Bye Bye Car...

[dseagull]

EDIT; Now fixed :)

 

Well, I think the time has now come to say goodbye to my car. This morning, I was on a roundabout, went to change up as I pulled off, and the clutch went with a bang. Revving like mad, stuck in 3rd, managed to cross a lane of traffic with the hazards on, shifted into first with what was left of the tension, and pulled off the road.

 

4 hours and a very nice man from the AA later, I'm at work - he put together a replacement cable, only to cut it too short. There was then another 30 minutes whilst he made up another one. That got me home - but I'm now looking for something else, as a new clutch will be about £350, plus two new tyres that were down for replacement at the end of the month - most probably not economical to fix.

 

Bah - Could have been a lot worse though...

[Jenny Emily]

I always view the cost of repairs needed for a car with the proviso that my car is worth not the book value, but the cost to replace it. More than once I've paid more in repairs than the car is technically worth, but better the Devil you know - who is to confirm the actual condition of the replacement car and that it isn't going to pop a year later with something very terminal?

 

At some point in their life all cars will need a new clutch/cable. Once it is repaired, it isn't something you are likely to have to worry about again. Tyres are consumables and again will come up for replacement on any car regardless. I try and get part-worn tyres for mine - you can get a decent Michelin for a fraction of its new price with only a small amount of wear. The tyres come from scrapped cars and are perfectly safe. You are just simply getting the rest of the wear out of the tyre that the original vehicle it was fitted to failed to achieve.

[Glorious NSE]

A clutch cable should be a simple cheap part (or it has been when it's gone on a previous car of mine) - it shouldn't require a new clutch to fix it?

[chriswright03]

Am I missing something here? If it is the clutch cable and that has been replaced then you don't need a new clutch.

 

In any event that sounds like a lot for a new clutch. Also if you do actually need new clutch the cost of that may well be worthwhile rather than spending more money on another second hand car that you do not know the history of that may well require a clutch within a very short time.

[dseagull]

The clutch cable is a temporary repair. Both the garage who did the MOT in January and the AA guy today have said the clutch is going to fail imminently. The two rear tyres were looked at last month, and I was told they'd be OK for another month, so they will need doing at the end of May.

 

Also some bodywork damage, as had a prang in January (someone came across a mini roundabout into the side of me as I pulled out) - most of it has been bashed out, and had a door replaced, but there is lingering cosmetic damage, and also the door open warning light is permanently on (probably due to the fact the door seal is perishing, and leaks if it rains heavily!).

 

In short - there are few little niggles I can live with, because I like the car, but realistically, it's not going to get through another MOT without some serious work (Exhaust was mentioned as an advisory last time as needing a weld at some point, and there was also something about the brakes - they work perfectly, but there is corrosion which will only get worse).

 

She's done nearly 110k, 15 years old - everything from here is going to be expensive (the lack of availability of parts - they only sold 5000 100NX's in this country, and stopped making them in 1995). As much as I love this car, it might be time to get something else.

[Glorious NSE]

Ah that's a bit different then, your OP reads as if you're scrapping it for two tyres and a clutch cable, (consumables plus a simple cheap part) - which would be on the bonkers side of things...

[David Rickard]

Even if you bought it new, I think you've definitely had your money's worth out of it!

[Coombe Barton]

... She's done nearly 110k, 15 years old ...

 

I feel as if I'm lucky as my car's in for a service today - with 136,500 on the clock. My last two cars have had just under and a bit over 200k each when they gave up.

 

My sympathies - it's like parting with an old friend and not knowing what the next relationship will bring.

[Ragtag]

I dropped £250 at the end of April for two new exhaust sections and two new tyres, thats on a 6 year-old car with 31k on the clock. With all the other complaints, I guess you need to do the sums and work out whether its better to repair or replace. What I would say though, is that I bought my car at 4 years old with only 8k on the clock, well-serviced, well-stored, full history etc etc and it still costs £200-400 a year to get it through its MOT. Next up are the front ball joints - started to get a slight knocking on the front wheels this last week.

 

 

John is right though, I think there's a definite emotional connection between us and our cars. If the costs were the same, I'd pay to repair my car over replacing it any day.

[Guest Dutch_Master]

Yes, but what about next year? IMO it's not wise to fix an old car, knowing that it'll break again some time in the near(ish) future. Suppose a new(er) car would cost you 2.5 grand and the repair of the present one about one grand, surely the choice is easy. But next year, the new(er) car doesn't require another one grand repair to pass MOT, the old one does. And a year later, you'd find yourself spending another 1,500 quid on it, whereas a new(er) car you'd only spend 250. And so on and on and on...

