Advice: second car

[bradical]

So my friend has a 1997 Plymouth Breeze, 4cyl. Auto, unknown miliage she is willing to sell me for $300. She no longer needs it and wants it gone. good Everything but the transmission. bad she says the car starts and runs fine, but once you get going the tranny will go from 1st up to 2nd but then gets stuck in second. to get back into first u have to place in park, and restart car. reverse works aparently. What could cause this? I will know more this week, and i figure ill buy it anyway either to fix and make a good fuel effecient car or if its gonna be a money pit ill scarp it or part it out. What do yall think? (the purchase of this car will not affect my ownership or love of my Disco)

[Savannah Buzz]

You will find many of it's kinfolk at the salvage yard, where a used tranny can be had for about $99. Most likely some kind of valve body issue. You could try a can of SeaFoam tranny cleaner, and change fluid and filter. If no go, try some Lucas tranny fix (it increases the shear film and other properties, basically makes tranny pump build up more pressure so it will shift) - or go with used tranny. Not worth rebuilding tranny on a $300 car. Sounds like a good project to me, but to each his own. My boss bought a 47 foot boat, docked behind his house on deep water, it had a six hundred gallon fuel tank, and could go almost from Savannah to Charleston on one tank. So a weekend up and back was like 1400 gallons. At marine pump price. So your car hobby is "affordable."

[s10lowrider1994]

Depending on how much work you want to do you could rebuild the tranny in that thing for a little bit of nothing. Used transmissions are also very easy to find, lots of those cars in the junkyard and most are there due to trash engines brought on by head gasket failure. For $300 not much to lose if you ask me.

[hilltoppersx]

for sure! it's probably worth $300 in scrap alone. i would fix it and sell it, then buy yourself another rover! it's the only practical thing to do.

[bradical]

I've already done it once. When I had my cadillac cimarron. I bought a bronco II for $70. It ran like crap. Constantly got stuck. And cracked a head and ate a transmission. I then sold it for $350. The only thing with the Plymouth is I know nothing about front wheel drive vehicles.

[hilltoppersx]

Originally Posted by bradical

I've already done it once. When I had my cadillac cimarron. I bought a bronco II for $70. It ran like crap. Constantly got stuck. And cracked a head and ate a transmission. I then sold it for $350. The only thing with the Plymouth is I know nothing about front wheel drive vehicles.

they are better in the snow then rear wheel drive, not as good as AWD and can't compare to 4wd.

there is only one thing to know, CV joints.

[Chris-bob]

I just bought a '98 Saturn SC2 for $200 today. Needs an alternator, battery and 3 tyres. Runs great.