Advise for newbie SVX owner
 

So I've had my claret 1992 SVX for just under a year now, purchased from an acquaintance who swore up and down its the car I should have. It had about 96,000 miles on it and I was able to get it for a couple hundred under blue book, which made me satisfied. Plus it rode sweet, made those long highway commutes to and from work real pleasurable.

A little history:
Upon purchase i made sure to get the car checked out by multiple mechanics, and made sure to find out if it had any tranny problems. The previous owner had replaced the tranny with a 4eat new tranny, spent something like 7k on the thing, so I figured I had 20,000 miles of wear at least before it would go out on me. Less some minor A/C recharge and alternator problems, the car didn't have any issues and the seller took care of those.

Fast forward to today:
The rear bearings started sounding like they're going out so I took it in for a full diagnostic at a soobie specialist in town. It also had some hesitation, so I was curious to find out what was going there. A few days later, I find out not only are the bearings going out, so is the tranny, power steering pump, oil pump, TPS, rotors (which was expected), timing belt, exhaust, suspension linkages, struts, I have an intake manifold leak, the A/C compressor is dead, and a partridge in a pear tree. Total tab: 6k. Not something I expected. In fact, all I expected was maybe a dead MAF, warped rotors, and obviously buzzing bearings.

As it happens to be, I'm currently very low on funds due to other aspects of my life, so I find myself well and fully swimming up **** creek right now and getting beaten by the paddle.

I've been reading these forums since I've owned the car and everyone on here seems friendly, if not very knowledgeable about this car, and I was hoping to get some guidance. The way I see my options now are as follows:
1. Sell the car as is, or part it out. The interior is pristine, so I would probably recoup 1-2k.
2. Fix the car. I love the ride, and a close friend would be willing to fix it for almost free, I would just have to get parts including a transmission.

So the way my calculations work out, if I can get it fixed for less than the blue book value of the car minus 2000, then I'm not throwing away money. Otherwise I can sell it as is or part it out and make 1-2k. That means I would have to keep parts costs under 2-3000 dollars.

What should I do?

Thanks for any and all responses. You guys are great.

I would fix the obvious stuff first. The bearings are a must. Dont really need AC yet. The rotors would be next on my list. The results from this inspection have me suspect they are out for your $. Just because its a Subaru Shop, doesnt mean they are completely honest.
Get the bearings and the rotors fixed, wouldnt hurt to replace the t-belt and take it to a tranny shop and see what they say about it. The MAF can be cleaned, the oil pump can be replaced, cheaply. Same with the PS pump. The manifold gasket is easy, unless your against turning a wrench.
Not close to $6K.

first of all, let me say, AWESOME USER NAME
second of all, +1 for having a claret:lol:

OFF TOPIC:
funny story though, i was looking at buying this bmw e30 that was flat black primered and i was going to name it PRIMUS:D
theres are thread about it in the general babble section "goodbye svx, hello bmw" fyi

i dont really have anything to say about the rest of your post, sorry, but i thought id say that much ahah

fix it, pm me if you need any work done, i know svx's pretty well and don't charge much

I was thinking the exact same thing.

I'm kind of new to this site but a long time subaru mechanic and I can say the car probably could use most of the stuff they said but the shop is just trying to make as much money as possible off you, it is what shops do. A lot of that stuff is just maintence like the cam belt and are you sure it needs a new oil pump or the oil pump just resealed? Don't part it out, I hate seeing nice cars parted out or worse crushed when they are not to that point.

First of all, I agree with those who said they're out to help you thin your wallet. I've worked for a lot of shops, both good and bad, and recognizing the bad has become second nature. Treat it like surgery, get a 2nd and 3rd opinion.

Now I highly doubt all of that stuff needs the work they told you. I wouldn't worry about the oil pump unless you've got your oil light coming on here and there without an obvious reason. The timing belt could be done as preventative maintenance IF you don't have previous records of when it was done. Both the intake leak and the TPS could be causing your hesitation. Both are easy as pie to diagnose. You know the bearings need replacing. I'd only consider the transmission after everything else is done and you still have shifting problems. If your rotors need replacing, you will have a noticeable pedal pulsation as you're stopping, with it being increasingly worse at higher speeds. Only consider the power steering pump if you hear it whining when you steer, are getting puddles, or are having a hard time turning the wheel. AC compressor is totally up to you, but I'd leave that until last. Many times if the compressor is out, there's something else that caused the system to empty of refrigerant, leading to the compressor failure. The struts likely have some typical age wear to them, I suggest a proper diagnosis. As for the linkages, the wear is likely just aging. They could probably use replacing, but I highly doubt it's an urgent issue.

Overall, you probably need to put in less than $1,000 to be happy again. Take Jeff's offer for help, it'll save you more money than you can imagine. Lastly, anything you decide to tackle, bounce it off people here what the best type of part from which vendor you should go to. I'm pretty new here myself, but in my experience with communities like this, they're a wealth of information willing to spill their beans to a fellow enthusiast.

Get a secnd opinion for starters.

Thanks for everyone's overwhelming positivity - its starting to look like I'll be able to fix it for under 1000 which is awesome.

I'll definitely be back pretty frequently asking questions and scouring for parts.

You guys rock.

Try going to Super Rupair in Boulder.

I work at a dealership and we'll do the same thing, look a car over and make a big fat list of what it needs, but we'll prioritize it and say well it definately needs this stuff ASAP but this other stuff will need future attention but not 100% necessary to get it done right now, and sometimes people will just plunk down the cash and get it all done, and other times they come back in a few months and knock some other stuff out. Sounds to me like the place you went just gave you a big list and wants you to drop a buncha $ right now, so I'll recommend a second opinion as well.

My SVX came from Colorado, and the guy I bought it from said that the guy he bought it from had told him that it at one point had come from a shop in or around Denver that rebuilt SVXes, but he didn't know the name of it or anything.