 

My advise: bring the old girl to the salvage-yard and get yourself a new(er) motor for your daily use

[Glorious NSE]

Yes, but what about next year? IMO it's not wise to fix an old car, knowing that it'll break again some time in the near(ish) future.

Suppose a new(er) car would cost you 2.5 grand and the repair of the present one about one grand, surely the choice is easy. But next year, the new(er) car doesn't require another one grand repair to pass MOT, the old one does. And a year later, you'd find yourself spending another 1,500 quid on it, whereas a new(er) car you'd only spend 250. And so on and on and on...

 

On the first point, if your car has a fault in the first year after it's built you know it'll have another one at some point in the future (unless you manage to write it off first!) - at what point does something become automatically "disposable" if it develops a fault?

 

How do you know that newer car will not cost you anything to get through it's MOT though - For 2.5k i'd suggest you aren't buying at a level where a garage will give you a no-quibble multiple year warranty, i'd suggest total worry free motoring isn't really that likely at that end of the market.

 

If you have a known quantity older car and all the things that need doing are minor/consumables (even if there's a lot of them need doing at once!) then it's a better bet to stick where you are I think, as it's reasonable it will not need them doing again next year, or even the year after that. Watch the advisories on your MOT for future problems...

 

Even the "imminent clutch failure" of the OP might not be that big a deal, the old Citroen ZX I had (oddly the one that needed a new clutch cable) had "slipping clutch" on the advisories of it's last 3x MOTs from memory. That wasn't the reason it went for scrap, but that did have a bearing when it gets to the stage of needing a new rad, needing a serious oil leak sorting, having intermittent power steering issues and so on...

 

Something that I think will become more of an issue though is tech - warranty replacements of failed computer modules has not been unknown on some of our "company" fleet, with some of those costing several hundred quid for a "lump" of electronics, none of which is really home diagnosible, it may well end up in a few years time that tomorrows "older cars" are not worth it, whilst some of today's "older cars" struggle on. If the electrics get a bit old and the heater stops working on your 15 year old Rover 400 it's not a critical matter, if the onboard computer on your 5 year old Astra thinks the engine is doing something unexpected (even if it isn't) and decides to lock you out untill you take it to a main dealer to be reset then you're stuffed...

 

 

[Jenny Emily]

.

 

Something that I think will become more of an issue though is tech - warranty replacements of failed computer modules has not been unknown on some of our "company" fleet, with some of those costing several hundred quid for a "lump" of electronics, none of which is really home diagnosible, it may well end up in a few years time that tomorrows "older cars" are not worth it, whilst some of today's "older cars" struggle on. If the electrics get a bit old and the heater stops working on your 15 year old Rover 400 it's not a critical matter, if the onboard computer on your 5 year old Astra thinks the engine is doing something unexpected (even if it isn't) and decides to lock you out untill you take it to a main dealer to be reset then you're stuffed...

 

 

 

Too right. I remember my Father having a Rover 800 series as a company car in the mid 1990s. It had one of the early engine management electronic gubbins things, and it would forever randomly fail, usually immobilising the car in the process. I expect that car long ago went prematurely for scrap because of electronics issues that would have been prohibitively expensive to repair.

 

My car may be 14 years old, but it is one of the last of the Volvos that doesn't have some kind of onboard supercomputer controlling everything. True, somethings like Constant velocity joints are coming up for renewal, but I know they won't rear their heads again for a long time, thus justifying the cost of having them replaced. The last two MOTs have seen repair bills of around £250 each time - quite high for a car nominally worth £350. The second CV joint is an advisory on this MOT, so that means another couple of hundred quid repairs over this next year. But I'll pay, because I know the car is overal in good well maintained condition (my Father was the previous owner, and some little old man was the first owner of the car from new, getting it serviced at the main dealer everytime before my Father bought it).

 

My sister made the mistake of scrapping her Ford Fiesta (1990 G reg) because it needed around £300 of work every MOT. The replacement cost her double that figure in the first three years and turned into a real money pit, just proving that a newer car isn't necessarily a cheaper option than repairs.

 

When I had a rear end shunt that bent my towbar a few years ago, the insurance company talked about writing off my car, sepite a bent towbar being the only damage to it. Why? Because a new towbar cost almost as much as the car was worth. I told them where to stick their idea, and it did get its new towbar in the end.

