350 coolant disappearing

[thinger2]

I was at a collector car auction in mid 2007.
Back when the market was nuts.
They put up a 1977 Nova 4 door straight 6 three on the tree urine yellow with blue plaid seats.
But, it only had 14k original miles on it.
"Its a brand new car!"
Went to get a cup of coffee, came back and a guy I know had paid 8 friggen grand for that thing.
8 grand.
If youve ever driven one of those things, you will remember that you have to be wearing your seatbelt with it in nuetral and your foot on the brake before it will start.
On a carbed engine.
Getting one of those to start is like dancing an Irish jig but you need an extra foot.
So he started driving it and it puked every fluid it had while all of the electronics failed and it overheated from the dormant crud that broke loose etc..etc..etc..
That 8 thousand dollar "brand new car" has been a moss coated mouse house sitting in a field for almost 14 years.
Low miles only counts with rare cars.
A low mile Daytona?
big bucks.
Other than super rare cars, low miles is just another term for neglected.
The easiest way to kill a car is too not drive it.

 

[Steven Petersen]

I was at a collector car auction in mid 2007.
Back when the market was nuts.
They put up a 1977 Nova 4 door straight 6 three on the tree urine yellow with blue plaid seats.
But, it only had 14k original miles on it.
"Its a brand new car!"
Went to get a cup of coffee, came back and a guy I know had paid 8 friggen grand for that thing.
8 grand.
If youve ever driven one of those things, you will remember that you have to be wearing your seatbelt with it in nuetral and your foot on the brake before it will start.
On a carbed engine.
Getting one of those to start is like dancing an Irish jig but you need an extra foot.
So he started driving it and it puked every fluid it had while all of the electronics failed and it overheated from the dormant crud that broke loose etc..etc..etc..
That 8 thousand dollar "brand new car" has been a moss coated mouse house sitting in a field for almost 14 years.
Low miles only counts with rare cars.
A low mile Daytona?
big bucks.
Other than super rare cars, low miles is just another term for neglected.
The easiest way to kill a car is too not drive it.

I think age is a factor too. I bought a 2001 K1500 in 2005 that had 9,000 miles on it. Still had the plastic protectors on radio screen, etc. An older guy had it for 6 months and passed away. Sat in garage for 3 1/2 years until widow sold it. I had 120,000 trouble fee miles on it when it was stolen out of my front yard. So I think low miles over a really long period is bad.

 

[Supercharged111]

If that vehicle with low mileage was driven 3 miles each way 4 days a week, you've got a lot of in and out, so the seat is probably worn. The oil sludge would be tremendous as it would never get hot enough except on the occasion the owner drove it 30 miles on the highway. Unless it was garage kept and driven once a week on the highway, I would stay away from an older low mileage vehicle. Too many seals, bushings, etc. to rot out because they werent' being used. Rubber needs to flex to release the lubricating compounds, otherwise it rots.

Find a vehicle that averages 8-12k a year and it will have had regular maintenance (hopefully) and be in somewhat decent shape.

That's absolutely a possibility too. There are a number of scenarios possible. I should have pointed out that my previous post wasn't meant to apply to all used cars as they all have different stories. But I certainly wouldn't write off a car without seeing it based on the fact it has low mileage. Unless they want an arm, leg, and a left nut for it.

 

[stutaeng]

Yeah, I think you guys are right. The way I see it it's a combination of age and use that causes break downs.

But I think a vehicle that sits without being even turned on every few weeks or months is the worse. Plastics, seals and weatherstripping get brittle.

On my non-daily driver's I try to start and idle them for a good 15 minutes every week or so. That brings the engine up to operating temperature and keeps the battery charged. Sometimes I just take it for a spin, for no other reason.


Tires are a good example of age degradation. My brother jokes that our Dads C1500 michelin tires "wear out" from Dad just moving cars around the driveway. Treads look like 100% is there, but sidewalls are cracked to hell.

A tire that sat unused on a vehicle for 8 or 10 years in the summer/winter is probably worse than a tire that saw daily use and is worn to 25% tread remaining.

IIRC, wasn't tire failure one of the main contributing factors of the accident that killed Walker actor? And I'm pretty sure that car was garage kept. I seem to remember reading about that...

