Questions on maintaining my 2000 leganza cdx..

[woosta]

last january i had to replace the catalytic converter, it cost me a grand, part was 800 bucks.
i live in pennsylvania and the shop i took it to, said they had to order the part from california.
2 years before that i had to change the muffler and since this is a daewoo and makes nothing easy.
the shop told me the muffler and the flange were one piece and would cost more.
fast forward to this year, muffler had to be replaced again, this time costing me 300 for parts 100 labor.

i bought the car brand new in 2000.

currently the car has 75000 miles on it.

theres a rattling noise coming from the heat shield or the flex pipe, so its making me worry some more.

i personally dont know alot about cars and feel pretty shafted each time i take it to a shop to get it fixed.

im hoping to have this daewoo last me another year or two but dont want to invest heavily into it.

but it seems its time to replace the timing belt, i think i read in general its 60,000miles?
i always get my oil changed every 3 months or 3000 miles.
changed my air filter 4 times so far.

couple days ago i flushed the radiator , was never flushed. found some rusty muck in the radiator reservoir which was alarming. decided to flush it myself and car seems ok.

im writing a book here lol. I have a feeling i could of probably gotten a nice stainless steel custom exhaust kit installed for the amount i spend tryin to replace the factory exhaust parts

question is what should i replace? timing belt? should i flush the transmission fluid as well?
is there any trusted relatively honest priced shops any of you recommend?
and if i have to get my heatshield/flex pipe replaced wheres a good place to get it?
thank u,

any suggestions, advice will be appreciated.

regards,
woo

[BosnianLanos]

Get your timing belt replaced or you're going to run into more trouble. Head replacement can run up to $1500. While they're at it, it would be a good idea to replace the AC and PS belts...and the water pump. Parts and labor should come to under $400. The rattling noise is most likely just a loose exhaust manifold heat shield. With the engine cold, see if you can jiggle it around with your hand, if you can, just tighten the bolts and you're good to go. If it isn't...then it could be any number of things. But check that first.

It sucks that you spent so much on the muffler/cat. Any exhaust shop could've custom-made an exhaust for those prices, but if you weren't looking to go that route, local junkyards were bound to have something. http://www.car-parts.com is also a great way to locate parts you need. Some forum members could've even sold it to you! But hey, what's done is done, no sense worrying.

The rust in the coolant must mean that the car was flushed before...it just wasn't filled with distilled water, that caused the rust. It shouldn't have caused too much damage in the long run...so no worries. Just double check it every once in a while.

DO NOT...and I repeat DO NOT flush your transmission. Our cars, if driven under normal conditions, never need the fluid changed. I ended up changing the ATF in my Lanos a couple of years ago...and it created more problems than it was worth. Just leave it be, you'll be fine.

The Leganza, as well as all Daewoos, are solid cars. They may require more attentive maintenance than the run-of-the-mill Honda, but nothing special. It'll last you years.

Now get to that timing belt!

-Damir

[daewoomofo]

+1 to what all BosnianLanos said. plus when you get a muffler replaced they can cut the pipe and weld on a universal muffler, that should cost alot less. my car has had the muffler replaced on it (before i got it) and all they did is cut and weld.

[woosta]

i wish i found this forum earlier. would of been alot of help.
u guys are still great help regardless.

so when replacing the timing belt, ac fan belt, water pump should i take it to a dealer like the ford dealer that took over warranty when daewoo went defunct? or any mom and pop shops? or a national chain like meineke and such?

now that u mention it, i had a hose that ruptured on the back side of the engine that leaked all the antifreeze, so guess when i got that fixed the guys didnt put distilled water in like u said.

when i recently flushed i didnt use distilled water either just garden hosed it.

what type of anti freeze should i get? any 50/50 coolant good?

400 dollars is in my budget but if it costs me more than that i'm going to hate life

also i should buy all the parts myself right? and then just go to a shop to have them put them in? should be cheaper im hoping.

is the timing belt in the leganza a metal chain or a synthetic belt of some type? wondering if noise is comin from a bad timing belt.

im trying to get this daewoo to hold out til the New genesis coupe comes out next year


edit: went to car parts.com and they didnt have a listing for a timing belt.. is it called something else?

