Another repair or replace the car story

[TheOffice]

My 2012 BMW 128i convertible has 111,000 miles on it. It went from using a quart of oil every 3-400 miles to using a quart every 500 miles.

Dealer, who I trust (to a point) said it was the oil pan gasket - $1500. Took it to my local guy who pulled the shield off while I was there. Eight years worth of grime and a little dampness around the gasket, but nothing to explain the consumption. He then lowered the car and removed the oil fill cap to test the crankcase ventilation. Some excess suction, but not definitive. Its not your 1980s $5. PCV valve. It is built into the valve cover. $1100 job! And no guaranty that there is not an internal problem he can't see.

Car is worth $4,000 on a good day. Otherwise runs great. Tires and brakes are good.

I can pick up a leftover 19 Jetta RLine for 17k with a 6 year 72k mile warranty or a used 19 Mazda 3 for 18.

Fix it, dump it or buy a case of oil?

[Jamie]

How much do you love it? A quart every 500 miles says something is wrong.

Is this an NA N52 I-6? Are you sure it's the PCV valve and not blow-by? BMWs tend to run hot with low viscosity oil and narrow rings for efficiency/emissions.

[TheOffice]

It is the inline 6. Last of the non-turbo BMWs.

I don't see smoke and the tailpipe is not oily.

[Jamie]

It is the inline 6. Last of the non-turbo BMWs.

I don't see smoke and the tailpipe is not oily.

It might just be wisping smoke at WOT/ high load. How clean is the intake?

[Jamie]

It is the inline 6. Last of the non-turbo BMWs.

I don't see smoke and the tailpipe is not oily.

It might just be wisping smoke at WOT/ high load. How clean is the intake?

[TheOffice]

I'll take a look.

A this point we are probably going to get rid of it while it is running well

[TheOffice]

Decision made:

Confirmed the BMW needs an $1100 repair. Test drove 2 Jettas the 1.4T and the 2.0T. The 1.4T was like driving an econo car. The 2.0T has fully independent suspension and a lot more power. They found a 2019. My first brand new car since my 1989 Maxima. It has emergency braking, blind spot warning CarPlay etc.

I got the dealer and givemethevin.com into a bidding war on the trade. $1900 more than CarMax.

Tomorrow I'll be driving it home!

[kimbottles]

Decision made:

Confirmed the BMW needs an $1100 repair. Test drove 2 Jettas the 1.4T and the 2.0T. The 1.4T was like driving an econo car. The 2.0T has fully independent suspension and a lot more power. They found a 2019. My first brand new car since my 1989 Maxima. It has emergency braking, blind spot warning CarPlay etc.

I got the dealer and givemethevin.com into a bidding war on the trade. $1900 more than CarMax.

Tomorrow I'll be driving it home!

Well done!!

[kdh]

Decision made:

Confirmed the BMW needs an $1100 repair. Test drove 2 Jettas the 1.4T and the 2.0T. The 1.4T was like driving an econo car. The 2.0T has fully independent suspension and a lot more power. They found a 2019. My first brand new car since my 1989 Maxima. It has emergency braking, blind spot warning CarPlay etc.

I got the dealer and givemethevin.com into a bidding war on the trade. $1900 more than CarMax.

Tomorrow I'll be driving it home!

My first new car, bought with a loan my dad cosigned after college graduation, was an '83 Jetta. Loved that car.

[BeauV]

Decision made:

Confirmed the BMW needs an $1100 repair. Test drove 2 Jettas the 1.4T and the 2.0T. The 1.4T was like driving an econo car. The 2.0T has fully independent suspension and a lot more power. They found a 2019. My first brand new car since my 1989 Maxima. It has emergency braking, blind spot warning CarPlay etc.

I got the dealer and givemethevin.com into a bidding war on the trade. $1900 more than CarMax.

Tomorrow I'll be driving it home!

I think that the petrol engine Jetta is one of the best value-4-money cars on the road. Well done.

[Audrey]

Impressive. It takes me 6 months to pick out and purchase a car, you knocked it out in less than a week! get-er-done

[Tim Ford]

My first new car, bought with a loan my dad cosigned after college graduation, was an '83 Jetta. Loved that car.

Hah! Me too, although mine was an '84 diesel.

Great car, had it for 11 years. It came with a state-of-the-art Blaupunkt stereo that lasted exactly one week until it was unceremoniously ripped out of the dash by some member of the criminal underclass....we were living in a nice city neighbourhood otherwise surrounded by poverty. Stupid of me to assume it would last as long as the rest of the vehicle.

My favourite thing about the diesel Jetta...it was vastly underpowdered, but when someone was tailgating me, I'd let it coast for a few seconds and then floor it. Doing so would cause an enormous fart of diesel smoke, and a few of those were usually enough to dissuade even the most aggressive tailgater to peel off and pass.

Nice job with the car, Joel...although you could have offered us a chance to bid on the 'beamer ragtop!

