$10,000: fix or sell?

[Dan Williams]

Greg, There should be a way to prevent these engines from overheating. They are just too expensive to repair. One thing I have read is if you blow a coolant line and it starts to overheat you can pump in a gallon of oil from the bulk oil fill tank and possibly save the engine. But this oveheating needs to be addressed. Who can afford 20Kplus to rebuild?

Dan

88PT38

Jackson, MS

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From: Greg Young
To: "WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com"
Sent: Tue, September 7, 2010 10:53:10 PM
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] $10,000: fix or sell?

On the road to Burning Man two weeks ago our '86 PT-40, Bluefire, overheated. Background and story later, but it is now at Britt's Diesel & Automotive in Bishop CA. It's a family run shop with some mechanics old enough to know the 8V92.

Thus far I have a verbal estimate of around $10,000 to fix it, including cracked heads, cracked liner, cooling system and turbo damage. My fundamental questions are:
Does anyone have any experience with Britt?
What are the economics of selling (broken) it if we chose not to fix it?

I think we will fix it but want to understand the options. If we end up selling it I imagine we'd need to tow it to L.A. to find a customer. But what might it be worth and how long to sell for pats?

Background:
On our trip last year the hydraulic fan started to not come on. I assumed it was the high temp switch and just hit the override when needed. I replaced the switch before this trip expecting it to
fix it but there was something else wrong - relay? - and I had to continue to rely on the override. So I foolishly thought to save a few pennies on fuel by switching the fan off on downhill runs. Of course there was the moment of distraction when I forgot to turn the fan on and we overheated about 17 miles west Of Tonopah NV. Our Good Sam ERS would only pay to
Towto Bishop even though the nearest DD authorized service center was in Reno. The surcharge to tow to Reno would have been $1400. So it's in Bishop.

Thanks
Greg