any car experts or mechanics who can advise please

colino

You are confusing the world of a DIYer doing the job at home with the reality of a trained tech doing it (on a bread and butter car) with the proper equipment, tools and skill. If I remember correctly even the total VX time for the job, and that is with the preamble of putting covers on seats, carpet and steering wheel etc., is 0.9hour. Bearing in mind fixings will not be reused, and the tech will be on book times bonus, the car will have been taken from its parking space, on the ramp, repaired properly, checked, off the ramp and back in its parking space before the owner has caught the bus to work. No rush, no short-cuts.

bigjl

£270 odd for two driveshafts supplied and fitted isn't the end of the world.

Fair amount of work and i would expect reconditioned or new ones to be a sizable percentage of that.

Camchains can snap and they can jump teeth.

But the Corsa is know for being noisy and due to its shopping car origins they tend to be abused and miss basic servicing.

I wouldn't jump into another car in finance as they can breakdown and need work as much as any other car.

Sometimes it is better the devil you know.

And unless you buy new most used car warranties are actually mechanical breakdown insurance and of little use.

I would stick with the Corsa and start saving for the next car or at least a very significant deposit.

The older Corsas are fairly solid little cars but do have their problems, like the camchain noise.

I have always had good service from ex fleet motors.

My last two cars had 82k (from memory) and 101k when purchased one was sold to a mate after i put mega miles on it and the last car was sold to WBAC last week as the place i am getting my new car from doesn't take PX and there were a couple of small dents and a non functioning heater fan that i didn't have the time to fix so as to sell privately.

The wifes Clio is also an ex fleet motor, though it had less than 30k on it at 3 yrs old.
Three yr old ex lease motors have bourne the brunt of depreciation and if you go for a well maintained one with main dealer history they are a fairly safe bet.

colino

You really do have to sit down with a good, friendly, local garageman and go through this car in some detail. Corsa chains can and do break and the guy who just fleeced you for the work he's done is seeing you as a regular cash cow. (He would have heard and recognised the diesel death rattle straight away).

worried123

bigjl - thank you. I agree with better the devil you know. I shall get the other problems fixed month by month and start to save for an new car....at least, a decent deposit.....and i think this car will be okay for the next couple of years.

Colino, I DID sit down with a good, friendly garage today. One of the guys in there spent one and half hours whilst i waited, driving it around, doing tests and looking underneath......He just works there, is paid a wage....isnt on any commission and is a genuinely nice guy who always advises me well.......
He gave me a list of advisories and two of these were on the mot that he did earlier in the year......

I dont think they see me as `a regular cash cow` as you put it.....This garage are literally rushed off their feet.......and the problems with the car are very real......and very real problems need to be fixed.......they never tell me, `these things must be done`....but advise of the problems

As for the `diesle death rattle` as you put it.......I am more aware of a slightly noisy engine whilst idling more than anybody else......he acknowledged it - it isnt desperately bad....

You are full of the joys of spring colino and have made me feel so much better.......

Thank you again bigjl....your post has been helpful and you have made me feel better about the whole car issue.

Shawn_Dark

Old cars just eat money. I am in a predicament where I cant afford a newer car so keep having to buy older ones (i.e. £1000 range, around ten years old). The French ones are a nightmare but the German and Japanese still last out longer than their European counterparts.

I bought a 2000 plate VW Bora for £750, its in excellent condition with nothing needing doing to as the previous owner did everything in the past years that he owned it.

Not saying you can, but if you do end up buying another car, try and get one off a local private buyer who has been using it to commute locally. Ideally one like mine where they have carried out the most important work (e.g. clutch, gearbox, timing belt).

Westmead_Fan

£270 for 2 cv joints & a gaiter does seem quite a bit, did they break the bill down & do you know what parts they used genuine or aftermarket parts, this will say alot with regards how good the garage really is.

i would be worried if your engine sounds like a tractor being a petrol, can be the chain starting to weaken.

Richard53

Westmead_Fan wrote: »

£270 for 2 cv joints & a gaiter does seem quite a bit.

Bear in mind they also had a guy checking the car and advising the OP for 90 minutes on top of the work done. The price doesn't seem too bad all in all.

worried123

My invoice items
2 CV joints at 28.95 each (both outer)
I gaiter 18.95 (nearside inner)
2.5 hours labour 150 (60 an hour)
Plus vat
sadly all adds up to 272

My car doesnt sound `like a tractor` but is slightly noisy.......but then i wouldnt really expect a 10 year old car that has done 80k to `purr`really
regarding the noise.....he has said it may need timing chain casing gaskets................but as he said himself, `its how far do you want to take this`......

closed

If you ask for more doing that it needs, driving can get very expensive, one cv joint would have fixed it, and it's trivial for a mechanic to find out which one needs doing.

MOT's will pick most things that really need doing up, beyond that you're wasting money unless you have a specific problem.

offside front anti roll bar link dust cover showing signs of wear. means what? possibly £48 you could save there

worried123

Hi, apparently it needs an offside front anti roll bar link....no idea what it is exactly or whether the car will fall apart without it......the guy at the garage said that of all the advisories, his best advice is to check the oil weekly .....