Consider what Captain Jean-Luc Picard would do

[stormdog]

I'm at a crossroads.

I have my '95 Neon, now with slightly over 1 light-second on the odometer, sitting in the lot here at work, failing to start. It has no spark when cranked and shows error codes for either no reading from the camshaft position sensor, no reading from the crankshaft position sensor, or slippage on the timing belt. Once I get my Scangauge tomorrow, I can get a more specific message I think. I'm inclined to think it may actually be none of those and instead might be the 'brain', the control computer. When I bought it from sabrinageek, the brain seemed to be problematic already.

posicat and I worked on it for a while last night after work. We reseated the computer. Then we sprayed contact cleaner on the connector, coated it in dielectric grease, and reseated it again. We disconnected the camshaft position sensor and cleaned and reseated it. We then went out and bought a replacement camshaft position sensor, but could not install it. Why? Because, of course, it has the wrong connector. Like so many other parts on this car, the connector seems to be a one year only part and has pin connectors instead of blade connectors like the one I bought has. I'll need to go to the Pick 'N Pull and cut a replacement connector from a newer Neon and splice it on. Whee.

Anyway, did all that, and it doesn't start. Now it was already having some transmission issues, and needs a wheel bearing replaced; it was nearly at the point of being mandatory to avoid things like my wheel falling off. So at this time, I have a significant outlay to have a functional car.

Wheel bearing - $300
Transmission flush - $100-$150 (A first step that may or may not fix the shifting problem that's been getting worse since I bought it)
Camshaft position sensor - $20 (already bought this 'cause it was readily accessible and worth a try)
PCM (the brain) - $80-$200 depending on the part number. I'm going to check at lunch and call the store back. I'll see if they have the right camshaft sensor too. Maybe I'll get lucky.

So I could work at getting the Neon running. Or I could look at letting it wait 'till I have more money and time to mess around with it and buy a replacement car in the meantime.

Buying a replacement car may be a good idea anyway because moiracoon's car is having a couple issues too. It would be good to have a spare. I've wanted to have a spare vehicle for a long time to manage when one of them goes down, but I haven't been able to yet.

Bob, the dealer Posi buys from, has a Hyundai Elantra for sale. It's an '01 with 170,000 miles. High mileage, but not too excessive for the age, and not more than what I'm used to. He says it runs very well, and the other vehicles I and my friends have bought from him have been, more or less, reliable. He wants $3,400 for it and has flexible payment terms (and doesn't do credit checks).

I'm going to look at it after work today with Andrea. It'll kind of suck to be paying two car payments for a few months until my Aveo is paid off, but it won't be too bad after that. I was just really hoping to be able to buy something newer again the next time I needed a car.

Whatever my solution is, it really just needs to get me through to the end of June, at which point my daily commute drops down to something like two or three miles a day, average. Maybe at that point I can start saving money again...

Anyway, fix the Neon now, or fix it later and buy the Hyundai and somehow get the Neon towed home. I'm trying to figure this out. The Neon can stay at the work lot for a while, but I'm not sure how long. I don't know if it will be long enough for me to fix myself. I could just have it taken to a mechanic too, but who knows how much that would cost on top of the figures I have for parts, you know?

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Or there are these....

http://racine.craigslist.org/cto/1112819857.html

http://racine.craigslist.org/cto/1112321984.html

http://racine.craigslist.org/cto/1111867163.html