Well, as much as I hate to admit it, this is a pretty painful decision I have had to make. It's time to let go of the Ty I bought last year. It's gotten too the point that not only has it cut into my "car fun" budget, but also my other necessary budgets as well.
Up until a few days ago, it was a nice daily driver. Could drive it anywhere without fail and it would happily truck on and on and on. But now a problem has developed and I can't deal with it anymore. I gotta keep going towards the goals I set for the "family" (just me and the woman at the moment), i.e. buying a house, etc.
So before I post a message in the classifieds, I'll see if you all think I can get at least what I owe (not looking for a profit).
The truck:
'92 Ty
currently 154K miles
Black/Black
I bought it without any documentation (I know... but it was my entry in the the SyTy world, and I've learned so much since then). Supposedly the engine was rebuilt 20K before I bought it with forged pistons, but I have no receipts or anything to substantiate that. I've put about 10K on the trucklet since I bought it last November.
The bad:
A/C doesn't work. The compressor is seizing up. I have another A/C compressor ready to go in. It's in good working order, and was taken off of a low mile Sy.
The tranny slips. It's fine for daily driving. It slips when you try to do full throttle runs in 1st, and very occasionally 2nd gear. But otherwise, it shifts very hard and firm when cold, and still firm when warm. It's good for daily driving, but not for launching and beating on it.
And the worst part, just started a few days ago: It's burning oil. It seems to be intermittent, but that's probably making it look better than it actually is. On Friday, it started blowing thick oil smoke out of the tailpipe, only when warm, only at idle.
It had done this once before a couple months ago at one stop, and it was just a little puff in comparison. It didn't come back until the other day.
I looked at all the simple stuff and found that one of my PCV valves was completely non-functional, even after cleaning it out as best I could. Got a pair of new PCV valves from the dealer, changed the oil (was time anyway), replaced the breather with an oil filler cap, and took it for a test drive. It puffed once at a stoplight shortly after the trip began and for the next two hours, it ran clean. Although we did smell oil burning a couple times, but only for a couple seconds.
Yesterday I drove it again, for a couple hours, in fairly heavy traffic (lots of stops and starts). It puffed a couple of times, but again, it was very light and otherwise ran clean. I could smell the oil burning again though.
Better than the 007 smokescreen I thought.
Last night we went out and made a few short trips. It smoked at almost every stop. It seems to be fine once it warms up, but smokes at the beginning of the trip.
When I got it home, I looked underhood, and saw that there's oil coming out from around the filler cap, and the cardboard I put under the truck last night shows that it's leaking enough to make a couple of 6" diameter puddles out of the driver's side of the engine compartment.
So I'm not sure of the exact problems, but it's looking like blowby, and maybe a cracked ring is causing the intermittent puffing. Maybe the oil leaks are coming from the hookup for the remote oil filter?
The windshield is good (and less than a year old), but has two rock chips in it. No spider webbing coming from the cracks or anything, and this would pass MD inspection no problem.
Torsion bar mounts need to be replaced. Heck, it should probably have a front end rebuild, but the balljoints, etc. seem fine.
The rear window hinges should be replaced. They're getting worn out.
The wheels are in reasonably good condition considering their age/miles. The one problem with them is that the front passenger lug cover lock stud looks like someone broke something off in the lock, then tried to drill it out.
The CD player only intermittently releases CDs. Seems to be a common problem with the factory radio.
The good:
The body is straight and solid. The only rust I can find is in the tailgate (a quarter sized patch on the top above the keyhole and some on the bottom lip) and on the fender where the cladding has rubbed through the paint. The doors are solid and rust free (I've been in them to replace a window motor and I cheked out the other one to make sure it was good too). The paint is starting to oxodize, but everyone that's looked at it has said it'll clean up very nicely. I'll probably buff it out before I take current pics. All cladding is in good shape and on the truck.
The interior is VERY nice. It's the best interior I've seen on a car/truck with 150+K miles. The things wrong with the interior are a couple of scratches (no doubt from stuff moving around in the back). The console lid needs a new hinge.
It's got an aftermarket, manually operated sunroof. Hasn't ever leaked while I've owned the truck.
AWD works fine.
Spools and holds boost normally.
So, I was on the edge, working myself up to selling the little truck before the oil smoke/leak issue. But right now I'm not in a position to spend serious money on the truck. Work and home issues prevent me from doing that. I'd like it to go to a SyTy'er and get a good home, but as much as I'd hate to admit it, if someone gives me the $6K I owe on it, it's theirs. I'm just not sure if anyone would pay that much for it, but the more I look around, the more that sounds like a good price to ask.