[TheOffice]

Tim,

It needed a $5 positive crankcase ventilation valve that is an $1100 job on a BMW. And that was just the start.

Very happy I upgraded to the GLI. The larger engine and 4 wheel independent suspension make a huge difference!

[kdh]

Mine didn't come with a radio but I put a Blaupunkt in it. Only seemed natural. But its cassette tape player was a piece of shit so I replaced it with an Alpine. Which soon got unceremoniously ripped out of the car. Sold it in '93 for a Saab 900.

[Steele]

My first new car, bought with a loan my dad cosigned after college graduation, was an '83 Jetta. Loved that car.

Hah! Me too, although mine was an '84 diesel.

Great car, had it for 11 years. It came with a state-of-the-art Blaupunkt stereo that lasted exactly one week until it was unceremoniously ripped out of the dash by some member of the criminal underclass....we were living in a nice city neighbourhood otherwise surrounded by poverty. Stupid of me to assume it would last as long as the rest of the vehicle.

My favourite thing about the diesel Jetta...it was vastly underpowdered, but when someone was tailgating me, I'd let it coast for a few seconds and then floor it. Doing so would cause an enormous fart of diesel smoke, and a few of those were usually enough to dissuade even the most aggressive tailgater to peel off and pass.

Nice job with the car, Joel...although you could have offered us a chance to bid on the 'beamer ragtop!

This prompts fond memories of the mid 80's chevy diesel pickup my dad bought for us to drive in high school. This was a gas motor converted to diesel, and like your jetta would belch giant clouds of soot when you hit the go pedal. Our favorite stunt was to pull up to a light by a fellow student, line the tailpipe up with their open window, and floor it in neutral. Unfortunatley this was the only redeeming quality that truck. It had no power, made a racket, leaked oil, and parts would randomly fall off it with minimal provocation. I recall even slamming the door would cause interior trim to fall off. The early 80s was not a good time for GM.

[Slick470]

I had a 1990 chevy S-10 in college with a 4.3L V6 that was starting to use about a quart of oil every 150 miles or so. It had leaky valves and leaky rings that were later fixed with a short block and a head job.

Anyway, there was a long hill along the 2-lane highway leading into my college town and the truck would bog down from a lack of compression and it would get slower and slower going up that hill. One day a guy in a white convertible with the top down got up behind me and was riding my bumper and was visibly irritated that he had to slow down for me even though a passing lane was coming up. He was weaving and revving his engine and generally being a jerk about it. So, I floored it. It didn't make much of a difference in my speed, but he got a cloud of bluish white smoke that probably had some oil droplets suspended in it that he backed off very quickly and then hopefully spent the rest of the day cleaning his car inside and out.

I don't feel bad about that at all...

[BeauV]

Mine didn't come with a radio but I put a Blaupunkt in it. Only seemed natural. But its cassette tape player was a piece of shit so I replaced it with an Alpine. Which soon got unceremoniously ripped out of the car. Sold it in '93 for a Saab 900.

I had a BMW M3 with a nice radio. I learned within a month that B. M. W. stood for Break My Window. After that, I used a portable radio which I tossed under a seat and left the hole in the dash so thieves could see there wasn't any radio. One idiot broke my window again and smashed the dash in frustration. I made a sign that said: "NO RADIO" and taped it to the inside of the widows.

[BeauV]

Andy, I love that story!!!

My Dad (the rocket scientist) had a sense of humor a lot like a 10-year-old kid. He once mounted a whistle on the intake manifold of Mom's sedan. You opened the valve to the whistle with a wire that was lead to where I used to sit in the back seat. I was about 10 at the time, so Dad and I had basically the same sense of humor. Mad magazine level. When we drove by a pretty girl, my Dad would give the signal and I'd pull the wire to make the wolf-whistle sound. My mother was appalled and couldn't figure out how Dad was doing this. I finally couldn't stop laughing, so she caught me. We loved that whistle, it would make the engine run like garbage if you kept it open too long, but we got so we could play a tune with it. It was REALLY LOUD!

Similar to your car, Dad hated it when folks would tailgate his '61 VW bug. So he rigged a fuel line and spark plug to the muffler. He'd dump a bit of gasoline in the muffler and hit the spark. The flame was about 4' long and came out of both tailpipes. He'd make the car stutter by wiggling his foot on the accelerator and then put out a belch of fire again. He got the idea from a movie we watched together about evil-teenagers who did this to their '49 Fords. I can't remember the name of the movie, but the evil-teenagers all wore black leather jackets and did "bad things". All of which we thought was great fun!

I sure miss my Dad.

[SemiSalt]

Andy, I love that story!!!

