My Subaru Legacy has slowly but surely been deteriorating, and I think it has finally kicked the bucket. I have been repairing it myself, as well as passing the difficult problems to my mechanics, but the repairs I need now are overwhelmingly expensive and not reasonable for me. It still runs but barely. Details below the fold.
I bought this car used a few years ago, and from the jump, there have been issues. My engine overheated back in March and I had the radiator replaced, flushed out the coolant and replaced that + burped air bubbles, replaced the upper and lower radiator hoses + clamps, replaced the downstream oxygen sensor, replaced all the lightbulbs (mostly because I had a few out and dismantling the front bumper and de-oxidizing the light coverings to provide brighter light was such a project that I would rather never do that again), replaced the front left axle, and some other less significant repairs. I know that my head gaskets are bad, and the repairs will run at least 2,700 USD. I applied a head gasket sealant back in October, which seems to have bought me three months, which, not bad for $70 and a few hours work, shrug. My upstream oxygen sensor needs replacing, and I am pretttttty sure that my water pump has severe problems. Replacing the engine, which is another option, is an estimated 1,800 USD. My mechanics (the family I never had!) have basically recommended that I stop attempting to resuscitate the car and cut my losses.
Well, since I use my car for my job, I've been doing the maintenance work on my car as usual and hoping that this head gasket issue wouldn't come to a, er, head until like, March. But, the other day I noticed a disturbing vibration and a strange, squeaky rattle coming from somewhere behind the front passenger side seat. Well, shit, I thought. That'd be the water pump. I've had my eye on a car since December and it's still on the lot so today I drove 35 minutes to the dealership and prayed my car wouldn't break down on 95 North. I made it just in time, as steam was billowing from my tailpipe and my car was jumping when I accelerated after idling at red lights.
The dealership's owner has offered to let me keep the Subaru on his lot until I can get it towed by Subaru Roadside Assistance.
But I'm like, where should I get it towed? Back to my place in South Philadelphia? Directly to a junkyard where I can sell it for a few hundred bucks? If I get it towed back home, can I reasonably get this thing sold on Craigslist for more than the junkyard would pay for it? Should I part it out? The body of the car is in good shape aside from very minor scrapes. Parting out like, rearview mirrors alone would bring in $80 if I found buyers (which sounds like a lot of work + time). I don't have a garage and the car would likely sit in front of my house at the curb until I either sold it or parted it out or whatever. If I can, I'd like to recoup some money from this thing, but I don't know what is reasonable and if I should just scrap it for $300 and dust my hands of the whole situation.
TLDR; my car is officially a piece of junk, but a handsome and potentially useful piece of junk to the right buyer/shade-tree mechanic, and I'm not sure how much it's worth stressing over or if it's salvageable or worthwhile to anyone at all. |
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