Cheap Thrills

"Memphis Raines" (memph1sra1ns) 09/25/2016 at 19:31 • Filed to: None

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Over the last few weeks my mustang decided it would start losing oil at a much quicker rate than normal, not that losing any oil should be normal. I did not realize this until the engine suddenly started knocking very loudly as if to exclaim to all pedestrians who heard it, I’m a broken beast, a shell of my former glory. After checking the oil and finding it was well below the min line I filled it back up. It took 5qts to reach the max line on the dipstick. Perhaps they call it a dipstick only because a “dipstick” doesn’t check it as often as they should. The repair bills I expect to be ... not cheap. It may be in the shop for up to a month depending on the severity of route i choose to go which may include a full engine rebuild.

The hunt for a 900 dollar craigslist winter beater began. I found out not long after finding such a bargain really was going to be a needle in the haystack situation, which makes me wonder if anyone has actually searched for a needle in a haystack.

I went to look at a 96 Ford Ranger today. It was the most beautiful blue I had ever seen. I can’t not have that color in my life. The truck however will not be part of my life. You see a four cylinder five speed tiny truck sounds perfect on paper. What wasn’t so perfect was the test drive that occurred afterwards.

Generally speaking the first thing I do after getting in all vehicles is buckle the seat belt. I would have done this had the seat belt not been unable to latch which might have been the smallest issue this bargain had. When I went to shift from first to second the shift knob came right off. At this point I’m convinced no seat belt broken shifter knob, easy fixes and boy does this vehicle have charm. As I lower the drivers crank window to smell the unburnt gasoline exiting the exhaust, the fuel line, somewhere? I realized the window only went have way down which may have been a blessing based on the fumes. I looked down at the speedometer and it read seventy. The thing is, other cars were passing me in a 40mph zone. I get the feeling it was a tad off.

As I drove back to the owner I contemplated, is this really what 900 dollars gets me? Was I expecting too much? That is about the time that the left front wheel decided it no longer wanted to reside on the hub and freed itself along with the lug nuts. You could say this story has gotten a bit nutty. Fortunately I was greeted by an older gentlemen who merely asked “what the hell happened?”. Before I knew it he had gotten a jack and put the truck up in the air. I spent a good ten minutes searching the street for the lug nuts. I found four which was good enough in my mind to get back.

The odd part is, I wish I had bought it.

Tristan > Memphis Raines 09/25/2016 at 19:50

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Probably could have offered $400 after chasing the wheel down the street.

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > Memphis Raines 09/25/2016 at 19:54

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My only experience with a sub 1k car on craigslist was late 80's Honda Accord. It needed a timing belt replacement, had a power steering leak, brakes that didn’t begin to work until all the way to the floor, and the shiftier bushings were so bad I honestly couldn’t tell a difference between 1st and neutral.

All of those are minor-medium fixes, but I could spare more money than that and even DIY repairs add up after awhile on a car like that. Seeing as how few sub 1k cars that are out their I’d look for 2-3k if you can. At least you’ll be able to sell something like that for about what you bought it without any repairs, or minimal, repairs.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Memphis Raines 09/25/2016 at 20:15

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Let’s face it, $900 is practically nothing for a car. As for the problems you experienced, I can shed some light on few of them since I own a ‘94 Mazda B-3000 (re-branded Ranger) that I’ve owned since ‘96.

Shift knob - for some dumb reason they decided that some splines and a dab of glue were good enough for a shift knob. They weren’t.

Gasoline smell - it could be from the filler neck, the evap canister, or even the fuel pump assembly. It’s a common problem that’s cheap/easy to repair ( http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/index.php?threads/anyone-smell-gas-sometimes.248644/ )

Window - on older trucks, the weatherstripping on the window tracks gets worn and the windows will tilt in the track, jamming the window. Easy fix.

Wheel came off? Sounds like he just swapped the wheels and did a poor job of it. Not a fault in the truck.

These little trucks are really bulletproof if you take care of basic maintenance. Mine has 269,000 miles on it with the original 3.0 V-6. To my wife’s chagrin, it just won’t die....

OPPOsaurus WRX > Memphis Raines 09/25/2016 at 20:27

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i dont understand how you dont think its possible to be going 70 in a 40 with cars still passing you. that just sounds like another day around here.

Rykilla303 > Memphis Raines 09/26/2016 at 17:25

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I got rid of my 87 Ford Ranger last winter (4 cyl, 5 speed, 4wd). Gave it to a friends kid. Slow and bulletproof. I recommend them, but 900 is too much for one that needs work.