How dead is your car? Is it on the scale of "flat battery" dead, or is it more the scale of "crushed into a cube" dead?

Dearly beloved,

We are gathered here today to mourn the passing of Salsa's car. Dear Car god, being ever so wise has decided to take this car and leave Salsa without transportation.

In his infinte wisdom, there has to be some reason for this loss. Maybe it was the fast trip to late night fast food places, perhaps it was ignoring the bright red dash ligh saying 'Check Engine', or even it was just too old and tired to continue the daily grind.

With the Car god's blessing and with great sorrow we commit this earthly shell of a car to the scrapyard.

Let us bow our heads and pray this doesn't happen to the rest of us!

Sorry dude. Maybe it's time for a new car :)

Ouch. IIRC, you don't have a shitbox either.

Well, it was pretty shitty. A '97 Dodge Avenger. The thing weighed something to the effect of 3,000lbs and was 4 cylinders.

But anyway, it's had a history of completely random problems. The transmission died a few years ago out of the blue, and I had a new one installed. I've had to replace the car battery a number of times. One time the fan belt got loose and made the car screech like a banshee whenever my RPMs dipped.. had that fixed. Also, because the car is so weak, I've never been able to use the air conditioning or else it would barely accelerate. However, just about a week ago I said "screw it" and used the AC, and my check engine light fired up.. but the next time I got in the car, it was off and never came back.

So today, I get in my car on my way to work, reverse out of the driveway, switch into Drive, and suddenly the car seizes up like a fainting goat. The power steering went out, the car bucked and just sort of "rolled" to the side, and I had to press the brakes as hard as I could for them to engage. I had it towed 15 minutes later to the shop. :(

All you had to say was "It's a Dodge". Thermite the engine block and buy an import or a GM.

Your electrical is fucked, probably the result of one of the wonderful innovations (such as wrapping wire very close to the engine) from the Chrysler Group. It will cost you. I know, because the same thing happened to a '93 Caravan, except we also had a radiator malfunction at the same time.

With a Dodge that old, you will get taken for a ride in terms of repairs. You are probably better off buying another car.