There’s this guy about 230 miles away from me with a car that I’m interested in. His car is a 5 speed and I have a 1989 4 door auto sedan. He said he is willing to trade his manual for an auto but the problem is that he says it needs a head gasket and you have to keep the RPM’s up or it will die. He says that the car is not running hot and drove it around for 40 miles last week with no problems but obviously it has problems and the biggest one is it breaking down on the way home.

I don’t know anybody with a truck so I cant go to U-Haul and rent a tow dolly so I was thinking of driving my car up there, swapping cars and driving his back. The other option I was thinking of doing was getting a trailer hitch put on my AWD Civic Wagon and renting a small tow dolly to tow the car home but I heard it was bad to haul something that weights almost equal to the car.

What kind of chance do I have of making it back home if I decide to drive his car back.

 

You could also rent a U-Haul pickup truck to tow the car with. You would not be able to tow it with your Civic wagon, it only accepts a class 1 hitch that can tow up to 1500 pounds. I really wouldn't count on the car being reliable enough to drive home with a blown HG.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wiZCo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You could also rent a U-Haul pickup truck to tow the car with. You would not be able to tow it with your Civic wagon, it only accepts a class 1 hitch that can tow up to 1500 pounds. I really wouldn't count on the car being reliable enough to drive home with a blown HG.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah I thought about renting the U-Haul truck and tow dolly but they only rent them for short in town moves.

What it says on the U-Haul site:

"Available in select areas, for in-town moves only."

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by alupso &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

yeah I thought about renting the U-Haul truck and tow dolly but they only rent them for short in town moves.

What it says on the U-Haul site:

"Available in select areas, for in-town moves only."</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ahh, I just looked at your location. They usually only have the pickups in larger cities. You should still be able to rent a 10 or 14 foot truck for a round trip, you'll be paying $19.95 + mileage charges + $39.95 for the tow dolly. An "In-town" move simply means that you pick-up and return the truck at the same location. I used to work for U-Haul .

 

why would you want to trade a good runing car for someone else's headache and problems. i would look for a beter deal,but thats my opinion.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wiZCo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Ahh, I just looked at your location. They usually only have the pickups in larger cities. You should still be able to rent a 10 or 14 foot truck for a round trip, you'll be paying $19.95 + mileage charges + $39.95 for the tow dolly. An "In-town" move simply means that you pick-up and return the truck at the same location. I used to work for U-Haul .</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hmm I'll have to check that out. I'm not sure it would be worth it because U-Haul can be kind of expensive. I used them when I moved 15 miles and it ended up costing like $80, I can't emagine what it would cost to go 230 miles and back.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ridin_on_rims &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">why would you want to trade a good runing car for someone else's headache and problems. i would look for a beter deal,but thats my opinion.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I can replace a head gasket for $36 and an hours time. Nobody will drive the sedan because it's an auto and it just sits there for months. Figure I might as well get something else that I would actually drive and ejoy rather than just letting the auto sit for months.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by alupso &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Hmm I'll have to check that out. I'm not sure it would be worth it because U-Haul can be kind of expensive. I used them when I moved 15 miles and it ended up costing like $80, I can't emagine what it would cost to go 230 miles and back. </TD></TR></TABLE>

That'll be quite expensive, especially after fuel is considered.

 

go there change the hg and drive it back

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Zaakro &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">go there change the hg and drive it back</TD></TR></TABLE>

Now that's thinking smart

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Zaakro &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">go there change the hg and drive it back</TD></TR></TABLE>

I actually thought of that, it's not hard to change a head gasket but was just worried about having stuck bolts or if something goes terribly wrong and the car won't start.