L33T35T 4Runner

The bill came to just over $2,600. They did lots of stuff without asking... new timing belt, changed radiator fluid, new timing belt, lots of stuff.

Labor was 1800, rest were parts.

For those that are wondering waht was wrong, my head gasget was blown

I figure out what was wrong.

The person that owned it before me (good friend of mine) put on a tow package. he towed around his wave runner a lot...

before one of his many vacations his radiator was cracked. he had it repalced. wouldnt this mean the car was getting too hot?

well it sure did.. and i guess it damaged the head gasget. well finally the head gasget had enough.

The new radiator probably isnt strong enough to keep the engine cool, even though ive never seen my thermostat go above normal.

well.. I still owe 7500 on my car and now i owe my parents 2600 for the car.

by the way, I'm only 17.

Whats better than a 17 year old with 10,000 dollars of debt :cry:

metal22lica

hey bro..sorry to hear about the cost. glad to see the rig fixed though. i still owe my mom 5 for mine..one day i will pay it off. i just hope it last until then....hehe.

Woodbert

The hedgasket on my 93 Surf blew in January. I know the feeling.

As far as the debt goes... It only gets worse the older you get. 10K is peanuts.

1Runner

Truer words were never spoken.

SLC Punk

Amen to that!!
In November 2001 I had no debt. Then I bought the 4Runner and got married and had to take over her debt. Now I am poor

BTOWN4RUNNER

That's it! I am never getting married! LOL. That sucks though. Goodluck with getting rid of that debt. :fireman:

jharris2

Just wait till you buy a house -- then you'll get an idea what debt really is....

rimpainter.com

We are debt free except for mortgage. I am 26 and my wife is 24. Talk about a blessing!

Its all about Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace, check it out.

Dave Ramsey

You CAN get yourself out of debt. I am a living testimony to that.

4runner4life

dave ramsey is the best. i was debt free til i bought my 96' back in december for $8500. i love my 4runner, but the rising gas prices is starting to hurt. and its only $1.65/89octane here in da south. good thing i own a honda too.

rimpainter.com

Try $1.83 for 87 here AZ!

I am glad you like Dave Ramsey. You sound like a replica of us, 96 Runner, and a Honda. Dang that Honda! Almost 30MPG!

We now carpool to work and leave the Runner as a weekend warrior.

dusty98

That hurts!!
The good news is I had my headgasket done on my 4runner almost 100K ago and haven't had a peep of problems from my engine. 230k and still going strong.
Regarding the debt, get out of it early, life's far better that way. I've been debt free, over my head in debt, and last year I paid my last loan off. That's one reason I keep my 90 Runner, I have no interest in $200-300/month car payments.
Good luck, you're still young, I wish I had this knowledge when I was 17.

HBoss

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch!

$2600 USD is approx. $3900 Cdn. I couldn't image paying that to fix something, holy crappola! For that amount I could have bought a fixed up 1981 Toy p/u and fixed it up even more.

I had a head gasket blow in my 1987 Toyota MR2 back in 1995 or so. That only cost me about $550 USD to fix though.

Again, ouch!

tomus1000

How true that is. I was totally out of debt, except for the truck. No credit cards, no loans, no open lines of credit, and I didn'n even owe any family members any money. Now I'm buying a house. It won't be that bad. I have vowed not to charge anything for the new house. No Home Depot card for me...

rimpainter.com

Is a house really debt if you are making 7-13% each year in value (national average) on a 5.7% 15 year fixed mortgage and writing off the interest on your taxes?

joe4324

Houses are debt in a way, Sure you are building equity in the home but the truth is you are going to pay ALOT OF FREAKING money to interest. usually 2-3X the value of the home in the first place, wanna see something? this link is great but it makes you HATE mortages.

Mortgage Calc

Mortgage means "Death Pledge" in french


But you've gotta pay something for the right to borrow 50,70,100 thousand dollars. I still cant find myself paying 3-5 years worth of my income just to borrow money so I'm going to do something radical. I'm going to live fairly frugal and avoid excess expenses and channel that money into building my next home. It will be partially underground and very sustainable. My goal is 0 heating/cooling costs. Doing most of the labor myself and with friends I'm looking at having a livable structure for $20,000. Thats 1100 square feet as well. I know 20k for a 1100 square foot home brand new that has almost 0 heating and cooling needs sounds almost too good to be true. but its not. You have to be willing to do ALOT of work though and do ALOT of research on your own. But its possible.

My goal is to be virtually debt free in my late 20s owning my own home and having my entire income to do with as I please. aaah.. what a dream.

Los Gatos?

I always wondered how people my age (I'm 17) have a nice new car...I didn't even consider they might be 10k in debt because of it! That is totally insane! No amount of "high school cool factor" from having a hot new car is worth 10k in debt before you're even out of high school. I make less than 6k a year, and after all my shizzle is said and I am left with around $1k cash in der bank....I'd have nothing if I had car loan payments as well...

rimpainter.com

So you are going to save $20K and build a maintenance free underground house in N. Indiana?

When you build the house, survive one winter, and gain the same resale value that you would with a home, please give me a call.

In the meantime, check out Financial Peace on the link in my sig.

I am not flaming, just being realistic. $20K down will get you a really nice house in a really nice area with a really nice return here in PHX.

Dont let me discourage you though, aim for the stars!

joe4324

I really dont care about resale value, I'm building a place I want to keep right? underground homes can be in everyway as asthetically pleasing as any traditional home, unless of course a person finds more enjoyment in the outside appearnce of a traditional home for whatever reason. I really could careless about popular asthetics, I live IN the house, not camped around it staring at it all the time. What ever gets the job done effectively and safely on the outside is what I'm after. Even if it means earth bermed up to the roofline.


Look into Earthships (www.earthship.org) these homes are several times more radical then what I'm planning to do, and the resale value is genereally VERY high per square foot. I've seen these tire and pop-can homes sell for 150k+ Of course the people who make them trade money for time and sweat. But its ALOT more then I'm willing to do because I'm not that skilled nor do I want to spend more then a year on the construction.

that 20k figure DID NOT include. property or a well and septic mind you. well and septic in my area turns that into more of a 25k figure. Its not hard to do, you just have to "want" too. and I do, so I'm going to make it happen. not everyone wants or needs the same type of living conditions. I've lived in some pretty bad places in my short life, and I find the prospect of a small, simple and effecient home with very little conventional finnishings to be quite desireable.

rowan

yeah... insurance just covered 5,000 worth of damage

i owe my parents 1100 for the new clutch and some otherstuff like 30,000 mile tuneup

nearly 1000 for the new coilovers and installation...

and about 5,000 for what i didnt pay of my truck originally, but i think maybe they are going to cover that.

but i should make plenty this summer, and part-time until then.

btw im 16... 17 soon enough.

Cebby

I hear ya. Sometimes I feel like I blow 10K in my sleep...

I started paying my wife's bills when we were dating. It was all downhill, (or uphill?) from there a long 13+ years ago...