Car repair vs purchase

[SavageBastard]

I have an 11 year old Honda minivan with 180k miles on it. It's mechanically in mostly good shape, plenty of rust underneath from northeastern winters, but it suits all my purposes. Trade in on it is probably $4-5k if I'm lucky. I just sprung an exhaust leak and it's going to be about $2.1k to fix it, plus some other little random things that could run up to $3k. I'm not sure how necessary the other stuff is to pass inspection. I'm of 2 minds about it. On one hand, for $2.5k I would probably buy this car knowing everything I know about it. On the other hand, it's entirely possible something else could come up that could run me another couple grand. Now's not a great time to buy a car in general, and mostly I'm trying to make a reasoned decision that won't be unnecessarily solving the problem by throwing money at it. What are the current MMM thoughts on such a situation? I'm not realistically going to fix this myself, so that's not an option.

[Paper Chaser]

How does an exhaust leak turn into $2.1-3k?

[SavageBastard]

The whole system is rusted and has to be replaced from engine nearly all the way back. The parts alone are like $1450. Cars are expensive.

[jnw]

Maybe it's not that complicated of a repair?  Have you looked at some youtube videos of people doing this repair on your particular video?

How about asking a mechanically inclined friend to do the repair for maybe 1/4th the cost?

Parts can be gotten used very cheap from scrap yard.

[chemistk]

Looks like you've been quoted to have the catalytic converters replaced, as well as the rest of the exhaust hardware. If that's indeed the case, that would be in the ballpark for those parts.

Unless you are good at welding and/or working with sheetmetal (or know someone who is), this definitely isn't a DIY repair. If it's all rusted, it's going to have to be cut off the van so there's minimal chance at best of salvaging anything.

Now if your catalytic converters aren't bad (you'd have a couple CEL codes), it's possible to see if you can "find a guy" who will weld up a new exhaust and/or repair the existing system, but that's a dicey approach at best.

I'd be inclined to keep the van, but then again when anyone asks me whether they should keep or sell their Ody, I'm going to tell them to keep it 9 times out of 10. Assuming you replaced the timing belt at 105k or you know that it was (you did do that, didn't you??), and that you have plans to do so again in 20k miles, and you've been keeping on top of transmission fluid "replacement", that van will get you to 250k. Well, the powertrain at least - if the rust is bad enough, especially on the important parts, then the body certainly won't make it.

The question comes down to - do you need a minivan, or is it just nice to have? If you have a genuine need for the van, be it people or cargo or both, then I think that's enough of a reason to keep it. You won't find another clean van worth buying for the money you'd get for this van and you are already aware of its history.

On the flipside, if you can get by with something smaller, you might do well to sell it, disclosing the known issues. There is plenty of demand for minivans right now and someone would likely be willing to put in the work to keep it running.

[SavageBastard]

Looks like you've been quoted to have the catalytic converters replaced, as well as the rest of the exhaust hardware. If that's indeed the case, that would be in the ballpark for those parts.

Unless you are good at welding and/or working with sheetmetal (or know someone who is), this definitely isn't a DIY repair. If it's all rusted, it's going to have to be cut off the van so there's minimal chance at best of salvaging anything.

Now if your catalytic converters aren't bad (you'd have a couple CEL codes), it's possible to see if you can "find a guy" who will weld up a new exhaust and/or repair the existing system, but that's a dicey approach at best.

I'd be inclined to keep the van, but then again when anyone asks me whether they should keep or sell their Ody, I'm going to tell them to keep it 9 times out of 10. Assuming you replaced the timing belt at 105k or you know that it was (you did do that, didn't you??), and that you have plans to do so again in 20k miles, and you've been keeping on top of transmission fluid "replacement", that van will get you to 250k. Well, the powertrain at least - if the rust is bad enough, especially on the important parts, then the body certainly won't make it.

The question comes down to - do you need a minivan, or is it just nice to have? If you have a genuine need for the van, be it people or cargo or both, then I think that's enough of a reason to keep it. You won't find another clean van worth buying for the money you'd get for this van and you are already aware of its history.

On the flipside, if you can get by with something smaller, you might do well to sell it, disclosing the known issues. There is plenty of demand for minivans right now and someone would likely be willing to put in the work to keep it running.

Timing belt got done a while ago, I think around 120 or 130k, dont recall. I definitely don't "need" the van, though it's a great pickup/kid carrier hybrid that allows me to make dump runs and move gear around when I need to. I've only hung on to it because it was paid for, suits my needs and I'm lazy. I've considered buying something like a Fit when this thing goes, but I've just been waiting to run it into the ground first. I'm just trying to figure out when the "ground" is exactly.

