Gotten nowhere near the response to the CL ad that I'd like, so at this point I'm going to give the auto auction a try. This afternoon I'll plastidip the stock wheels black (their current grey would look weird on the car IMO) and tackle the small, noticeable things that I can do quickly like the antenna and plan to take it in tomorrow to try and sell it.
Good luck!
eastsidemav wrote: Good luck!
Thanks!
Got the car all prepped yesterday. Plastidipped the original wheels black like the new ones and put the originals back on (doubt the alloy wheels would raise interest enough vs. what I could sell/use them for so I'm keeping them), finally got the replacement antenna wire installed (though I misplaced the nut and plastic cover- so it's secured with a small hose clamp 
), touched up a few places the plastidip had been damaged and generally cleaned up the car.
Driving it in to work today I'd forgotten just how absolutely HORRIBLE the original tires are. It sounds like there's something wrong with the drivetrain as loud as they are.
Need to do some research over the course of the day to determine which 'light' I should be listing/selling the car under at the auction. I'd of course LOVE to be able to have them sell it under the Green light, the best condition- but since that involves a guarantee of the engine & transmission and the buyer can test-drive it before paying my concern would be that they'd think the suspension issue is something to do with the transmission.
I saw one of these yesterday that was slammed and geogous. Thanks for this thread reminder to not get one.
Dusterbd13 wrote: I saw one of these yesterday that was slammed and geogous. Thanks for this thread reminder to not get one.
You're welcome?
There may be a good customer for these things, but I'm certainly not it. The engine is anemic despite being the 'performance' engine, the rust issues are ridiculous for a car only 10 years old and not from the snow belt, and it's got FAR less interior space than you'd think. That said, eastsidemav did note when he rode in it last weekend that it may work very well for people with mobility issues as it's really easy to get in and out of.
It's honestly one of the only cars I would honestly steer people away from getting. Perhaps its more car-like cousins the Compass and Caliber are better, but the Patriot just doesn't work IMO.
One hour until the auction starts- I'll be one of the first through so I'll know pretty shortly thereafter... Listing Page
In reply to Ashyukun:
Good luck!
java230 wrote: In reply to Ashyukun: Good luck!
Thanks! I think I'll need it- it seems like there's a lot less people than I'm used to seeing here (and a lot less cars too). :/
It doesn't look bad in the auction pictures.
How did it do?
Unfortunately it didn't sell- bidding went up to $1800 on it, but after the fees that would not have been about $1600 that I'd have gotten. The good news is I can run it through again for free (I had to pay a $50 no-sale fee) in the next 30 days.
I had them run it as having the drivetrain guaranteed with the caveat that the wheel bearings might need replacing. Much as o hate to do it, I'm going to start tomorrow on swapping in the new subframe. I should be able to do it over the weekend, and can then re-list it online without disclosing the current problems (since they'll be fixed). If it still doesn't sell for a few weeks, I'll try again at the auction without the disclaimers.
Bummer is that less than you have in it?
Hopefully it goes on the next free go around
java230 wrote: Bummer is that less than you have in it? Hopefully it goes on the next free go around
That would have been roughly half what I have in it. I'm resigned that I'm going to lose money on it regardless unfortunately.
Since SWMBO works late Friday evenings, I decided to get started on the front subframe swap part deux after work yesterday, and finished it up (except for one small thing I realized I forgot...) this morning and afternoon. All told, the job probably took me about 7 hours- actually an hour less than I'd estimated that it would take me. It would have been 15 minutes less if I hadn't installed the sway bar backwards the first time... thankfully I was able to correct that without having to take the whole subframe out from the point I'd already gotten it to when I realized the problem. I had HOPED to re-use the LCAs off that had been on the car, but after fighting with the first ball joint for 20 minutes to get the hub off of it decided that it wasn't worth the potential savings and just decided to use the new ones I'd picked up a ways back.
Also changed the oil while I was at it, and swapped the aftermarket wheels back onto the accursed thing. If it goes back to auction, it will be with the nicer wheels- they'll at least help attract more people, and unlike the stock ones don't sound like the drivetrain is about to explode due to having truly horribly worn tires.
