MadManMike, don't feel bad.
Last year I sold my trusty Dodge Raider and bought a '97 Pathy with 132k from my neighbor. In short order:
Check enging light came on
Knock sensor and ECU unit went (it was clogged with carbon granules).
Check engine light went off
Then it started getting 8 mpg and our best efforts couldn't figure out why.
We eventually figured the fan clutch was frozen, and when we replace it it was back up to 15 mpg.
Cruise control didn't work -- light lit but set button didn't engage. Traced it out to bad relay, so caught a break there.
CD player turned out to have a CD stuck in it...can't get it out with tweezers or needlenose, so I'll have to replace it.
Replaced the worn tires (some knockoff brand I'd never heard of) with Dayton Timberline HT's.
No sooner was all this done, the some woman talking on a cell phone rear-ended my wife while she was stopped at the traffic light. The person took off and my wife was so shocked she didn't get make/model although we think it's an early-model teal saturn, since the airbags didn't deploy despite it being a knock hard enough to bend the Pathy's bumper down.
So does anyone have a black rear bumper out there.
Best,
Gian
