'89 Suburban Advice

[swb1]

Hi,

My transmission is starting to slip and I am not sure it is worth fixing. How much is my Suburban worth you think?? I have 133k miles 454 7.4L engine plus towing package. Some folks say that people might buy it just for the engine. What do you guys think??

Thanks,

swb1

[east302]

You could probably sell it yourself for around $3000 or $4000 assuming no transmission problem and clean with no body damage. If the transmission is going out, someone may offer you $2000 for it if you're lucky. But you'll have a harder time selling it in that condition as most people don't want to go into a sale knowing they have a major expense ahead of them.

If it were me, and I've been here before, I'd try selling it to a dealership (do they have Carmax where you live?) and hope that they don't catch the transmission issue. If they don't notice the tranny slipping they'll probably offer around $1500.

[sub006]

In average shape you're looking at $2000 tops with the bad trans. If you like it, you could fix it up for a lot less than buying new.

At 370,000 miles I spent about $7500 on a new 383 engine, trans, rear end, bodywork, paint, etc. for my '90. It's my traveling office/work truck/sometimes motel. I like the extra 30 cubic feet of cargo room the R/V series gives you compared to newer ones, plus I can't see spending $30-40,000 for a new one that only gets a couple more mpg.

I'm terrified that a relatively small accident would "total" my baby but my insurance guy says he'll go to bat with all my receipts.

I won't consider a new Sub until they offer a 50/50 hybrid that gets 30 in town and 25 highway. Even then I'll keep the old one for towing duty!