Got clunker on my hands now (1 Viewer)

[Alex Kogan]

Who would have though. Head gasket blew.
Typical symptoms. Coolant loss, pressure under radiator cap even after engine cooled off. I'm up to my neck in my home remodeling project. So I left it sitting for a week or so. Something made me check oil level this morning. It's over the top. Obviously coolant is draining through cylinder head/piston into crankcase.
Conceivably I could fix it. But 80s bodywork is already pretty rough from previous shoddy repair after accident, 170k, front axle need work.
I'm tempted to just drain that junk from oil pan, put some fresh/cheap mineral oil in there, add water to radiator and I think I could make it to clunker lot for minivan that would prob suit my family of 3 boys better.
Again I could try to replace gusket but I have half of the house stripped to studs. Really bad time to spend at least a weekend fixing 80. Then there is a risk that damage is greater than just head gasket.

Dang perfect timing.

 

[94SRUNNER]

Park it and save it for a rainy day

 

[archie]

I'm thinking of trading in a running 62 for a minivan too. I got three boys too. I feel your pain! I don't know if a minivan gets 3500 or 4500 off.

 

[Alex Kogan]

well I need something to haul my family around. I need a 7 seater. I've Mitsu Montero which is now back to family duty but with 2 car seats it's pretty crammed in 2nd row. Let alone too noisy.

EPA combined for LC is 13 mpg. Honda Odyssey is 18 or Toyota Sienna 19 so it would be 4500 for either.

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

That really sucks! Minivan's just aren't the same.

TK

 

[bhmmapping]

Why not throw some bars stop leak in it and see what happens. Worst case you still limp it to the lot, best case it holds over until the house is done and you can look at it with fresh eyes.

 

[webster2001]

Cheaper to fix it than buy a new car, unless you can pay cash for it. I am so mad with people in Atlanta trading good LRs and TLCs in for Kia's and Government Motor cars, when you can call a broker in Miami and it will go to a country where they could use the utility. Instead they are sent to a crusher.


My wife told me she would divorce me if I ever thought of selling the 80.

 

[Lka1988]

Cheaper to fix it than buy a new car, unless you can pay cash for it. I am so mad with people in Atlanta trading good LRs and TLCs in for Kia's and Government Motor cars, when you can call a broker in Miami and it will go to a country where they could use the utility. Instead they are sent to a crusher.

x1,000,000

My wife told me she would divorce me if I ever thought of
selling the 80.

She's a keeper.

 

[-Spike-]

EPA combined for LC is 13 mpg. Honda Odyssey is 18 or Toyota Sienna 19 so it would be 4500 for either.

It was my understanding that 18 MPG only got you $3500, had to be over 22MPG for the $4500 payout.

 

[ALCO]

Be careful when trading in your 3 ton guzzler for that govt. sponsored green vehicle, I'll be keeping my clunker, thank you:

 

[petrolhog]

I went to the local parts store and found this. Liquid head gasket / block repair.

CRC Industries Automotive

with nano technology, sounds from back to the future.

 

[LINUS]

Without seeing pics of how bad the body is, sending another LC in for a disposable vehicle just seems silly. Headgaskets are a problem item, but hardly a deathblow for a 1FZ-FE - but it's your pinkslip & your longer term wallet - but a paid for 80 series with a new headgasket is solid vs. trading in for a vehicle that puts you in payments, and may have problems of its' own real soon.

The only redeeming part of the program as I hear is that recovery yards are able to resell everything but the motor itself - so we might see a glut of used body, tranny, trans. cases, AXLES (e-lockers?), etc. for the short term - letting all the rest of us stockpile/ fix/ upgrade items we need parts for on our rigs - you might also think about that if you have some body/ cabin issues.

Pics that show how bad your body is might get you a better idea than just all of us giving opinions w/o even seeing your 80. JAT

 

[jvazquez53]

I bought my almost ex-wife a 2009 Honda Fit back in December. She already told me that in about one year, the Fit wil become a either a UZ100 or a Lexus 470. She says that even that the Fit is very fuel efficient, she does not feels safe.

 

[Alex Kogan]

I'm not talking about buying Honda Fit. At 4600lb Odyssey for example is not exactly light weight. It's only what 200-300lb less then LC. Pretty negligible.
LC an minivans are classified as class 1 truck so to get $4500 it should get 5 mpg over or better.
At 12 years of age and 200k even being fixed I would only classify this truck as semi-reliable. And everyone should admit their are just getting old. I mean there is a reason people selling their 80s and buying newer 100s.
It would be fine for trail duty but as far as family moving around. It's really a waste of good truck just raking up hwy miles.

 

[NKP Garage]

DO IT!!!

 

[Atticus]

I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I say scrap it. If you can't rely on the 80 as a daily driver, and you can't really keep it as just a play rig, then you should sell it. And since you can't get anywhere near 4500 on the open market, I say trade it in.

Good luck.

 

[Marco7]

Do what you gotta do for your family.
It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

Be sure to come back and post a pic of your new OddSissy.

 

[RedTacoma]

Who would have though. Head gasket blew.
Typical symptoms. Coolant loss, pressure under radiator cap even after engine cooled off. I'm up to my neck in my home remodeling project. So I left it sitting for a week or so. Something made me check oil level this morning. It's over the top. Obviously coolant is draining through cylinder head/piston into crankcase.
Conceivably I could fix it. But 80s bodywork is already pretty rough from previous shoddy repair after accident, 170k, front axle need work.
I'm tempted to just drain that junk from oil pan, put some fresh/cheap mineral oil in there, add water to radiator and I think I could make it to clunker lot for minivan that would prob suit my family of 3 boys better.
Again I could try to replace gusket but I have half of the house stripped to studs. Really bad time to spend at least a weekend fixing 80. Then there is a risk that damage is greater than just head gasket.

Dang perfect timing.

Should we trrade? I have running 1997 Ford taurus ... Ford makes over 20 MPG