Time to retire?

I'm at the point with this car where it needs a lot of work. '03 ALH 370,000 km with 240,000km w/ 520 nozzles. The suspension is done, the brakes need pads and rotors, the exhaust is leaking from the downpipe and the muffler is falling off. Drivers side front fender is in shambles along with the front bumper as I got hit on the 401, although it's only cosmetic as it's holding on fine It also needs wheels and tires because when my steering rack failed 2 of them got pretty banged up on the curb to the point they aren't usable.

From this point, what would need to be done to the car to keep it going another few years and is it worth it or is it time to move on? I don't want to drop 6000 into the car and then a valve fails and blows the whole engine.

If I retire the old girl in the fall I'm pretty much sold on the A3 TDI. Ideally though I would like to be able to keep this car going since my wife needs a car too and I don't have the cash upfront for both.

Mine went 736k miles before I hit a coyote... replaced the engine with one that had 300,000 miles now at 750k

BTW the odo will stop counting at 999,999km

WrEkkED said:

I'm at the point with this car where it needs a lot of work. '03 ALH 370,000 km with 240,000km w/ 520 nozzles. The suspension is done, the brakes need pads and rotors, the exhaust is leaking from the downpipe and the muffler is falling off. Drivers side front fender is in shambles along with the front bumper as I got hit on the 401, although it's only cosmetic as it's holding on fine It also needs wheels and tires because when my steering rack failed 2 of them got pretty banged up on the curb to the point they aren't usable.

From this point, what would need to be done to the car to keep it going another few years and is it worth it or is it time to move on? I don't want to drop 6000 into the car and then a valve fails and blows the whole engine.

If I retire the old girl in the fall I'm pretty much sold on the A3 TDI. Ideally though I would like to be able to keep this car going since my wife needs a car too and I don't have the cash upfront for both.

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$6,000 would get you most of the way to a complete mechanical refresh. I know, we just did it to our 99.5... glad we did, as it's like a brand new 15 year old car (aside from a few minor body issues).

Thats what I was wondering. What should be the order in which I start replacing items? Should I buy a whole head or is doing just the cam and seal enough?

My steering components are all new from when the rack broke. Unfortunatly one control arm is a cheap japaneese one as time was of the essance. This will be replaced in the summer as I cant take the poor ride. The subframe was cut and welded back together. Dont know if that will be an issue later.

I think I need to do, cam, lifters, cam seal, exhaust, turbo, suspension, windshield, tb and serpentine and wi replace altinator too. Anything else I should be accounting for?

I dunno. Sounds like a project that can lead to overruns of the initial cost estimate as new problems are discovered, and if known problems turn out to be worse than originally anticipated.

The car seems to be in good condition. Drives straight and well. I don't mind sinking more money in to it if it will keep going. All these parts don't need to be done all at once. But some need to be replaced now. Like the brakes and exhaust. In the spring I will need wheels and tires, Mid summer will be time for a serpentine, so would do the tb and cam at that point too. I can wait on the suspension although it is horrible, but it works. I just don't want to fix it then 20,000km later the valve springs bust or something.

Whats the typical life of the valves and springs?

WrEkkED said:

The car seems to be in good condition. Drives straight and well. I don't mind sinking more money in to it if it will keep going. All these parts don't need to be done all at once. But some need to be replaced now. Like the brakes and exhaust. In the spring I will need wheels and tires, Mid summer will be time for a serpentine, so would do the tb and cam at that point too. I can wait on the suspension although it is horrible, but it works. I just don't want to fix it then 20,000km later the valve springs bust or something.

Whats the typical life of the valves and springs?

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In my day cab Volvo, which has a Detroit diesel motor I have 1.2 million km.
Just how you maintain them.

I try to keep my car going as long as I can shift. Many good years left (I hope so). Will fix anything that is broken. This is the cheapest way for me. Have a super Guru. Sofar
the REPAIRS are so small. It got over the years some MALL scratches, so - this summer we'll get rid of those.

