It depends how bad the issue is. IMO selling a car with issues will cut down on your market. People who are not mechanically inclined and aren't familiar with cars (ie a large part of the population) may not understand how cheap or simple the actual repair is and will automatically assume the worst.

On the other hand, if the repair is something really expensive relative to the value of the car, I can definitely understand not doing it and just selling the car as a fixer upper or mechanic special.

I knew an older couple with an early 00s impala hat had AC issues. They thought they would get a ton more for the car if they had the issue fixed. By the time the shop ended up replacing all kinds of unnecessary stuff, they got stuck with a $1300 repair bill. The car only ended up selling for a touch under $2k in the end, so that is definitely a case where I wouldn't have touched the problem.

 

I agree with Bumpin.

Most people won't buy a car if it has any major problems with it. Those of us that have the knowhow, drive, and tools to do the work ourselves are a dying breed it seems.

When I tell people at work that I bought a car that needs some work the most common answer is: "What did you do that for?"

Now I have about $3800 investing in the car including the price of the car and $300 for taxes and tags plus parts. KBB says the car is worth between 4500-4800 clean retail. So I feel I got a good deal for the money and time I had to spend it on. Also I received $4053 for the SS that got totaled so I'll put that $253 in my pocket for a rainy day.

Well, $243. I picked up a six pack while out on my test drive to celebrate my victory.

 

Well I'm beginning to wonder what I got myself into. Had one day of no problems. Now it seems the car has a problem with the passlock system. Was driving today and the security light came on. Got a couple more starts out of it and now in order to start the car I have to try to start it, leave the key in the on position for 10 min, turn the key off for 10 seconds and then the car will start until the next time I turn it off. This turned what should have been a 10 min trip to go buy some food for my cat into a 30+min trip. Any advise in trouble shooting this problem is appreciated.
I'll go back to searching the fourms and see what turns up.

 

as far as the shaking goes, try rotating the tires/wheels and see if there is a difference? could be the tires,wheel balance or a out of round wheel? of course there are a lot of front end parts that can cause this too!! did you replace outer tie rods on both sides? how were the inner tie rods?, ball joints? Im fixing to do all tie rods and control arms on mine, I did the front hubs, struts, new sway bar with poly end links but now I have a bump/pop when I hit bumps and stuff!!

 

Yea I moved the passenger side tires front to back and 75% of the shaking followed to tire to the rear. Drove it to work the last 2 days and on the highway at 65-70mph it's smooth.

I only replaced the one outer tie rod that was bad. The other is still in decent shape. I did by 2 so I'll replace it when I get ready to have tires done so they can do an alignment at the same time.

other than the bit of shaking and the dumb alarm making me wait 10 min to start the car about 1 out of 5 starts its good. First highway trip to work trip computer reported 28.3mph over the 80 mile trip.

 

Your electrical problem might be the ignition switch. I had a number of gremlins including the NO START situation. I got a new switch from Amazon. It was easy to replace. I disassembled the original and the contacts were badly burned.

 

Yea I'm trying to decide. Do I buy parts to fix the problem or just spend the money on a remote start system. Since the passlock system has to be bypassed to install that anyhow it seems like the smarter solution. I had a viper remote start on my last monte and loved it. Also never had this same problem with that car and I'm guessing the remote start is the reason why.

 

I could be wrong, but doesn't it only bypass the security when activated by the remote start module? I guess you could always remote start it before driving if that was the case though.

 

You could be right but as long as the car is already running it should be fine.

However, I decided to just try replacing he ignition switch (the part that contains the passlock module). Remote start was at least $250. New ignition switch was ordered for $87.

 

Ignition switch replaced about 2 weeks ago now and since then the car starts every single time. The last thing to replace was the on the key fob the truck button was missing. $7.99 later I ordered a new one from amazon to swap my electronics into and problem solved.

Car is really sharp looking. I have people tall the time that it a good looking car. Glad I was able to get it and fix it up to keep it on the road.