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I have a 2008 Vue XE 4-cylinder, ~160k miles, that jumped timing and messed up a bunch of things in the engine. One of the more reputable mechanics in the area quoted me at right around $3k with tax. Given I paid 10k for the car to start with, it was goodbye Vue, hello new Civic lease. The Vue is in fairly good physical condition otherwise, but it is immobile now and I'd like to know if there's a consensus on the best (highest paying) site to sell cars like this quickly. Peddle.com gave me a ~$900 quote, so that's the high mark for the moment. If any of you have experience with this sort of thing, I'd much appreciate any insight you have.
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Jan 19, 2015 08:15
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I'd take the 900 and run. The only way you'll get more is by removing individual parts and selling them off, which is potentially more labor-intensive than replacing the engine yourself.
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Jan 19, 2015 08:39
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The engine is the common as dirt Ecotec 2.4L. Did you ignore a rattling timing chain, or did you let it run low on oil? The tensioner is run by oil pressure, so if oil pressure drops, it'll skip timing and smash valves and pistons together. The tensioner can also fail in a way that lets it skip timing, but you'll hear a decently loud rattle that lasts a couple of seconds during a cold startup long before it lets go. It's rare for the Ecotec family to have timing chain issues outside of those scenarios. Also, did the mechanic actually look inside the bores and see physical damage? (you need a borescope for that - basically a camera that's designed to be inserted into the cylinders through the spark plug holes) My mechanic has run across a handful of Ecotecs that skipped timing because they ran low on oil, causing the tensioner to back off, which lets the chain skip a tooth. He's gotten to where he just tries lining everything back up and tossing a new tensioner in, and seeing if they'll fire up. Most of them have escaped with no bent valves (just severely reduced life from being run low on oil, and he won't warranty anything except the tensioner when he does those jobs). That said, if you're not interested in finding someone who'll swap the engine for considerably less (which will take some work), and your mechanic knows for sure it has bent valves, $900 isn't a bad offer for a dead vehicle. If there's no piston damage, just valve damage, you can spend significantly less and get the head rebuilt, get the revised timing chain tensioner installed, and get it back on the road... and sell it for a lot more. But confirming this will require either removing the head, or a shop with a boroscope (that's a very, very, very cheap one.. a good one costs far more).
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Jan 19, 2015 09:17
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I'd just take the 9 hundo and put it toward a couple months of lease payments. 
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Jan 19, 2015 09:23
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Yeah, it was a low oil issue, because I'm half an idiot. I don't know the specifics of the checks done, but the place has a sterling reputation here, and several coworkers outright gleamed about the work and pricing when I asked around for shop recommendations. I won't be going through the trouble of getting it running or parting it, I know when I'm out of my element and wanted to make sure I'm getting something close to a fair deal. So far it's sounding like I should take the peddle offer and call it a day.
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Jan 19, 2015 09:33
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bloodysabbath posted:I have a 2008 Vue XE 4-cylinder, ~160k miles, that jumped timing and messed up a bunch of things in the engine. One of the more reputable mechanics in the area quoted me at right around $3k with tax. Given I paid 10k for the car to start with, it was goodbye Vue, hello new Civic lease. Do you have an LKQ in your area? I got $350 for an 18-yr-old Ford Escort wagon. If I could have driven it in, I would have gotten $50 more.
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Jan 19, 2015 13:22
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The car books at like what, $7-8k probably? I'd throw it on Craigslist for $2k if you've got the patience for clist people. A flipper would likely buy it if the engine is common.
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Jan 19, 2015 14:46
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mafoose posted:The car books at like what, $7-8k probably? You can sit there for months waiting for money.
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Jan 19, 2015 16:32
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Wait you should easily be able to sell this for 5k with the engine fix no? There is no good outlet for selling a non running car.
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Jan 19, 2015 16:37
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Echoing the 'take the money and run' crowd.
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Jan 19, 2015 16:39
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You could always try a local auction. Set a reserve at the 900 you'd be getting anyway, and you'll be able to quickly see what the market will pay beyond that (if anything) without dealing with CL idiots.
Turbo Fondant fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Jan 19, 2015 |
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Jan 19, 2015 16:43
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Is the mechanic interested in buying it? That's what happens with all the good Volvos here in Denver like that - where it's an easy fix for a mechanic but impossible for a regular dude. The shops buy them and fix & flip them. Ruins it for a guy like me who knows how to swap engines and transmissions and would love a bargain on an easy fix car. Maybe tell him if he can beat $1000 or $1200 or something he can have it.
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Jan 19, 2015 17:05
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I don't know much about this first hand, but would donating it to a charity be a feasible option? A lot of the times they'll tow it away for you and it's tax deductible. I'm sure most people here would just save up some coin and find a used engine to put it, I know that's not possible for a lot of people but if you have a garage and some mechanically inclined friends, it's certainly doable. Changing an engine is pretty tedious if you've never done it before, but idiot-me and some of my idiot friends pulled it off years ago on a Ford Probe.
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Jan 21, 2015 02:16
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CommieGIR posted:Echoing the 'take the money and run' crowd. Fo rizzle. Wish I could get $900 for my Accent.
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Jan 21, 2015 03:41
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mafoose posted:A flipper would likely buy it if the engine is common. It's one of the, if not the, most common late model 4 cylinder GM engines. I doubt OP would get $2k for it, but 1000-1500 would be doable if it's otherwise in good shape.
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Jan 21, 2015 06:54
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If you're in no hurry to sell you can put it on craigslist just to see if you get any bites. Start out at 2k or more and work your way down, see what happens. If you don't want to deal with that then just take the 900.
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Jan 21, 2015 07:41
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SouthLAnd posted:I don't know much about this first hand, but would donating it to a charity be a feasible option? A lot of the times they'll tow it away for you and it's tax deductible. You can, and you can feel good about it, but it only nets you the declared value times your effective tax rate. Which for most of us is less than 20%, and that's only for people who itemize. So as far as getting his money out of it, it's likely not a great option. Although that brings up the question, when you donate a car with a blown motor can you declare blue book value of the car? Or do you have to adjust for the blown motor? I mean, ethically I know what you should do, but legally how do they track that? Other than when you file taxes they go "this guy shouldn't be donating an $8000 car" and hit the audit button.
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Jan 21, 2015 15:53
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You don't get to do that anymore, the charity will notify you what they sold the heap for and you get that, unless they keep and use a non running Vue, then they will give you a value. (It looks like if you claim under $5,000 you don't need any proof)
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Jan 21, 2015 19:43
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