Spent alot of money, stop now? [LONG]

Thassodar · Post by **Thassodar** » October 1st, 2007, 4:25 pm

Long read, please excuse me.

Alright here is my tale of woe. I got my MX-3 awhile ago for $1500 (4 cyl SOHC) with a pretty serious sound system in it. I've had no problems with it since I bought it about 5 years ago. I got in a front end accident about 2 years ago and all I had to replace was the power steering resovoir[sp], right headlight, and hood. Before being forced to replace everything and fix a minor problem with the ignition switch the car sat in my backyard for about a year. I took care of it during that year and started driving it again in February of this year. It currently has about 130,000 miles on it.

Recently (2 weeks ago), I was driving my car home from work (about 4 miles) and the engine shut off completely after the RPMs jumped about 1k and then dropped out completely (note that the check engine light came on). The stereo was still running and everything worked fine minus the power sterring and whatnot that requires the car to be on.

Me and my friend looked at it at the gas station I managed to pull into and could not see anything major wrong. We checked to see if the engine sparked, and it did not. Long story short we got it towed to out mechanic after he came to our house and deemed that it needed to be at his shop.

Skip to a week later and he tells us that he had to change the Distributor ($295.00 [new]), water pump ($67.99), and timing belt ($57.51) in order to get it working. Add in sealant and antifreeze and the total after parts, labor, and tax = $785.00 ($308.72 in labor). I'm looking at the invoice right now.

Already I've spent half of what I bought it for.
Skip to last week Thursday. After discovering that the parking lights don't work (front and tail) and being pulled over because of it (no ticket) I call the mechanic back. He tells me to check the fuses, they all look good. He tells me to bring the car to his shop. On the way, ironically, the engine gives out EXACTLY the same way it did 2 weeks prior but this time on the highway. I manage to exit the highway and a good semaritan pulled me into a parking lot. Car gets towed to the mechanic again (bless you AAA).

Skip to today. Mechanic tells me that he had to replace the computer. Normally it would be $380 but he knew a guy who had one sitting around who was willing to sell it for $100. He gets the cheaper one and the car works. He checked the fuel pump as well and said it was good. Tells me the headlight switch is no good and thats why the parking lights don't work. The switch will cost $180 used and some ridiculous price new. Total with the switch was somewhere around $423. W/o the switch $258.25.

Now I'm looking at spending $1000+ on this car and I bought it for $1500. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten a BP engine or a BP-T engine for around the same price minus the parts I'd need to do the swap. Should I keep throwing money at my stock 4 cylinder engine or drive it minimally until I can afford a new engine? It's getting frustrating and I assume I'm going to keep throwing money at it (I suspect the alternator is next even though he says it looks fine) until I've spent $1800+ on it.

If you've taken the time to glimpse or read this, thank you. Any input would be appreciated. If this is in the wrong section of the forum please move it. Ask any questions about thing I may have left out, I will be checking this post often.

umcamara · Post by **umcamara** » October 1st, 2007, 4:59 pm

Search for your symptons on here before throwing any more money at your moneypit, I mean mechanic.

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » October 1st, 2007, 5:45 pm

If you cant do the work on the car yourself.. your better off to sell it and buy a newer car. Our MX-3's are getting a bit long in the tooth. And your mechanic is ripping you off. His diagnosis of the Distributor being bad could have been true. Or it could have been the Timing belt.. but the water pump would have had no effect on whether or not the engine would have spark.

I could go on and on about this.. but what it comes down to is what you want to do. Do you want to keep throwing money at the car? Cause as long as you allow other people to do the work.. you will likely be taken advantage of.

Either get a newer car.. or start learning how to work on this one yourself.. or grin and bear it when the repair bills start adding up.

Tunes67

Aston Wards · Post by **Aston Wards** » October 1st, 2007, 8:21 pm

I dunno how those prices compare but, all those parts were about due to be replaced considering the age and milage. i'm surprized they didn't change the cambelt too? but you should theoretically be good to go for another 100,000k's......., well maybe the alternator, starter motor, countless switches, pads, shocks......, welcome to the world of old -ish Japanese cars

Thassodar · Post by **Thassodar** » October 1st, 2007, 9:30 pm

If it were up to me I wouldn't rely on someone else to do the work, but I am pretty car illiterate. I'm pretty sure I could figure out a majority of the problems if I had the time, but the problem is just that: time. That and considering the fact that it is my only car to get around besides my dad's 10 year old truck that guzzles gas.

At most I can do the basic tune-up stuff like change the sparks, plugs, wires, change the oil, etc. As far as buying a new fuel pump and putting it on, I know jack diddly. I pretty much have to rely on someone else to get anything done unless I spend all day fiddling with my car and end up messing something up pretty bad.

As far as buying a new car, thats pretty much impossible. I barely make enough now, and now I have to pay my dad back for footing the bill on all these repairs. I highly doubt I'll be able to afford a new car until sometime next year.

ModMX3 - (Carmaster2005) · October 1st, 2007, 10:08 pm

I would keep your current car and use this site for support in fixing your mx. If your just worried about basic fuctionalty of your parking lights you can rig them up to a switch using a relay and a constant 12 volt source. would cose about $20.00 bucks and would be effective. Also would be wise to learn a little about your mx as it seems your car TECH.

is playing guessing games in trying to solve problems. good luck.

OldMan · Post by **OldMan** » October 2nd, 2007, 12:38 am

The above people are telling you straight. I am new to this forum and I have learned a lot by just reading thru the posts. My 92 MX-3 is my first experience with a foreign car. I have had to spend some money to get it back on the road after it over heated and warped the head.

Get yourself a Chilton's repair manual, it will help you with a lot of the repairs that you may face. Then come and look thru the posts on this forum and ask questions. You will get help.

I haven't asked any questions yet, I have found most of what I need just thru reading past postings. In my honest opinion you will find most of the people on this forum a big help. :) You can learn to fix most things on your car yourself which will save you a lot of money. :D

OldMan

OldMan · Post by **OldMan** » October 2nd, 2007, 12:39 am

The above people are telling you straight. I am new to this forum and I have learned a lot by just reading thru the posts. My 92 MX-3 is my first experience with a foreign car. I have had to spend some money to get it back on the road after it over heated and warped the head.

Get yourself a Chilton's repair manual, it will help you with a lot of the repairs that you may face. Then come and look thru the posts on this forum and ask questions. You will get help.

I haven't asked any questions yet, I have found most of what I need just thru reading past postings. In my honest opinion you will find most of the people on this forum a big help.

You can learn to fix most things on your car yourself which will save you a lot of money.

OldMan

neutral · Post by **neutral** » October 2nd, 2007, 7:38 am

Hey Thassodar, fwiw I agree w/other responses to this thread. You bought a 10yr old car 5 yrs ago and now it is a 15 yr old car that needed no repairs until recently. That is not a bad record at all but given the car's age, further repairs are probably inevitable. I have a '90 MX-6 and '95 MX-3 that would have seen the wrecker's yard long ago if a shop mechanic had to keep up w/repairs. Otherwise woulda spent far in excess of what I bought either car for 5-6 yrs ago. I'm no mech and pretty much "learn as I go" but between online info sources like this UBB, diving into my Haynes and Mazda shop manuals, sourcing parts for good prices on the Web, and doing most maint/repair myself, they still run well. Remember that you not only pay a mech high hrly labor costs but also usually pay premium prices for parts thru a mechanic. For whatever reasons, if you stay in a position to rely on a professional mechanic your MX-3 will be more expensive to maintain than it is worth imho - as would just about any 15 yr old vehicle.