Dead car... funeral arrangements?

wellpaidstillskint

Hi all,

My 2001 Toyota Yaris GS has been my loyal partner for 4 years, but this week it developed a fault that could be terminal - it started to misfire, my engine warning light was flashing, and I limped it home to my trusty local garage. There's zero pressure in cylinder no.4, but no smoke in the exhaust, so he thinks it's probably burnt valves, rather than a piston ring issue. The advice was we're talking best case scenario £800 for the repair, plus I I already knew I need about £200-300 of work done to get it through the MOT in January...

Basically, for me it's not viable to repair. The car is almost 13 years old, and has 128k miles on it (half in the last 4 years!) which I think is a lot for a 998 cc engine.

So the reason for my post is I wanted to get the thoughts of some others on the best next step... Do I use it as a trade in? Sell it to a scrap merchant? Stick it on eBay for spares/repair? Or start dismantling it myself and sell the bits??? <--- TBF I'm not sure my parents would let me do this on their drive, and I don't have any offstreet parking :eek:

Any thoughts/advice/warnings much appreciated

Thanks!
Cat

LandyAndy

I doubt anyone will take it as a trade in for more than you could negotiate as a discount without one.

Is there a scrappie near you that you could drive it to? Ask them for a price, that's your guaranteed minimum.

If you think you can do better on ebay give it a try.

Dismantling a car at home is a major undertaking, I wouldn't do another.

ilikewatch

Personally I would try selling it Gumtree or Facebook and if I didn't have any luck there I would stick it on eBay at a starting price equal to what a scrappy would pay + eBay fees.

wellpaidstillskint

Thanks guys!

There is a scrappie (several actually ) near me so I'll do that first... It's driveable as long as you don't mind having the fillings rattled out of your head!

I sold my last car on eBay and got more than I expected (or was offered by the scrapyard)...

Prothet_of_Doom

Sounds like the HEAD gasket and definately savable. I'd take the head off and have a look. Valves are easy to reseat. If you are going to weigh it in, you may as well register with a Toyota yaris owners forum and ask them. I don't think it's terminal.

wellpaidstillskint

Thanks guys...

I'm fairly sure it's not the head gasket - I've had one of those go before

...Did I mention the car has done 128k miles?

Yaris owners forum suggested I buy a second hand engine and fit it myself :-/

Rodney_Trotter

Have you considered cremation?