Midnight Fox asked:
Vehicle recently purchased from owner who did not take very good care of it. It overheated and apparently head was damaged. Automatic transmission also has problems and I am debating weather the cost of repairing it is more than the car is worth. Would the car be worth more if sold for parts, assuming of course that the cost to repair it is too much?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Caffeinated Content
cost depends on all that is bad, I dont think it would be that bad for a head change it just depends on what all has happened to it. but as you say I dont think it woudl be worth it. sell it as a parts or sell it needing a motor. e36 parts are very desireable you would just have to find someon to buy it
Caffeinated Content
people leave my shop with 5K out of their pockets for a cylinder head replacement job done right. The trans is a little less about 3500 depending on the Euro exchange rate of the day. I only buy BMW remanufactured transmissions. I have never even herd of a rebuilder here in the US that can do a complete rebuild without the cost of all new parts being so high it would be in the 6 to 7K range.
As I preach day in and day out here on Yahoo Answers. Those years 3’s all models in the 3 series are JUNK. The heat from its own engine COOKS the engines and the automatic transmission. Usually they are cooked about 150 to 200K depending on climate conditions. Even the lowest of millage ones that look like new truly are worthless cars. Most owners will sink about 11K into them between 150 and 220K. I see this all the time people deny this fact and think I am a BMW hater. And I am but only the last 20 years or so BMW models BMW stopped building the cars people think they are buying new today.
Good engineering is not what it does but rather how long the parts last.
Caffeinated Content – Members-Only Content for WordPress
Your car if in a fair condition should fetch approximately $4500. to 5000.
The head repairs would as correctly mentioned previously depend on what needs to be done. A simple head gasket job would be less than a head replacement (with possibly new valves). Thus this can go from
less than a thousand to as high as $4000.
A re-manufactured auto transmission would cost about $850. to 1200 from an independent, and about $2500 to 3500 from a dealer. Plus add the cost of labor of about 8 hours.
It is a tough decision that only you can make for yourself. Throw in good money after bad, hope for the best, and use the car for sometime to be able to recoup your expenses… or, sell it and run to live another day.
By the way, I have also seen a lot of bad BMW cars, some by design
or manufacture, most by the way the owners maintain and use them.
But I look at it in a positive way, since I make my living from it. Job security some say.
Leave a Comment