About 30 years ago I purchased a used Dodge Pickup from a rip-off artist who had used tricks that I was not familiar with at that time to hide a bad engine knock. Within a couple days it started knocking and could not maintain oil pressure.
I went to the auto-parts store and bought $75 worth of rod and main bearings along with some new seals. I pulled the oil pan, removed the bearing caps, slid the wrecked bearings out, polished the bearing residue off the crankshaft with strips of emery cloth and put everything back together. It took most of the day; it would have been easier if I had taken auto shop in High School, instead of following along in a Chilton's manual that was about $5 back then. I didn't expect the repair to last, but 25 years and many thousands of miles later the truck was still going strong when I sold it to a Mopar collector with a full disclosure.
If you purchase a used electric car with a damaged or worn- out battery... there is no recovery from that. The cost of the battery could easily be more than the car will be worth after you replace it.
Yep, those were the days, when you needed to be a REAL MECHANIC to work on a car. These days working on cars is rediculously simple, as the failures are either old-school (brakes, steering linkage, shocks, etc.), or new stuff where the computer points you right to the item needing replacement. Plus you have YouTube to tell you, in 10 different ways, how to do the repair. Too damn easy now, doesn’t take any special skills to work on one’s own car.
Amazing the work you did. My ‘98 Taco was knocking a few years ago so I, without knowing what the hell I was doing, poured some kind of liquid metal in a can I had onto one of the broken spark plug harness wires that attached to the spark plug within the engine block. The old plug had been frozen in there and I had broken the harness in the process of replacing the plug. Then I replaced all four of the garden variety plugs that were in there, with dual element ones. When I hit the ignition the engine ran like a freaking Swiss watch. And the improved acceleration is still to this day not to be believed. Serendipitous I guess, since I have no auto repair experience whatsoever. I mean that. Kudos to you who do.
My son has a 2016 Ford Escape with 1.6L EcoBoost four-banger. He has put 220,000 miles on. He totally ignored maintenance on. I mean irregular oil changes and that was it! About six months ago, he took a second job at a local tire shop and he and I put together a plan to bring all of his deferred maintenance up to date. He’s been working his way through the car replacing parts (struts, timing belt, coolant, transmission fluid, oil, brake job, bleed the brakes), new tires, new O2 sensors, new thermostat, etc. I advised him to wait for the alternator to fail and the CV joints to indicate incipient failure before changing those.
The only thing that failed after those years of neglect was the starter.
It just passed the California smog test (first test required to renew registration after the eight year period after new ended).
I’m amazed that little car has survived with the maintenance abuse he put on it. It’s a pretty good testament to Ford quality.
I’m thrilled he is finally learning about maintaining one’s car.