So, my wife's 2006 Chevy Uplander LS with 245k miles has been giving us some problems for a while. We've just been shovel money at it for some time now waiting for prices to drop. The wife is hell bent on buying a new used car. I keep telling her this is not the time and that prices are fixing to drop dramatically by summer if the car will just hold on.
Unfortunately the uplander is now giving us some transmission problems. Starts fine, reverse works wonderfully. 😂 But when she puts the car in drive she has to rev the engine to get it to go forward, but slowly. She called me from work histerical telling me she couldn't move. Well, she made it home from work, and I added some transmission fluid and it came back to life. I drove it around for a good 30mins and everything was fine.
Thought the problem was fixed. The next day she goes to drive the car and it was doing the same thing. With the exception that it seems that when the car warms up it drives fine. I did a Google search "car won't move in drive until warmed up" it says, "The oil pump in your transmission is probably worn out." Went to two Mechanic's asking about this oil pump in the transmission. First mechanic claims there's only a filter and no oil pump in the transmission. And the trans is going bad. The second wants to check it out, but says it could be the fuel pump. Go figure, it revs up perfectly fine.
So, we've been looking around for a new used car. Firstly, let me say that I am new to Scotty's channel and he is a wealth of information. I never knew that Japanese car were so much better than American cars. But it makes so much sense. They are meticulous.
With that being said. The prices for used cars are still pretty high IMO. But we have found a Toyota Tacoma 2004 extra cab 4wd sr5 with 114K miles for $1,200 from a private owner.
I've made contact with the owner. And she says the price is so low because it was her husband's car and he passed away due to heart failure and the truck brings back bad memories, so she wants to sell it asap. And must sell it in maximum of 10 days because she will be leaving the country on military duty with her medical team for 9 months.
Should I rush to purchase this vehicle or try to fix the uplander?
Sorry to tell you but I would be surprised if that isn't a scam.
Make sure to tell them you will only meet in person. You will likely get a ton of excuses why you can't meet and see them.
"just pay me with this totally safe internet way and I will have it shipped to you"
If it is real, you meet them, and see the truck and have it inspected and all is well, pay them.
Yeah, should've known it was too good to be true. I did an internet search on buying cars out of state threw eBay. As the seller tells me that I'd have to pay threw ebay. They don't know I brought my very first taxi off of eBay in my younger days and I went to Yonkers NY to get it.
The mechanic I spoke to is basically and kid working at one of those west Indian shops. They do good work for reasonable prices. But diagnosis is not there strong suit. Still I spoke with the owner and he tells me to bring the wife's car in to check it out. I'm just hoping it can hold out until prices drop
If you are going to mechanics who think an automatic transmission has no oil pump or that a fuel pump could affect its operation you need to look for another mechanic.
As far as the Tacoma, for $1200 it's hard to go wrong. I would have a good mechanic do a pre-purchase inspection to make sure there are no hidden gotchas and also make sure the frame is not badly rusted.
FYI guys. We ended up buying a 2009 Mazda 5 with 159,000 miles for 3,200. Drives really nice. Never seen a car that has manual drive as well as automatic transmission. The wife loves the car more than me. Although, I have noticed that when coming off the gas, when the RPM's are decreasing. Around 2 or 1 & a half RPM's. Assuming this is where the car is shifting down. I can feel the shifting, sort of like I was shifting manually. Is this normal in these types of vehicles? Haven't had the car for 30 days yet. Other than that it runs fine.