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I’ll be at the car dealer this morning. You hit 30,000 miles, and things get expensive. Back in a bit.
What kind of car starts having problems at 30,000 miles? A Yugo? Indeed, most of them have warranties that extend past 60,000 miles. Even moderately priced cars now go 100,000 miles before they even need a tune-up.
Now, if this is just something he tells Melissa to give him an excuse to buy a new toy when he gets tired of the old one, never mind.
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Last I looked in car door, the whole motor thing is basically a “swap in, swap out” deal.
You pop out the pretty stuff on the inside
Unplug the motor. Unscrew the gear. stick the new motor in, fiddle everything back in.
Most complex tool: screwdriver. Maybe a ratchet wrench.
Time elapsed about an hour if this is new stuff and you are taking your time. Price: new motor, ( you may find a junk yard willing to let you scrounge one from a wreck for a small fee.
Some cars may be more challenging or have lock mechanism / @%#$% air bags in the way.
It’s easy to check to see if you really want to have a go, just pry open up the “pretty panel” on the inside when the door is open, and have a good look with a flashlight.
It’s usually a pop-in / pop-off deal.
Fred,
I’m not averse to DIY as the motor is fried anyway. This is a Corolla so there’s no airbag there. I like my cars simple. It’s just the thought of getting off my butt and doing it that’s the hard part to get over. I think the part itself is about $300 from Toyota (is it made out of gold?) but I think I’ll do some searching at the junkyards and see what that’ll set me back.
If you look at the stuff they charge you for at the 30K inspection, a lot of it is stuff they do for free with oil changes. (check belts, check brakes, etc). Yeah, you should probably flush the coolant, maybe the tranny fluid too, but a lot of it is BS look at it stuff that they do for free most of the time, or you can do yourself. You don’t need to be a rocket scienist to determine if a belt is going bad.
87K on my Mazda 626 – with every intention of driving it to at least 200K. I like not having car payments.
