I did put in new gas as the tank was almost empty when I park in outside (it was still covered with a car cover though).

The battery is new. I might drive it a bit for it to relearn.

No check engine light? Just running rough?

 

[Hans Gruber]

It sounds like the tires are out of balance causing the car to shake. Could need an alignment as well. So new tires and brakes. Then try it out and or sell it.

 

[nisryus]

Thankfully, no check engine light.

 

[jpiniero]

Hijacking this because I might be in a similar spot. The support of one the rear axles broke and it turns out both rear axles are rotted out. Place I took it to wouldn't even give me a quote until Monday but said it'd be over a thousand. Has about 100k miles on it. Anyone want to suggest at what point I say no? The car is completely undrivable without being fixed.

 

[mindless1]

Hijacking this because I might be in a similar spot. The support of one the rear axles broke and it turns out both rear axles are rotted out. Place I took it to wouldn't even give me a quote until Monday but said it'd be over a thousand. Has about 100k miles on it. Anyone want to suggest at what point I say no? The car is completely undrivable without being fixed.

Your info is far too vague and incomplete.

What vehicle model and year? What is the (current/post-covid) book value of it?

Is it rear wheel drive? What exactly broke that supports the rear axles? What exactly is rotted out? Did you take it to dealership shop that sells same make of vehicle or elsewhere?

It could be over a thousand for darn near anything these days, one thing I"d consider besides overall value of the vehicle if in working order, is what it would cost to replace it, AND, how much rust has damaged other areas.

To some extend if you want it affordable to drive an older vehicle, you have to take on some of the repairs DIY to make financial sense.

WIthout knowing anything else about the vehicle, a typical vehicle with only 100K mi on it is worth spending a couple thousand to keep on the road, UNLESS it is unibody and rust has severely compromised the structural integrity of the rest of it.

I am being overly generic in my reply because the details matter. However if it is a Corolla, there should be plenty of those in junkyards and anything you need can be cut off of one and welded onto yours, if there's enough good metal left at an opportunistic spot to do so, though with axles (??) it needs to be fairly true to spec so the wheel alignment can be adjusted right. Would it cost $1K? Sure, it could, or more.

Look at what it would cost you to get something equivalent to how it will be after it is repaired, or whether you'd rather invest in something newer/different/less-rust/whatever.

You might get a second opinion too... even if it can't be driven, might only cost $100 or so to tow it to another shop, depending on distance.

 

[jpiniero]

Your info is far too vague and incomplete.

What vehicle model and year? What is the (current/post-covid) book value of it?

Is it rear wheel drive? What exactly broke that supports the rear axles? What exactly is rotted out? Did you take it to dealership shop that sells same make of vehicle or elsewhere?

2010 Elantra, which is FWD. KBB I think said maybe 3700 for trade in. Real Axle is probably not the correct name for it but it's a metal piece underneath. I probably should try to figure out what the actual name of the piece is. This is def not something to DIY.

There is definitely rust in the wheels too.

 

[NutBucket]

Pretty sure that gen Elantra has a solid beam axle out back. If that is rusted to the point of replacement, scary to think what the rest of the underside must look like.

 

[jpiniero]

Pretty sure that gen Elantra has a solid beam axle out back. If that is rusted to the point of replacement, scary to think what the rest of the underside must look like.

Yeah. That's what happens with rock salt. I don't drive when it snows so you think the rusting wouldn't be that bad... but I guess it is. I guess it's possible that what was holding it up just snapped and wasn't related to the rusting.

I looked up some manuals and the closest to the part that was dragging was the Rear Assist Arm (?). Looks like the parts related to it aren't that expensive but labor is going to be astronomical.

 

[jpiniero]

Yikes... they want $2700 for it. Both Rear Control Arms and the Rear Subframe, plus labor. Was expecting it to be a lot but not that much. They want a lot more for the parts than I thought.

