Best way to sell MOT failure?

AdrianC

danthemoneysavingman wrote: »

They were kind enough to charge me £80 for failing to diagnose it...

They charged you for £80 of time to pull whatever fault codes were stored. They did that.

Did they do any other diagnostics? If not, then you can't really say they "can't diagnose". All you can say is that there were no fault codes, and you didn't pay for their time to do any other diagnostics.

danthemoneysavingman

Yeah, I checked with my wife, she said they needed more time than the first hour. Thought probably not worth it. How long should such take? I thought you plugged in the diagnostic computer, it told you what's wrong. Obviously more to it but I don't want to get off-topic really. If felt I should retract remarks, not a problem.....

AdrianC

danthemoneysavingman wrote: »

How long should such take? I thought you plugged in the diagnostic computer, it told you what's wrong.

In an ideal world...

But if the fault lies with the ECU itself, or isn't something the ECU logs details of, or if the ECU isn't talking to the diagnostic computer, or if the ECU shrugs and says "Search me, guv", then it's out with the multimeter and the wiring diagrams. And that can take... well, as long as it takes. Especially if other dismantling is needed to get to connectors or wiring.

accidentalspender

danthemoneysavingman wrote: »

Hi,
I've got a '99 Audi A4 1.8 T Sport, it failed its MOT last year and is sat on my driveway for no good reason. I hate trying to sell cars and would appreciate some advice on what my best options might be, in you guys' humble opinions of course.
It failed on AirBag light, one suspension joint with excessive play, also has warnings on 2 x CV gaiters, 2 worn tyres and a coolant leak (the system pipe is actually broken).
Sounds like a treat huh?
The AirBag issue was undiagnosable by Audi techs so I've no idea how anyone could sort this. I also can't open the boot any more (all solutions found online look unappealing!). And I can't turn it over any more

Your thoughts please. Ideally I'd like to get the best price I can for it but happy to shift it asap for a marginal difference!

Thanks in advance

The most lucrative option, as has been mentioned is to break it yourself & sell the parts. In the kindest & least condescending way possible, ask yourself whether you have the necessary skills to recognise, locate & remove the parts you sell.
Fixing it may not be as expensive as you fear. CV boots can be as little as £5 each for the part. Tyres £75 each. The coolant leak shouldn't be that expensive if it's just a pipe - probably a tenner for the part. The suspension joint could be anything from a drop link £10, to a ball joint, probably nearer £75. That leaves the airbag light. If it has side airbags, I'd start by looking at the look that runs through the door hinge. Over many door open-closed cycles, the wires' insulation gets worn away, allowing the wires to contact each other & cause a fault. A new door loom is probably £50.
If you choose to fix it, it'll be well under £300 for the parts, plus 3 hours' labour at a competent garage. So, £400-450 to save what sounds like a nice-ish car.
Do yourself a favour & steer clear of dealership "techs". I don't know of any that could diagnose stupidity in an x-factor viewer.

danthemoneysavingman

Thanks for your very helpful reply accidentalspender! I have time to sort it but will look into the key repair options first.
As an extra, if I did repair it, what could I expect to fetch for a fully working 14 year old car with 123K on the clock (otherwise in very good nick!) No worries if no idea. I guess I could look in auto trader and see what the going rate is.
Cheers all

harveybobbles

It's the sort of car that would still fetch decent money if it was a runner with MOT.

I used to love these 1.8T engines.

danthemoneysavingman

UPDATE: I have got this car running again, so does this change the sort of price it would fetch as it's still an MOT fail? Is it really worth my while fixing this up?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Air bag wires wont be running into the doors!! it will either run up the windscreen pillar into the roof liner, or along the inner sills. But my suspicion is that drivers or passenger seat wiring plug has been corroded with the amount of feet that kick under seat wet and all I would look at these first.


Ball joint which one? steering rack end? wishbone? staberlizer link bar ball joint? rack end about £15.00 staberlizer link about £10 wishbone either buy new wishbone or just the ball joint and have it pressed in wishbone would be dearest probably £35-55 range or a ball joint in the £15-25 range.


pipe from scrappy for the coolant.
part worns from a tire center £15-55.
re-mot upto £55.00.


good polish and clean MOT'd and in working order ive seen them go for £800-£1400.


No MOT running £300-500

danthemoneysavingman

Cheers matey, reckon I'll give it a go then!
Will check the plugs under the seats, indeed the seat were constantly raised and lowered due to different driver set-ups - and the release to raise the seat caused it to jump up hard.
The airbag thing is my biggest concern as if I can't sort that then it wont pass the MOT regardless of the other items.
Can they be removed to enable MOT pass? Just thought I'd ask as that looks like a fallback viable thing to do...


balljoint: no idea, just reading off the MOT fail sheet.


Cheers all, any more advice very welcome.

AdrianC

danthemoneysavingman wrote: »

The airbag thing is my biggest concern as if I can't sort that then it wont pass the MOT regardless of the other items.
Can they be removed to enable MOT pass? Just thought I'd ask as that looks like a fallback viable thing to do...

The bags can't be removed - one of the fail items is airbags "obviously missing or defective". But the warning light's bulb certainly could be...

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/m4s05000401.htm