Old car - economically viable

lisyloo

Just want to talk this though as I know sometimes you guys can throw in things I haven't thought of.

I have an H reg car (1990).
It's a Subaru Legacy which IMO is a well built and quality brand, however it's 19 years old and has done 140K miles.

I have a husband and we have another (2005) car at home, 2 motobikes between us and 2 bicycles. We both work in the same town fortunately and tend to commute together either by car share or motorbike, although there are occassions when we need to travel seperately. We both travel on business sometimes but can get trains or be provided with a pool car. We also have a good train connection to work.
So basically whilst the car is convenient and there are historical reasons why we have 2 cars, I don't actually think we need 2 cars.
It would be inconvenient on occassions not to have two, but we could get round that with occassional taxis considering the money we'd save.
We are fairly fit and healthy and I do occasionally cycle the 14 miles to work, so walking or cycling are options for us as well as trains, taxis etc.

The problem is that I don't know whether to keep my car.
I know you guys can't diagnose it from afar but you might have some comments or angles that I haven't thought of.

The car has one known problem that needs fixing

1) Exhaust has been blowing for months, very obvious, needs fixing before MOT at end of May.

The car has several know problem that do not currently need fixing

1) leaks small amount of engine oil
2) Front brake disc is warped causing vibration on braking (safe)
3) rain leaks in through sun roof
4) Has some rust - to my knowledge doesn't need fixing although needed some small amount of welding at last MOT near seatbelt housing.
5) Jumps out of 4th gear sometimes and can be hard to get into 1st sometimes, noise indicating gearbox bearing is going but has been like that for ages.
6) fuel filter may be partially blocked (have had this before and recognise the symptoms)
7) rear door locks when you pull handle - bit of a pain if you can't open it from outside and are carrying heavy stuff

I've been living with all of that but now I have 2 unknown problems

1) High pitched whirring noise (gets louder with revs) when pulling away on startup i.e. when cold. This noise i in line with revs so decreases on gear change and then increases with acceleration. Revs are normal. Quite high pitched. Seems to be stable i.e. not getting worse.

2) Vibration/judderring from driver side front wheel when turning at slow speed. I recognise this as a CV joint/driveshaft problem. I'm not a mechanical expert but I've had subarus for over 15 years. I know there are 4 driveshafts on my car and previously I was told to replace the entire driveshaft and not just the CV joint. Furthermore when this happened on previous car (long time ago) I had to have genuine parts as there were no substitutes available. So if I am right about the cause then it could be expensive. This is quite a new problems and seems to be getting worse.

The pros to the car are that it's been very cheap to run and I don't worry about dings etc. which is quite liberating.
Another advanatge is that we have a towbar on which we put our cycles. The other car does not have a towbar.
Cons are that it leaks oil on my driveway and takes up room. We have to move cars to get the motorbikes out so we sometimes need to shift them around.

Have to say I'm tempted to scrap it.
MOT comes up shortly so exhaust HAS to be fixed but no point doing that if CV joints/driveshafts are on the way out.
I have not yet had anyone look at it but might pay for professional opinion.

Does anyone have any comments or angles?

I have considered scrappage but I don't really want another car to be honest..

Volcano

MOT it now:

If it passes (cheaply): Then either run it 'till it dies (which may be in a few months) or better still, sell it as a cheap car with a full MOT for a few hundred quid.

If it fails (or is expensive to repair): Then you have a couple of weeks to make a decision about what to do.

Leaving it until the MOT is due, then having it fail badly, forces you to make a quick decision about what to do otherwise it becomes stranded on your driveway unable to be driven and you have to pay someone to take it away.

lisyloo

MOT is due in 2 weeks. It's booked in for 1 weeks time.

I don't think it will pass cheaply because I know for a fact that I will at least have to invest in an exhaust and Subarus are similar to BMWs and Audis as far as costs go (I'm not sure you can even get non-genuine exhausts).

Thanks for the idea, but I'm not sure I'll get even a few hundred quid for it with obvious vibration and rattles.

But you are right about leaving time to be able to drive it somewhere.

Now I have a couple of legal (ish) questions.
If the MOT expires then can I drive it to a scrapper (providing it IS roadworthy)?
If it fails but old MOT is still within date then can I drive it (assuming again that it IS roadworthy)?

I had this problem last year when it failed the MOT and I had to take it elsewhere to get the work done.
There was lots of discussion but the conclusion was that I was still insured even though it had failed an MOT providing it was roadworthhy (the two are not the same I believe).

Worst case I can pay to get it towed, but it's better to be sure about these things.

hartcjhart

if it fails the mot then it is not roadworthy

brake disc is an mot failure and definitely not safe

door not operating properly is an mot failure

worn driveshats are an mot failure

drive it to the scrap yard BEFORE the mot runs out and get your £80/£100 if you drive it there after it is an offence

mcjordi

if it fails the mot and the current one is still in force it is legal to drive until the current one expires but tbh i wouldnt like to drive a car with knackered brakes

anewman

hartcjhart wrote: »

brake disc is an mot failure and definitely not safe

Slight warping is acceptable, so long as the car passes the roller brake efficiency test. I'd have them replaced myself for what it's worth. It probably warped through keeping foot on the pedal at the lights which transfers heat to them.

hartcjhart wrote: »

door not operating properly is an mot failure

Only with the front ones. Rear ones are advisory only. I know as mine didn't open from the outside. Simple fix though, door card off and a rod costing £1 and it was sorted.

mcjordi

I was going to say that about the doors anewman but i thought id be wrong

lisyloo

brake disc is an mot failure and definitely not safe

My mechanic has assured me for years that it's safe and it has passed MOTs for years at various garages.

door not operating properly is an mot failure

Again it has passsed an MOT for years on this.

but tbh i wouldnt like to drive a car with knackered brakes

It's not knackered.
The pads have been changed.
I have been assured it's been safe by more than one garage (I did ask about it).

I'm going to get it checked to see what needs doing before an MOT, and then probably drive it to scrapyard whilst legally taxed, MOT'd, insured etc.
But I think we'd feel better with a professional opinion although I think I know the outcome.

Thanks for the ideas,

mcjordi

my apologies, if it stops thats the main thing

as for the exhaust if its just blowing and the hole isnt too big GUNGUM or exhaust bandage both about £2.99 each only need one of em

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

The brake disc won't affect an MOT. For the exhaust, a couple of jubilee clips and a tin of baked beans will sort that (although if the MOT man is picky...)

The gearbox might be low on fluid, you might want to check the diff oil too. Cheap inexpensive repair that will extend the life of the vehicle.

Rear door - pull the door card off and see what's wrong. I bet its nothing.

The really important thing though is that judder at low speed. Get that sorted, it is a liability.

tomstickland

1) leaks small amount of engine oil

Oh my god, this proves that it's a complete death trap.