Hey there,

I know no one out there has a crystal ball, but I'm wondering what you think.

I have a partner and two kids, and we commute anywhere from not at all, to 90 miles/day with one car. We've been driving this '81 240 wagon for years, and we've just about had it with the expense of maintenance. I can change the oil, light bulbs, and fuses; have to pay mechanics to do anything else. In the last six months, we've had to fix: the power steering (leaking), the fuel injectors (leaking), and the brakes (pads, master cylinder, and brake boost). Also spent several hundred getting it past California smog, including a new Catalytic converter. Lots of little things are wrong with it--wiring for the rear plate lights is not working, the power door lock solenoids are long gone, and of course the interior is crumbling to bits.

And a big, big thing is wrong--the heater, which had been tolerable, if balky, is now pouring out smoke, lots of it. So we have the opposite of defog. I have explored the various hypotheses, and whatever is causing it, it seems likely that we need to pull out the ventilation system to fix it. We have been putting up with the nonfunctioning A/C for a long time, too, so I'd like to do both at the same time. The problem is that, of course, that the local mechanics want 8 hours labor (at $49-$60/hour) just to pull the dash and get to the ventilation system. Then maybe an a/c recharge, a blower fan motor, a heater core...who knows. So we're looking at another $400-$1,000 just to make it usable again.

Looking at the engine, it looks like the manifold (?) is ready to rust through, so I figure that's the next thing.

But, and this is the but, the engine is running fine. It's sweet, in fact. We have NO idea how many miles are on it, we bought it with 165,000 on a broken odo (since repaired), and the seller told us that the previous seller had put a rebuilt engine and transmission in it. We have put many thousand on since then. Also have replaced the clutch, the head, the ignition switch, and some other things that I can't remember. And have a decent set of Michelins on it.

The problem is that it's driving us crazy to fork out another 500 - 1000 every six months or so for this, that or the other thing. It's NOT a labor of love--this is our only car, and needs to be safe, reliable transportation.

Should I dump it, and get something newer/fewer miles, or just keep pouring $$$ into it? Is it going to need yet more major/expensive repairs? Has it reached the end of the road? How can I tell that I'm not putting good money after bad?