Tell me the Mustachian thing to do

[Hhnannies]

I have a 1997 Toyota Landcruiser that I paid for in cash back in the day.   Have had it for 17 years.  400,000 miles.  Love this Landcruiser! No problems ever, been a great truck.  In the last year, the seals from normal wear and tear have withered so I have an oil leak and a steering fluid leak that is getting worse as time goes by.  We add fluids every few days.  I took it to my mechanic and he said that I could just replace these things but they would need to basically take out the entire engine to do this because of the locations of the seals.  So it will be $1000+ ordeal. I am not sure what to do.  I could buy another car for 2K+.

The truck guzzles gas but I only drive it around our little town a few days a week, within a couple of miles of the house.  1x per week to a larger town 40 minutes away.
It works fine other than the leaks.
My husband wants me to get another vehicle - used, pay cash, practical like a Camry, because he is worried about the safety of such an old truck and that I might get stranded somewhere.
Something else would be more efficient gas-wise.

What do I do? Fix the Landcruiser or get a new-to-me vehicle?  They both seem equal options to me.

[Frankies Girl]

Environmentally, you are leaving a trail of nasty pollution everywhere you leave that vehicle. So I would be pretty horrified and ashamed of myself if it was me for that reason.

Fixing it is a slippery slope. I had the same thing - 17 year old vehicle that had progressively more and more expensive things going wrong with it. Finally hit my limit and now I wonder why I waited so long. It's bliss driving a car that isn't going to break down or cost me $500-$1,000 every few months. ;)

But yeah, get a newer, more fuel efficient and non-oil/steering fluid leaking car. You got more than your money's worth out if this one. All of the safety features on your old land barge are shot, and your insurance might also go down as well due to it not being a huge vehicle (if you got a smaller car like a Camry).

[cavewoman]

Sounds like you need a farewell ceremony! The land cruiser has served you well. I hope you enjoy your new-to-you car!

[chemistk]

Sell it. Listen to your husband. Assuming you have the standard features, according to KBB.com, your car is worth around $4,000 - if you are diligent about to whom you market it, you could possibly net slightly more than that, since these trucks make excellent off road/backwoods service vehicles. If the only issues are age-related mechanical things but it otherwise runs well, you're in a good boat to make some cash.

Take the money from the sale, plus a reasonable amount more (depending on what kind of "new-to-you" you are looking for) and get something smaller, more fuel efficient, and more reliable.

[Primm]

Would you be happy driving around in an otherwise intact car, throwing oil out of the window into the environment in which you live? Because that's essentially what you are doing.

Buy a new (to you) car.

[Metric Mouse]

Wouldn't it be vastly more environmentally friendly to fix the leaks than to begin to consume another entire vehicle?

[Hhnannies]

Thanks for the advice!  I was really struggling with the environmental part of things and as one commentator pointed out, wouldn't it be better just to fix the truck rather get a new one - environmentally speaking?

[Dmy0013]

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[KCM5]

Thanks for the advice!  I was really struggling with the environmental part of things and as one commentator pointed out, wouldn't it be better just to fix the truck rather get a new one - environmentally speaking?

Considering you'd be selling the car to another user and buying a used car yourself, maybe not?

It depends on how much you drive your land rover, how much the new owner will drive your land rover, whether you're adding demand for another car, or just trading cars already produced around.

Say you sell your Land Rover to someone who drives it 1,000 miles a year off road. Then you buy a newer used car to drive your 10,000 miles a year that has better emissions standards - maybe that's a win? And then there's the question of what portion of manufacturing emissions you're responsible for once you buy that used car. Are there going to be more cars produced because you bought the used car? The person you're buying it from (or the person they bought it from) probably buys a new car as a replacement. But does the existance of that new car depend on the fact that you bought the old car used? That's the question I'm never certain about. It's an interesting thought experiment. I mean, cars only last so long so the manufacturing emissions should probably be amortized over the life of the car. But since you're not junking your old car, it's probably a wash. 

[Miss Piggy]

Realistically, how many more miles can you expect from your Landcruiser? 400,000 is already more than double what most people get from a car, so I think you've more than done well with this one.

You say these $1,000 problems are normal wear and tear. What other normal wear and tear problems can you start to expect? I would think many, with 400,000 miles of wear and tear.

I can understand your dilemma...but I think I'd lean toward a new-to-me car.

[chemistk]

Thanks for the advice!  I was really struggling with the environmental part of things and as one commentator pointed out, wouldn't it be better just to fix the truck rather get a new one - environmentally speaking?

It's hard to quantify how much better or worse that would be for the environment. In essence, you are just deferring the environmental toll until a later date since your Land Cruiser will not last forever. Plus, since you are in the market for a used car, the deed will have been done (so to speak).

Be aware that even though the estimated repairs right now could be low, you could find yourself in six months having to replace the transmission, and in a year the engine. Very few vehicles are driven successfully past 500,000 miles without having significant maintenance performed - often total engine and transmission swaps are necessary to keep the car on the road.

You seem to be trying to find excuses to keep it. Owning something like that for 20 years can form an emotional attachment, but I urge you to look strictly at the numbers on this one and see that you might lose half the truck's value in the next year, all while spending double that to keep it in the road.

[Hhnannies]

Perfect!  This is the exact sort of feedback that I needed to decide what to do.  Getting a new-to-me vehicle then! Thanks all!

[Reynolds531]

Couple of thoughts

It's a very popular truck with the enthusiast community. That might be the way to go for a sale.

Also I'd throw some high mileage oil, stop leak at it. Might get lucky and stop dropping oil.

[FZJ80]

First post, but a diehard cruiser fan. That is classic, sought after model. With good maintenance will take you another 200k at least. There are only a couple of seals that go bad on those rigs and very well documented fixes. I just rebuilt my power steering system In the same vehicle bc of leaks. If you have metric wrenches, you can take care of them in the driveway.
Whatever you decide, head over to ih8mud.com for how tos or to sell it. You'll get top dollar especially if it has the magic dial, i.e. Front and rear lockers.