After many years, it is time to make a "car payment" again.

Our '06 GT vert has been, for the most part, trouble-free. The single chronic issue we've had is the battery problem; we recently had battery #6 installed.

But a few days ago on Friday, numerous things came to a head at once.

For a little while we had some odor in the HVAC system (my bride said it "smelled like giraffe".) Then, in a light drizzly rain on the way home Friday, the stereo shut off by itself. When I tried to power it up, it read "low battery" on the radio display. Then I noticed the voltmeter was pegged at "L". Then the headlights got dimmer and eventually completely shut off. Mercifully, she still got me home and into the garage. Next morning, after a night in the garage, she started up and ran normally.

I suspect it is the water infiltration/SJB issue. She is at the shop now. Hopefully we'll have her back in a few days after another "car payment".

And hopefully she won't "smell like giraffe."

 

Well, it is worse than I thought. . .

The smell is not the typical cowl leak issue, and the electrical is not the typical SJB issue.

The smell is a failed evaporator core. That is leaking freon into the passenger compartment. Replacement involves dash removal and runs about $1750.

Electrical is a failed alternator (at only 48k miles) and is $650.

Also, both outer tie rods and alignment. $470.

At least getting the rear defroster working again is cheap - just $186.

 

ouch- if not already committed, maybe consider a little DIY

200A us made alt- 129.00, very easy swap
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Heavy-Duty-2...9WS4tQ&vxp=mtr

moog outer tie rod ends 20 apiece, (+ ~70 bucks to align?), pretty easy swap- some beating required
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Moog-ES80805...RWci80&vxp=mtr

I'm cheep... tearing the dash out sounds bad, but I saw one at the boneyard- looks like the whole thing comes out as a unit after pulling column? only 40-60 bucks for a new core, but pretty major surgery though... tie rods/alternator shouldnt take a hour or so though...

 

Ok, sorry, I'm just gonna do this:



You gotta be kidding me. The alternator, rebuilt, lifetime warranty, $200 at O'Reilly's, and they'll swap them out over and over and over... you get the idea. If you then just did the little bit of work on the battery side on the terminals to get them spiffy clean and then slathered with dielectric grease, the chances are low you'd need to do much swapping.

But that's not the real issue, as this is a simple replacement. THAT's the issue. It's just about 30 minutes and I'm done with it. 40 if I decided to clean the throttle body while it was off. It's just so easy to do that it's offensive to see that price, even considering the alternator is going to be $300 for the FoMoCo one (which I wouldn't get because higher priced and no lifetime warranty.) That job, with a FoMoCo alternator, shouldn't be more than $100 more for $400 drive out. 300 with the rebuilt one, which is where I'd be going. 650 is simply outrageous, IMO.

Now, the evap core? Yeah, that's gonna be a thing, although after looking a these others, I'm not sure they're charging you the right price on that either... but it's such a pain in the buttocks, it's still cheap compared to my doing it, plus the coolant recovery, heater hose connections, not to mention the wiring, steering wheel...etc... ad nauseum... yeah, they can do that. I'd probably be thinking it's cheap, myself.

And that rear defroster... eh. If it's an electrical paint pen fix on that, well... You can buy that yourself to fix it... But then, I don't wanna do that one either, to be honest.

The tie rods seem a bit much, probably about $150 over.

But that alternator replacement price is simply not doable, and because of that, I'd be shopping around for all of it, because I smell rip off somewhere in here.

/Maybe it's just me...?

 

To tell you the truth, friend, I don't disagree with you. Ultimately, for me right now, I am paying the extra in exchange for time.

I am, at best, a very minor league wrencher. I could *probably* do the alternator myself, but not as fast as you. Since it has to be there for the other items (especially the evap core) it is worth my time to not also have to go somewhere else for the tie rods, etc, etc.

I completely understand and respect your approach. As odd as it may seem looking at dollars and cents, right now this is a good answer for me.

I have to admit, I am disappointed about the evap core failure. If I had to rate my ownership of this car over ten years, I would rate it high for fun factor and simple daily enjoyjment. But quality of build, materials, and cost of maintenance would be a so-so grade. I did better with the three Foxes I owned than I have with this one.

In fairness, it appears from my casual research that the 2006 model year gets the lowest ranking of the S197's.

 

I hear ya, man. It's why I pay for drywall and paint work.

But you should *really* talk to them about that alternator situation, because honestly... I really want you to not be hosed on that one alone. The rest, sure, I can be ok with, but... I just can't believe they even.

You sure you didn't accidentally type a 6 and mean a 3 there?

 

Oh yeah, and the parking brake cables were frozen (something I have known and been saying for YEARS, but was told they "didn't need adjustment".)

Those are being replaced with the updated parts and they're adjusting through the overall billing so I don't pay for that.

 

All done, and she is back in the garage. After not driving her for a week, it is terrific to have her back.

And she doesn't smell like "giraffe" anymore. My bride is very happy the giraffe has been evicted!

 

I found when i had some passengerside water that it was the firewall just under the battery tray black drain was plugged with pine needles or if they are not in right water gets in the car. I have a convertable & battery from day 1 sucked so i bought a red Optima & its been in since 2008 & i have an 07 GT/CS