Friend's heater stopped working.

[Xist]

She told me that her 1,999 Mercury Sable was worth nearly $3,600, but she only paid two thousand, knowing up front that the CV joints and struts were bad.

Since she was quoted $800 for the repairs, then wouldn't her car be worth $2,800?

I had actually compared hers, mine, and my sister's old car side-by-side on AutoTrader and it showed her car having a value of $2,800, but without a working heater, is it worth more than scrap?

Can you sell a car with a broken heater?

Also, she cannot just turn on her car and shift to "drive," she needs to do certain things just right.

To me, that definitely takes away from the value.

[MTXA]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

One customer (female) had some brake work done and her master cylinder failed while we were trying to bleed the system. She told me she did not have enough money to pay the additional cost but she had to have her car for her work. I took the 4 year old master off my own car and put it on her car and put a new one on mine.

She never forgot that kindness and the goodwill paid me back many times over with the new customers she sent my way.

Early in my career, I worked at a tire center. On a cold, rainy October night, a woman walked into the shop and said she had a flat at the grocery store across the way. She had kids and groceries in her car. My boss told her we wouldn't help her because it was closing time. She explained she bought her tires at this shop. Boss still said no. I told her to sit tight, and when my shift was over I'd help her. I took her back to her car, put my spare tire on her car to get her home. I got chewed out the next day when she came back to get her tire fixed and he threatened to fire me. A couple of days later when the shop was overbooked (as usual), both of us mechanics loaded our tools and quit. The shop went under soon after.

[Frank Lee]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooh, a Sable! Why didn't you say so? I had the plastic water pump impeller disintegrate on mine; caused overheating, percolating sounds from the heater, and coolant loss with NO cooling system leaks. Check water pump output and if none REPLACE!

http://ecomodder.com/forum/165952-post11.html

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooh, a Sable! Why didn't you say so? I had the plastic water pump impeller disintegrate on mine; caused overheating, percolating sounds from the heater, and coolant loss with NO cooling system leaks. Check water pump output and if none REPLACE!

http://ecomodder.com/forum/165952-post11.html

Okay. How do I do that?

[Frank Lee]

Read the thread for that linked post.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Read the thread for that linked post.

Oh, right!

[Xist]

The mechanic told her today that her coolant reservoir is cracked. I wonder what will be wrong tomorrow.

If nothing else, I think that she should have agreed to the very minimum to make the car safe to drive and take it back to the first shop, where they seemed more trustworthy.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Xist

Can you sell a car with a broken heater?

I rarely use a heater

[Xist]

Okay, looking at her receipt, they bypassed the heater core. Putting heater core replacement 99 sable in the magic Google machine gave me two videos telling me to saw off this piece of metal or that piece of plastic and then this .pdf. Please skip to page five:

http://airsept.com/Articles/RecycleG...cs_SR03.03.pdf

What do you guys think?

Someone else suggested reverse-flushing the heater core. I liked this write-up. It is the same for a Ford as for a Cadillac, right?

Heater Core Back Flush Instructions & Pics

[Frank Lee]

You said the puddle was under the car. If the heater core was bad it would leak and reek of coolant in the car.

The bottom line is, did the bypass fix anything?

The heater on my Sable was bypassed when I bought it. When troubleshooting I hooked it up and it was fine. Whoever did that was barking up the wrong tree on that car. Thankfully, because replacing that core sounds like a real bear.