Black '94 LSi owner looking ahead

[ian2120]

Hey all! It's been a while since I've visited the network, but I figure now is a good time to return.

My '94 LSi was my uncle's car until he passed away in 2011, shortly before I got my driver's license in High School. It was my (mostly) reliable daily driver for the next 5 years and brought me as much joy as I could possibly imagine getting from an automobile.

In September of 2015, it suffered a catastrophic electrical failure while driving. The voltage regulator in the alternator went bad and fried both of my fuse boxes, my gauge cluster, and who knows what else. It was in the shop closest to where it failed on the highway for upwards of three months while I accrued the replacement parts as the tech found the problems. It was returned to me as a running, driving vehicle in late December, but would not pass inspection as the power steering had gone some time ago.

There are still a number of issues with the car – a bad driver's door window regulator, the security system is either fried or was not reconnected properly by the tech, power steering, oil and coolant leaks, and a bad duty solenoid causing hard shifts from 1st to 2nd. It's been off the road since January, and I'm trying to decide how to move forward.

I hate to think that it's become no more than a parts car, and I really would love to hold on to it; however, as a project it may be too costly to take on and it might be more uphill than I'm prepared to deal with. I just graduated from college and still don't have a full time job – the longer I go without a salary, the more difficult it will become for me to put the money into the car.

Any idea what it would be worth in the state it's in? Do y'all think that I'm better off putting money into it? I know that our cars haven't really appreciated yet, but that day has to be coming, right? Just kinda stuck in my own head at the moment and trying to figure out what project to take on. Thanks for your help and thoughts!

[Blacky]

You already put a lot of money into it to get it running again. As a New York car with all the problems it still has, it may be worth less than $1000 depending on the body.
The hard shifting is not likely a duty solenoid. I would try some fresh tranny fluid and some Lubegard.
I wouldn't bother with the security system.
All my SVX have minor oil leaks. The coolant leak could be minor or a head gasket but they usually leak combustion into the coolant and not external leaks.

If you fix the steering will it pass inspection? If so, with the money you've already put in, I would fix the steering and drive it. When money and jobs change make a decision at a later date.

[ian2120]

Sounds like a solid route for me to go. You're right, I did put a lot of money into it in order to get it to run again – I should probably put the minimal work necessary to get it truly road worthy again for the time being.

Thank you for the Lubegard suggestion as well! I'll see where and when I can start doing some work on the car

[Chucksta]

A couple of observations / suggestions for you..

A hard shift, first to second, is borderline normal for a stock transmission. So is shifting a bit earlier than would seem appropriate. A rebuilt transmission, however, will almost always shift harsher than stock, as the friction material on the internals is grippier.

Straight up, I'm not a fan of additives to solve an issue, but sometimes.... well, if they don't work, you're only out a few bucks..

Power steering... try the stop leak from Lucas.. 2 years ago, I was leaving puddles in the driveway.. Haven't left a drop since.. it took about a week to stop.

Oil leaks? Hmmm.. well, that depends what's leaking? Gasket or seal? seals can be treated with an additive, gaskets pretty much can't.


Coolant leaks? I couldn't find my coolant leak, but I was still losing about 8 ounces a month, 1/8 of a bottle of copper based stop leak, and it never lost a drop after that. An interesting side effect of the stop leak, was that the temp gauge no longer just sat in the middle of the gauge, but accurately moved up and down as the fans went on and off..

One of my favorite arguments about keeping a classic car crisp. is that, no matter what you drive, you either pay maintenance and repairs, or you pay depreciation..

Really, could you own anything for less than $200.00 a month, for depreciation, maintenance and repairs? If you could, would you really want to drive it?

Would your SVX tough out the next 4 years, if you blew $10,000.00 on it?

What's the difference? What would the residual value be? Would it still slap a smile on your face every time you drove it?

Don't look at it as what it will cost, look at it as what would it cost MORE than driving some soulless snot box POS. Personally, I don't think that there's much difference in actual cost, over an extended period of time.