Emotional Attachment / When is enough, enough ?

**DonH** · 03-03-2011, 06:34 PM

OK, this is kind of a rant, but maybe I need a swift kick in the pants.

I've got a 92 F150 Flareside that I bought in 93 and when the Magnum arrived back in 07 the F150 got parked under a tree to sit unused for a bit over 3 years.

Every once in a while the thought would cross my mind to sell it figuring it was worth about $3-5k as it sat. But after all everyone NEEDS a pickup LOL

In December I decided to put it back on the road. Got insurance, tags, changed the oil, and put in a new battery. Turn the key and the starter just clicks. After about 5 more key turns the starter cooperates, it cranks up and I'm off to get gas for the first time in 3 years. Step on the brakes and it pulls a bit to the right, about a mile down the road smoke is coming from the right front wheel. WTF, caliper is locked up.

OK, it needs brakes.

Get new calipers, rotors, pads, wheel bearings, rear drums, shoes, wheel cylinders followed by power brake booster, master cylinder and finally the rear ABS controller. As I'm working on it the shocks are leaking so new front and rear shocks are put on. The parts bill comes to $1442, but now its safe to drive and I do for about a week.

Start to notice some electrical anomalies, no dome light when drivers door opened, headlight switch doesn't dim the dash lights, temp gauge not working, tach stuck on 2K, cigarette lighter non-functional, flip to the front fuel tank truck stalls out, A/C not working, shift indicator doesn't move stuck on "1". OK, NAPA and the junkyard to the rescue. New headlight switch, door jamb switch, fuel tank switch, temp sending unit, lighter, about $100, used cluster, shift indicator and surround panel $94.

Everything now working except for front fuel tank and A/C. Go to my local mechanic to get an estimate to fix the A/C. He said it needed an accumulator and conversion to R134 and it would be ~$300. Made the appointment to drop it off Monday with the conviction this would be the last expense. Went to move the truck Sunday and all I got from it was a click from the starter. Crawled under it and whacked the starter with a hammer and it cranked up. Phew, moved it and tried to crank it again, click, click, click. Frustrated now I was contemplating a Molotov cocktail to end the misery.

The wife, being of sounder mind, said just call the insurance company and have it towed. 45 minutes later a flatbed arrived and off it went to the real mechanics to deal with.

They replaced the fender mounted solenoid and it cranked up but couldn't do the A/C until Tuesday. They replaced the accumulator, drained/flushed the system, found metal shavings in the A/C compressor and the clicking starter has returned. I authorize them to replace the starter, A/C compressor and associated parts and to check why the front fuel tank is bad. The bill is now ~$1000 without the fuel tank bit.

I dropped by this afternoon and they told me the front fuel pump was drawing 8 amps and frozen solid and likely to start a fire unless either disconnected or fixed. The good news was its only $380 to drop the tank, put in a new pump/sending unit and change out the fuel filters. OK, lets be safe, fix it.

In case you haven't been keeping track, my repair bills are now $3016 on a $3-5k truck that until December was lounging under a tree totally paid for.

If I had been putting in a Rousch engine, a custom flame job or even adding a bunch of bling maybe it could be justified, but just basic repairs???? At what point should you just stop and say enough?

Cluster out:

Cluster back in:

**Hemi31** · 03-03-2011, 06:41 PM

nice truck....I had the same one in blue

**crazy_luck** · 03-03-2011, 06:52 PM

I'd keep it. I've always like the looks of the flare side from the early '90s - had a neighbor a few years back with a blue one with a fiberglass racer-back mounted on it with a custom paint job. They bought it new and drive it today still, putting about 5K miles on it a year (mostly to pull his boat, because everybody NEEDS a truck).

As for emotional attachment - I'm in the same boat. I've got an '86 Craftsman garden tractor that we bought new (remember going with dad to the store when I was 4 to buy it - he died when I was 7) and to this day, the only issue we've had was the trans axle went out once, about 12 years ago. A few little things failed here and there and I've put about 5 starters in it (plastic starter gear against metal flywheel...). Well, we needed something with a bagger to take care of the billions of leaves in the fall and couldn't find a bagger that fit the old tractor so we bought a new John Deere. Now I have no room for both of them, but the old Craftsman runs so good and has memories from when dad was alive, I hate like hell to sell it...

**RobAGD** · 03-03-2011, 06:52 PM

things happen when you let stuff sit.

-R

**quademire87** · 03-04-2011, 11:42 AM

My little neon has been sitting for over a year, don't wanna sell it cuz it's not worth anything, needs an exhaust from manifold back and some rear brakes mechanically. Inside the interior is good but the carpet is trashed. My little sister hid a 12 pack of beer in it last winter since it's stored at my parents, and it froze, exploded, and now the carpet is all mildew. The body is in perfect condition nearly, just needs a good cleaning and wax. If it was a 4 door it'd make a good run around car, but car seats suck in a 2 door. So I'm left with fixing it and selling for a grand. Leaving it and selling it to a guy down the street who has a neon/2nd gen eclipse junk yard for nearly nothing. Or I could pull the carpet, fix what needs to be fixed and enjoy it for what it is. Got a set of enkei 16" wheels for it that I never put on.

I'm leaning towards fixing it, putting on the wheels and driving it.

**DMAG** · 03-04-2011, 11:52 AM

Love those trucks. I had a 94 F-150 XLT Supercab (5.8L) That I stupidly got rid of. Loved that damn truck.

**MoPOWeR-349** · 03-05-2011, 12:58 AM

Nice looking truck...you've already put so much time, money and effort, might as well finish it off.

**DonH** · 03-07-2011, 07:58 PM

OK, got the truck back today.

Turns out I needed another front fuel tank, sending unit and some miscellaneous other parts. So between work from the mechanic shop and what I had done myself the total bill has been $3600. On the bright side every mechanical part of the truck works to perfection and the wife didn't ask to see the reciepts.

The pic on the left is from this afternoon, the right is from about 5 years ago.

The biggest difference in the pics are, the neighbor moved his camper, the house got painted, the Magnum arrived in 2007, the Corvette was sold in 2009 and I lost some trees from the yard. Damned if I can spot any difference in the truck.

**PF300C** · 03-07-2011, 08:40 PM

I don't know, but for my money, a sold truck is a truck that costs you nothing. Sometimes the best investment is to "not own". Or to put it this way, if you had known you were going to spend $3600+ and still not know if something major was about to fail, would you have done all those repairs? Probably not. Cut her loose. If you ever need a truck, Ryder is a wonderful company and takes care of all of the problems...

**bryan_k47** · 03-07-2011, 08:43 PM

Ah you have an emotional attachment to your truck, nothgin wrong with that
Keep her
But make sure you drive it more often

**MikeEast** · 03-07-2011, 08:47 PM

I'll give you $3K-5K for it!

Nice looking truck - I loved my 89 F150...

Mike

**DonH** · 03-07-2011, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by MikeEast

I'll give you $3K-5K for it!

Nice looking truck - I loved my 89 F150...

Mike

LOL

Its fixing to become my daily driver.

On the way home I stopped and filled both tanks with regular intead of the premium for the MSRT. Figure I've saved $8 in gas already.