When to let that car go...

When the issue cannot be diagnosed by the dealer and it is a larger problem waiting to happen. Hybrid, 9 years old only 90,000 miles on it but the gas engine refused to shut down at stop lights or even coasting, started several months ago, dealer says it is fine cannot find any issues. How do you tell the dealer that his tech has not idea what he is doing. I know when the engine is not running right after 9 years. So, I gave up, also fearful the battery was going to go and that would be $5,000 to replace. Car worth about 7500.
Lemme guess - Honda IMA “hybrid” system? When I worked at the local dealer a while ago, it wasn’t an uncommon sight to see a newish Civic/Accord Hybrid or Insight come in for a new battery. It’s a rather “simple” system compared to Toyota Hybrid System(no inverter, lower voltage and no water/glycol cooling loop) as it’s all 144V DC but it also had some shortcomings - the battery was all D-cell NiCD/NiMH and didn’t have great cooling. The auto-stop system only worked for 2-3 stops, and there was no cooling for the ISG that performed the tasks of starting and generating power - Honda wanted to keep it “simple”. The Prius is a very hated car - even by its owners, it doesn’t excel at anything but it doesn’t entirely suck. It did, however prove Toyota’s hybrid technology. Many examples of such hit the 200-300K mark - especially in hard taxi/Uber use - but in rough shape. people are rebuilding batteries for Toyota/Lexus hybrids in their garages or backyards and the system itself has proven pretty reliable.
 
My brother brought in his old 4Runner for an oil change and the shop said off to the boneyard you go. Not safe to drive and not worth changing the oil. It has served you well.

He bought a slightly used one and traded in the old one.

There is a company that sells repair kits for the likely rusty areas of his 4Runner (and other cars). But he did not want to go down that path.

I had been telling him to get it sprayed but he never did. He did get the slightly used one sprayed however. (To prevent rust,).
 
I offloaded the Traverse when it started throwing check engine lights for "camshaft position error" - the dreaded sign of worn timing chains. At 170,000 miles, it was worth about $1500 in trade, and replacing the chains involved dropping the engine. Way beyond a DIY job, about $3000 if the dealer does it. So, I cleared the code, and prayed it didn't reappear during the test drive.
 
I offloaded the Traverse when it started throwing check engine lights for "camshaft position error" - the dreaded sign of worn timing chains. At 170,000 miles, it was worth about $1500 in trade, and replacing the chains involved dropping the engine. Way beyond a DIY job, about $3000 if the dealer does it. So, I cleared the code, and prayed it didn't reappear during the test drive.
I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen let their Traverse or Acadia go because of those timing chains, right around the same mileage too. And I know two people that just keep driving theirs anyway...think it’s been 2-3 years now for both. But I don’t think they passed state inspection because of it (check engine light).
 
The only known issue is the valve train gets noisy because the hydraulic tappets get stuck as mileage accumulates. Lots of owners use Restore to free them up but it seems to be a temporary thing. Since I get the car, I've been using Delo 15w-40, the idea was to extend the OCI. Side benefit was it cleaned the tappets enough to free them up, but it took a long time for the noise to go away.
Couple of brief comments re hydr lifters:

i) my experience has been that more frequent oil changes can help free them up, or keep the ticking at bay;

ii) my experience has been that lower viscosity oils tend to keep 'em tick-free more so than higher visc oils; and

iii) I worry about an engine running for longer periods of time when the lifters are ticking, 'cuz of course the valve clearance is too much, the slapping means wear...
 
Here in Atlanta / Northwest Georgia it's usually the following.

* Electrical issues
* Transmission/engine needs to be replaced (and you can't find a low-mileage unit)
* Water intrusion issues (heat has a long-term impact here that's pretty intense)
* When the oil smell just won't stop. (Some cars you just chase leaks all the time)
* Parts unavailable (a big one these days)
* Emission issues (about 20% of the vehicles traded to Carmax in Atlanta can't pass without work)
* Botched repair (I know people who have given up after their repair job was botched and they were back to square one)
 
My friends 98 tahoe .. massive wisconsin rust.. unsafe to drive now. Engine has cylinders w no compression. Huge water pours thru the a pillars and dash...

I have been saying for over 5 years its time to go.
Dont understand.. he bought it in 2008 / ten years old and it now has 399 k miles. He paid 8 grand. Why so hesitant to start shopping and get rid of the 24 year old pile of rust.
He was considering an engine swap on this bone yard rotted car.. exhaust is non existant. Last year he put 2200 dollars in tires and brakes. 2 years ago a rebuilt transmission was installed for 2800 dollars.
When your waxing a car and not ever looking under it you are setting yourself up for bad things.
 

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My friends 98 tahoe .. massive wisconsin rust.. unsafe to drive now. Engine has cylinders w no compression. Huge water pours thru the a pillars and dash...

I have been saying for over 5 years its time to go.
Dont understand.. he bought it in 2008 / ten years old and it now has 399 k miles. He paid 8 grand. Why so hesitant to start shopping and get rid of the 24 year old pile of rust.
He was considering an engine swap on this bone yard rotted car.. exhaust is non existant. Last year he put 2200 dollars in tires and brakes. 2 years ago a rebuilt transmission was installed for 2800 dollars.
When your waxing a car and not ever looking under it you are setting yourself up for bad things.
Yikes that rust is really bad. I would be tempted to drive it the remaining miles to roll over to 400k, then call the tow truck to send it to the junk yard in the sky.
 
@AutoMechanic would let it sit in his yard as an ornament :ROFLMAO:
We had one traded in that is very rusty underneath but runs like new. 500,000 on the clock. Only serviced and all work done by us. We gave them $300 trade in, it’s a 2005 5.3 engine lol. I’m thinking of asking the owner of the dealership since it will be going to auction if I could give them $301 to put it in my yard as a decoration LOL. And just to say I own that style of them because I’ve always wanted one as you may have seen in my recent posts lol. Rust don’t matter to me if it runs that is until I have to work on it haha.
 
If it's got a solid chassis and good electrical system, suspension and transmission repairs can get you another 4-5 years if you treat your old car with mechanical sympathy.
If the electrical system has intermittent gremlins in it, you can no longer rely on the vehicle to get you where you want to go.
Excess chassis rust just makes it unsafe.
Replacing suspension parts is pretty cheap.
 
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