"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:

-snip-

Update: She had a nearby mechanic (not the usual one) take a look at the
car. He pulled the plugs and in fact, one WAS broken. That's as far as it
went. He said "No way to determine damage without major teardown - $1500 or
so." Our usual mechanic says "More like $2500 - not worth it for a car with
book value of $3000-ish". The latter guy is probably being cautious and
preparing her for worst case scenario.

Only you can determine if it is worth it to spend that much money on
that car. My mechanic has recommended that I junk my daughters 99
Grand Am a couple times. Since we know the entire history of the
car, it runs fine despite the 200,000 miles on it, the body and
interior are in great shape, and she likes the car, we've spent the
money-- and I'm glad we have.

If it was *my* mechanic telling me that about *my* car, I'd be tempted
to go ahead and have it overhauled. I couldn't replace it for
$3 grand. [and know exactly what is new and old on it]

Jim