I bought a sedan in about 1996 with the 2.2 with something like 198,000 miles on it for $1000, at about 210,000 miles I had to replace the head gasket, it needed to be replaced when I bought it but you know didn't have time. At about 285,000 it developed a valve cover leak, it was small so I wasn't too worried about it. But by 298,000 miles the entire engine was covered in oil, also at 298,000 me, they wife, and two boys are going around an entrance ramp to a highway, on of those ramps where you can see your own back bumper, it was storming pretty good, when all of a sudden bolt of lightening hit the radio antenna, the radio was off, and actually lit up, and I don't mean the display, the light came out from around the buttons and other openings, a huge fireball rolled across the windshield, one wife and two boys started screaming, the car jerks to the left, and the engine starts running funny. I drove another 5 miles to my wife's work, I did not want to be stranded on the side of a highway, so as long as it was driving I was going to keep going. As I pulled in the parking lot, the car died, I threw it in neutral and coasted into a parking spot, it never ran again. We got out, and the back part of the hood, and most of the roof was covered in a scorch mark. Apparently not only did the lightening go through the antenna into the electrical system and the whole car needed to be rewired, but the lightening also got caught in the oil on the engine, traveled down the side of the engine to the bottom of the oil pan, and grounded out to the ground, blowing a hole in the oil pan almost as big as the oil pan itself, the mechanic said it was so big that it probably dropped 4 full quarts of oil instantly. So by the time we got to her work, the engine seized and locked up because of no oil. It probably would have ran another 100,000 if not for the lightening. I had 8 cars with that 2.2 and the least amount of miles I put on one was 25X,XXX, and only because I saw something I wanted more. That was our only car at the time, so borrowed my mom's car a brand new Oldsmobile, and we go to a car lot, Because the salesman was asking why we were in the market for a used car, when we were driving the new car,and we are joking about what happened, it was that or cry..The salesman said wait a minute, and he went in the office, and returned with the owner, He had me repeat the story. He asked where it was and I told him, and how to get there. He said come back after lunch, OK. Went back after lunch and he said, ok I'm going to give you $1000 trade in. I laughed and said, you do realize the car is scrap, it will take close to $10,000 to repair it. He said yeah I know, after I buy it from you, the mechanic said he would give me $100 for it, I said your going to lose $900 on it? He said well, from what I can tell you need the help right now, and I can help you, and good deeds get repaid by good deeds. Also I bought two more cars from him over the next few years.
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