At a crossroads - looking for input

[cornfarmer]

As I delve deeper into the deferred maintenance of my Gen 2.5, I'm on the fence about dumping more $$$ into it, or just getting out now.

What I'm looking at right now:

• Valve seals job + anything else in there while its opened up (it's consuming oil pretty rapidly)
• 4WD general service (actuator lube, sensor, etc.)
• Front CV boots/axel replacement
• It's at 148k so I could possibly do the timing belt/etc. early (?)
• Redoing the front seat upholstery at some point (not really a big deal, but they squeak like ********** and need disassembly to fix right)

It's Monday, I'm tired and I'm struggling with repairs getting close to exceeding the Monty's value. Most of these things I don't have the time/space to do 100% easily/correctly, so my mechanic would be taking it on. I'm probably just venting...I like the damn thing but selling the Monty and finding something else will be just as much a hassle as fixing the above/being without the car for a few days.

 

[plh]

what year? '98 to 2000... 16+ year old any vehicle will need maintenance. 4X4 even more. Its just a fact.

When was your last timing belt / water pump / tensioners completed? @120K? its a 60K PM on a 3.5l IIRC.

 

[Dabird]

I always look at it this way... can you get a better/nicer vehicle than what you will have after the repairs for the cost of the repairs?

 

[cornfarmer]

16+ year old any vehicle will need maintenance. 4X4 even more. Its just a fact.

Yeah, my ************ girlfriend reminded me of this the other day.

I always look at it this way... can you get a better/nicer vehicle than what you will have after the repairs for the cost of the repairs?

^ Fair enough.

Off to the mechanic she goes.

 

[mcskibadee1]

I went through the same thing with mine. "Oh, a couple thousand and it will still be totally worth it". Month goes by and needs more stuff. 6 months later and it still needs more stuff. There is a fine line where you might go forward and hope there isn't much more in repairs or you call it quits. At the end it wasn't worth it and I would never see that money back but I knew I had a reliable vehicle. If I could have done it over again I would have gone a different route but you live and learn.

Edit: the fun thing is that there is no guarantee that the next car you get will be any better than the one you just sold. I typically prefer buying cars from forum members because they have a love for their cars and usually have documented threads about their cars.

 

[montero98ls]

I went through the same thing. The fact that these vehicles don't have a resale is good since you can pick up a nice one for cheap but if you ever decide to sell youre out of luck, yes most vehicles are like that, but jeeps and land cruisers seem to hold their value very well even with mods. I ended up throwing a bunch of money into mine. It really depends on how long you plan to keep the vehicle. I plan to run it till something catastrophic happens. It you are already planning on getting something else I would save the money and just run the Monty till the timing belt goes or something else happens then junk it. You could use the money saved and a buy a NEW 4x4. Which you could mod and enjoy without being nickel and dimed to death with little things. Its all a trade off though after the first set of major repairs the small stuff does add up but I don't think nowhere in the amount of a car payment each month.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

As I delve deeper into the deferred maintenance of my Gen 2.5, I'm on the fence about dumping more $$$ into it, or just getting out now.

What I'm looking at right now:

• Valve seals job + anything else in there while its opened up (it's consuming oil pretty rapidly)
• 4WD general service (actuator lube, sensor, etc.)
• Front CV boots/axel replacement
• It's at 148k so I could possibly do the timing belt/etc. early (?)
• Redoing the front seat upholstery at some point (not really a big deal, but they squeak like ********** and need disassembly to fix right)

It's Monday, I'm tired and I'm struggling with repairs getting close to exceeding the Monty's value. Most of these things I don't have the time/space to do 100% easily/correctly, so my mechanic would be taking it on. I'm probably just venting...I like the damn thing but selling the Monty and finding something else will be just as much a hassle as fixing the above/being without the car for a few days.

That's a couple of weekends worth of work for some of us and about $200-300 in parts so not a really big deal, get it done and drive it another 10 years.

 

[PacS14]

Honestly if you pay for all the labor it won't be worth it, not just with the Montero, but with any 15+ year old vehicle. The good thing about the Monteros is that there are so many write ups, and even the FSM is easily available in pdf. I would start with a compression test due to the oil consuption. The timing belt, water pump, etc and valve guide seals can be done in one weekend as long as you are mechanically inclined and have some basic tools along with some specialty tools that come in handy.

I bought this tool to do the valve guide seals on my 240sx without having to take the head off. I thought about doing the valve guide seals when I did the cam seals and timing belt on my Monty, but if is not broken, don't fix it.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/141469817579

A lot of reading and preparing and a whole weekend and you should be able to take care of most of what you've mentioned and then some. Money and know how will be the limiting factors. Know how is free and available the money will be the real limit.

 

[cornfarmer]

Ok, thanks everybody for the perspective, and convincing me to keep it rolling as long as I can.

I kind of lost sight of what this vehicle was going to be for me and how I was going to approach things...I think I've got a better way figured out on how to to fix some stuff without it being a huge stressful burden when it really doesn't have to be.

Consider this poll done :coffeedrink:

 

[PacS14]

Awesome! If you do end up doing the repairs yourself make a thread about it or at least post on the what did you do to your montero today thread

 

[Eaglefreek]

If it weren't for the fact that you're in CA and have emissions testing, I would pretend it's a two stroke and just add oil at every fill up.

 

[4D55 Performance]

That's a couple of weekends worth of work for some of us and about $200-300 in parts so not a really big deal, get it done and drive it another 10 years.

Pretty much what I was thinking. The belt can wait. The valve seals are no big deal. Throgh on some seat covers, replace the CV boots and you may be into it only 200 bucks. If you needed, tires, brakes, shocks, timing belt, waterpump, radiator etc, I could see moving on. But you just need to address a few little items.

 

[chrisblackthorn]

If it weren't for the fact that you're in CA and have emissions testing, I would pretend it's a two stroke and just add oil at every fill up.

This is precisely the mode I'm in at the moment till I get a spare weekend to handle the seals. Or till the its next smog check rolls around, because I am also in CA and passed the last one by the skin of my teeth.

Plus side: after idling for a while, you get a nifty smoke screen to hide from your friends!

 

[eurosonic]

keep it

 

[ManfromSnowyRiver]

I voted to get a rid of it. For such an extremely old vehicle if someone is worried about some relatively light repairs, its probably not for them. It certainly means it wont be getting built up for off-roading or anything. So I would trade up to something newer and more economical.