Let’s start with I am not auto mechanically inclined. I do like the car but have no loyalty to it. But this car has had plenty of work to date by us and the former owner. Car is @ 120,000 miles but had a new (80,000 mile) engine put in awhile ago. New starter last fall. Anyway, lots of money invested in this car.
Two issues neither of which are routine maintenance.
Issue 1) This has been going on a while. After driving the car for a bit and the engine is warm there is a strong burning oil smell. The car doesn’t seem to be leaking oil (maybe a few drops) when you check the ground after it’s been parked. Per our mechanic the oil pressure sending unit needs to be replaced. But I think this is not a serious issue.
Issue 2) This is a very new issue. When braking everything seems fine until going from about 15mph down to 0, the final part of the stop. Then there doesn’t seem to be any grab in the brakes. You have to almost stand on the brakes. It’s manageable for local driving but I hope nobody pulls out in front of me and hits their brakes. Our mechanic said we need to replace the vac. supply line and power brake booster. Mechanic is not even sure he can get the part. I believe the supplier is SAAB but they wouldn’t know for a few days after placing the order. (Maybe it’s naive, but I do trust our mechanic.)
This power brake booster alone is about $750. With labor which in this case is the smaller portion of the bill, issues 1 and 2 come to about $1300. That about matches the BB value of the car. Only fixing issue 2 is about $1150.
Any advice here is appreciated. Right now we decided not to fix. I can get to work and back which is the sole purpose of the car. But the question remains, should we fix and keep? Fix and sell (seems like a wash). Sell to a scrap yard for about $250 and look for a new car?