Living with faults

[Cavcraft]

Really need a disc brake on the Lambretta. It's not exactly a sports bike (175 kit, Clubman exhaust) but the brakes aren't the best standard. It needs tidying up too, something that's never bothered me as pretty much every other one out there is some nicely painted and polished 'showroom' looking scooter, and this one looks like it was found in a canal. Been told of a place that sells new metal panels for £130 a pair, so that's on the cards then fancy having them wrapped with a theme.

Smol van probs due a cam belt now, so will get a decent kit and have it serviced at the same time.

[RoverFolkUs]

Anyway, back on to the main thread subject, I've got an example of two people with different mindsets on car repairs. It's a long post so scroll past if it might bore you!

I had my receptionist hat on yesterday afternoon. Because there was nobody else to do it and that's how it goes sometimes. 

Unfortunately I was breaking the news to someone that their car had realistically reached the end of its life from an economic point of view, unless they want to spend in excess of £1000 on a 170k mile car that was really tatty

They were cool about it, and said they will get a new-to-them car, they were expecting this year might have been the terminal MOT, they've had good use out of the car but everything has literally worn out at once. Needed both bottom arms, 2 springs, 2 driveshaft boots, 3 tyres, the brakes were all worn to excess.. etc etc. All small wear and tear bits which would have added up to a massive bill. 

At this point another customer pops in while I was on the phone and he naturally overhears my side of the conversation from here on. 

I explain to the lady that she really has 2 options, invest £1000 into this car, or cut your losses and put the £1000 towards another car. If you invest £1000 into this car now, you could be throwing good money after bad as the engine could blow up tomorrow. Equally, it's a trusted car to you and you could spend £3000 on another car tomorrow and it's engine could blow up. And £1000 rarely buys you a car worth having. 

She says she would prefer to cut her losses now as the car owes her nothing. Completely fair enough and I understand and agree that it's not really worthwhile unless the car holds value to you. 

She said that it wouldn't be worth much in its current condition, I agreed but pointed out that it's best to consider what it's worth to you only, as it doesn't matter what it's worth to someone else. 

I explain that I've taken a video of the defects which I'm happy to forward on, I'll park it outside now for you to pickup but because the MOT had dangerous defects listed you really shouldn't drive it from this point on. She understands, only lives up the road. I saw it come past on a scrap lorry today. That was quick! 

Now, on the point of the second customer. I said to him as I came off the phone that it's never nice breaking the news to someone that their car is dead! 

He said "I don't understand why she wouldn't just fix it" and then continued to say how it would cost so much more than that to get a new car. 

Two different people understanding the same concepts but have completely separate views on a matter! Neither of them are wrong are they?

[sierraman]

As Kenny Rodgers used to say ‘You’ve to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em’

[Ghosty]

main beam flash doesn't work on the hatch Civic, I just wave at people.
clock doesn't work on the dash unless you push it in a bit.
Rear wash doesn't work (dead pump), unobtanium to replace.

It's also several different colours.

[AndyW201]

ABS sensor has been out for a few weeks on the Merc, with ABS and TC lights on. Just been driving around it as ABS and TC seem to work once the car goes over 12mph.

Coolant tank has a hairline crack in the top return pipe. Has had a load of Gorilla glue gel slapped over the crack which for the last few weeks has worked. Been watching the temp gauge and coolant level like a hawk but no coolant loss.

Been waiting till the next service is due, so it's going in this week with a new ABS  sensor and new Febi Bilstein coolant tank ready to go on.

Since I got the car, it's had a squeak from the back going over speed bumps. At the MOTs, my tame garage guy has noticed the bottom of the coil springs seem to have lost the powder coating and the consensus seems to be that when the springs were last replaced, the rubber cups were left off, leaving the springs rubbing on the bottom arms. On the W203 forums, a squeaky back end seems to be a TADTS problem which people have thrown £000s at to no avail. Luckily it has a very good stereo system which plays pretty loud...

The parking brake has always been a bit marginal, enough to get by on the MOT, but I reckon it's going to need looking at sooner or later. However after two MOTs with the usual "corroded, covered in grease or other materials" advisories for the brake pipes, I reckon they are also going to have to be done before the next test.

Which leaves me at that crossroads alluded to in RoverFolkUs' post, of where to draw the line with this car. I've ran it for two years now, and it's been pretty good with only routine stuff like a couple of suspension arms, a wheel bearing, rear exhaust and pads & discs needed. Brake pipes are going to be about £300 at my tame mechanic's, plus however much it costs to sort the handbrake and have a look at the squeaky back end. But this still leaves the problem of it having the M271 engine and with the current mileage (118,000), I'm probably playing timing chain roulette. The cost of having the brake pipes etc done I can bear, but the cost of a new chain etc would probably outweigh the value of the car.

[83C]

I do tend to run my cars with minor faults for a while until I get around to them, but anything major gets done soon as. Three examples of what is/isn’t acceptable:

The ZT - brake pad warning light and bulb out lights on, pads are fine and the bulb is one of the numberplate light ones - it works but for some reason the car doesn’t recognise it. Might go and swap it out in a bit actually.

Range Rover - A/C isn’t ice cold, and the air suspension regularly goes into fault mode without anything actually being wrong - I suspect a ride height sensor is a bit iffy, will get around to it one day.

C5 - found a second iffy tyre and going to replace the rear brakes as there is still pulsing through the brake pedal under braking, so it’s staying on the drive until it can be sorted tomorrow.