 

 

 

[45156]

I had a Talbot Sunbeam (yes I did - somebody had to) and ran it into the ground with about 175k on it - it had dodgy body panels, and at about 125k the clutch went, then the water pump went, then the reversing light switch went, and the catalogue of things went on and on and on. It had no book value at all, when I scrapped it, most of the money I got for it was for the surrender of the road tax. But (and here's my point) it got me from A to B and was quite easy to work on - but I was very lucky as the biggest supplier of obsolete parts for Rootes, Chrysler, Talbot (all the same basic cars) was only five miles from my home, and I could get just about any part I needed - often still sealed and in the original maker's bag or box! If you have that sort of resource, and a bit of mechanical know how, you can probably keep about any car alive if you feel up to it.

[PMP]

Yes, but what about next year? IMO it's not wise to fix an old car, knowing that it'll break again some time in the near(ish) future. Suppose a new(er) car would cost you 2.5 grand and the repair of the present one about one grand, surely the choice is easy. But next year, the new(er) car doesn't require another one grand repair to pass MOT, the old one does. And a year later, you'd find yourself spending another 1,500 quid on it, whereas a new(er) car you'd only spend 250. And so on and on and on...

 

My advise: bring the old girl to the salvage-yard and get yourself a new(er) motor for your daily use

 

This makes no sense at all, as Martin earlier pointed out just because the car is newer makes no difference to the costs of repairs or possible faults that may develop with it. Last year I bought a car with a brand new MOT. There were some issues with it, after collection that I had checked out independently, the repair would have cost in the order of £700 on a car I'd just paid £4k for. That was what needed doing then regardless of anything that may have needed attention in the next year for the MOT. I got my money back. On the basis of the quoted post it implies that older cars will cost more to run, thats not always the case.

Wifes '04' car MOT costs this year, £270

My '96' and '01' cars MOT costs this year £40 each

Both above figures include the MOT fee.

 

Still Mr Seagull, as I recall you've had a year or so of your start of motoring, relatively cheaply! One thing to do may be to see if any family or friends have a car they are looking to move on, that way you can get a good idea of the running costs and cars previous history, the current state of play sounds like its time to bin the Nissan.

[skipepsi]

The point made about older cars is true, my engine control module failed on our M reg 850 volvo. The replacement from volvo £425 about the value of the car! Replacement from local volvo scrapyard £40, fitting time 3 minutes.Next door had a peugeot 206 an 04 plate, replacement ECU £860 pounds plus labour diagnosis and replacement about £1000 all told. In his case around a fifth of the cars value. To be honest I would love Karen to get a motability car that I need do nothing with but that would be £200 per month every month. The two things I miss most are heated windscreens and climate control but compared to the repair costs for the MOT of nil this year £170 last year and nil the year before that I will live with 35 mpg and low street cred.

[Chris_C]

My R reg escort has just returned from the garage. The car cost £500, and within a week of having it the alternator siezed (because it got cold, poor thing.) That went to the garage for a week, for some reason, and cost £460 to fix. Since then it was alright, until the clutch started to go, so it's been back in the garage for the last week, albeit a better one, and I'm now about to pay out £850 on it. This time there's been a hell of alot done though; new clutch, new tyres, fixed brakes, new handbrake, new filters. Sorted. But I do seem to have spent rather alot more on getting the car fixed than I did on actually getting the car...

 

Chris

[298]

What's a clutch cable...? My car has a hydraulic clutch, and had a new clutch when it was a year old (at least I got to borrow a Voyager for the weekend, which as handy as we were taking Deepcar to the NRM).

 

I think the OP should get his car fixed, surely every car deserves their final moment of glory on a banger racing track, rather than being put through a crusher...?

[dseagull]

Hmm.

 

Tempting... - 2 years older than mine, but half the mileage.

 

There's also This , which we went to look at earlier (outside the garage). Very nice, always wanted one as a kid. Can't find a Capri, Sierra or Cortina that is within reasonable distance/price range/isn't on eBay with the price liable to rise, but this would be very nice.

[37114]

What's a clutch cable...? My car has a hydraulic clutch, and had a new clutch when it was a year old (at least I got to borrow a Voyager for the weekend, which as handy as we were taking Deepcar to the NRM).

