Seems it needs not just a new compressor for the AC, and some tune-up stuff, but a new engine. WHAT?! I exclaimed. Can't be. It runs fine--plenty of power, no problem with hills (for instance), smooth as a hard boiled egg. Only recently there was this kind of whistle-y noise when I started her up, that's just a valve problem or a belt problem, isn 't it? Apparently not. Apparently there's something deeply wrong down in the guts of the engine, and someday in the not-too-distant future it's just going to seize up and die.
And fixing it is a four-figure project. At least. OUCH. We have to get a new roof. There are other pretty-urgent needs. This car was supposed to hold it together for another couple of years. The '84 went ten years before I had to replace the engine and then several more years after that...the old '69 Rambler was still going strong at 15 years when I sold it...
E.