Need your opinion desperatly: My 88 Dodge Omni has been diagnosed as unrepairable... Supposedly it has what they call a "Unibody" type of frame and after living in the snow and salt for 6years it has rusted to the point that it will not hold up the engine. At least that is what the mechanic has said. The original problem had to do with a broken gear shifter and when they put it on the rack this is what they found underneath the car. Here are my questions. Could I have done anything to prevent this? Also do cars tend to wear out this way under the conditions I have described? Is this car really unrepairable? Can I use my engine and transmission in another vehicle? I know this is alot to ask, but I am now without a vehicle and little money to readily buy another one and the mechanic said to just call the wrecker to just come and pick it up. The engine has 100k on it and the transmission was rebuilt last year. Would be interested in what you think. Thanks, Dee

-- Dee (drebai@yahoo.com), March 27, 2001

Answers

Cars used to have frames, but no more. A good shade tree mechanic/body man could install subframe connectors to simulate a frame and build engine mounts and sheet metal any bad body holes. Could be cheap, could go expensive. Best bet find a decent junkyard body for a few hundred dollars and have your powerplant installed for another $500 to $1000. Then make sure you keep road salts cleaned from the under chassis.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), March 27, 2001.

Dee, I have been in the auto repair business for 35 years. Take your car to an auto body shop that is praised by people you trust. Have them tell you what it will cost to repair. I know that sometimes a car has sentimental value. If you decide not to fix it, a salvage yard will tell you what cars your motor and transmission will fit into. You should be able to find a body with a bad motor or trans. for a few hundred. Even at $50.00 an hour it would take less then 8 hours to switch motor and trans. If I can be of any help please contact me. Webber's Garage, Penobscot, Me.

-- Harry (HrMr@webtv.net), March 27, 2001.

You can, even if you live in a very wet or very salty (or both combined) area is to wash your car weekly! Go to one of those power spray car washes where you get the wand to spray off the car. While most people only wash the sides and top of their car, the truly important place to wash is UNDER the car. I squat down and use about 3 of the 4 minutes my $2 buys to spray water was well as I can on the entire underbody.

You should also, about every 6 months, spray your engine off good and well, taking car to cover the air intake so you can ruin your airfilter or have problems starting the car again when you're done with the wash.

The other thing you can do, especially if you change your oil youself, is to spray off the underbody with a garden hose when you have the car up on blocks to remove the oil pan drain plug.

-- Justin Shelton (justinshelton@netscape.net), April 02, 2001.

The frame problem could possibly be repairable, but you might encounter difficulty having some one fix it because of liablity. I found this out. If I were you I would ask the local dealership if there were any recalls applicable to your problem... sometimes you get lucky... Dodge fixed my 77 dodge van in 97 for free bc of a recall. You might not want to mention that the car has over 100 k on it- anything over and the car is considered "exceeding mechanical limits" and is not recall honorable material. If that fails, have someone who knows what they are doing look at the problem area... if there is nothing to weld repair material to, the problem is bad bad... if you get some money up, go south and buy a car- many cars older than yours go for less than 100 bucks and are NOT rusted... heck, if you come here to NC, I will give you an 88 escort (needs a motor that I can rebuild, and a tail light, but its wheels). Good luck!

-- Kevin N. Black (vantravlrs@AOL.com), April 03, 2001.