My Dad (the rocket scientist) had a sense of humor a lot like a 10-year-old kid. He once mounted a whistle on the intake manifold of Mom's sedan. You opened the valve to the whistle with a wire that was lead to where I used to sit in the back seat. I was about 10 at the time, so Dad and I had basically the same sense of humor. Mad magazine level. When we drove by a pretty girl, my Dad would give the signal and I'd pull the wire to make the wolf-whistle sound. My mother was appalled and couldn't figure out how Dad was doing this. I finally couldn't stop laughing, so she caught me. We loved that whistle, it would make the engine run like garbage if you kept it open too long, but we got so we could play a tune with it. It was REALLY LOUD!

Similar to your car, Dad hated it when folks would tailgate his '61 VW bug. So he rigged a fuel line and spark plug to the muffler. He'd dump a bit of gasoline in the muffler and hit the spark. The flame was about 4' long and came out of both tailpipes. He'd make the car stutter by wiggling his foot on the accelerator and then put out a belch of fire again. He got the idea from a movie we watched together about evil-teenagers who did this to their '49 Fords. I can't remember the name of the movie, but the evil-teenagers all wore black leather jackets and did "bad things". All of which we thought was great fun!

I sure miss my Dad.

I was watching an episode of Top Gear. They said one car, an Audi, I think, would squirt a drop of gas into the muffler when you tromped on the pedal to enhance the growl.

[Jamie]

All these farting cars on overrun. There's no reason for it with EFI unless you are running anti-lag. In that case it sounds like a Kalashnikov.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiKFCzMxJik

I loved the hand-me-down Saab 900. I think it did about 300k miles by the end. I learned to drive on it. My sister learned to drive on it. My girlfriend at the time learned on it and even crashed it once.

[Tucky]

All these breaking into cars stories- I'll tell mine. In the middle 90s I bought my first car remotely. Used Land Cruisers were hard to come by but I found one in western Mass and by emailing pictures back and forth the dealer and I arrived at a deal, he would have 15 minutes to look at the Land Cruiser I wanted to trade and I would look over his I was buying and then we would make or not make the deal at the agreed price. Early internet selling. I warned him that I needed to get my bag phone (remember those) out of my trade in and would be tight for time. I arrive, we look at each others cars and do the deal. He is taking his time and I keep reminding him about the phone- the wiring from the phone mounted in the rear to the handset up front, the antenna, etc. etc., the need to get it all to me without damage so I can install it in the new car. No problem he says. Finally we are done and he says take my car out back and ask for Manuel. I do so and Manuel is a small wiry portuguese fellow from New Bedford who, while I watched in awe, took the entire phone, wiring harness and parts out of my car in less than a minute without any damage. His ability to spring panels, pull wires and clips without hurting either the phone or the car was jaw dropping. I asked where he learned that- his reply was "you don't want to know". I walked back to the salesman who gave me an I told you so smile- he knew what he had.

[Ken Heaton (Salazar)]

All these breaking into cars stories- I'll tell mine. In the middle 90s I bought my first car remotely. Used Land Cruisers were hard to come by but I found one in western Mass and by emailing pictures back and forth the dealer and I arrived at a deal, he would have 15 minutes to look at the Land Cruiser I wanted to trade and I would look over his I was buying and then we would make or not make the deal at the agreed price. Early internet selling. I warned him that I needed to get my bag phone (remember those) out of my trade in and would be tight for time. I arrive, we look at each others cars and do the deal. He is taking his time and I keep reminding him about the phone- the wiring from the phone mounted in the rear to the handset up front, the antenna, etc. etc., the need to get it all to me without damage so I can install it in the new car. No problem he says. Finally we are done and he says take my car out back and ask for Manuel. I do so and Manuel is a small wiry portuguese fellow from New Bedford who, while I watched in awe, took the entire phone, wiring harness and parts out of my car in less than a minute without any damage. His ability to spring panels, pull wires and clips without hurting either the phone or the car was jaw dropping. I asked where he learned that- his reply was "you don't want to know". I walked back to the salesman who gave me an I told you so smile- he knew what he had.

That story made me smile.

[kdh]

All these farting cars on overrun. There's no reason for it with EFI unless you are running anti-lag. In that case it sounds like a Kalashnikov.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiKFCzMxJik

I loved the hand-me-down Saab 900. I think it did about 300k miles by the end. I learned to drive on it. My sister learned to drive on it. My girlfriend at the time learned on it and even crashed it once.

We still have a '94 Saab 900 Turbo convertible. It was the last of the old body style. We had three 900s at one point. The one we still have looks exactly like this.

[Jamie]

All these farting cars on overrun. There's no reason for it with EFI unless you are running anti-lag. In that case it sounds like a Kalashnikov.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiKFCzMxJik

I loved the hand-me-down Saab 900. I think it did about 300k miles by the end. I learned to drive on it. My sister learned to drive on it. My girlfriend at the time learned on it and even crashed it once.

We still have a '94 Saab 900 Turbo convertible. It was the last of the old body style. We had three 900s at one point. The one we still have looks exactly like this.

That's awesome.