Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: khittner
It's telling you that it's ready for rings, maybe pistons, valve stem seals, and/or guides. You've gotten a bunch of nearly-free miles out of that vehicle, sir---it's time to pay up for a well-deserved top-end job, or buy another one.
A car with this many miles isn't worth the cost of doing that. I'll just keep driving it until it dies...
We all have different views on how to assess the economics of vehicle repairs. There's probably 20 hours of labor in replacing the head and rings + another $1K in parts. You know how the rest of the car is, and what parts you've already replaced, their expected lifespan, etc. I look at the cost of repairs, not as whether it'll exceed the current market value of the car (which is probably just scrap value now), but how many car payments I can avoid by paying for the repair. If the repair keeps the car useable for more than _____ car payments, it's worth doing. As long as the car's body/chassis is structurally sound, and not aesthetically displeasing, I can afford to buy a lot of repair costs with that sort of amortization. The limiting factors for the car's lifespan then tend to become how long the supply chain will continue to supply the parts I need, an actual change in my transportation needs, or some desirable technical advance that the present car can't match (crashworthiness, fuel economy, etc.). Of course, my approach would probably have dealers, manufacturers, and lenders going broke pretty quickly if it was widely adopted.