The plan before pulling it back out of the garage and re-listing it is to fix the last of the small problems with it so it's in as good a shape as possible. That means replacing the rear passenger window motor (have what's hopefully a good one from the junkyard), trying to get the intake runner actuator to behave and not throw a code, and probably see if I can manage to get the rubber spring seat onto the rear shock that I managed to leave it off from when I put the new shocks/struts on the car. I'm hoping that I can use the spring compressor to get the clearance and then cut to so I can slip it around the shock.
The first thing I need to do though is to jack the driver's front back up and pull the wheel- because it occurred to me a few hours after I stopped that I had forgotten to pull the ball-joint to hub bolt from the side I DIDN'T fight with and thus had never installed it on the new one. If I hadn't remembered that I imagine that finding out about it while driving would have NOT been a fun experience...
Is it worth more totalled?
Sometimes you take one broadside. It's a shame you have to, but it is occasionally better to cut and run. There is a difference between the rabbit hole and a rat hole.
In reply to Ashyukun:
After you finish the few remaining issues are you sure you still want to sell it? It sounds like you'll finally have it to the point it's worth keeping.
Pete Gossett wrote: In reply to Ashyukun: After you finish the few remaining issues are you sure you still want to sell it? It sounds like you'll finally have it to the point it's worth keeping.
That's something that I hadn't really thought about, but is something that I'll have to consider more seriously once I see whether I've actually managed to resolve most if not all (and the most serious) of the problems.
The advantage of keeping it would be that, if the problems are resolved, I'd now have a solid, reliable vehicle when I needed it and could at will work on the Riv's upgrades for the Challenge and finally get the DMC into the garage to start it's long-overdue overhaul. I also wouldn't have to worry about selling it, and it is a vehicle that SWMBO would likely actually drive if (or rather, when) I need to have her Mariner down for a few days to work on it.
The disadvantages are that with it, the Riv, and the DMC I'm at my max-SWMBO-allowed number of vehicles, so no picking anything else up to fix up. I'm also honestly just not that excited about it. It does most things decently, but doesn't excel at anything- it's middling at best in cargo capacity, fuel efficiency, power, and comfort. Honestly probably the best thing it has going for it that I can think of is that its air conditioning works quite well, so it will be nice to drive in the summer- though I'll likely be on my bike or scooter more than in it (and a convertible would be more fun).
I'm not going to be doing anything either way until I've had a chance to check out whether the repairs actually were worth the time.
Since SWMBO was busy most of the afternoon (until the photo shoots she was busy with came to our place for the final stop), I used the time to tackle the remaining issues on the Jeep- to surprisingly successful effect.
First on the list was the ball-joint hub bolt I'd left out- that was quickly and easily swapped from the old front end onto the car itself since I needed to take the wheels off anyway to use for SWMBO's photo shoot (long story).
Second was the antenna- in picking things up I found the misplaced trim & nut for it, so got those put on so it looks a lot better.
Third was the driver's rear shock. When I put the new shocks on, I managed to leave out the foam rubber spring seat on the driver's side rear shock and didn't realize it until I already had it installed- and after wrestling with getting the shock installed I was in no mood to take it back out and replace it. Thankfully, the fact I'd already done it once and was in the garage and not in the driveway helped a lot and I got the shock out, taken apart and put back together with the missing spring seat, and put back on the car in far less time and with far less hassle than I'd expected.
Fourth was something I was not looking forward to at all- the rear passenger window motor. eastsidemav and I had a heck of a time pulling the replacement from a car in the junkyard, so I figured it wasn't going to be any fun to do again on mine- but it ended up being unnecessary. The first thing obviously was pulling the door panel, and the first step of that is pulling the armrest trim piece with the window switch- and when I pulled it off found that for some reason the connector for the switch was not plugged in. Plugged it back into the switch and tested it out and the window worked perfectly. So instead of it being a 30-minute+ task taking the door apart and getting the motors swapped, it instead involved removing one screw, pulling off a trim piece, and plugging a connector back in.