TDI smile said:

I try to keep my car going as long as I can shift. Many good years left (I hope so). Will fix anything that is broken. This is the cheapest way for me. Have a super Guru. Sofar
the REPAIRS are so small. It got over the years some MALL scratches, so - this summer we'll get rid of those.

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Yep, that's my thought too. I was an underpaid apprentice before so anything that wasn't a huge deal has been kind of left aside. My leaking downpipe really sucks because I can't defrost my windows without getting co2 poisoning. $450 a month car payments could pay for a lot of upkeep. Turbo and exhaust are coming as soon as it's warm enough Would love to do the suspension soon too, but it's not a necessity. Would look really good lowered 1.5" though.

How much is a car payment? How much can you fix each month with that car payment? How long will you have to put that car payment into this car vs. how long would a car payment be?

Fix the girl and keep her on the road is my thoughts, but aren't you the the rust zone? That may be the biggest issue for you. Is it going to rust away before you break even on repairs?

Taxes and Insurance is way cheaper. I am at 300K mi and I am keeping the '00 Tred.
Actually I have to it is the only 100% TDIfest attendee car.

These cars don't rust. Only thing that has been damaged by salt is my alternator pully and serpintine since my skid plate is gone, and has been for 3 years. I need to engineer a way to get it back on. I guess my subframe was affected too since it had to be cut out to replace my rack LoL

When I replaced my starter, which has also seen it's share of salt wasn't rusty at all and the whole undercarriage was amazing. I do go to the car wash when it's really gross out and it's always garaged except sometimes at work.
As far as breaking even, that's kind of where I'm at. The car owes me nothing. It's been paid off for a long time and I only have the money to buy my wife a vehicle (probably a nissan rogue). If I buy another car it will only be the A3TDI sedan (~$35,000) which after I buy my wifes car would have heavily financed. I just bought a house so my car money I had saved went into that.

I'm not worried about fixing it, I'm worried about something I can't see or predict breaking in the engine and taking my money with it, then still having to go and get another car.

PeterV said:

Taxes and Insurance is way cheaper. I am at 300K mi and I am keeping the '00 Tred.
Actually I have to it is the only 100% TDIfest attendee car.

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Very cool.

It simple; if it isn't rusted out, fix it. Stay on top of your maintenance and you won't have to make decisions like this one.

Good luck

I'm not worried about fixing it, I'm worried about something I can't see or predict breaking in the engine and taking my money with it, then still having to go and get another car.

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The bottom ends on these engines are stout and not an item of concern. That leaves the head and timing belt as potential problems for the future. You know to replace the timing belt, so it sounds like your concern is the head and you are already planning on replacing the cam and lifters this summer.

How about the clutch? If you still have the DMF in there it's possible that it could fail and take out the transmission, but at your mileage, I am betting that you have changed that and upgraded it.

I just can't see anything to worry about.

haha your right. I have a vr6 smf with 9lb flywheel. my clutch went pretty quick with injectors and a bit of towing. Thanks for the reassurance!

i hope you don't retire. i just picked up my TDI with 398K on it and I'm confident its going to last its in mint condition and running like a top

Si Trav said:

i hope you don't retire. i just picked up my TDI with 398K on it and I'm confident its going to last its in mint condition and running like a top

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nice congrads

red16vdub said:

nice congrads

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Are you talking about pleasant felons that completed a degree?

Or maybe it should be "congrats" short for "congratulations".

The financially more viable alternative to keeping it might not be a new car, but another used car. Before putting money into this one I would really look for rust and suspension element damage under the car, and have the compression checked. Does it use oil?
The mileage is not that high, but from your description the engine has seen quite heavy loads.

It does use a slight amount of oil over the 16000 km changes. I believe that to be my ccv though. Usually only happens if I've been in an unusual amount of stop and go traffic. Like after a snow storm and alot of clutch riding, stop go, it will eat a slight amount. maybe 1/4 of a quart at it's worst. I start with my oil at the half mark on my dip stick and usually after the 16000-17000km it will be just above the bottom hash.

