Cost of repairs exceeds vehicle's resale value

[Witsend]

176k mi 2001 Malibu 3.1 loud rapping noise when engine started up cold that subsides after about 5 minutes of run time. Intake gaskets were done less than a year ago. Don't know if a lifter is bad or a rocker might be working loose. Don't want to unnecessarily take stuff apart to remove the valve covers to check top end for push rods and rockers for end slop , so I loosen up all the spark plug cables at the coils and holding a grounded jumper wire lift the wires off coil tower one at a time and short the cylinders one by one and find that the loud rapping sound goes away when I short out the spark at coil to cylinder number 4, so I figure it's got to be something more deeper to fix , like a piston slap and not simply a lifter or worn, loose push rod and rocker.

[Crusty]

Your post title says "Cost of repairs exceeds vehicle's resale value"

The more important thing for the vehicle owner to consider is - how much would it cost to replace the vehicle with one of comparable overall condition-?

If the "repair" costs 1500 but the next vehicle is 6000, it may still be viable to repair the vehicle.

If the rest of the vehicle is in good condition, and depending on CAA "average annual" costs (including depreciation and maintenance/repair costs), a 1500 investment may be worth their while.

I don't know what the costs are in your neck of the woods, and obviously real dollars instead of beaver-bucks, but up here the CAA average is over 6-grand a year. If they can get another 12 months of operation for 1500, plus another 200 to 600 for a couple of oil changes and a set of pads perhaps, they're way ahead of the game.
If, on the other hand, they spend 1500 and something else major goes south 2 months from now, they lost the gamble.

The other side of the coin is, after spending x-amount of dollars, what have they got -??

Everyone looks at what the vehicle is "worth" on the sale market, when what they really need to analyse is what would it cost to replace the vehicle.

Sometimes it is viable to repair the old clunker, sometimes it's throwing good money after bad.

[Joe Rappa]

176K on a 60 degree GM V6 sounds about right. I don't think I've ever owned one of those engines that made it that far without losing the bottom end. Since moving south, I've adopted a philosophy closer to Crusty. A car that is otherwise solid may deserve a new engine. In your neck of the woods, you have to consider how rotten it is too.
A few years ago I put a new engine in a 1990 Olds Cutlass. It was totally NOT worth the price of the engine, but it was such a clean little car I couldn't bear to send it to the junker. I ended up selling it to a young couple that needed a break.

Joe

[Matt]

That was a great post Crusty. Pick-up trucks out here in rural Colorado really hold their resale value due to farmers and ranchers using them for work. They (the pickups) are not just a mode of transportation but also a tool to complete a task. The cost to replace said tool is high, therefore $3000+ repair estimates are often authorized on 25year old beaters.

[Crusty]

176K on a 60 degree GM V6 sounds about right. I don't think I've ever owned one of those engines that made it that far without losing the bottom end. Since moving south, I've adopted a philosophy closer to Crusty. A car that is otherwise solid may deserve a new engine. In your neck of the woods, you have to consider how rotten it is too.
A few years ago I put a new engine in a 1990 Olds Cutlass. It was totally NOT worth the price of the engine, but it was such a clean little car I couldn't bear to send it to the junker. I ended up selling it to a young couple that needed a break.

Joe

The only reason they don't last is because people ignore the warning signs of constantly topping up the cooling system. The small amounts of antifreeze (acidic ) getting into the engine oil attacks the softest metal that the oil is supposed to protect, the crank bearings.
I've got tons of those engines well over that mileage running in my customers vehicles. It's the same old thing. Extended drain intervals for coolant. We stay on top of those "little details". GM are not the only ones using intake gaskets with plastic carriers for the rubber seals. Seen the same thing on other makes with the same end result.
Extended drain intervals (for ANY fluid) (SUPPOSED to save the customer money & "save the planet") is a maintenance schedule written by the same people who have a vested interest in selling you another new vehicle. Can you say CONFLICT OF INTEREST-?? LMAO-!!!
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Fluids & filters. Fluids & filters.

[Crusty]

That was a great post Crusty. Pick-up trucks out here in rural Colorado really hold their resale value due to farmers and ranchers using them for work. They (the pickups) are not just a mode of transportation but also a tool to complete a task. The cost to replace said tool is high, therefore $3000+ repair estimates are often authorized on 25year old beaters.

Well thank you Matt. There is much more to a vehicle than just the power plant. As long as the equipment can be kept SAFE & reliable, there is no reason to toss it aside.
Just because something is old, doesn't mean it should be thrown out. If things have been kept up from bumper to bumper, it may very well be worth keeping up with maintaining the power plant capability.
That requires a mindset of staying on top of things instead of just letting it go. The little things add up and then it isn't worth putting an engine in it. The vehicle that constantly has things let go, probably hasn't been a safe vehicle for a long time.

[Witsend]

I tell my my brother who likes likes Little old Japanese Cracker Jack Death Traps , that they were structurally questionable when new and now that they are 25 years old , I will try and be as careful as possible, but it is not my fault if my floor stands punch through rotted floor boards, or the doors don't close right after raising the vehicle.
After 5 -7 years , will do just (one) initial drain or fill of coolant. I hate selling any further cooling services on old cars, trying to remove hard to access fragile plastic radiator draincocks, (and no block drain access). I just concentrate on keeping their Dexcool topped off, because sooner or later old GMs just tend to flush themselves out anyway when the radiators, intake gaskets, water pumps, , plastic elbows , connectors etc go out anyway, LOL, so when they do go out I don't want a recent cooling system service being associated with the failure of inevitable. I don't like to dealing with waste oil , let alone dealing with waste anti freeze that no one wants to take for free without me incurring expense , so unless I'm changing out a leaking component, I don't wish to deal with doing more than the first initial cooling service at 5 to 7 years of age , and that's only if I'm under it while under there doing other stuff. I Let em take it to a place that has the coolant exchange equipment .