Finally, the eternally-problematic intake runner actuator. I pulled the actuator out (again) and still can't find anything wrong with the part itself. Unfortunately there's not a simple way to test it out that I can find to confirm whether there's actually anything wrong with it or not. Given that the code I'm seeing isn't that the runner is stuck open or closed, I would tend to think that it's at least somewhat working. All I could really do was to oil what I could reach on the runner, but to really get to anything I would have to take the whole intake manifold off and I'm not THAT concerned with the CEL being on.
This afternoon I should be able to put the wheels back on and get the Jeep out of the garage to test out who effective replacing the front subframe was. Hopefully all will be well and it will have been worth all the work over the weekend...
Ashyukun wrote: The advantage of keeping it would be that, if the problems are resolved, I'd now have a solid, reliable vehicle when I needed it and could at will work on the Riv's upgrades for the Challenge and finally get the DMC into the garage to start it's long-overdue overhaul.
I would hesitate to use the words solid, and reliable, on any entry level Chrysler product. Add the unholy amounts of rust your vehicle has...I think you need to use this as a life lesson and continue your plans of running away. The amount of hours you have into it, and will continue to put into it, should make you run. Run fast.
I lost a decent amount of money in the sale of my wife's liberty. In my defense, she bought it before we were together. You know the best part about leaving that piece of trash behind? We don't own a liberty anymore.
I must have missed it, but why are you having to replace the subframe a second time?
lnlogauge wrote:Ashyukun wrote: The advantage of keeping it would be that, if the problems are resolved, I'd now have a solid, reliable vehicle when I needed it and could at will work on the Riv's upgrades for the Challenge and finally get the DMC into the garage to start it's long-overdue overhaul.I would hesitate to use the words solid, and reliable, on any entry level Chrysler product. Add the unholy amounts of rust your vehicle has...I think you need to use this as a life lesson and continue your plans of running away. The amount of hours you have into it, and will continue to put into it, should make you run. Run fast. I lost a decent amount of money in the sale of my wife's liberty. In my defense, she bought it before we were together. You know the best part about leaving that piece of trash behind? We don't own a liberty anymore.
Well, more reliable than the Riv likely will be when I start trying to up the power on its engine. And for all of its faults, which I admit are many, even when the suspension-shifting-torque-steer was trying to veer the car off the road I never doubted that I could get in and it would get me where I was going as long as I was vigilant about the suspension issue.
The odds are that I'm going to pretty it up a bit (more, honestly for the most part it LOOKS pretty good) and re-list it at a more pie-in-the-sky price where if I sold it for anywhere near that I'd have enough out of the sale to turn around and buy an older but solid convertible, and if it doesn't sell just keep it as a boring but effective daily driver/hauler.
Crackers wrote: I must have missed it, but why are you having to replace the subframe a second time?
Because somehow the captive/weld nuts that the front LCA-to-subframe bolts go into were both broken loose and spinning freely, meaning that the LCAs could shift around a LOT depending on how the suspension moved and that whenever the transmission would 'shift' (it's a CVT, so that's kind of a misnomer) or I'd hit a bump that bounced the front end around it would cause the LCAs to shift and pull the car to one side or the other.
I initially figured that I'd caused the nuts to break free through using the old bolts with the new subframe and potentially overtightening them, but in thinking it over more have to wonder if the shop that did the alignment after I replaced the subframe the first time could have done it. Either way, there was no way to get to the nuts to hold them or weld them back in place (even with the subframe out of the car I'm still at a loss to how to do it without just dicing up the subframe), so I had to track down another subframe and swap it and new LCAs in.
Damn, I don't blame you for wanting to get rid of it.
Crackers wrote: Damn, I don't blame you for wanting to get rid of it.
Yeah, it's not been a fun car on the whole. IF these last repairs have it working properly and safely though, I can hopefully have SWMBO drive it for a short time while I take care of some more involved work on her Mariner (unfortunately a basic tune-up counts as 'more involved' given the annoying design of its engine...), and if it behaves itself I may hold onto it for a while.
The only good thing about these last repairs was that since I HAD done all of it before I knew exactly what to do and it went a lot more quickly and easily.
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