Hey Guys,
I need some advice regarding my Brothers 99 Bonneville. He called me tonight to tell me the Check engine light started blinking. Now I know this is pretty much a Hard Fault Misfire, so I grabbed my scan tool and went over to his place. I scanned it and got a P0304 code which is a Cylinder 4 misfire...Not a big deal.
First off if the CEL light is blinking it SHOULD NOT BE DRIVEN before getting fixed. If he continues to drive it there are MANY other things that could need to be replaced as a result, only adding to the repair bill......
The thing that is worrying me is that the ABS light is on and apparently has been on for awhile he just never told me. I have been looking online for ABS part prices and it seems like even the wheel sensor is 300 bucks or so for the part at the cheapest.
Does he absolutely want it to work...??? Reason I ask is because GM's ABS systems are 'not the best' and that by itself will break the bank regardless of the car's other issues.....
The car has 90K miles and is in decent shape, but I am just not sure how much money to throw at it before it isn't worth it any more. KBB says trade in is 2 grand if he is lucky and gets blue book for it. Obviously if it ends up being a spark plug wire and some dirt on the ABS sensor than this I am worrying for nothing.
Where would you guys draw the line on cost and just upgrade to something newer. I just don't want the thing going into money pit mode on him.
Honestly that is a personal decision that only he can make. I know many people that don't even want to deal with a brake job so they just lease a car every two/three years, and others that will 'take the chance' just fixing issues as the years go on trying to get as much out of a vehicle as they can. One thing that he can look at to help with his decision is the history of maintenance in relation to what is commonly known to go 'bad' on those cars.....
One thing I ask you to keep in mind is my brother IS NOT a car guy. He is a if it has four wheels and gets me to work Ill drive it kind of guy. So he doesn't pay attention to things like a car nut would.
That might be the deal breaker then, because as with any car maintenance is the key to avoiding avoidable problems down the road (if that makes cents).....
Thanks for any advice,
Your welcome
Tom