You'd say it would be an easy call to just buy a new car but obvs I wouldn't get anything for the car if it's unfixed and there's always the chance that fixing this means I'd get another year or two out of it. Gotta think about it.

 

[NutBucket]

Well you're basically replacing the main structure of the rear of the car. I'd also assume that total will go up as they find more rusty things that need to be replaced or that break while they're taking things apart.

 

[repoman0]

Yikes... they want $2700 for it. Both Rear Control Arms and the Rear Subframe, plus labor. Was expecting it to be a lot but not that much. They want a lot more for the parts than I thought.

You'd say it would be an easy call to just buy a new car but obvs I wouldn't get anything for the car if it's unfixed and there's always the chance that fixing this means I'd get another year or two out of it. Gotta think about it.

Been there done that, fixing up a rusty POS for a lot of money. In the end you still have a rusty POS. Mine was a relatively special decent car too and I still sold it shortly after repairs.

 

[NutBucket]

Conversely you could junk it for say $500-$800. I'm usually in the camp of fixing it and keeping it going...but rust is a bitch!

 

[DooKey]

Yikes... they want $2700 for it. Both Rear Control Arms and the Rear Subframe, plus labor. Was expecting it to be a lot but not that much. They want a lot more for the parts than I thought.

You'd say it would be an easy call to just buy a new car but obvs I wouldn't get anything for the car if it's unfixed and there's always the chance that fixing this means I'd get another year or two out of it. Gotta think about it.

Junk it. You have more rust that's just waiting to rot out the rest of the car.

 

[jpiniero]

Junk it. You have more rust that's just waiting to rot out the rest of the car.

The problem is that the car is completely undrivable with the control arm dragging. I asked them if they had looked to see if there was anything else dire, and they said no. Do I trust them? Somewhat. The wheels do have plenty of rust though. Essentially it's a $2700 gamble that I'd get another year or two.

 

[NutBucket]

A salvage yard will still give you money for it since other parts are usable.

 

[manly]

The problem is that the car is completely undrivable with the control arm dragging. I asked them if they had looked to see if there was anything else dire, and they said no. Do I trust them? Somewhat. The wheels do have plenty of rust though. Essentially it's a $2700 gamble that I'd get another year or two.

Everyone's advice is pretty clear, spending nearly $3000 hoping for one or two years of utility sounds like a terrible gamble.

The actual problem is that due to the supply chain mess/overhang, you can't buy a decent used car for cheap anymore. It's better than it was a year ago, but prices are still elevated. Still, $3000 is a good chunk of the cost of buying something with any eye on say 7-8 years of use.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

When I had a 1997 Mercury Tracer, in some of the last years of its life, around 2013-2014, a hard bump in the road let to a sudden die-out of the engine, and a weird lean to the car. Turned out that when the bump was hit, the metal surrounding the rear strut mount on the passenger side gave out, and the strut mount punched through the back of the car and physically crushed the fuel intertia cut-off switch that's located back there.

The local mechanic charged me $700 to replace the switch / torn wiring, and welded a new plate across to good metal. Drove that thing another 2-3 years before the sub frame cracked and there just wasn't enough good metal on the front of the car let to weld / replace anything. The $700 was a good gamble vs. a car payment for me when I was young and budgets were tight, but $3000 is much much higher. At that point, I'd probably be rolling that money into a newer beater if I were still shopping for beaters.

 

[mindless1]

You need a shop that will discuss with you, how far shot the rest of the undercarriage is from rust.

Not just one that would like to bill you for xyz. So, get a second opinion. At the same time if the rear subframe is rotten and you can't DIY any of it, then it is probably cost prohibitive to keep repairing it. That is just a guess, yet the first shop could be trying to milk you for all the money they can. It probably isn't "too" bad or else they wouldn't even want the liability of offering to repair it at all.

Sometimes it is amazing how a different shop only wants sub-$1000 total for what another wants near $3K to fix. We can't see, poke, investigate given too little access to the info.