And yes, the part appears to include the catalytic converter.

[ChickenStash]

If the leak is post-cat(s) then I would not replace the cats unless it was throwing an emissions code of some sort. Just replacing the piping and muffler(s) from the cat-back should be far less expensive. If you haven't already, try getting an estimate from a dedicated muffler/exhaust shop.

[trollwithamustache]

2.5k sounds a lot cheaper than a new car. And, if used car prices have gone up as much as the internet tells me, 2.5k is also a lot cheaper than a used car.

Seriously, if there is nothing else wrong with the car, you can get a lot of life out of an 11 year old Honda.

[DaMa]

I had the same repair done on my 2011 Nissan Versa last year, for 2K.

[RWD]

Is the frame rusting or is it limited to the exhaust? I wouldn't throw money at a car with the frame rusting out.

[JAYSLOL]

So I would always recommend getting a second opinion from a reliable independent shop (not the dealer).  If the van only has surface rust underneath and has been otherwise well maintained, financially it’s definitely better to keep it on the road even if it costs you $2-3k.  I mean, that’s only what, 6 months of payments on a new car?  So if you get a year out of it, that’s still better financially.  But odds are an 11 year old Honda is going to last a heck of a lot longer than one more year, even if it needs the occasional repair.  And keep in mind, the brakes and tires and everything wear out at the same rate on a new car as the old Honda, the exhaust on a new car will rust out at the same rate on the new car as the old Honda, so you’re just paying for it all at once by getting a new car. 

[Paper Chaser]

IF the catalytic converter(s) needed replacement, you'd probably have a check engine light. Same with O2 sensors really (although they do often slow down and drag fuel efficiency down a bit as they age).

If it's just an exhaust leak due to rusty piping or a damaged gasket, that should be something that a relatively cheap muffler/exhaust shop can handle without replacing everything. It's definitely worth checking there before signing up for $2-3k of work that might not be needed.

[chemistk]

Looks like you've been quoted to have the catalytic converters replaced, as well as the rest of the exhaust hardware. If that's indeed the case, that would be in the ballpark for those parts.

Unless you are good at welding and/or working with sheetmetal (or know someone who is), this definitely isn't a DIY repair. If it's all rusted, it's going to have to be cut off the van so there's minimal chance at best of salvaging anything.

Now if your catalytic converters aren't bad (you'd have a couple CEL codes), it's possible to see if you can "find a guy" who will weld up a new exhaust and/or repair the existing system, but that's a dicey approach at best.

I'd be inclined to keep the van, but then again when anyone asks me whether they should keep or sell their Ody, I'm going to tell them to keep it 9 times out of 10. Assuming you replaced the timing belt at 105k or you know that it was (you did do that, didn't you??), and that you have plans to do so again in 20k miles, and you've been keeping on top of transmission fluid "replacement", that van will get you to 250k. Well, the powertrain at least - if the rust is bad enough, especially on the important parts, then the body certainly won't make it.

The question comes down to - do you need a minivan, or is it just nice to have? If you have a genuine need for the van, be it people or cargo or both, then I think that's enough of a reason to keep it. You won't find another clean van worth buying for the money you'd get for this van and you are already aware of its history.

On the flipside, if you can get by with something smaller, you might do well to sell it, disclosing the known issues. There is plenty of demand for minivans right now and someone would likely be willing to put in the work to keep it running.

Timing belt got done a while ago, I think around 120 or 130k, dont recall. I definitely don't "need" the van, though it's a great pickup/kid carrier hybrid that allows me to make dump runs and move gear around when I need to. I've only hung on to it because it was paid for, suits my needs and I'm lazy. I've considered buying something like a Fit when this thing goes, but I've just been waiting to run it into the ground first. I'm just trying to figure out when the "ground" is exactly.

And yes, the part appears to include the catalytic converter.

You mention inspection - do you live in a state with emissions testing as well or is it just safety inspections? If you don't need emissions testing you would probably do well to ask a couple shops if they'd be willing to hang a new exhaust while saving the old cats.

If this (and the other little stuff you didn't detail) is the only major problem, I think a couple thousand is warranted to keep the van running. But again, it comes down to how rusted the van is - if you've got surface rust you could pretty easily clean it up with a wire brush and then use rust converter paint on the surface rust to stop and seal it.

But if the rust is structural (are the rusty areas crunchy/full of holes or has the rust visibly deteriorated the integrity of steering and suspension components), then the exhaust work won't be worth it.