Questions and Answers

Toyota Tercel: To Fix Or Not To Fix? Q. Dear Mr. Ciulla, I need some "to fix or not to fix" advice. I live on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. It's a beautiful place with a lot of really rough pothole infested roads. I have a 1986 Toyota Tercel Wagon with 80,000 miles. It's an automatic with decent A/C. It typically runs well once it's warmed up and the body is in really good shape, only 2 dings and 2 rust spots. The previous (original) owners were an elderly couple who only used the car about 4-6 months out of a year.

Although I'm older, I'm a new driver and this is my first car. I bought it for $900.00 "as is" in February 2005 knowing that it was a slow starter and would need a driver's side lower ball joint. I took it to a mechanic who said that it would also need a new brake booster.

In March, I purchased the parts for about $360.00 including shipping, but my former mechanic could never find time to do the job. Now the parts cannot be returned.

Since that time it has developed additional problems: it has a leak in the radiator and is leaking power steering fluid. My NEW mechanic says it needs a new radiator and a complete new rack and pinion steering with outer tie-ends.

He also says that I need to replace the passenger side lower ball joint, because ball joints should always be replaced in pairs. The old mechanic had told me that it wasn't necessary to replace both lower ball joints. The estimated total in additional parts will be about $600.00 not including shipping.

The radiator is relatively new; it was purchased in 2003 by the previous owner but only had a 1 year warranty. I've temporarily stopped the leak with a stop-leak product. My mechanic says that will only make the system sluggish. He also says that the new radiators cannot be repaired because they are made of plastic.

The previous owners gave me all the old receipts and I've noticed that the tie-rod ends have already been replaced at least twice.

I'm confused about what to do. I like the car and desperately need a car in order to start my own small business. I'm temporarily on a fixed income due to a medical condition. My sister offered to lend me the money for the original set of car repairs, but is balking at the additional repairs.

Do you think I should invest more money into this car OR eat the losses on the parts I've already bought and try to buy another used car?

Regards,
Sanz

A. With proper care and maintenance this car should last you a good long time. Basically you can reasonable expect another 80,000 miles out of it. But to address your concerns...

It is recommended that ball joints be replaced in pairs, and that is the best way to go, but you can replace them one at a time if need be.

Plastic radiators CAN be repaired. Only the tanks are plastic, the core is still made of metal. There are large O rings where the tanks join the core that can be replaced and the core itself can be replaced. You can remove the radiator yourself, take it to a radiator shop, have it repaired and put it back in. it is not very difficult.

If the steering rack is leaking, and it is not uncommon for them to do so, it can be postponed for a while just by making sure the power steering fluid is topped off as required. It will still need to be replaced, but you can do it as finances permit.

So at this point you can have the brake booster and the one ball joint replaced and the radiator repaired and that will hold you for the immediate future. The other repairs can be done one at a time as finances permit.