[DAEWOOLeganza]

side note i had a 99 leganza cdx and not to long ago one by one all my coolant hoses started breaking or cracking, if you say one of your hoses broke i would suggest getting them replaced, and i mean alllll hoses related to coolant. it is suchhhh a pain in the ass to deal with killing your engine due to overheating because 2 hoses simultaniously break and spill all your coolant out while your driving on the freeway... there really not that expensive, and its alot better than having to replace your headers.

[BosnianLanos]

Hoses are an easy fix though...you can just go to a chain store and get them to cut you a length of hose...no problem cheap to.

You can get all your parts here:

http://www.store.partsdinosaur.com/page152.html

Also check ebay as PCI has a bunch of stuff for our cars.

It looks as though the parts were a little more pricey than I thought... $161 for the timing belt kit... Thats the belt, tensioner, and idler, $50 for the water pump, and other $33 for the accessory belt. I guess the Leganza uses only one other belt. So you're looking for parts alone at around $240. Which in the long scheme of things isn't too bad...considering you'll be able to get another 60,000 miles out of the car.

Any shop should be able to do the labor. Ask around for prices. My recommendation is to ask around to some friends to see if they have a car mechanic friend that'll do them a favor. Tell them you'll pay in cash. That'll take some money off of the price because if you pay in cash it doesn't go on the books and they don't charge you for taxes and whatnot. I recently did this and got charged $175 for labor for a belts/pump replacement.

However, if you're just holding on till next year for the Genesis...you should be able to get away with just replacing the timing belt and calling it quits. The pump will hold just fine.

Prestone 50/50 is as good as any. Even as good as the in-store brands. Just make sure that you get the non-distilled water out, run a cleaner, and then replace it with the 50/50. Maybe even add a product like Redline WaterWetter for good measure. It's almost like a detergent which lowers the surface tension of the water and allows better contact with the hot metals and ergo provides better cooling. I've used it for the past 2 years in my Red Lanos. I idle in 90 degree weather and 100% humidity with the AC on and don't even come close to overheating. It's worth it!

I doubt the rattling would be the belt. Unless the rattle is coming directly out of the engine (bad valve or rod) or happens when you are going around a corner. It is most likely a trim piece and doesn't need to be worried about!

And don't beat yourself up about paying full prices. My green Lanos, with 205,000 miles, was bought BRAND NEW from the dealer. This is well before I was old enough to get into cars. We ended up paying exorbitant prices to the dealer for things I could do with my eyes closed nowadays. But again, no sense worrying about the past.

[woosta]

Thanks Bosnian,

im kind of stuck in a catch 22, i could just replace the timing belt and get screwed by whoever is installin it for me, sayin i need other parts or some crap

or ill get timing belt replaced somethine else goes. or when time comes for genesis coupe, because of high demand they mark up the price lol. it never ends :P

so i will try gettin the belt for 33 bucks and find someone to install it.

its a pretty tough thing to replace right ? since u have to get the engine out? so what do u think the labor cost should run around?

im gonna call around and try to cash bit u explained.

[daewoomofo]

there is no need to pull the engine, its a PITA but its doable.

[BosnianLanos]

The $33 belt is ONLY the AC/Accessory Belt! You need the timing belt, which is more expensive... again, check eBay. It's not too difficult of a job for an intermediate mechanic. It's just a pain to do yourself because keeping all three of the required pulleys aligned gets to be a pain. If you're off 1 notch you can experience stalling, hesitation, bad power, and even valve damage. And no, your engine does not need to come out. Worst case scenario is that they have to loosen an engine mount and lean the engine to give you some room, but thats it! Even that happens only 1% of the time. I've done it only once myself...and I'll leave it to the pros. It isn't worth the frustration to me.

Labor should only run MAYBE $300 at the very worst. $65/hr flat rate, and it's like a 3-4 hour job depending on the mechanic. If you do everything recommended your bill would come to $500 (parts&labor). The Leganza is more expensive than I thought. I payed $90 for all three belts and pulleys for my Lanos and $175 for the labor...Maybe I just got lucky.

[DAEWOOLeganza]

the leganza is superrr expensive...