My mechanics are as bad as my golf game: how much can I expect to spend?

[Geiiga]

I drive a '95 Legacy with about 113,000 miles. I love her, even if she's ugly, beaten, and could use a fresh coat of paint. I love her even if the dealer I'm trying to sell her to tells me she's worth $900. I love her even though I still owe $3300 on her.

 

It's a good thing I love her, because I can't afford to leave her. But the following are my gripes. What I'd like to know is how much I can expect to spend, how much of it is easy enough for a smart guy who doesn't know how to, for instance, rebuild a transmission, but can do more simple maintenance tasks without much prompting, to accomplish without paying through the nose to have someone else do it.

 

My number one gripe is that at idle or low speeds, it sounds like there's a coffee can full of rocks in the engine somewhere. That's definitely one thing I can't stand. Number two is that oil has a tendency to collect in and around the cylinders, which leads to gripe number three: the cylinder has recently rejected the spark plug and the threads the spark plug goes into, and the whole mess has been fixed with heliocoil, which I've been told by two sources is not a permanent fix. So, how not permanent, how much can I expect to pay for the parts, and I cna I take care of the labor myself? Finally, the rear bumper cover is a lost cause. It's got a crack about an inch and a half wide from an encounter with a retaining wall in St. Louis during an ice storm.

 

But, as I said, I love my car and would love to keep her driving and pretty for a long time. At least until I have enough saved up to buy a Baja without having to take out a loan.

[Legacy777]

The rattling is probably a loose heat shield........If you jack up the car, you should be able to feel around on the heat shields and see if they're loose. If they are, just take them off. If need be, cut them off.