 

[thinger2]

Low miles, depending on how it was stored, is much more important to body panels and rust than it is to mechanical systems.
This is where poeple get it all backwards.
An engine or a trans that hasnt moved in twenty years has bad seals and gaskets and dirty oil has eaten pits into the bearings.
The valve springs have been side loading the cam and bent it.
The rings are stuck and on and on.
The money is not in the engine and drive train.
Thats all pretty much plug and play bolt in with some fab
The money is in body work. That is what gets really expensive really fast.
And takes up the most time.
Thats why the collecter car world is chock full of blown LS 55 to 57 chevies and resto mod Camaros with crap paint and bondo cracks.
Ive been there. We spent 45k just on parts. Just on the friggen parts!
On a 1969 GTO 400 4 speed bucket console factory power window A/C car.
It was originally a root beer brown vinyl roof car.
We ****** up by deciding to paint it black.
And we ran out of money and had a collision shop do the bodywork and paint.
Looked great! in the sunlight.
Got it into auction under the flourescents and it looked like hammered dog ****.
We gave it up at 68.5 and, after two years of ballbusting.
And after paying our bills.
We made enough profit to buy two sumpreme pizzas and two pitchers of beer.
Not including the tip

 

[stutaeng]

Low miles, depending on how it was stored, is much more important to body panels and rust than it is to mechanical systems.
This is where poeple get it all backwards.
An engine or a trans that hasnt moved in twenty years has bad seals and gaskets and dirty oil has eaten pits into the bearings.
The valve springs have been side loading the cam and bent it.
The rings are stuck and on and on.
The money is not in the engine and drive train.
Thats all pretty much plug and play bolt in with some fab
The money is in body work. That is what gets really expensive really fast.
And takes up the most time.
Thats why the collecter car world is chock full of blown LS 55 to 57 chevies and resto mod Camaros with crap paint and bondo cracks.
Ive been there. We spent 45k just on parts. Just on the friggen parts!
On a 1969 GTO 400 4 speed bucket console factory power window A/C car.
It was originally a root beer brown vinyl roof car.
We ****** up by deciding to paint it black.
And we ran out of money and had a collision shop do the bodywork and paint.
Looked great! in the sunlight.
Got it into auction under the flourescents and it looked like hammered dog ****.
We gave it up at 68.5 and, after two years of ballbusting.
And after paying our bills.
We made enough profit to buy two sumpreme pizzas and two pitchers of beer.
Not including the tip

Wow, that's crazy. At least you didn't sell it as a parts car and lose your shirt!

So what's to be done to a car that's going to sit for 20 years or something? Not that one would "plan" that, but let's just assume? I always see those YT channels advertising something like, "30 year barn find, will it fire up?"

Drain the oil? Take engine apart completely? Not joking by the way.

As I get older I've come to realize that cars' natural state is the ground, just like us!

 

[thinger2]

Wow, that's crazy. At least you didn't sell it as a parts car and lose your shirt!

So what's to be done to a car that's going to sit for 20 years or something? Not that one would "plan" that, but let's just assume? I always see those YT channels advertising something like, "30 year barn find, will it fire up?"

Drain the oil? Take engine apart completely? Not joking by the way.

As I get older I've come to realize that cars' natural state is the ground, just like us!

Ha! it took 3 parts cars to loose my shirt.
You can buy reman regulators and motors for the front power windows on a 69 gto.
Not for the rears.
We drug a half rotted gto out of a mud bank in Renton Wa and cut them out with a chainsaw just to get them.
The "will it run" bullshit?
Yes, if it spins, it will probably run.
But all those guys are doing is smoking engines for youtube views.
Its about the same thing as when you come home after a long day at work and youre wife has watched too many home improvement shows.

 

[DerekTheGreat]

I think age is a factor too. I bought a 2001 K1500 in 2005 that had 9,000 miles on it. Still had the plastic protectors on radio screen, etc. An older guy had it for 6 months and passed away. Sat in garage for 3 1/2 years until widow sold it. I had 120,000 trouble fee miles on it when it was stolen out of my front yard. So I think low miles over a really long period is bad.

Definitely a factor. Your truck was only four years old, so 9k miles is akin to brand new in that case. But like we were sayin', age adds it's own kind of wear & tear. Supercharged11 mentioned buying a C5 ZO6 with 99k but only eight years old.. Good buy right there. When they start pushing 15 years old 'n older, that's when I bust out my tire kickin' boots and doubtful mind. Because as thinger2 says here:

I was at a collector car auction in mid 2007.
Back when the market was nuts.
They put up a 1977 Nova 4 door straight 6 three on the tree urine yellow with blue plaid seats.
But, it only had 14k original miles on it.
"Its a brand new car!"
Went to get a cup of coffee, came back and a guy I know had paid 8 friggen grand for that thing.
8 grand.
If youve ever driven one of those things, you will remember that you have to be wearing your seatbelt with it in nuetral and your foot on the brake before it will start.
On a carbed engine.
Getting one of those to start is like dancing an Irish jig but you need an extra foot.
So he started driving it and it puked every fluid it had while all of the electronics failed and it overheated from the dormant crud that broke loose etc..etc..etc..
That 8 thousand dollar "brand new car" has been a moss coated mouse house sitting in a field for almost 14 years.
Low miles only counts with rare cars.
A low mile Daytona?
big bucks.
Other than super rare cars, low miles is just another term for neglected.
The easiest way to kill a car is too not drive it.

