$125 is not a bad price to pay if someone can get it running for you. I was at the point with mine that I was willing to pay much more only because I NEEDED to know wtf was wrong with it. I hate not being able to fix things on my own. Luckily I found that bad connector. If by chance you can get it started again, another thing I can recommend is opening the hood with it running and start poking around at the wires and connectors. Thats how I found the problem with mine.

 

I'll tell you the same thing I tell my son; the car could care less if you are mad or angry.

caveat emptor are words that we never want to take to heart.

You bought an old car and these things happen. Who knows if the prior owner knew of any issues. Things break and it could have broken the same day you bought it and it was probably sold with no warranties.

You are in a position where you need to ask yourself if you have the wherewithal to deal with an old car or are you best suited for a late model. It doesn't matter what type of car you want, it comes down to what can you endure and afford.

You and you alone made the decision to get this car. Did you spend $100-$150 for a mechanic to go over it and give you his/her opinion? If not, why not?

It will not serve you to be angry at the prior owner or to spend any time kicking yourself. You have a mechanical object which needs to be repaired. If there is a man who will only charge $125 to work on it then jump all over it. But, if you need excessive work, do not be upset if he hands it back to you unless you pay him more.

Harbor Freight has the 310 piece mechanics tool kit for $189 and there are always 20% off coupons floating around. I shipped one of those kits to a buddy in another country and bought another to have in my 2nd home. They are not bad considering the price.

get the cheap little trolley jack and a couple of jack stands and that will be another $80. A brick for wheel chalk and you're rolling. (well, actually the brick stops the rolling)


you'll then have a good starting point with tools and all that you need next and is MOST IMPORTANT is C O N F I D E N C E. If you are not familiar under the hood, then grab your dad. If he's unfamiliar then find a friend or pay a mechanic an hour of their time to show you things under the hood. What is a pcv valve and what does it do. What wires are needed on an alternator. What is needed for the AC compressor to kick on? What is a MAF sensor, what is egr and what does it do etc etc etc

you'll get there and 12 months from now you'll be encouraging and helping others..............I know it

 

Its just frustrating. I understand that its not the guys fault who I got it from. Im just ticked off at the whole situation. I have tools and whatnot, its all the diagnostic stuff i dont have. Money is tight right now and thats a huge factor in my frustration. The problem is that i just dont have the money to blindly fix something without knowing that it needs to be fixed. Alot of it has to do with not having anyone I know that knows whats going on to help me out. My dad is a retired Chevy mechanic/service manager, but hes about 1200 miles from here. I understand that older cars come with issues, but that doesnt make it any less frustrating. Thanks again for all the info. I will get to the bottom of this, ill just have to wait till i have the money.

 

I'm always looking for an excuse to see one of my kids in college.

It sounds like dad needs to make a trip and visit his boy. By the way, the guilt trip does work on us parents. If you don't believe me, ask Gorn. I believe he has daughters and that's the worst for a dad, we always need to take care of our girls.

 

Oh, I know all about that I have 2 girls of my own. Oldest will be 12 Saturday and the little on is 10 weeks

 

I promise to get back onto topic but

girl turning 12............batten down the hatches there's a storm a brewing. I can swear that both of my girls swallowed a demon at around 12 years of age and didn't spit it back out until 16 or 17 but 12-14 was the absolute worst.

 

So heres a question. Whats the difference between a Chiltons and a Haynes manual, and is one better than the other? The reason i ask is that my local Oreillys has the Chiltons in stock, but has to order the Haynes. Im not going to take the car to the shop. Im gonna get all the stuff and make this sob my b***h! If i can change an alternator on a galant in the pizza hut parking lot, and replace an axle on a Dodge Daytona, i can sure as hell change a distributor!

 

So im thinking im gonna have to pull out my fans to do this job. I have electric fans and an electric water pump, and the fan housing pretty much rests against the water pump motor so there is no room in there at all.

 

Yes, look at the links provided for changing the opti. Removing the fans gives you more room. No biggie, disconnect the electrical connectors, push it up to unhook the latches and take it out. It comes out from the bottom. First thing you need to do is jack the front end up and put it on jack stands. I guess you can get it from the top, but it was much easier from the bottom for me. If your car has an electric water pump, someone has really changed some stuff on you before you got it.

 

The story is, the last water pump went out and fried the opti. So while they were replacing the opti, he installed a high perfomance electric water pump.