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

bungle4by4

its worth exactly what someone will pay for it on ebay im afraid. and more if it runs. it sounds like a fun project, the kind of thing my nephew would cut his teeth on. so worth spending the money for the experience value. if you list it, please put a link here.

colino

Poor Tricky if you feel insulted, but my Booster Pack will do auction duty all day and then happily start the old Bedford TK Horsebox that we have that "needed" a new battery set, but as its only used half a dozen times a year, 5 years ago when I bought it. Don't hook a booster pack to a dead battery, it is in effect a useless brick by that time. Hook up to the main lead to the starter, the neg to the best possible earth and it will do its job.
Nice starter set of tools you have, but I haven't worked mobile for years.

FOX_HOUND

northern_star wrote: »

Thanks for the replies so far. It's a 1.1 Fiesta LX 5 door. Based on what people are saying, it's probably not going to be worth us trying to get it roadworthy ourselves as we have no skill/knowlege/experience - or tools. Therefore to buy a new battery, change the tyres, oil and service etc would mean quite an outlay. I'm thinking it's probably wiser to sell it as a project for someone with know-how to do up. What's the current value of such a car in this condition? I tried searching online but most sites decline to quote as its pre 1996.

Ebay price with no mot/non runner I'd say about £150. Basically scrap value.

I'm wondering if a scrap yard battery would suffice just to see if the car goes.

Hintza

TrickyWicky wrote: »

It's probably got sentimental value too.

It's not the Budgie.....:rotfl:

sunshinetours

TrickyWicky wrote: »

I wish people would stop banging on about what its worth.

The op has asked if it would be possible to get it running again, not for financial advice telling them to scrap it.

It's probably got sentimental value too.

Maybe read the Op again?

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

mikey72

TrickyWicky wrote: »

I wish people would stop banging on about what its worth.

The op has asked if it would be possible to get it running again, not for financial advice telling them to scrap it.

It's probably got sentimental value too.

They did actually, end of the opening post.


I've seen ones that would start again, and run, others that are a mass of holes, so it's very hard to say what it would go for on ebay. It's not a sought after model I'm afraid, but the low mileage would be a bit helpful to the price.

I'd be interested in a link, but realistically I would only bid a couple of hundred.

TrickyWicky

I'd still like to hear if it will start up though without too much trouble. No idea why but old machinery thats sat idle for years on end dormant is always somewhat fascinating to many of us.

colino wrote: »

my Booster Pack will do auction duty all day and then happily start the old Bedford TK Horsebox that we have that "needed" a new battery set, but as its only used half a dozen times a year, 5 years ago when I bought it.

Well thats clearly not the sort of booster that most people have access to then is it. Where I used to work we had a booster trolley - two super large 12V car batteries hooked up in parallel and even that had trouble jump starting the odd 4x4.

colino wrote: »

Don't hook a booster pack to a dead battery, it is in effect a useless brick by that time.

Erm, isn't that what I've said all along and you've argued your booster would do the job? :rotfl:

colino wrote: »

Nice starter set of tools you have, but I haven't worked mobile for years.

Starter?
I don't actually like car work. The tools I have were purchased to do specific jobs. It's not my trade nor hobby. Imagine what I'd be like if i enjoyed this stuff..

mikey72

TrickyWicky wrote: »

.........Well thats clearly not the sort of booster that most people have access to then is it. Where I used to work we had a booster trolley - two super large 12V car batteries hooked up in parallel and even that had trouble jump starting the odd 4x4.........

I don't even think my van battery would manage that if I took it off and tried the same.

Joe_Horner

Can a car that's been garaged 7+ years be got going?

Yes! This one was garaged in 1978 and we dragged it out in Oct 2010:





and had it like this by 14th April 2011:


for a first-time MOT pass, to become my daily driver since.

Total cost, including 300 mile round-trip to collect her (the car itself was free), tyres, MOT, first year's insurance and a year's (free) tax was £623.17*. But it was also about 250 hours of cold, physically hard and (at times) seriously dispiriting work.

Would i do the same for a '95 Fiesta? Probably not, even though there's likely to be a lot less work involved. But I'd certainly want to see if it would fire up before making any decisions - even if selling, a running and moving project will sell for more, and a lot easier, than a static lump of metal!




* Yes, that did include the coffee drunk on the collection trip

jase1

Let's have another look at those costs eh?

Tyres... this is one time I'd say to get part-worns from ebay on the rims as they'll be cheap. Maybe £50 for all four?

Oil and filter ... old car, £15 for cheap oil and filter max.

Sparks under a tenner.

Battery £10 from a scrapper (can use any battery that'll physically cram in the bay for testing)

Brakes could cost a fair bit if getting from garage... probably £100-150.

TBH once all that's done, if the car is sound on the bodywork and runs it's £250, and any car you buy for that much may be much worse and won't have all the new bits.

I'd say it's worth investigating!