...That's how they get unsuspecting "victims" unfortunately.. That minty interior, stickers everywhere, non dirty engine bay (yet) and shiny paint get those graying middle agers to swell up with nostalgia and lose their wallets, even if they weren't alive at the time stuff was new. When I was born, cars could still be had with fake wood trim on the side and one North American car could still be had with a carburetor.. However, when I became a teen, cars from the mid 70's to late 80's were DIRT cheap. I always thought they'd stay that way as I couldn't imagine why anyone would want them when cars pre '73 had much better looking noses, more power and didn't look "cheap" as a result from competing with imports and the gas crisis. I don't think I've ever been more wrong or dumbfounded in my life.. Some cars from that era I liked and would own, like a '77 Town Car or Cadillac or '77 Trans Am, but I never expected their values to ascend to what they are now. I watched an RCR video about some Plymouth or Dodge Omni which was much like the Nova you described. I think that sold for $6,000??? Not. F'n. Sure. But wow, there is a schiit box I'd never think to pay even $600 for..

 

[Moparmat2000]

Wife had a 99 burb K1500 that was using coolant. Never puffed white smoke, nothing in the oil, nothing on the ground. Truck had 225K on the clock. This thing never net a gas station it didnt like. I called it Mr Bourbon because it had a drinking habit and a tow package with 50 gallon tank to support that habit. Never figured it out, traded it off for a minivan.

 

[Steven Petersen]

Definitely a factor. Your truck was only four years old, so 9k miles is akin to brand new in that case. But like we were sayin', age adds it's own kind of wear & tear. Supercharged11 mentioned buying a C5 ZO6 with 99k but only eight years old.. Good buy right there. When they start pushing 15 years old 'n older, that's when I bust out my tire kickin' boots and doubtful mind. Because as thinger2 says here:


...That's how they get unsuspecting "victims" unfortunately.. That minty interior, stickers everywhere, non dirty engine bay (yet) and shiny paint get those graying middle agers to swell up with nostalgia and lose their wallets, even if they weren't alive at the time stuff was new. When I was born, cars could still be had with fake wood trim on the side and one North American car could still be had with a carburetor.. However, when I became a teen, cars from the mid 70's to late 80's were DIRT cheap. I always thought they'd stay that way as I couldn't imagine why anyone would want them when cars pre '73 had much better looking noses, more power and didn't look "cheap" as a result from competing with imports and the gas crisis. I don't think I've ever been more wrong or dumbfounded in my life.. Some cars from that era I liked and would own, like a '77 Town Car or Cadillac or '77 Trans Am, but I never expected their values to ascend to what they are now. I watched an RCR video about some Plymouth or Dodge Omni which was much like the Nova you described. I think that sold for $6,000??? Not. F'n. Sure. But wow, there is a schiit box I'd never think to pay even $600 for..

What I’ve found is people will never pay for good upkeep. Unless it’s a situation where the buyer has a relationship with the seller and knows the history. When we sold my dad’s 92 K1500 in 2015, I think we started at $6,500. Keep in mind this thing was in showroom, original condition. Brand new 265/75/16 Michelins, 165,000 miles, new goodwrench 350 and 4l60 both installed at Chevy dealership within last 30,000 miles. It had never been worked on by anyone besides dealership, my dad(actually worked as a mechanic at Pontiac dealership in late 60’s before being drafted) and myself. No bites at $6500. Quit trying for a while. Then listed again at $5,500 I believe. Also parked it out by the road with sign(rural farming area). Literally within 5 minutes farmer from area drives by, stops, backs up and pulls in. He says let me grab my check book, Are you sure $5,500 is enough? He knew what he was getting.

When I bought this 88 last year, I wasn’t really looking but it just popped up. I was more drawn to it having the options I wanted before I saw the low miles. Blue interior, Silverado, 9.5” 6 lug rear end. It was beat to holy hell for only 49,000 miles. But I know enough to know I could work with it and make it exactly what I want. He was asking $5,500. I paid $5,000. From an outsider’s view, I think it was only worth maybe $3,000.