my daily driver is dead.....should my mustang replace it?
 

well, turns out my daily driver might finally be dead. on my way home from work last nite, about 2 blocks from my house, the brakes cut out, the pedal went to the floor and thankfully i just coasted home. i forgot to mention its a 95 grand marquis with 190k+miles. took it to sears since my mechanic is off on sundays and, long and behold, all the brake lines are rusted and rotted to sh!t. im prob looking at a total of $600 atleast in parts and labor to replace all the lines. now im wondering if i should just junk the car or pay for the fix. ive had the car for almost 7 years and its been through alot. original tranny and engine and the engine burns oil like theres no tomorrow but its always been like that actually. the car runs solid, heat is hot, ac is cold and it starts up every day with no other problems.

my main concern is what im going to do with the mustang. it almost NEVER sees rain let along ice, snow and ugh, SALT! id hate to drive it to work every day (total of 50 miles a day to and from manhattan). plus with it dropped with the streeda ultralites AND the cdc classic chin spoiler, i dont think it could even handle snow if i wanted it to. im wondering if my days of owning my dream car are dead and I should just sell my baby and pick up a 4 door 4x4 jeep wrangler (always liked that thing). the d@mn car will be paid off this summer too and id hate to start payments all over again with a jeep but i dont think i have much of a choice. after i got home from sears i almost cried with just the thought about selling the mustang. one of my good friends told me im young and have alot of time to get another nice car. but i told her i always dreamt of one day teaching my kids how to drive in my mustang. i always though id be one of those guys that had his mustang from day one and always cherished it for years and years.

what do you guys think i should do? in the last almost 2 1/2 years ive owned the mustang ive never driven it in the snow. how do they even handle? should i put sandbags in the trunk? i have the original tires on there too. car only has 26k miles on it

I was in the same boat a couple weeks ago...our 98 windstar sits all summer, this fall put new brakes on it, then a couple weeks ago the exhaust started leaking- looked under, needed some welding and didnt feel like burning down our garage, so took it to the muffler shop- when looking under it- YIKES! the brakelines were like old pine branches or something- asked while they were at it, 'what would it cost to redo ALL the steel brakelines?' suprisingly 380 bucks- for the amount of time it takes and all the mess, said go ahead. then a week later the rack and pinion starts pouring oil...pick up a rack at autozone for like 100 bucks, put the thing up on the lift(garage is only 11', so couldnt stand up straight under it) and promptly pulled my back out breaking loose the first subframe bolt...so took it to another local shop who put the rack in for 210 bucks labor(they charged 3 hours, but worked on it 7 as its rusty as heck underneath...almost every bolt had to be cut...), 5 days later my mom borrows it to go to the store, and comes home out of power steering fluid...put it up again and see both boots are off, so parked it...

luckily asked a guy at work who said odd both boots popped off, 'maybe they put the wrong boots on it when they rebuilt it', so i put it back up just to see, and son of a gun, the boots are tight with the wheels straight...my mom is the kind of driver to 'stall' the steering when turning, where I tend to not turn it more than a turn or so- so maybe she just turned it to the stops for the first time and pulled them off...and with a old pump, good chance relief valve might be sticking causing overpressure if held at the stops blowing oil past the seals- anyway, with the boots off I tried steering, no leaks unless hitting the stops, put the boots back on and probably put 500 miles on it this week, no problems...redoing the rack again woulda cost a grand if pump/lines/and a oe guaranteed rack installed, I woulda just junked it i think- but my mustangs never seen salt, hard to do...
as far as brakelines, I'd say shop around and look for a deal at some reputable shops that do brakes- lines are a common problem as they seem to be the poorest quality steel on earth, and some shops are more reasonable than others...my buddy brought his over 2 nights ago, we replaced one of his that broke(he NEEEDS to do the rest asap) and it took longer to clean up the garage/lift mess than it did to replace the tubing- but there are some lines on his car (a 2000 impala) that look like a all day ordeal as they are buried pretty bad behind the motor...

its really hard to say when to quit throwing money at a car, but then too, one trip in the salt and a cars days are numbered as you can never get it ALL out...I tend to keep cars 20+ years andhope my 06 will be as clean as it is now in 20 years, but know if it hits the salt there will be issues within ten years somewhere...I'd try to keep the winterbeater going as long as I can afford it, but like I said, ours almost got given up on a couple weeks ago- thank God its still plugging away and the mustangs are all resting still :)

I would fix the brake lines.
Oil is cheap. Burning it is cheaper than a new vehicle.
I would just do it myself.
Pain in the butt, but not complex.
If you don't want the trouble...
Call around and see how cheap you can get it done at a good shop.

no car payment can pay for a lot of repairs and give you more modding money for the 'Stang!

I say fix the beater as brake lines are nothing too serious like a tranny or engine. And sounds like everything else is ok with car... cool in the summer, warm in ther winter and no abuse to the Mustang :grin:

i vote to fix the marquis

You didn't say how much additional cash you would have to buy another beater. With vehicle prices in the pooper, is that an option? Although, you pretty much know the history of the Marquis.

I say fix it, you could always sell it later to recoup your costs...wait til the stang is paid off then get the jeep if you need too before next winter...fix it yourself, 600 bucks for brake lines sound a bit steep.

Consider selling and/or trading in on a different DD? I'd imagine that there's a pretty significant market for Grand Marquis parts in NY... right??? :dunno:

I've already replaced half the brake linesn my Explorer plus patched a transmission line. Its tedious, but pretty simple (and cheap)... why not try it?

Fix the car, cheaper than a payment

My muffler just fell off my winter beater. I have to fix it due to the noise. I did manage to take my Stang out for a rip the other day when it was warmer so the snow was gone and the roads were dry. I put it back in the garage and hide my head when I drive my Pontiac Firefly to work.

