I'll start by saying I love my car dearly. I've got a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT V6 with 102,000 miles on it. (Pictured above, sitting outside the entrance of Joshua Tree Park before I got my CA license plates)
My parents helped me buy it used in 2007 (I found it online and bought it from the original dealer) when it only had 30,000 miles on it. We purchased it for about $8,000, and spent anoter $1,000 fixing the AC and doing some general maintenace.
Since then I've owned the car for 7 years. I've driven my car back and forth from GA to VA many times, as well as from GA to FL, and most recently, across the country to San Diego, CA with all of my belongings inside.
I had begun to notice my car seemed to be louder when driving about a month ago. I had had an oil change only a month prior, so I had no idea what was going on. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, when my oil light came on. I added some oil, and took my car into the shop on Saturday morning.
They told me that my car was done for. It would cost $1500 to fix everything that was wrong with it, and my is only worth about $2,500 without problems. They told me to buy a new car.
I was beyond upset to hear this. I'd saved some money in my emergency fund because I knew this was coming, but I didn't think it would come this soon. I started to panic about buying a new used car from a dealership and having to pay for super high california tag fees and smog tests and everything else.
I refused to accept what the shop told me. My car, despite being 14 years old, is still fairly low in mileage. I just need it to last me a few more years, and then I'll have my loans payed off and can save up for a new used car (I don't think I'll ever buy new). I don't think that the shop was being dishonest in any way, as they could have easily told me I need to make the $1500 in repairs, but I also wanted to see if there was another way. I decided to look into my options...
I posted to a subreddit called Mechanic Advice, where nice mechanics and car buffs help to answer people's car questions in their spare time. You can read the post here:
These were the things that are wrong with my car:
1)My front seal was cracked and leaking
2)My back seal was cracked and leaking
3)My oil drip pan gasket was leaking
Basically, my car is leaking oil all over it's engine, like a wounded warrior.
So all I have to do is add oil, right? Yeah, pretty much. Here is my new plan:
1) Get a base-line for how much oil I'm leaking by letting my car run as usual and checking the oil each week. Done. So far I've gone a week and a half and still haven't needed to add oil.
2) If oil isn't leaking too terribly, I'll buy some oil from Walmart and just constantly add it when needed. Done. Bought it on Amazon instead because free shipping with prime, it was only $40 for 5 quarts of high mileage synthetic oil. My car only holds 4 quarts, and even if I fill it entirely once per month, I'm only down $40.
3) If oil begins to leak faster/as soon as I save up, I will take my car in to have the front seal and the oil drip pan gasket replaced. For this, they won't need to take out my engine, so it shouldn't cost more than a couple of hundred dollars. I will NEED to do this eventually, because over time the oil could build up on my timing belt and cause more problems.
4) Hope that all of the above solves my problem, and if not, give in and pay for the rear seal to be replaced or consider getting a "new" used car.
So there you have it. After much freaking out, I've managed to not have to spend my next few weekends at used car dealerships, I won't have to pull half of my emergency fund, and I've used free resources to learn more about my car. Here's to hoping she lasts me a few more years :D
