Fix or Buy New


WiHunter813

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I need some advise. I got a 98 ranger w/163,000 miles on it. On thursday i noticed an oil leaking from it in my driveway took in to the shop and the oil pan gasket is bad. to fix it it'll cost about 400 bucks, they also told my my ball joint are bad thats another 900 bucks. Plus some other maintence charges i racked up a quote of 1500 dollars to fix it. I just bought the truck last may. Now im trying to decide if i should fix it or trade it in. What you all think?

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Guest bowhunter56

I now have my 3rd ranger, I love them, the last one just rusted to death, most of the lines we rusted so bad, i was loosing too many fluids,,,no engine problems, just rust...i would say trade it..:)

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i have been looking around and the only 4x4 im finding in my price range have the same problems or worst and have more miles. I did find a 95 dakota w/155k for around 3 grand but dont know how it'll run. And being im paying for a wedding and bills I cant afford much. And the 1500 would be to fix everything thats wrong I only need to spend 1000 to make it last another year or so I hope

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I am a tech at Ford and i do ball joints all the time, the lowers are serviced separately around $39.00 and the uppers are the arms around $125.to do uppers and lowers with alignment parts and labor would be about $700 and thats at $105 an hour at a Ford dealer. The oil pan is about right depending on what engine. If it is in good condition, runs good, and thats pretty much all it needs besides maintenance i would keep it ,especially if funds are low. If you can't buy a new one, you will never know what else you might be buying into next.

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My personal opinion is that I'll never get the money into repairs that I would pay in payments on new. I'd rather be nickled and dimed them pay 500 per month in payments.

Look at it this way, a car or truck is the biggest expense that most of us will have over our lives and not have anything worthy when we're done paying for it.

JMO, Good luck. by the way, the bill does sound a little high for the work being done.

Jeff

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My personal opinion is that I'll never get the money into repairs that I would pay in payments on new. I'd rather be nickled and dimed them pay 500 per month in payments.

that is good advice;), like someone else said, if you think that's all it needs to get you by for awhile and you really can't afford a new one -- then I would fix it up ;)

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Do the repairs yourself. If you don't know how to, learn. Get yourself a Haynes manual and start looking at Ford forums on the internet for help. Ball joints aren't really that hard to do. As for the oil pan seal, never done one so I'm not sure what it entails. You can save yourself a lot of money doing repairs yourself!!

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here's a thought to ponder... get a new truck, a basic model. finance it for 7 years, and your paymets will be less than 250.00 a month. look for that good interest rate, of course. if you take care of it, it should last you 200,000 miles with no problem. that may be better than putting a thousand or 2 a year into fixing an old one. seems the repairs just never stop

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took it to a different shop and it looks like it'll cost about 800 to fix it all. Gonna have to gasket and ball joints done at a shop and the rest im gonna do. I was really considering buy a different truck and figured out a can afford to but mines paid off and I dont like being in debt. So i was really lucky to fine a shop that'll fix it for under a grand

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That's nothin, I'd just fix it! I'm a tech at a GM dealership and there's not too many estimates I do that are under $1000, at $95 and hour sometimes the labour alone is over $1000 depending on what it needs! If you buy new it'll cost you lots for monthly payments. Don't let the mileage scare ya on them either, one of my co-workers has an 88 Silverado 4x4 with almost 500,000km on it. For a Canada truck that is a LOT. Looks brand new too, body/paint job last year with 17" Escalade wheels. Just takes care of it, undercoats it, keeps the oil changed hardly has problems with it. My truck is the same, 2000 Silverado with 223,000km on it. To drive it you wouldn't think it had that much, motor runs good, drives nice, still even has the original clutch in it! As long as you keep the maintenance done on them they'll last you a long time. Spending $100 here and there for maintenance may save you a transmission, diff, engine, or other high dollar items. ;)

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