Fix my car or get another one

Rip. Off.

Fuel system cleaning can be done with some fuel additive the next time you fill your gasoline tank. Any place that plays the $69.95 fuel-system flush is playing customers for fools.

Plugs? Do you know the last time they were replaced? Were you going by the manufacturer's vehicle guide (which should be stored somewhere in the machine - usually the glove compartment - in case of emergency). Wires? Unless the engine was skipping and missing, that's not the issue, either.

 

What we saw:

What Care Bear saw:

 

As the owner of a 2005 Neon: I don't know what state you're in but if the car is in good shape, you might as well drive it until it dies for good because it's not going to be worth anything. I checked the blue book on mine a few months back. 85,000 miles on it and it's still worth something like $1,300 in a trade. Hang onto it for as long as you can and then sell it to a family looking for something cheap to give their 16-year-old. That's pretty much my plan now. I'll get two more years out of it, then probably just give it to my nephew.

Apparently, the value is so low because there's a crapload of them still running and dealers don't want to take them in a trade, regardless of age or mileage.

 

That's not it, apeman. There are a "crapload" of Honda Civics and Accords, Nissan Altimas and Toyota Corollas and Camrys and, given solid routine maintenance, they're still running. Hasn't affected their value much, if any. Used cars are more coveted these days because people are looking to save money given the economic downturn of the last few years. They're doing much more to lure in some customers who want something else but cannot - or just do not - want to pay for a brand-new machine.

They don't want Neons because, well, they're not very good. There's no nice way to put this. It wasn't exactly a top-flight effort by MoPar.

 

One of the wires looked like it was chewed by rodents. The plugs were in pretty bad shape. If they were changed, it was before I got the car.

 

Granted, it's not an awesome car but it was what I could afford. That said, when I was looking for a different car a couple of years ago (not a good experience), I was basically told that by the dealer.

But yeah, the driver's seat is loose, the ignition sometimes won't let go of the key unless I shift it out of park and back, the alignment is always iffy even if I just had it done, and the brakes make a horrible noise if the humidity is greater than 45 percent. But it gets 26 MPG and the A/C gets nice and cold. I can live with it until the nephew turns 16.

But seeing a 1998 Subaru station wagon at a car lot priced higher than I can get for my 2005 Neon kinda pisses me off.

 

Chewed? Was it clipped into a too-small spot when someone tried to organize the wires or do you have other living objects - other than yourself - in the vehicle? Either way, that's a problem. If the former, they need to explore options for better organization or a neater, more efficient way to keep the wires organized. If the latter, rodents can do some damage to wires, belts and hoses.

Consult your vehicle's manual, but if you had the vehicle so long that you don't remember the last time your vehicle had new plugs (either service records or a log notebook in which you can record those sorts of maintenance at the least), then there's not much to bark about in regards to vehicle breakdown. An exception would be platinum plugs ... many of those do not need changing for 100,000 miles. But I'm going to take a wild guess than MoPar didn't install platinum plugs into Neons.

 

Understood. It's a low-priced alternative and it does beat walking. No questioning that.

 

Head mechanic: Guys, it's been a tough couple months. With the technology and reliability of these new cars, we just aren't doing the business we used to. I might have to let one of you go.

Mechanic 2: Shit. My kid needs braces. Now what am I going to do?

Mechanic 3: Look, I really need this job. My wife is seven months pregnant. We were just starting to save up. Now this happens? Fuck.

*Phone rings*

Head mechanic: Guys, that was Smallpotatoes. He's bringing in that shitbox Neon.

 

The code on the slip from Auto Zone was PO420 (I think that's it).

It had for probable causes:

Catalytic converter defective
Engine misfire or running condition
Large vacuum leak
Engine oil leakage into into exhaust valve guide seals, piston rings.

 

Spent a couple minutes saying "What the . . .?"

Then, remembrance.

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