I bought this car for 2300.00 four years ago. I regularly change oil and tune up yearly. I had no major problems until this past two weeks. The a/c has numerous leaks which I was told would cost 1600 to fix. Last night, the car died. I stopped the car, took the key out of the ignition and when I tried to restart it ten seconds later, it was as if the battery was dead, but worse. I believe that is the alternator. Is it worth fixing? I don’t want to spend a ton of money on buying a car but I also don’t want to pour $$$ into a car that is going to keep having problems.
I think you have definitely got your $2300 worth out of it. $600/year is a bargain for a car.
Your car now is old at 10years old/150,000 miles. The things you mention are not out of the norm for ANY car this age/mileage including coveted Honda’s/Toyota’s.
Personally if you can muster on with it since its paid for spending the $500 to repair it to running condition is worth it. If your auto tranny failed I would automatically say dump it. However your repair sounds minor.
Remember repairing is almost almost cheaper than replacing.
Fix it. Yes, your car will keep having problems. So what? At that age they all do. It is still cheaper to make the occasional repair than to start over with another used car that cannot be presumed to be any more trouble free.
I bet most of the leaks are the crummy o-rings that Ford uses. You have to get the current, ?sudden death? problem evaluated before you can judge. It could be something simple and cheap.
I sold my 1996 Taurus at 224,000 only because it was about to need a bit of a/c work. I had the tranny rebuilt at 198,000 . I sold it to a friend and still see it every once in a while. Hang on to it and get your money’s worth.
Thanks all. The mechanic says I need a new battery and alternator. Going to go ahead with that repair. Do you think that may magically fix my a/c problem? Not so lucky I am sure.