WWAG35rD?

(What Would A G35'r Do?)

Last week: My mother-in-law is driving a beautiful 2007 G35 Coupe (Lakeshore Slate), 32,000 miles, fully loaded in Mint Condition.

This week: My mother-in-law HAD a 2007 G35 Coupe in mint condition!

The Dealio: On her way back to Arizona (in the middle of the desert) she blew the head gasket and fried the engine!

Question 1: Do I try to sell as is (if so, what do you reckon it’s worth)?

Question 2: Do I tow that beauty up to LA, replace the engine and sell (if so, what do you reckon it could sell for)?

Currently the car is sitting in Indio, California awaiting the next step.

I appreciate any advice you can offer. I really want to help my mother-in-law (despite her being, well... my "mother-in-law").

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

The best way to go about this is to pick up a used motor and have it replaced. They're on CL all day for $1100-1500. Find a shop to swap em. May coast you anywhere from $2000-2500 total depending on shop and engine price, but you'll make that up + a bit more when sold

Here's the thing..it won't be MUCH more. Hard to give a definate number, because the market for these are weird, and when you throw a motor swap in there it throws up red flags, but some people don't care, cuz modding comes with the territory with these cars. So basically:

Maximum income - replace motor, but a fair amount of work and you gotta pull money out of your pocket. It'll be an investment and you COULD lose

Maximum ease - try to sell it for $5k and let the next guy swap the motor.

 

So keeping the car is out of the question?

32K miles is hella early to blow a headgasket unless her thermostat was stuck closed and she continued to drive the car while it was overheating. Unless your mother-in-law drives like a madman all the time, someone else is probably going to get a great deal on you guys selling either before or after the repair. I'm going to throw this out there because headgasket failures are not common on G's that early... but it's possible that the car had oil consumption issues that she didn't know about and this actually caused the motor to fail rather than it being a blown headgasket. Is her car a manual transmission? If so... that's a more likely cause of the problem than a blown headgasket at such low mileage.

P.S. You're a nice son in law to help her. Just be careful you don't get burned somehow along the way. No good deed goes unpunished... LOL.

 

An '07 with low mileage and in mint condition can still have a long life, it's hardly broken in. I'd go to our Marketplace under vendor engines and buy a rebuilt motor, have it installed for a cost just over $5 to $6K. She has a choice of either selling the coupe when she's tired of it or driving it till the wheels fall off...Gary