[GMR]

Have a 1999 Buick Park Avenue. Trying to decide whether to keep it or not. Needs front seats redone, front carpet and paint the car. Has 92K miles but everything works and runs fine. I assume I would need a scan tool to be able to maintain this car. Have no idea what. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Also, I've seen Buick service manuals, 2 volume paper set, for around $35 and also a OEM Service Repair manual on DVD that is supposed to be the same thing used at dealerships for like $20. Any opinions on these items?

 

[LATECH]

If that is the car you want to have for a while, then by all means fix it.
I wouldnt worry about a scan tool at this point. You can get codes read for free at autozone or advanced. I wouldnt put too much worry in that.
Seats and carpet are important. A paint job, at least a good one will be exspensive. You could go to econobake , just do a good job prepping it as they wont for the 299 they will charge. Buy your own pait too, theres isnt real good. Basically you are just paying for a spray booth and a man to spray it.
I wouldnt spend much on a low dollar car like that , but thats just me. I have to agree, it is a comfortable car.

 

[zildjian4life218]

I actually use my smart phone. I have an android phone and bought an application called Torque for $4.95 that reads/clears codes and does real time streaming of current settings for all sorts of sensors and also does data logging. I then bought an OBDII to blue tooth adapter for $24.95 from ebay. So for $30 I got what most $100+ scanners do. And it doesn't just say the code number it does actually tell you what it is.

Just my suggestions.

 

[GMR]

LATECH, thankyou, that helps - I agree, don't want to spend too much, trying to figure where the cutoff line will be and then which other way to go if necessary.

Zildjian4life218, good info, I'm going to look into that further even if I don't keep this car. Thanks.

 

[Valkyrie5.7]

Saw your other post on the cost of recovering seats where DanTwoLakes responded. Yank the carpet and see if you can get it clean, if not, go with his vendor suggestion. He truly is an expert of his craft and knows what he's talking about.

As far as seats, I'd be looking through craigslist or the local salvage yards for a better set. Don't spend the money recovering the seats because you'll never get back the investment in the end.

As long as the paint is sound, I'd personally just leave it. You're just going to hurt the value of the car when the door jambs and under hood don't match. Just make it nice and enjoy it, or make it nice and sell it. Low mileage cars like that can fetch a decent price with little hassle.

 

[GMR]

hey valkyrie5.7, thanks, appreciate the tips.