 

If your car has a Hydraulic clutch then it won't have a clutch cable. The cable links the pedal to the clutch, doing the part that the Master and slave cylinder do in a hydraulic system.

 

Many modern diesels have dual mass flywheels (2 components bonded together) which tend to fail before clutches in my experience!

[skipepsi]

Hmm.

 

Tempting... - 2 years older than mine, but half the mileage.

 

There's also This , which we went to look at earlier (outside the garage). Very nice, always wanted one as a kid. Can't find a Capri, Sierra or Cortina that is within reasonable distance/price range/isn't on eBay with the price liable to rise, but this would be very nice.

 

Take it round and see what they offer you on the 100nx but give it an hours test drive before buying it!

[SRman]

If you want a scary moment, try turning right, across oncoming traffic, and having the accelerator cable snap!

 

The cable itself was not at all expensive to replace but on the V8 Chrysler Valiant I was driving (this was in the '70s) the cable ran down between the engine and the bulkhead, making it almost impossible to reach!

 

My current car is a 1994 Holden Commodore wagon / estate (automatic, so no clutch!). It has just turned over to 280,000 kilmetres and I spent just over $1000 on a new radiator and cylinder head gasket - again, the parts weren't expensive (just over $300) but the labour involved pushed it up. It is still essentially a sound car, although the headlining at the very rear of the roof is coming loose. I'm in two minds whether to trade up to something newer or to just keep on motoring a bit longer.

 

Tough decisions. I know in the UK that rust is often a deciding factor, not so much over here in Australia.

[Glorious NSE]

Tough decisions. I know in the UK that rust is often a deciding factor, not so much over here in Australia.

 

It's not the issue it used to be, my current car is a '94 Rover 414 which is just starting to show some rust above one of the rear wheel arches, my memory of many (most?) cars of the 70s/80s was that by 16 years old you would have an attractive see-through effect on portions of the car...

 

I'd agree that personally rust would be a deciding factor though, as soon as somebody says "needs some welding" my impression is you're into the kind of repairs that will become continuous rather than occasional.

[dseagull]

New clutch quote back. £245 inc parts, labour and VAT.

 

Going to go for it.

[craigwelsh]

I had a scary moment last xmas in the snow when coming back from the Rochdale show my car conked out in the outside lane of the M62. Thankfully it had quite new brakes and I stopped it before I ran out of hard shoulder (it stops where the M62 lets you choose which bit of the M60 you want to go round)..

 

That was an 05 Corsa with about 25k on it.. Turned out the cam shaft had sheared in two and the engine cover could be taken off without undoing the bolts by the time the spark plugs and distributor had been replaced as per the ECU readout and the real problem discovered.. Cost £500.

 

I got rid of the car pretty quickly after that as it'd had a recall for damp ABS module (caused a swerve a couple of times under braking..) and also ECU failure under warranty when in North Wales, went into that emergency crawl mode that's useless!

 

Bought a one yera old Focus now instead..

[Adrian Wintle]

I find this discussion interesting - I've put in just over 1 million km in my 5 cars with no major mechnical or electronic failures.

 

Car 1: 1983 Honda Accord Hatch, bought used in 1988 w/116K km, scrapped in 1990 at 180K km due to structural rust issues.

Car 2: 1990 Toyota Corolla Sedan, bought new, scrapped in 1999 at 408K km due to needing a clutch/gearbox bearings/bodywork(rust)/other niggles. It was on the original clutch, and the only major replacements were front driveshafts (torn boots) and exhaust manifold (man. defect). The exhaust system was a consumable for this car...

Car 3: 1999 Subaru Impreza 2.2 Sedan, bought new, written off (accident) in 2002 at 200K km. 1 wheel bearing and halfshaft replaced.

Car 4: 2002 Subaru Impreza 2.5 Wagon, bought new, traded in in 2009 at 330K km. 1 wheel bearing replaced. Engine needed work at trade-in.

Car 5: 2010 Subaru Impreza 2.5 Sedan, bought new, currently at 27K km.

 

Tires, oil, alternator, timing belt, brakes, etc were changed as required on all cars. I have never replaced a clutch (they all had manuals).

 

I know our inspection is effectively non-existant (emissions-only, and then only every two years after the car is 5 years old), but there seem to be a lot more issues with your cars compared to Canada, and we go through more extremes of weather. Only once did I have to conduct repairs on a car while on a trip (and I drive to rally events all over eastern Canada and the north-eastern US) - that was an alternator.

 

Adrian