Car been garaged for 7+ years. What's the liklihood it could be made a runner?

northern_star

An elderley relative has sadly died. In his garage is a ford fiesta he bought from new in 1994. He maintained it fully (regular services etc) until 2005, when he became too frail to use it, and since then it has sat in his garage. It appears in good condition visually but we haven't yet attempted to start it or had it assessed mechanically in any way. He only used it for little trips so it has less than 20,000 miles on the clock. We're wondering if it's viable to get it back on the road after such a long time or would the costs outweigh the benefits? None of the family are 'mechanically' skilled so we'd have to pay a garage to do any work. Has anyone any experience of getting a car roadworthy after such a long time? What are the potential problems? We don't want to spend a lot of money on something that might not be worth it but we'd use it if we could restore it to working order at reasonable cost.

iltisman

The battery will need replacing. Check the brakes have not stuck on and that they still work on all four wheels. There are other possible issues flat spots on tyres etc but if it starts and stops take it for an MOT .

Invalidation

Rubber in the carbs and any petrol related rubber will probably have become a little brittle and may be suspect, check them out. If its injection then try draining ALL the petrol out before putting new in.
Clean the plugs, charge the battery and try it. If it wont start try giving it a belt of easy start into the air intake. It WILL fire then and may help to clean the muck out.
Should be OK.

pendulum

Probably best to sell on eBay as a project if you cannot do the work yourself; I don't think its viable to pay a garage to fix all that needs doing.

To get it back on the road properly :

It should have an oil and filter change before even being fired up
New battery
New tyres
If it has a cambelt, that's going to certainly need looking at
Full service (£££ by itself)
MoT, plus cost of repairs... Tax
All the other unexpected costs that will pop up

Add all that up, plus labour, it will come to more than the car is worth.
You could buy another Fiesta with some tax and test for much less.

Hintza

Visually inspect, charge the battery, check the oil and pop it in for an MOT once it comes back from that you can decide whether it is worth spending any time or money on it.

If it is OKish then perform a service (especially oil) and get all the bits done (brake disks will need a polish at least) and do work for the MOT.

So to monetise it:-

MOT will cost £40-£50.
A basic service inc brakes etc probably £100-£200.

Value currently +/- £100
Value with a new MOT at least £500. There could be a Fiesta owners club that might get excited (that is really wishful thinking though )

If it is goining to be anymore you will need to think hard bearing in mind the age.

Sounds like a perfect project for a youngster these were the sort of cars we bought when we were 15-17 to run in the fields.

Edit:- Blasted connection went down, others are saying much the same

reeac

northern_star wrote: »

An elderley relative has sadly died. In his garage is a ford fiesta he bought from new in 1994. He maintained it fully (regular services etc) until 2005, when he became too frail to use it, and since then it has sat in his garage. It appears in good condition visually but we haven't yet attempted to start it or had it assessed mechanically in any way. He only used it for little trips so it has less than 20,000 miles on the clock. We're wondering if it's viable to get it back on the road after such a long time or would the costs outweigh the benefits? None of the family are 'mechanically' skilled so we'd have to pay a garage to do any work. Has anyone any experience of getting a car roadworthy after such a long time? What are the potential problems? We don't want to spend a lot of money on something that might not be worth it but we'd use it if we could restore it to working order at reasonable cost.

Most likely problem areas are flat tyres, flat battery and seized brakes and clutch. Inflate the tyres, charge the battery, check fuel level and see if the car will start. If so then try getting into gear. If that works then check brakes but initially only off-road [on the drive]. Seized brakes or clutch will require some mechanical knowledge to cure.

richard734

what teh others say I fired up a 1977 Triumph 2500 saloon that had been sat for 10 years in a farm barn... 30 seconds of cranking and it started. All I did was run jump leads from my car.

Give it a go - and if its in that good condition, I'll give you £50! Excellent car to sort out and present to my soon to be 17yr old daughter as a first car.

gilbert_and_sullivan

As above, check its got something resembling oil in the sump, put some petrol in, connect some decent jump leads and try it.

Brakes will need servicing fully, but the big headache might be the clutch plate may well be rusted to the flywheel, if brute force doesn't free it off then the box will have to come out.

So long as it wasn't put away still caked underneath in winter salt it will probably be fine.

I once bought a Rover 90 that you could barely see for monstrous weeds growing around and through it, outside too, put some petrol in connected the jump leads and she fired at the first touch of the key.

TrickyWicky

richard734 wrote: »

what teh others say I fired up a 1977 Triumph 2500 saloon that had been sat for 10 years in a farm barn... 30 seconds of cranking and it started. All I did was run jump leads from my car.
.

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

I once bought a Rover 90 that you could barely see for monstrous weeds growing around and through it, outside too, put some petrol in connected the jump leads and she fired at the first touch of the key.

I was going to say something similar - hook it up and see what happens. Our car was sat on the drive for over a year having not started due to an electrical fault. The entire engine bay was getting damp, white stuff was appearing all over the engine etc. Diagnosed a duff coil, replaced that, car started instantly despite being kept outside.

Anything thats been garaged for that long should be in much better condition. As some have said, the brakes will want checking and possibly some fresh fuel but as others have said, engine wise there isn't really much you can check as the mechanical bits are all inside a big lump of metal. It's a case of try it and see. Many engines in project / restoration / repaired cars come from scrapyards - where they've been sat outside rusting away for a few years and they're installed and run again so anything thats been sheltered should be ok.

Charge up the battery (probably need to replace it as it may not hold any charge) and see what happens. Alternatively just hook up jump leads and see what happens.

Might help to tell us what area your in - someone might be able to recommend a garage of give you an offer on it.

vax2002

Lots of money saving tip !
Like spend thousands on garage fees.
Charge the battery, turn the key, see what happens.
The car is only worth scrap value, spend nothing until it starts up

Strider590

Battery will be a problem, it'll need a new one...... Check the levels etc too. Drop some fresh fuel in it (don't be tempted to use additives).

DO NOT use jump leads if the battery is dead (10v or less), it'll draw so much unregulated current through the leads that they'll melt and weld themselves to both cars.

Other than that, once started it's going to run rough for a while, get it warmed properly and give the engine a bit of a hoofing for a few seconds (be careful of engine temp as the thermostat may have seized closed), within 20 minutes you'll know where your at. But I reckon it'll be fine!!

The point about the brakes is valid, if the car pulls left/right under braking then you have a problem.