The Escort attempted suicide again yesterday, this time deciding the vital fluid it no longer needed was engine oil.
A pinhole rusted in the oil pan and made a nice mess of my employer's parking lot (meh, they're resurfacing it on Monday anyway)
The level was down below the dipstick, but it still had oil pressure, so I took it over to the auto parts store, grabbed 5 quarts of oil and dumped about 3 quarts in (overfilling it). From there, it was a quick run to the hardware store and then to a buddy's house, where I hijacked his garage and spackled up the oil pan with some JB Kwik.
Crisis averted for now - but given this car's apparently suicidal nature, it's time for me to start thinking about its replacement.
Here's where I'm at with the thought process.
I'm commuting 140 miles a day, so economy and cheap maintenance are good.
I'm NOT buying new, or even moderately new. 2003 is the latest model year I will consider at all.
I'm not buying expensive - $5k is the hard cap on what I'm willing to spend. Not an effing penny more.
Manual transmission is mandatory.
Whee! is preferable.
I maintain everything myself, and am building a garage with a lift in it, but things I can fix almost any problem in an evening are quite preferable.
I have plenty of big yachts in my life already, and will be adding more as projects reach completion. This isn't for that - it's for a daily driver commuterbox that gets a gazillion miles.
MPG target is 30MPG+. A bit less is okay (I get ~27 currently, so meh)
I really, really like the Ford Zetec engine. It's made of Whee!, it's apparently air cooled and requires no lubrication, and fixing it isn't very labor intensive. It also powers the ZX2 to an easy 80mph highway cruise and 100mph clear-road-supercruise without drama.
Here are the things that have thus far popped into my head:
- Buy another ZX2.
- Buy another Zetec to swap into the existing ZX2.
- Buy a Zetec Focus (ZX3, ZX4, ZX5, ZXW, SVT packages) - with the exception of the SVT, these are a less powerful tune than the ZX2 got, and the cars are taller and heavier, though, so I'm not sure if that will kill the Whee!.
- Limp-wristed Miata brigade
Suggestions? Comments? I won't be actively shopping one of these, since the bandaids on the ZX2 are holding fine for now, but I'll be keeping an eye out for any deals that show up. If one does, I'll retire the ZX2 to die gloriously on a racetrack instead of dying a slow death through interminable interstate miles.
A pinhole rusted in the oil pan and made a nice mess of my employer's parking lot (meh, they're resurfacing it on Monday anyway)
The level was down below the dipstick, but it still had oil pressure, so I took it over to the auto parts store, grabbed 5 quarts of oil and dumped about 3 quarts in (overfilling it). From there, it was a quick run to the hardware store and then to a buddy's house, where I hijacked his garage and spackled up the oil pan with some JB Kwik.
Crisis averted for now - but given this car's apparently suicidal nature, it's time for me to start thinking about its replacement.
Here's where I'm at with the thought process.
I'm commuting 140 miles a day, so economy and cheap maintenance are good.
I'm NOT buying new, or even moderately new. 2003 is the latest model year I will consider at all.
I'm not buying expensive - $5k is the hard cap on what I'm willing to spend. Not an effing penny more.
Manual transmission is mandatory.
Whee! is preferable.
I maintain everything myself, and am building a garage with a lift in it, but things I can fix almost any problem in an evening are quite preferable.
I have plenty of big yachts in my life already, and will be adding more as projects reach completion. This isn't for that - it's for a daily driver commuterbox that gets a gazillion miles.
MPG target is 30MPG+. A bit less is okay (I get ~27 currently, so meh)
I really, really like the Ford Zetec engine. It's made of Whee!, it's apparently air cooled and requires no lubrication, and fixing it isn't very labor intensive. It also powers the ZX2 to an easy 80mph highway cruise and 100mph clear-road-supercruise without drama.
Here are the things that have thus far popped into my head:
- Buy another ZX2.
- Buy another Zetec to swap into the existing ZX2.
- Buy a Zetec Focus (ZX3, ZX4, ZX5, ZXW, SVT packages) - with the exception of the SVT, these are a less powerful tune than the ZX2 got, and the cars are taller and heavier, though, so I'm not sure if that will kill the Whee!.
- Limp-wristed Miata brigade
Suggestions? Comments? I won't be actively shopping one of these, since the bandaids on the ZX2 are holding fine for now, but I'll be keeping an eye out for any deals that show up. If one does, I'll retire the ZX2 to die gloriously on a racetrack instead of dying a slow death through interminable interstate miles.