maintenance questions

I think I would get the struts replaced. You need them for proper handling. A major safety issue.

If the catalyic convertor rusts through, then you will hear it. But, if you plan on keeping the car for a while, I would replace it. You will have to replace it eventually, anyway, and it is bothering you.

Jeff

So both front struts are an automatic "yes, do it?"

Like the others said, replace the struts and perhaps the springs as well. One hundred dollars for a cat replacement is really cheap. Make certain that is the price. Depending on your situation and the O2 sensor(s) not located in or behind the cat itself, you may want to consider using a "test" pipe as a replacement. It's and old car. Just a thought.

It's illegal to replace a catalyic convertor with a test pipe. The test pipes are made only to test is the catalytic convertor is malfunctioning. Just because it is an old car doesn't mean that it should be allowed to pollute.

For $100, that might be what he is getting.

Jeff

It might be. And with a car that old, who is to say how long "testing" will have to last?

Hmmm.. a 19 year old car which wasn't an expensive car to start with.

164K miles. needs $240 struts plus (at least) $100 for the cat.

Spend the $340 (at least) and the car won't be worth a dime more than it is today. Then, next month it might be the transmission, or the radiator, or a transaxle, or a battery, or tires, or ....?

If you can afford it, I'd be more inclined to go at least 10 or 12 years newer and sell off the 1988 for whatever it'll bring. Alternatively, you could try to squeeze another 35K miles over the next few years and just bite the bullet when repair items are required. But the Corolla will never be a day newer, or more valuable than it is today.

I don't think that increasing the value of the car is the issue here, just keeping it going safely. With the choice being spending $340 (if it really is only $340) versus paying payments on a replacement car, then the $340 is cheap. I would replace both items and keep on driving it safely. If in a couple of months down the line you need to spend a few more hundred dollars on a car that you like, then that would be OK too. All you are doing is extending an investment made long ago and belaying the next big one until later on.

I say fix it. Tomes

You forget it is a Toyota....not a Ford or GM piece of crap.

Fix it and it will last another hundred thousand....

When a car ....any car gets to be old enough to smoke and drink, it usually does, even Toyotas. If it were an '88 owned by a little old lady and had

49,000 miles on it, and she religiously maintained it, it might be different, but with this mileage and needing 'some' work done on it, it could be throwing good money after bad. Sure, if you're willing to pay for it, you can keep any car any number of years, until the parts are unavailable, but unless it's a classic, it's hardly worth it, in my view. Even the British, whose love of holding onto things until they fall to a pile of rust, know when to quit.

.......and cost how much to do it? Would you put $1200 into a transmission when the value of the car is only $400?.

Sure....

How much would it cost to buy a new car?

20 K

30 K

1200 is a hell of a lot less....

... and we are not talking about $1200+ here, only $340 to fix a couple of things. Tomes

Scott, I never mentioned a new car, (which, incidentally, can be had for a whole lot less than 20K...think Yaris or Corolla). What I said was that I'd upgrade to something between five and ten years old, and preferably babied with low or low-ish mileage. At close onto 20 years old and 165K miles on it, it sounds like getting a boob job for an 85 year old woman....what's the point?

Some of us drive our cars for their useful lives....

My '92 Corolla is still going strong at 205,000.

Everything else on it works good. No fluid leaks, good tread, good brakes, clean exterior, engine purrs like a kitten, cheap insurance, good gas mileage, new battery.

That hatchback is convienient. I still like the car.

What does it have for an engine? Carberated, or fuel injection (or, does the motor say "Toyota 1600 Twin Cam" on it?

Agreed, it might be money well-spent. But only if you could be semi-confident that the $340 is about the only money you'd contribute to a car between 165K and 185K miles....which is highly doubtful.

Where do I look to find out?

Under the hood. The timing belt cover will say 4A-GE if it's a Twin Cam, and the valve covers may say what I mentioned above.

(Poor John doesn't know my alterior motive for asking... ;)

Wickeddoll, want to enlighten him?!