Car failed MOT ...

mrsspendalot

... mechanic is going to phone tomorrow with an estimate for repairs, but thought I would post the list on here and see if anyone has a clue

2 new front tyres
both tie rods ?
headlight bulb
rear to front brake pipe passenger side
passenger side suspension bush
driver side suspension arm

also the emissions have failed as the car is revving up and down and they don't know why, but thinks it could just be a sensor?

It is a Mondeo 'M' Reg.

Not sure how much this is all going to cost, but its not worth spending a fortune on it

reduceditem

Its time to 'retire' your Mondeo. It would be a false economy to repair it. Good luck.

joshm_2

Was last year's MOT issued by the same people? How many miles has the car done since last year, and under what sort of conditions? I'd ask these questions to myself to decide whether the list of faults is reasonable or not. If you stop at any Kwik-Fit, ATS etc they might be able to inspect the tyres, suspension and brake lines for free (or at least some of them) and hence give you a second opinion on the cheap.
Emissions failure could be any number of things but if the car is 'hunting' (revs up and down) then maybe your air-flow meter or idle control valve cleaning needs a look. When I take my car for MOT, I try to give it a good run first to get the car hot. The emissions tend to improve once the engine is hot. You could also try some Redex or similar (injector cleaner) in the fuel. We need to know what aspect of the emissions failed to be able to tell yo more.


On the information given, I disagree that it's time to retire the car. For sure, another owner able & willing to do the work themselves might get it back on the road for less money, but the majority of the faults mentioned are nothing more than natural wear-and-tear and can be repaired easily.

As a moneysaver, you should consider the cost of getting a replacement car against maintaining you current one. If buying seconf-hand at the lower end of the market, then it can be a case of "better the devil you know". Highter up the market, and you're throwing money away on depreciation. I wouldn't be surprised if the cost of running the Mondeo is resonable overall, even if the occasional repair bill has to be seen to.

mrsspendalot

Yep thats the conclusion we have come to as well ... just not worth it. Still waiting for mechanic to ring, but I think he guessed that we were thinking it was not worth it. Thanks xxx

mrsspendalot

joshm wrote: »

Was last year's MOT issued by the same people? How many miles has the car done since last year, and under what sort of conditions? I'd ask these questions to myself to decide whether the list of faults is reasonable or not. If you stop at any Kwik-Fit, ATS etc they might be able to inspect the tyres, suspension and brake lines for free (or at least some of them) and hence give you a second opinion on the cheap.
Emissions failure could be any number of things but if the car is 'hunting' (revs up and down) then maybe your air-flow meter or idle control valve cleaning needs a look. When I take my car for MOT, I try to give it a good run first to get the car hot. The emissions tend to improve once the engine is hot. You could also try some Redex or similar (injector cleaner) in the fuel. We need to know what aspect of the emissions failed to be able to tell yo more.

No last years MOT was done somewhere else before we bought the car. We have done 10,000 miles in it since July 2006 as my husband had a daily commute to do on A and B roads. Have no idea what aspect of the emissions failed - I think he said something about it stinging his eyes but didn't say much else about what the problem was.


Update: Have just got off the phone to mechanic and he says too many parts and too much labour to make it economical to do anything ... so he says just to cut our losses as it is due its road tax next month too. He is going to keep a look out for something else for us as he does a bit of selling on as well and we trust him as he is a friend's hubby.

Hintza

Well as an indication mine just passed it MOT after:-

Front discs x 2
3 Sections of brake pipe
1 x Front Spring
Re seat the exhaust at the maniflod
Two new number plates
1 Bulb
Headlight too low

Bill was £230 and that was a mate with me helping him, labour was £100.

mrsspendalot

Well hubby just picked the car up to bring it home and was told it would have cost £650 to fix!!!!!! I think we made the right decision as we only paid £375 for it!!!!! So just going to find someone who will come and take it away and do something with it!

Wayne3765

mrsspendalot wrote: »

So just going to find someone who will come and take it away and do something with it!

Try it on Ebay for spares / repair starting at £1 , better to get something for it than pay to get it taken away.

mrsspendalot

Well there are two local places that will pay us min. £50 and collect .... but ebay might be worth a shot, thanks.

manda1205

If youre going to scrap it, it might be worth doing it yourself cos scrap is worth alot at the mo. Glad youve got it sorted though. Get another cheapie!

northern_munky

mrsspendalot wrote: »

Well there are two local places that will pay us min. £50 and collect .... but ebay might be worth a shot, thanks.

£50 is too cheap. Like Manda says scrap metal is fetching a good price now, I reckon you'll get over £100 if you ring around.