My car is dying slowly, advice?

nyeark

Senior member
Oct 17, 2003
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I've got an old, hand-me-down '91 Infiniti M30, and while I appreciate the hell out of it (free!), it's slowly coming apart, and I'm counting the days till it kicks the bucket.

I've seen a number of car 'experts' here, so I figure ya'll could give me some advice; spend the time/money (neither of which I have a lot of) to fix it, or scrap it for another, less-used car? If I get another car, I'd prefer one similar to this: rear-wheel, automatic, 160HP+, etc.
 

natto fire

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2000
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What are the specific problems you are having with it? Valve clearance, timing belt, etc? No car dies unless you let it!
 

nyeark

Senior member
Oct 17, 2003
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Originally posted by: Captain_Howdy
What are the specific problems you are having with it? Valve clearance, timing belt, etc? No car dies unless you let it!

There's a couple of main issues and then a few little ones...

The transmission's taking a hell of a long time to shift, it just hesitates while the engine revs, and finally when it shifts the car shudders and accelerates.

I'm getting some really odd noises while turning at low speeds, squeaking/groaning noises (hard to describe) and when turning to the left there's a loud snapping or cracking sound (again, hard to describe).

Minor stuff:
Left high-beam is out
The electrical needs a bit of work: AC display hasn't worked in ages, it worked ONCE like 2 weeks ago and then stopped again, and the tachometer is on crack; it'll show 2-3k RPMs at idle, then suddenly jump to some crazy number like 7k for a while, then change again. It's a mix between actual values and randomness.
Shocks/suspension are nonexistant. If there's any sort of bump, I feel it.
A friggin deer hit my car (hit me, I didn't hit him) awhile back and the driver's-side window hesistates going up.
Interior is shot, it sat in the sun for a year and the leather in the back is all crusty and fvcked up.

EDIT: Yeah, forgot this one, the alarm goes off completely randomly. So random that I didn't know it even had an alarm until I leaned against the door one day and off it went. A week later it goes off at 4 in the morning...3 times in a row. It doesn't even go off if you try to steal it, it apparently only goes off to annoy me. :frown:

There's probably other stuff I'm forgetting, too, but it probably isnt terribly important.

It's hard to explain but I get the feeling it's going to die soon : /
Which sucks cause it would be a good car if it was in better shape.
 

nyeark

Senior member
Oct 17, 2003
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Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Hah, yeah dude, my car is 25 years old and it's doing ok.

Well this one would be too, but the previous owner (my sister) didn't take care of it at all. I suspect some of the problems are her fault, but I didn't pay attention when she owned the car, so I dunno.

Don't get me wrong, it runs, it's sorta-fast (transmission holds it back, though) and insurance isn't too bad considering my age, but its in crappy shape.
 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Sounds like the transmission is dying. Don't expect it to last much longer...
 

Scouzer

Lifer
Jun 3, 2001
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i think we can forgive him for wanting to junk the car. thats a lot wrong. lol
 

nyeark

Senior member
Oct 17, 2003
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Alright, so...should I scrap it for all of the $500 it's worth, or fix it, or what? isekii suggested a J30, which isn't a half-bad idea, if I can find one decently cheap.

Anything else?
 

BustaBust

Golden Member
Dec 21, 2001
1,425
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Damn.....that is scaring me into thinking about the big body Lexus.....I don't know if I should blow it up or not