Our next motor home
tonight:
If you have a car that is valued at $2000 and the engine blows
Road service tows it. You bum a ride home.
Two hours later you get the call. You hear, " I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that engine is beyond repair, I can put a used engine in the car for $1400 or a new one for $1900!"
Everything is silent.
"Are you still there?" asks the caller.
"Oh yeah, yeah. I am just trying to digest what you just said. Can I call you back in the morning?"
"Of course, I will be here."
Now you sit down and try to make some logical sense out of the situation. What to do?
So that is much the situation on our Motor home. Our coach sold for $130,000 in 2000. When we saw it the owner was asking $80,000 +/- , we offered $60,000 and got it. The motor home is like your car, it loses value every year. I checked the NADA value of our coach a few weeks ago and it has a big swing value Low is $18,000 the High is $30,000.
Now for our situation. We received the bad news. A valve broke off in #3 cylinder. If fell into the chamber and did a lot of damage. The least required will be pull and rebuild the head. Then replace the sleeve and piston.
Now with the 'wonder' of the internet I found the good and bad things. Similar engine repairs varies from the least of $8,000 and the most of $32,000. I thought I could get a new engine for much less than the max.
Options... Pay the cost and enjoy the coach for a few more years,.
................Tow the coach to our back yard where it has been sitting and leave it for an extra bedroom (or my dog house, LOL)
................Tow it home, and slowly do the repairs myself (that would be a hard sell to my sweetheart who thinks I am too old to do anything. BUT I like this idea best of all. I could hire mechanics to help and young backs for the heavy work, I like it the more I think of it!
................Give the coach away to a friend who is a diesel mechanic and he could have a good coach for labor and parts.
All this is speculation, but I like to have a backup plan. The breaking point is right at $12,000 and we would not have to 'knock off a liquor store' as Rick would put it. LOL
Paula would suggest making a big planter out of it. she did that once with hubby Mel's old well digging rig.
I am open to suggestions. Mike the supervisor at Cummins is supposed to call in the morrow with the real estimate.
Life is still good, but every good road seems to have a pot hole or two. It will all work out. It is what it is so we will deal with it.
Nite Shipslog
Or maybe this is our next motor home:
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6 comments:
your coach has had a good run, whatever you decide.
I do not think you two will be happy without the MH. Yall really need to think this one out. If you want to keep traveling, I’d suggest get another estimate and just pay to have a new motor installed. That way it will give you piece of mind on the road.
If your finished traveling, I think you could turn the coach into a park model and get a smaller one to make small road trips.
I’m with Sherry about you fixing it yourself. Not because of your age but because you just do not need the headache. Sometimes its just easier to pay the price and get going.
Off to work
Lisa
So sorry to hear the bad news. I remember that not long ago you were considering buying a new motorhome. Maybe it would be better to put the money in that and sell the old one for what you could get or give it away. It has seen many miles and is getting older. Like my old car the repairs are nickel and dime-ing me to death. They all add up and over time I've come to realize I should have just put the money into a newer one. A day late and a dollar short for me. You know best what you need to do and whatever you do, it will be for the best.
I agree with what Ma said, about possibly trading in the present motor home and going with a newer one with less headaches. Son did that with his car this past year; knowing it had so many miles on it and knowing that repairs were going to be needed. Albeit a car payment, but at least a reliable vehicle and one that hopefully won't need anything major done for a long time. His 1993 Cadillac still sits in the driveway waiting for him to have money to repair it some day, but I'm thinking that will find a new home soon since some day never seems to come. Good luck with your decision. I would think if you could do the repairs yourself and you wanted to and had the time to do so and if you got in help, I'd say go for it, but not if you would upset Sherry too much about it.
betty
Great feedback, all. I hope Sherry won't hate me, but I'm leaning towards your Option #3 … only because I 'hear' a bit of enthusiasm between the lines. Perhaps the project, itself, would be pleasurable?
Apples-to-oranges, yes. But Tom reminded me, he once rebuilt the engine in his '67 Corvette and had a ball doing so.
Sounds like you have an 'issue' on your hands. Not a fun decision you have to make, is it. I'm thinking that if Sherry doesn't object, first and foremost, and if you're seriously up to the task at hand, then, go for it. You're a handy fella. With help with the heavy stuff, like lifting the motor out and then putting it back in, I think you could accomplish anything. Just so the
' fun job ' doesn't become a burden and you end up hating deciding to tackle it. OR, you could sell it as is, take the hit and loss, and carry on with a new ride! Good luck with that decision. The final call is yours and Sherry's to make. We're just all here to support your decision no matter what.
love n' hugs from our wet north...just drizzling . . .
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