A tough decision...

[Bren]

My wife's 1998 Mitsubishi galant 2.0 auto failed it's mot today, O/S front brake caliper knackered.

 

I am annoyed about this because it was a S/H item I fitted about a month ago - I had not bought secondhand parts for years, and, after this, will not ever do so again.

 

Do I scrap the car or get it fixed? Good points are it is low mileage (70k) and in very good condition - even the air con and original electric aerial still work. It has a few little scabs coming through on the rear arches but nothing major.

 

Bad points? 23 MPG around town and the car has an occasional misfire - I have replaced one coil pack but it may be the other.

 

The caliper is £120 + vat + fitting + the MOT = just over £200. Tax is up end of may as well.

 

The car is worthless, which is why I am considering sending it to the dogman. I do'nt want to fork this little lot only for something else to raise it's head.

 

Car does around 4K a year - we could'nt afford to use it much more - my diesel mondeo does all the donkey work.

 

 

What would you do?

[dollywobbler]

Is it worth pulling the caliper apart? I rebuilt the one on our Mini rather than changing it. The pistons were a right state. With those changed, it was back to normal service.

 

If that's all it's failed on, that's nothing really. Something more modern could easily achieve a much scarier bill.

[garethj]

At 4000 miles a year, the fuel economy hardly matters. I’d get a new calliper and be done with it.

 

Lots (and lots and lots) of cars need more than £200 to get through an MoT

[r.welfare]

I reckon you could get the caliper price down a bit more - a quick eBay search indicates £75 is possible.

 

If the car's a known quantity (and to be honest on a Galant like this I'd be worried mainly about the gearbox - so if the fluid is still a nice red colour and it shifts OK I wouldn't worry) then I'd vote to keep it. Better the devil you know and all that. And to be honest, most petrol autos have poor economy round town, but at 4,000 miles a year it shouldn't hurt that much.

 

It all depends on how much you have to put into a replacement - from personal experience a sub-£500 diesel will cost a bit in maintenance!

[Torsten2001]

Keep it! It'd be such a waste to scrap it!

[AeroNautiCal]

I'd certainly try to recondition the caliper, or replace with a s/h one, rather than trash an otherwise good car.

[In The Pit]

Yeah its worth doing its not much that it failed on, if you are going to replace it with a cheap car you could be buying trouble and end up spending loads more. Those Galants are nice cars aswell.

[Albert Ross]

Maybe sell it to Luxobarge for the right money, he can fix it, and fit LPG. Simples!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

http://www.brakeparts.co.uk are listing calipers at £76.

[scaryoldcortina]

Before even pricing a caliper I'd be making sure the pads can move freely and the sliding pins haven't siezed. This fixes it at least 50% of the time in my experience.

 

Other than that, as above. KEEP IT! that's a cheap fix even if you do have to buy and fit a caliper.

[Pete-M]

Try Mally @ Jackson St in Haydock. The amount of chod in there he's likely to have something that'll fit!

[Bren]

Pete,

I used to love going there in the late 80's when the cars were piled four high - they would be rocking as you pulled bits off. My mate used to get loads of bits for his mk 3 escort. Back then I had an old Vauxhall Royale (rare even then), there were never any in the breakers, if I needed switches etc I had to get them off a carlton.

 

The joy of youth - we could spend an evening just cruising and listening to music - we could rack up 200 miles no problem, and not even leave the area. Try doing it with today's fuel prices.

 

I have decided to get the Galant sorted, to be honest it will probably be sold later in the year. As in the omega post, high end japanese cars are a bit of a timebomb - what may be a reasonably priced repair on a european car can be eye wateringly expensive on a jap car, and be enough to send it over the weighbridge.

[Pete-M]

Pete,

I used to love going there in the late 80's when the cars were piled four high - they would be rocking as you pulled bits off.

 

I remember being about three or four cars up in there with a can of petrol some jump leads and a battery trying to get a Renault 5 Gordini Turbo engine to run. Bloody scary when it fired up.

 

Mally just sat in his crane laughing at us.