Dear Tom and Ray: My 1997 Honda Accord has 270,000 miles. It still runs great, and doesn’t use any oil. There are some problems I could take care of, like a clicking from an axle, struts that are pretty worn out and a pitted windshield. But overall, it runs well. My brother says I should get a new car. He cites safety concerns, and says that things like tie rods could break and lead to an accident. Since I’m adopting a 1-year-old child soon, I don’t really want to break down anywhere, but I’ve never been too worried about it before. Anyway, I’m thinking of trying to go to 300,000 miles and then give her up. What do you think? — Linda
Ray: Ah, the endless mileage contest. I have other customers like you, Linda. You say you just want to get to 300,000. And then when you get there, you’ll say, “I just want to get to 325,000.” I know your type.
Tom: Me too. You have my full support, Linda. As long as rust hasn’t diminished the structural integrity of the car, the safety stuff can be addressed pretty easily. You take the car to a mechanic you trust, and you ask him to look it over, stem to stern, as if you were thinking of buying it as a used car.
Ray: You ask him which of the problems are safety-related, and you fix those first. And, by the way, the worn struts and pitted windshield should be on that list.
Tom: You’re almost always better off, economically, keeping an old car rather than buying a new one.
Ray: Except that it’s not as reliable. When you have 270,000 miles on a vehicle, any moment the fuel pump could have “the big one.” That WOULD leave you stranded.
Tom: And sure, that could happen with 70,000 miles on the car, or 170,000, too. But the likelihood of breaking down and getting stuck increases with every mile you put on the car. If you travel far from home with a small child, that becomes a consideration.
Dear Tom and Ray: I’m in Taji, Iraq, driving a Mitsubishi diesel pickup with a turbo, intercooled engine. It’s very hard to start in the morning. You have to pump the gas at least 10 times, and then, once it starts, you have to hold the pedal all the way down until it stops shaking. There are no external markings to indicate that the truck is a diesel. Not even the gas cap is marked. Do you suppose that the previous driver put gasoline in it by accident? Please help. Contractor support here is minimal, and the shaking is hard on an old guy like me first thing in the morning. — Dan
Ray: If I were in Iraq, a little engine shake would be the last thing I’d be worried about, Dan. Those “backfires” are what would scare the heck out of me!
Tom: From your description, it sounds like not all of your cylinders are firing right away, like it’s running on two or three cylinders.
Ray: The first thing I’d suspect, in that case, would be your fuel filter or fuel injectors.
Tom: The fuel filter could be clogged for all kinds of reasons. Perhaps no one’s changed it since Saddam threw out all the Jiffy al-Lubes. Or maybe some “unfriendlies” have been filling the tank with camel whiz? Who knows?
Ray: If the fuel filter is clean, or the problem continues after you change it, then it could be partially plugged injectors. When an engine’s cold, it’s very unforgiving of stuff like that. If the truck continues to run rough even after it’s warm and idles roughly, then you could have something more serious: a worn-out engine with lousy compression.
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