I would buy used, and that would be the plan, except if I went with the A3 because there aren't any used seeing as the new aren't even out yet LoL

if the car is rust free , you can do your own work and your only expense is the price of parts , go for it and fix it up

an Audi won't be as cheap to fix/maintain

I know... it's just so damn sexy!

If the body is clean keep her going.

I have 255,000 miles on my 2002 and I have put no maintenance money into for over two years except oil changes. (Oh I have spent money on toys and upgrades but that is my choice not the engines.) So now I am replacing the cam lifters, head gasket timing belt struts and springs all around, front suspension total refresh, and a starter.Hmmm parts about $1800 labor $550. Brings my major maintenance to around $100/month. Find me a car like mine for $100/month.

Your car isn't worn out, but it sounds like you've postponed quite a bit of maintenance that's now built up into a big expense. You won't get what you put into it back, so if you don't want to keep it for a while you should not do any work on it and sell at a discount considering the needed repairs. You probably will also discover some items you don't expect, like rear axle bushings or a brake caliper or two. And if you haven't replaced the actuator on the turbo it's probably due.

Depends on how much you like the car and want to keep it. The choice gets harder when you have to do a lot of things at once.

I'll be on the other side of this conversation. You can repair a lot and spend a lot but for me it would come down to who I could trust to do the work. I lost my guy to the RR and don't have a good close mechanic that I would trust for that kind of refresh. And I don't have another car to be able to have this one out of service for week(s).

Also, after 10+ years, the interior of the car gets old, the seats get used and it's just not even close to a new car's features inside. For some this matters, for others not so much. But you can't really refresh that.

Also, think about what you can get if you sell it and move on. As you can see, there are lots of people who would pay some serious money for a decent car.

And they don't rust? They don't rust a lot, but they certainly rust. Mine will need some paintwork ($1-2k) or it will start perforating in a couple of years.

MikeS_18 said:

Also, after 10+ years, the interior of the car gets old, the seats get used and it's just not even close to a new car's features inside. For some this matters, for others not so much. But you can't really refresh that.

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I was thinking that replacing seats and carpeting would probably be high on my list if I ever kept a car again that long (over ten years). But as you said, after all that you are still driving an old car.

About the A3: isn't that just a shorter version of the JSW, somewhere between it and the Golf? You probably get fancier lighting, paddle shifters, and maybe more sound absorbing material, but is it otherwise really all that much nicer than a JSW?

Update: ok, looked it up myself: http://www.edmunds.com/car-comparisons/?veh1=200421450|diesel&veh2=200434955|diesel&show=0&comparatorId=6440570

You do get xenon lights and wider tires, but a lot of the nice stuff that's standard on our JSW costs extra on the Audi, like heated seats, heated mirrors, the Bluetooth and Apple interface stuff. It's not needed, but nice to have. You gain front headroom, but lose rear headroom, and you lose big in cargo space, both folded and unfolded. The car is 10" shorter, but if parking space is really at a premium, a Golf saves another 4".

Ok, enough of the heretics.

I could never afford to pay someone else to do all the repairs on my golf. Would have doubled the cost of the car easily.

You can never make everything new. I finally got every rubber piece in my suspension done, check engine light off and it was running great and now I have a loud squeeking noise coming from something under the hood.

Everything mechanical has a lifespan to it. I dont think there is a $ of how much you can spend to insure it will never have another problem, there is always a component thats close to the end of its life.

And a person only has so much ambition and depth to pockets.

Am I saying give up, no, but you need to take everything into account.

it's definitely possible to keep old stuff on the road for a long time....

Most of us here keep (collectively) quite a few 1950's B-52 and KC-135 alive and flying, so we all know it is definitely possible, but, as we are reminded every year at tax time, you need deep pockets for that (and a dedicated service department).