Which car to repair/keep?

We have 4 cars. 2 of which we are trying to make a decision on. We want to sell one in the very near future, the other, at some point, will likely be sold privately or traded in on a newer car.

Here are the 2 cars in question.

2003 Ford Focus ZX5 auto Fiancee's car, I think it has a sport package of some sort with 16" wheels. just under 120k on it. A week or so ago, she mentioned the heat stopped working, looked it up herself online and figured it was low on coolant. Sure enough, reservoir was empty so I topped it off for her before I went to work. That night when I got home I noticed that it definately was leaking out onto my garage floor. When she got home, I checked the reservoir and it appeared very low or empty again (it was dark out) Car didnt over heat and is running fine, we figure one of the hoses sprung a leak, or very likely is the water pump, I think its original. Due to issues with one of the other cars in the fleet I have yet to trace the leak. Car has what I would say a mediocre service history, (aka not always on time, not necessary always sticking to the factory reccomended mileage/maintenance schedule) she is the original owner. Brand new tires on it, and she likes that it gets good gas mileage for her commute. In addition to this leaking issue, we were thinking it probably needs to be gone through, new timing belt, valvecover gasket, new accessory belts, plugs and wires, maybe new pads and rotors all around.

1999 Grand Marquis GS I believe around 88k on it now. More or less stock. New brakes not long after I got it at 63k. Some family members were borrowing it from me last year and drove it across the country and back without a hitch. Prior to the trip it it recieved fresh oil and coolant, recieved a new alternator about a week after it got back. Tires on it have a ton of tread, but are crappy in inclement weather (bfg touring ta). Fiancee has been driving this car while the Focus is parked, hates that she has to fill it up twice a week and that it costs so much more to fill than the Focus. In any case, the car has zero issues right now and has been rock solid reliable the entire time I have owned it. A great car, just not so sure we need it for much longer.

Plan was to sell the Grand Marquis this spring, but now we are re-considering. To do the repairs on the focus, I would probably do the brakes myself, and let her brother who is a mechanic take care of all the underhood stuff (mostly since he will do it all in one day). Or, if someone can point me towards a good writeup on a focus timing belt, I may get confident enough to do all that under hood myself. Ive never done a timing belt before and dont want to accidentally screw something up beyond repair.

In some ways, I was thinking we could just rid ourselves of the Focus and save that money, let her drive the Marquis for the summer and she could get a lower mileage car in the fall for commuting. She doesnt like the idea because of the cost of gas for it. I figure its likely much cheaper than a newer car payment and insurance, or at the very least a complete wash.

OR should we just spend a few hundred, make the Focus good for another 50k and be done with it, and sell the Marquis.

Or, sell both and get a completely different car #3.

I would likely lean that way, as either of the cars listed make my heart go pitter patter.

Sell the GM, put the bucks into the deferred maintenance on the Focus, and enjoy no car payments for another year. It shouldn't be that bad to fix a leak, do a tune-up, and get some fresh brakes on the car she bought new and still loves.

Javelin wrote: Sell the GM, put the bucks into the deferred maintenance on the Focus, and enjoy no car payments for another year. It shouldn't be that bad to fix a leak, do a tune-up, and get some fresh brakes on the car she bought new and still loves.

+1

In reply to Javelin: +2.

If she likes the Focus, keep it for a bit longer. If you get the Focus up to date on maintenance, it should last for another 50k, easily, possibly even more. Have her brother do the belt.

Put aside $150 bucks a month for a couple of years and then buy a car after you've got some kind of down payment.

If she likes the Focus better, then fix the Focus. If she's not happy, you won't be happy! :-)

Thanks, we are going to refresh a lot of things on the focus and keep it around for another few years. I can do just about anything besides engine work myself, good thing we have her brother to help.

After getting some issues with our van out of the way I did have time to trace the leak last night on the focus. poured some water in the coolant reservoir to top it off, and within a minute it was dripping steadily on the ground.

It is leaking out of this guy right here. there are at least 3 coolant hoses running in/out of it, it is on the side of the motor hanging over the transmission. (2.0 zetec) What is this thing called? I need to make sure to order a new one along with the rest of the parts we want to replace. It looks like its plastic, none of the hoses seem to be leaking its dripping right out of this thing. (dead center of the picture)

Her brother can pressure test the system at his shop to find out if there are any other coolant leaks. Before we traced the leak he said just top it off and drive it up to my shop (maybe 40 miles away) Do you think ill be ok without replacing this thing first?

Those thermostat housings are all bad. Replace it, do a coolant flush, buy some quality brakes and keep momma happy.

Yep, the thermostat housings are notorious. I hear the new ones are better.

haha the rate this thing is loosing coolant its practically flushing itself in my driveway. thanks for the quick responses.

for some reason i figured I would post a follow up on the thread. we fixed up the focus and she is happy and so is the car.

I did the thermostat housing which solved the cooling system. Shortly after I did new front pads and rotors and the brakes instantly were 100% better and working great. I did new plugs, wires and a valvecover gasket. Took it to her brother and had him do timing belt, waterpump, associated pulleys, and fresh trans fluid, and inspect a tire wear issue with the car that ford did not address on its very last service. (fords solution was "hey you need new tires!" shiny happy people) Tires rebalanced and aligned.

So the car is back and running great. Brother says the engine is real clean, no gunk etc.inside. I just need to replace a bent rear strut apparently which is causing one of the rear tires to wear badly and cup. will replace both rear struts considering the mileage and how cheap they are.

Focus your focus on the Focus.

failboat wrote: .... A week or so ago, she mentioned the heat stopped working, looked it up herself online and figured it was low on coolant....

So, not only did she notice something was wrong and actually tell you, she looked it up herself and diagnosed the problem. Regardless of which car you sell the fiancee is a keeper.