# Sad goodbye for ol' dependable...



## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Well, it happened...two dumbass chicks in an '06 Mustang, dark out, no headlights on, pull out in front of my wife and kid and wipe out the front end of my '97 Nissan Sentra GXE. The wife gets the ticket for failure to yield, the two chicks get squat. The wife and kid are ok. Fat lip for the wife and the kid started crying, wouldn't quit, and threw up I suppose 'cause he was crying so hard for a solid 15-20 minutes. It happened right in the middle of town, next to the local hospital and district courthouse. If I really wanted to pursue it, I'm sure both of those buildings have inside and outside security cams and given enough effort, I could get footage that would show this Mustang driving without headlights after dark. On top of that, since the front/left corner of the Mustang hit first, the headlight bulb likely burnt out and/or broke. If it was lit (hot) when it broke, a metallurgical analysis would show one thing, conversely show another thing if it was off (cold) when it broke.

192,026 miles without any major brain killing problems until these two brain-dead blondes came along. Kinda looked like these two could count the total number of brain cells between them on one hand and still have fingers left over to pick their collective noses. At least I got 50,000 miles out of it. Not doing too bad.

Center of the hit was just inboard of the right headlight. Radiator support, A/C condenser, all that good stuff, pushed back. Wife said the engine died right away, but I wonder if she didn't kill it on purpose. Both air bags blew. I've always wondered about that whole "10 year air bag inspection" notice on the visor. Well, they still worked after 14 years.
Can't see too well in the dark, but, hood is crinkled back, both fenders bent back, bumper 'cover' broke off, battery tray barely hanging on, hole in the radiator and obviously A/C, alternator bracket is probably broken, both headlight buckets busted out (they were zip-tied in anyways)...yee..haaaa..
I paid $1,700 for this thing 4+ years ago, put roughly another $1,200 over those 4 years into it for front crank seal, suspension, water pump, alternator, battery, tires, and brakes. I was literally days away from replacing the upper tensioner for the heck of it.
Pictures to come when daylight hits here in a couple hours (I know, no pics, didn't happen, right?  ). After that, a post on pieces/parts for sale. Nothing got hurt behind the windshield. In fact, the gap in the front of both front doors is the same as it ever was. Apparently, that whole crumple zone thing worked pretty good.
Hell, who knows, maybe it's not really as bad as I think it is. It still moves and steers ok (haven't tried to restart the engine yet). Maybe I'll hook a tow chain up to that upper support, jerk it back out, throw a few parts at it and use it as a serious winter beater.

Other than that...day was pretty good. How you doin? :givebeer:


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## azkicker0027 (May 31, 2002)

well, like what my dad always say "the car can be fixed, and parts are everywhere, but you, you can't be fixed and will never be the same....."
good thing your loved ones were able to walk away from that and the car's safety items did what they're supposed to do.


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

Sorry to hear that, glad they are all OK.
Numbers of B14's are going down, sorry to lose you.


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Oh, I may be down by one B14...but I've still got the other one...the '98 200SX-SE.  I ain't lost yet!
I found another B14 on cars.com, identical car except for the color ("gold" vs maroon), '97 Sentra GXE, about 450 miles away, 91K miles, $3,000. As good as this last Sentra treated me, I figure with all the spare parts from the wrecked one, I'll be $$$$$$ ahead in the long run.


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Well, I was going to try and "repair" the '97 for use as a winter beater (a serious winter-beater...one that would have tires with "No Trespassing" in white paint on the side of them  )... I give up. Too much damage on the front to make it halfway legal as far as strapping the headlights/turn signals/marker lights/etc back into place, not to mention I'd have to get a new windshield and do a handful of other things to it to make it relatively safe to drive.

Soooo....I'm going to take some pictures and put the body pieces/parts in the classifieds. I'm keeping everything that is common between the '97 Sentra and '98 200SX-SE, spare parts for my other B14 (engine, electronics, etc), but the rest of it is going. Everything behind the front fenders is good, well, good for being 14 years/192K miles old anyways. Doors (complete, I ain't tearing them apart for power window parts when the door itself as a whole works perfectly good), trunk lid, bumper, seats, interior parts/plastics, exterior pieces/parts, and so on and so on.
Since my '98 200SX is a manual, I'll be pulling the automatic tranny separately, which is also in good shape, changed the fluid/filter twice since I bought it. Nothing crazy in the pan either time.
I might keep the engine, might not, haven't decided. Oil pressure, compression, water temps, etc. all good for 192K mile engine, changed out the front crank seal 3 years ago, upper tensioner was barely starting to make some noise, probably could stand to be swapped out, changed out the valve cover o-ring a couple years ago, no sludge or build-up on the top of head, just the regular brown "oil staining" that's in every head these days, and the cams looked great. That's what you get for running full synthetic all your life.

Kinda pisses me off though...I'm gonna miss that car....Never let me down, not once in 4 years. Alternator died about 50+ miles from the house, made it back on the battery alone, low fuel light came on late one night in the middle of nowhere-town, 1/2 way between the last gas station and the next one, must've been a bad day for the gauge 'cause apparently I still had about 5 gallons left in the tank, enough for about 150 miles, always got high 20's for MPG with the wife driving, and low 30's MPG for me.


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

The A/C lines are still holding pressure. R-134 of course. Apparently that aluminum tubing (or whatever it is) bends pretty good, but doesn't break/rupture very easily.

Question...being the fairly responsible person that I am, do I call my refrigeration buddy and have him evac the system and keep the -134 (or whatever they do with it when they evac systems), or just bleed it off and call it good...


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