Felicia 1.9D GLi, 1997 'P', 102k miles, Silver, hatchback.

This is now failed its MOT. :-(

CV gator split.

Rear brake balance valve seized.

Rear brakes uneven, need strip down to determine cause (but could be due to above).

Oil leak (well we knew about that one!)

Hole rusted through near MacPherson strut / wheel arch, under screen washer bottle, needs welding.

Plus a list of advisories, inc. rear suspension strut corroded, and corroded brake lines.

Quote £150+VAT to do the welding, replace CV gator, and free up the brake valve. Oil+filter is I guess £50 on top.

And then rear brakes to sort out (btw, these definitely haven't been touched in the last 35k miles).

Condition wise the car itself is probably average cosmetically, for the age. I.e. far short of a specimen. Wheel arches corroded, front wing has taken a small ding, inside the cabin is pretty good though. Engine just goes on and on. In the last few years new front struts/springs plus one rear, front discs+pads, exhaust and tyres.

I bought this car 9 years with 68k on the clock and ago expecting to keep it 1 year. ;-) It turned out to be a truly faithful workhorse.

But perhaps it's time to put the thing to rest now. What does the panel think?

I'd get it fixed myself. You know the car, it's been a good workhorse, and with that spent on it it'll give you at least a year, probably a fair few more. Can't see the point of buying a bunch of unknowns for what will be considerably more than the repair bill for your current car.

is this a for sale thread?

The advisories can be pretty meaningless. Last year, I got advisories for surface chips in the windscreen, and for tyres at ~3mm tread (tyres replaced due to being wide as much as anything else). I did not get advised about disc corrosion, but had a full set of new discs and pads fitted 6 months later due to only having about 2/3 of the disc tracks available. This year, I did not have any advisories.

Otherwise, I'd say the cost of fixing that lot is probably the same or less than a "new car" with a year's ticket.

is this a for sale thread?

Not yet.

Just taking stock.

djaychela, That's usually the view I take. Couple hundred quid for another year's motoring with a car I know.

This time though I got the distinct impression on the phone to the MOT tester that he felt it wasn't in good shape.

Edit: now spoken face-to-face and quote: "not bad considering the age". He reckons the uneven rear braking is not simply the seized load sensing valve as he sees the same with hand-braking. Could be contamination within the drum or leaking brake cylinder he thinks, but impossible to say without stripping down.

Advisories are:

- Suspect o/s/f wheel bearing worn (actually I think it's the brake pads rubbing).

- Oil leak (ok, ok...)

- N/s/f and both main brake pipes corroded.

- O/s/r strut spring mount corroded.

- O/s headlamp beam poor.

Edited 17 May, 201115 yr by charliebrown

keep it and do the repairs yourself,that quote sounds good to me though ,most of it for the welding but thats quite easy to get to with not much stripping out,if your not able to do it yourself do you know anybody who could do the welding and then let the garage do the rest ?.....better the devil you know.................

Take the advisories with a pinch of salt, I put an old Mondeo of mine through 3 MOTs and from the first to last it had the same advisories despite having covered 60K miles between the 3 MOTs.

As people have said advisories are advisories, if they were that bad the mot bloke would fail it. I've had cars which have had advisories one year, which I didnt touch which then arent even advisorie the next! (with the same tester!) Dunno if my old Hyundai van had magical self healing properies or if the testers eyesight was going??!!

I'd fix the car, defo.

Oil and filter shouldnt cost anywhere near £50. Do it yourself easy peasy!

i f you're anywhere near doncaster try calling 07786 288 109