In the past 4 years, I've had the wrecker haul away 3 cars. My latest was a 94 cutlass. Apparently that car thought it would be funny to start the engine on fire. So about 2 weeks ago I found a guy who was selling a Bonneville. "Well, it's got some miles on it. But I replaced the transmission and it's been running great for me."
So I go to take a look at it. It's in pretty rough shape. A few dings here and there, one of the fog lights is missing, there's scratches here and there... The inside is about what you'd expect for a car with 233k on it.
"I put an auto-start on it awhile back," he said. "I had to bypass some stuff so the remote locks and trunk don't work." I shrugged it off. I've never had a car with remote locks so it's not a big deal. We talk for awhile and it turns out he's a mechanic, although he works on semi's, but hey, a gear-head is a gear-head right? Plus his daughter's been driving this car. So it's probably been kept up pretty good. He goes on to tell me some of the stuff that's been replaced. Water pump, fuel pump, something with the ignition, etc... He said he's fixed a lot of the little things that go wrong with this type of car.
I took the car out for a test drive. It handled nice through town. I took it out on the highway and it seemed to get up to 80 with no problem and say there. (I don't usually drive 80, but I figure I'd floor it to see what happened.) It seemed like it was a runner. Besides, all I needed was a car to last me a year. My credit isn't the best, but I'm in the process of rebuilding it. According to my budget, in roughly a year I'll have enough saved up for a down payment, and my credit should be restored so I can get a good rate on a loan. So I cut him a check and the Bonneville was mine.
So everything is going good. I'm very happy with the car. I drove it to work and back for a week, then on the sixth day, something happens. I'm driving along and I notice the RPM's seem to be going waaaay high when I accelerate. Hmmm. That's odd. I get back into town and now the transmission won't shift out of first gear. I check the transmission fluid, it's on full, but looks pretty brown. It's the weekend so I can't get it into the shop.
I have this little thing when it comes to cars. Everytime something goes wrong, I start to think that maybe nothing's wrong and that if I just let it sit overnight, everything will be okay in the morning. I think cars are people. Sometimes they just need a goodnight's sleep. Yeah right...
The shop didn't have an opening until Wednesday. I spent all Monday and Tuesday looking on the internet. Ever done that? Your car gets a tick and you think that maybe with a google search you can cure it? So I started googling the symptoms. "92 Bonneville won't shift" "transmission stuck in first gear" It was from that I learned about this wonderful thing called "lag mode."
"DeWdZ, my tranny's hosed! it wont shift! How much for new one?" someone wrote.
A second, rather helpful person went on to describe that it might not be the transmission afterall. It could be something as simple as wiring, but in order to protect itself, the car goes into "lag mode" so you can limp to a shop and not do more damage. Wow! Cars are awesome and smart!
So I take the car in and I'm excited because the mechanic I talked to did indeed confirm that such a thing called "lag mode," although he called it something else. Whew! I'm getting off easy. Yeah right. He calls me later in the day and tells me the control solenoid is bad and it's going to be a few hundred bucks to repair it with the labor. (I may be wrong what solenoid it was because it didn't really matter after what he told me next.) He went onto say he's worried that the transmission itself is bad, but they won't know unless they take it apart. And if they do that, they'll just end up rebuilding it which will cost roughly 900 bucks, which would be the cost of a rebuit one anyway.
My options were:
1. A remanufactured transmission, which would be roughly $2300
2. A rebuilt transmission, which would be roughly $950.00
3. Buy another car and haul that one to a junk yard.
I told him I'd call back. Once I stopped crying I thought about what to do. I called around, looking for better prices, but found none. Great, another car hauled away to automotive hell. I have the wrecker on speed-dail. But something happened to me. And it was mostly from looking through this forum that I decided not to do that. "NO MORE JUNKYARDS!" I told myself. (Hence the user ID) As I looked through the before and after pictures of your Bonnevilles (or "whorage" as you folks call it) I became inspired. I was not going to let this car die. This car would live to see another day. Not only would it live, it would be alive!
I told him to go with the rebuilt, because even if it craps out, getting another rebuilt will still be cheaper. Bad choice? I guess we'll find out.
So I'm going to restore this beast. I have no delusions that it will be easy, cheap, or quick. I'm not a mechanic, gear-head, or even much of a "car guy." But I want a car that looks good, drives good, and starts every time I turn the key. And I think that with hard work and patience I can turn this car into that car."
I got the car back yesterday and it's running like a car with 233k miles with a new transmission. Knock on wood... I'll get some pictures up later.
No comments:
Post a Comment