Just as the title states, my h3 ahs been sitting for over a year because it started smoking white after i changed the transmission and havent moved it at all. It has a rear seal leak, and ionno what else. My mechanic said he would take out the engine and check it out if theres anythning else wrong with it. Should i invest in it or should i just sell it as is? or maybe invest and sell it?

 

I have several questions:

- How many miles on your H3?

-Is there anything else noticeably wrong with the vehicle, or is it just the oil seal?

-Do you have a reliable daily driver? If your daily driver were to break down, or get stolen/etc. would this H3 serve as a backup? If your daily driver did break down and you didn’t have the H3, would you be able to get through life without one for your current living situation?

- If you sold the H3, would you use it to buy another vehicle, or just pocket the money or invest it elsewhere?

- do you do most of the work to your vehicles yourself, or mostly take them to get serviced at auto shops?

I would recommend at a minimum having your mechanic check to see if there is anything else wrong with the H3 and have him give you a checklist and a price breakdown of 1) “everything” wrong with the vehicle and 2) only the necessary items required to get the vehicle fairly reliable and back on the road again.

There is no right or wrong, one size fits all answer; only you know your current situation better than anyone on here. For me, I love my H3’s and got them for very reasonable prices, but they have gave me their fair share of problems to fix, which I can live with being that they’re both almost 20 years old. Fortunately I’ve been able to work through them, save a lot of money in the process by doing the work myself, and keep them on the road as my daily drivers.

 

Like said, one size doesn't fit all, but it it was me, I would probably part it out or sell outright and be looking for a newer Alpha model in the long term.

 

You stated " it started smoking white after i changed the transmission." Does that mean you, as in you yourself changed the Transmission? When you pay somebody else to do anything, you did not do it, you had it done.

I ask because if you are going to pay a "mechanic" to do things, whatever it is they do cost $$ and $$ mark up in parts.

Why on earth would a mechanic say they "would take out the engine" before they diagnose what is wrong and provide a reason why engine removal is needed?

When you sell a not running vehicle, they aren't worth squat. Dumping $$ into a vehicle does not make it worth more money. You did not provide miles or which model your 2006 H3 is. Example, if your H3 running and driving is worth $5K and you spend another $3,500 fixing and improving it, that does not make your $5K vehicle worth $8,500, it is still worth $5K, but might sell faster because of the things you fixed. That is no an "investment."

 

White smoke after a transmission change is unrelated to a rear seal, so... Unless you find a sucker, your H3 isn't worth squat as is.

Personally, I will never, ever, buy a vehicle that isn't running because I can pretty much guarantee that the current owner is not being 100% truthful about what all is wrong with it. That's been my experience over the course of my 63 years on the planet.