I will say though, it is nice driving a car that you don't need to care about. I don't care about salt, sand door dings, chipped windshields muddy floor mats, etc. I do miss the 8 cylinders instead of the 3 I have now.

So, back to your question, fix the car, keep your Mustang out of the winter elements and all the salt crap.

Hey Slip, fellow NY'er here. First question, if you can afford to have a cherry highly modded mustang just sitting waiting for a nice day, I suppose you can afford to ditch the crapbox and get another one. you live in NY man, there are cheap cars all over the place. Go find something with 100K miles on it...it'll still be newer than your beater. Get a corolla or something and keep truckin.

As for me, my Stang has seen snow, rain, sun, and salt. Today I am fortunate enough to own a few cars and I'm stationed overseas, so I don't put miles on my baby (poor thing is garaged), but guaranteed I will put a whole bunch of miles on it when i get back. Mustangs are for driving, not for storage. Besides, anyone here think they're going to sell their 06 GT for $300K at Barrett-Jackson in oh say 40 years with only 3000 miles on the odometer in bone stock condition? Nope, the day you modded it was the day it lost that potential. So drive it and take good care of it.

As for sandbags and all, YES, definitely get some weight in the back, and get SNOW TIRES!! Find a set of 17" wheels and get some good snow tires, and then be sure to change them out just before winter (say around October) and then just drive carefully. I have Michelin X-Ices and if you don't drive like an idiot you should have enough traction to move through a inch of snow, but probably not much more. Others can chime in on better tires, or search threads. A really good set of snow tires can last you several years if stored properly over summer. For the exterior, I like to do a final fall waxing and then change the tires. With my winter rims on, I don't care if it hits a curb, cause come summer it'll be back on the 18's. Also, find a good brushless car wash and run your stang through it regularly!!! Get the salt off the top and the bottom, and then come spring do another thorough waxing and good detailing.

Have fun driving your Stang!!!

Darth

Even if you have to pay 600 bucks for the repair, that is the cost of a monthly payment anyway!Get the 6 monthes out of the beater so you can keep the Mustang for your kids later! Besides, your kids are going to look at you like you are nuts if you keep the "classic" Jeep for them! Especially when they find out you traded the Mustang for the Jeep! Piece the beater together for the time being untill you pay off the Mustang. Your kids will love you for it !

Fix the beater. Mine died last winter. Transmission went and there was 2 months left of winter.I decided to car pool until the spring. I fixed the transmission in the beater in the fall and have been driving it since. I just hope it lasts until April when I take the stang back out. It just isn't worth ruining the mustang over a rather inexpensive repair, especially in your case just having to fix the brakes.

Fix the beater or find another one. there are plenty out there. Geez .......please do not use your car as a DD in to Manhattan...... just the thought of it with all the darn taxis there makes me shiver.

CT'er here.. fix the beater or get another beater. Too much of a gamble with the stang between snow, salt and other drivers, you will hate yourself if something happens to the car when you could have been in a beater.

It pains me that mine is hibernating, but I know it's safe.

if you have a DD because you wanted to keep the Mustang in good condition, that shows you really care for your car. now if you decide to use the Mustang for a DD, the first time anything happens to it you're just gonna get upset. then you will spend lots of time wishing that you would've paid the $600 to fix your old DD or just got another DD.

my Mustang is my DD and i really wish it wasn't. i traded in my 10 year old Civic for the Mustang only to completely regret it right after i did it. it never occured to me til after the fact to keep the Civic as the DD. next time i get a new fun car(whether another Mustang or whatever), i'm also getting a DD.

wow, i cant believe how many ppl responded to this thread so fast ahahahah. well i got a call this morning from my mechanic and he said, $250 to fix the problem. i was so thrilled with that! he said this is a common problem with these cars and he prob does atleast one a week. when i told him i brought it to sears and they told me atleast 600, first thing he said was......why would u ever take it to sears? i told him just because i wanted to see what was up with it since he was closed yesterday. he said well i got it up on the lift already workin on it so you should have it by the end of the day. it put such a huge smile on my face after such pain and suffering i had to endure yesterday.

to try and answer all your questions, theres prob noone on the planet that would buy this car, it is the definition of a BEATER! it looks like it has skin cancer from all of the clear coat failure and 4 days ago some moron ran a red light and i hit his passanger side front fender. bent his wheel in and smashed his fender GOOD. my car.....a scratch....its a TANK! so if i ever get rid of it, itll be to a junkie. also, i really cant afford to buy anything wether it be a beater, a nice used car or a lease. i still live at home at 26 because im saving to buy a house this summer (fingers crossed!). buying another car would ruin sooo many of my financial plans.

red pony....you couldnt be more right. if i ever have kids, and god willing i do, and they ask me why i sold the mustang for a jeep i wouldnt know how to answer without saying....well daddy was a cheap@ss and didnt want to get another DD so he sold his cherry stang for this now old and rusty jeep.

i just pray this car lasts me the rest of the winter so i can get a headstart on finding a house and then MAYBE when the dust settles next winter, i can look into another DD. but well see what happens. thanks everyone for the thoughts and advice....mustang source FTW!

good thing you chose to have it fixed and for $250, not bad. you would of wound of spending more just by driving the stang daily, good choice.

exactly, the other day here in NJ it was snowing so i was on my way home from work with my beater and i remember i stepped on my brakes and slid a good 50 feet, thank god no one was near me or in front of me.And thank god i wasnt in the stang with someone near me and plowing into them!

like you said, mines hibernating but atleast i know its safe!