Car crisis/opportunity
It's been a while since I've posted, and life's been both good and bad, both in ways that consume my time.
One of the bad ways has been that my car is effectively dead. It's structurally intact, but there's a serious problem at the moment - the cylinder head gasket is busted, and there's a coolant leak of epic proportions. I pour liquid in the top, and liquid of equal amount comes out the bottom.
I can drive just under a mile in cold weather before the engine starts overheating. So I haven't used it in weeks. The part itself is relatively cheap, but the problem is that the labor involved in replacing it is more than the car is worth, and I'm not willing to spend that much on it.
So I'm looking to get a replacement. I'd ideally like to get something fuel efficient that's not too computerized, and also a few years used. I'm not sure this really exists at the moment, and I'm not sure I want to spend that much money on it at the moment (see: another bad thing) so plan B is to get something cheaper that'll last me about 5 years, and see what the market looks like then.
I've got a lead on a 2000 Volvo S70 wagon from my mechanic, which I'm leaning towards. Partially because I really want a car, and I haven't had time to do much hunting (see: good things and bad things). And there's some bonuses to getting a car from a relatively-trusted mechanic.
But I'll have to do something with my existing car. Since it's still mobile, I can probably sell it to a scrap yard for a small amount of money, but philosophically speaking, I'd rather keep it in use if possible. (Something to do with not wanting to waste all of the planetary resources that went into assembling its atoms into a functional configuration.) And since the big cost is labor and not parts, I hope to find someone with more time and knowledge than money, to take it off my hands for the token sum of $1. So, know anyone who knows how to remove the engine from a 1995 Volvo 940?
One of the bad ways has been that my car is effectively dead. It's structurally intact, but there's a serious problem at the moment - the cylinder head gasket is busted, and there's a coolant leak of epic proportions. I pour liquid in the top, and liquid of equal amount comes out the bottom.
I can drive just under a mile in cold weather before the engine starts overheating. So I haven't used it in weeks. The part itself is relatively cheap, but the problem is that the labor involved in replacing it is more than the car is worth, and I'm not willing to spend that much on it.
So I'm looking to get a replacement. I'd ideally like to get something fuel efficient that's not too computerized, and also a few years used. I'm not sure this really exists at the moment, and I'm not sure I want to spend that much money on it at the moment (see: another bad thing) so plan B is to get something cheaper that'll last me about 5 years, and see what the market looks like then.
I've got a lead on a 2000 Volvo S70 wagon from my mechanic, which I'm leaning towards. Partially because I really want a car, and I haven't had time to do much hunting (see: good things and bad things). And there's some bonuses to getting a car from a relatively-trusted mechanic.
But I'll have to do something with my existing car. Since it's still mobile, I can probably sell it to a scrap yard for a small amount of money, but philosophically speaking, I'd rather keep it in use if possible. (Something to do with not wanting to waste all of the planetary resources that went into assembling its atoms into a functional configuration.) And since the big cost is labor and not parts, I hope to find someone with more time and knowledge than money, to take it off my hands for the token sum of $1. So, know anyone who knows how to remove the engine from a 1995 Volvo 940?