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Fuel Ecomomy and old parts- or get smaller car??

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:10 am
by NCpaj
Gday fellas

stay with me casue this ones a bit of a story.

Well i do about 350km of driving a week which 90% of that is boring highway driving to and from uni. Atm i drive our spare car (a 94 mazad 626 ) because mum just got a newer car. The mazda is pretty good uses about $40-$45 a week on fuel, but when i was changing the oil last week at work i noticed a gearbox oil leak so i took it round to a mate whos a mechanic and runs his shop for autos- last time i was there he told me the type of gearbox i have normally lets got round 180-200thousand and the cars done 270k. Anyway the main real real on the tranny has gone and to get it in and out and rebuilt ,casue they normally leak in a couple of other places inside too which you can only get while the box is out.

anyway all up even if i take it out and put it back in will cost round 2k, and on redbook the car is only worth round $2k. So i dont think its really worth it to fix- any idea how much the jap wreckers would pay, havent rang them yet

ok- so the other option is to drive the paj to and from uni but i havent done that for yonks casue of the cost of fuel and that fact i go through about $50-$65 of fuel a week if i drive that thing.

So i guess i want to know if fixing up the paj will make much difference to the fuel economy due to the really worn out bits- ie its got a newly rebuilt engine, but the diff's and gearbox are noisy and long in the tooth.


or do i drive the mazad till it stops then take the plates off :D


hope that made some sense!!!

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:52 am
by RockyF75
Noisy diff/box shouldn't make that much of a difference in economy. Unless by noise you mean grinding or banging or something, in which case you've got bigger things to worry about that economy :rofl: . If its just a whine it wont matter as far as eco.

But personally, if your going to scrap the mazda anyway just drive it till it dies, ring the scrap blokes up and say its yours if you pick it up. Scrap steel's worth a fair bit lately, can't see you having a hard time getting it picked up for free anywhere.

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:23 am
by stockhorse
rear g/box seal cost $10 and takes 20 mins to do.Just do that and keep driving it.(think ya mate wants to make a quid out of ya.)

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:14 am
by NCpaj
stockhorse wrote:rear g/box seal cost $10 and takes 20 mins to do.Just do that and keep driving it.(think ya mate wants to make a quid out of ya.)
you sure? ive been told that due to the age of the box and that fact they commonly fail in a couple of otherp places its best to take the box out then do that-- also the clutch packs in 3rd are worn--it revs up a bit when it changes into 3rd.
Noisy diff/box shouldn't make that much of a difference in economy. Unless by noise you mean grinding or banging or something, in which case you've got bigger things to worry about that economy . If its just a whine it wont matter as far as eco.
cool thanks for that.

Re: Fuel Ecomomy and old parts- or get smaller car??

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:17 am
by bogged
go and get a quote elsewhere and see what they say about the gearbox, and that model..

then decide.