Well, coming home from an Xbox get together on Saturday night, my oil pump decided it had lived long enough. I had to get my dad up at 1 in the morning to tow it the remaining 4 miles home with his Explorer...
It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't just bought it a couple months ago. (The temporary plates expire in uh... 3 days... and my new ones haven't come in yet... hmmm
)
So, now I'm on the tail end of deciding what to do. The current plans are to throw a used engine and tranny in it this Saturday.
I can get a 3.4L as a direct replacement for mine for 700 bucks... cheaper than a rebuilt. I thought about reworking it to get it going again, but by the time I replaced the pistons, rings, pump, and honed out the cylinders, I'd be at a little over $500, with considerable more time into it than a swap. Plus, it was having a little hesitation turning over, which is only going to get worse when the cold weather comes. The replacement I'm looking at has about 100k miles on it (only 20k more than mine) and has been checked out well by the local Car recycler... and it includes a 90 day warranty which will get me through the coldest months.
As for the tranny, I'm doing that because of two problems that have started to catch my attention. It seems to have a good slip in it - going down the road, it will lose power for a couple seconds until I feel it shift back into a random gear and keep going. Also, it learned a new trick in the past weeks. When I let my foot off the break, but not touch the gas, it's supposed to be a constant, smooth pressure. Well, I've now got a very noticable pulse coming from the transmission. So, I can pick one up for $400 from the same recyclers, with the same 90 day warranty.
I went with used over rebuilt because of the price difference. I can afford two used engines for the same cost as a rebuilt, and I can put in three different transmissions for the same as a rebuilt.
Let's play Spot the Flaw... Anything I've overlooked or should do while I'm in there? The car has about 80k miles on it and is almost perfect except for those things, so I figure I can afford to put a little in it.
Thanks!
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