But I thought I'd come here and see what you all think before I posted an official "for sale" post in the classifieds.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Up until a few days ago, it was a nice daily driver. Could drive it anywhere without fail and it would happily truck on and on and on. But now a problem has developed and I can't deal with it anymore. I gotta keep going towards the goals I set for the "family" (just me and the woman at the moment), i.e. buying a house, etc.
So before I post a message in the classifieds, I'll see if you all think I can get at least what I owe (not looking for a profit).
The truck:
'92 Ty
currently 154K miles
Black/Black
I bought it without any documentation (I know... but it was my entry in the the SyTy world, and I've learned so much since then). Supposedly the engine was rebuilt 20K before I bought it with forged pistons, but I have no receipts or anything to substantiate that. I've put about 10K on the trucklet since I bought it last November.
The bad:
A/C doesn't work. The compressor is seizing up. I have another A/C compressor ready to go in. It's in good working order, and was taken off of a low mile Sy.
The tranny slips. It's fine for daily driving. It slips when you try to do full throttle runs in 1st, and very occasionally 2nd gear. But otherwise, it shifts very hard and firm when cold, and still firm when warm. It's good for daily driving, but not for launching and beating on it.
And the worst part, just started a few days ago: It's burning oil. It seems to be intermittent, but that's probably making it look better than it actually is. On Friday, it started blowing thick oil smoke out of the tailpipe, only when warm, only at idle.
It had done this once before a couple months ago at one stop, and it was just a little puff in comparison. It didn't come back until the other day.
I looked at all the simple stuff and found that one of my PCV valves was completely non-functional, even after cleaning it out as best I could. Got a pair of new PCV valves from the dealer, changed the oil (was time anyway), replaced the breather with an oil filler cap, and took it for a test drive. It puffed once at a stoplight shortly after the trip began and for the next two hours, it ran clean. Although we did smell oil burning a couple times, but only for a couple seconds.
Yesterday I drove it again, for a couple hours, in fairly heavy traffic (lots of stops and starts). It puffed a couple of times, but again, it was very light and otherwise ran clean. I could smell the oil burning again though.
Better than the 007 smokescreen I thought.
Last night we went out and made a few short trips. It smoked at almost every stop. It seems to be fine once it warms up, but smokes at the beginning of the trip.
When I got it home, I looked underhood, and saw that there's oil coming out from around the filler cap, and the cardboard I put under the truck last night shows that it's leaking enough to make a couple of 6" diameter puddles out of the driver's side of the engine compartment.
So I'm not sure of the exact problems, but it's looking like blowby, and maybe a cracked ring is causing the intermittent puffing. Maybe the oil leaks are coming from the hookup for the remote oil filter?
The windshield is good (and less than a year old), but has two rock chips in it. No spider webbing coming from the cracks or anything, and this would pass MD inspection no problem.
Torsion bar mounts need to be replaced. Heck, it should probably have a front end rebuild, but the balljoints, etc. seem fine.
The rear window hinges should be replaced. They're getting worn out.
The wheels are in reasonably good condition considering their age/miles. The one problem with them is that the front passenger lug cover lock stud looks like someone broke something off in the lock, then tried to drill it out.
The CD player only intermittently releases CDs. Seems to be a common problem with the factory radio.
The good:
The body is straight and solid. The only rust I can find is in the tailgate (a quarter sized patch on the top above the keyhole and some on the bottom lip) and on the fender where the cladding has rubbed through the paint. The doors are solid and rust free (I've been in them to replace a window motor and I cheked out the other one to make sure it was good too). The paint is starting to oxodize, but everyone that's looked at it has said it'll clean up very nicely. I'll probably buff it out before I take current pics. All cladding is in good shape and on the truck.
The interior is VERY nice. It's the best interior I've seen on a car/truck with 150+K miles. The things wrong with the interior are a couple of scratches (no doubt from stuff moving around in the back). The console lid needs a new hinge.
It's got an aftermarket, manually operated sunroof. Hasn't ever leaked while I've owned the truck.
AWD works fine.
Spools and holds boost normally.
So, I was on the edge, working myself up to selling the little truck before the oil smoke/leak issue. But right now I'm not in a position to spend serious money on the truck. Work and home issues prevent me from doing that. I'd like it to go to a SyTy'er and get a good home, but as much as I'd hate to admit it, if someone gives me the $6K I owe on it, it's theirs. I'm just not sure if anyone would pay that much for it, but the more I look around, the more that sounds like a good price to ask.
But I thought I'd come here and see what you all think before I posted an official "for sale" post in the classifieds.
Thanks for your thoughts.
