Issues with Honda

Grumpy_chap

I totally agree and will keep the Focus going for a long time yet - it is ULEZ compliant so that's a good thing.
I was just showing the mind-set that many people do adopt when they've had a run of expenses and decide to "cut their losses".  Of course, that is always after the expenses have been incurred and hindsight.
TBH - with no where to drive to, there is no point in having a new car anyhow.

dipsomaniac

£300 pm?? This is supposed to be MSE? Bought a focus for £200 13 months ago and still going strong 10,000 miles later. Spent approx £120 on service parts and welding on sills last yr

Grumpy_chap

dipsomaniac said:

£300 pm?? This is supposed to be MSE? Bought a focus for £200 13 months ago and still going strong 10,000 miles later. Spent approx £120 on service parts and welding on sills last yr

I agree, but so many people run a few bills and then say "I'd be cheaper paying for a new PCP".  Duh!
My Focus was only £2k when I bought it - bargain given that has done 110k miles and 4 years since.  Makes the repair bills this year seem cheap.  

colino

The garage needs to be a bit more methodical instead of throwing parts at it.  First of all, doing the basics, checking all the major connections are clean and tight.  Then doing a battery discharge test to see if the battery is good or bad. I'd hazard a guess there is a parasitic drain that needs to be addressed and a perfectly good battery and starter have been replaced unnecessarily. 

[Deleted User]

colino said:

The garage needs to be a bit more methodical instead of throwing parts at it.

That seems to be the way of things these days, no attempt at diagnosis, just keep changing parts until the fault goes away.

noclaf

Grumpy_chap said:

dipsomaniac said:

£300 pm?? This is supposed to be MSE? Bought a focus for £200 13 months ago and still going strong 10,000 miles later. Spent approx £120 on service parts and welding on sills last yr

I agree, but so many people run a few bills and then say "I'd be cheaper paying for a new PCP".  Duh!
My Focus was only £2k when I bought it - bargain given that has done 110k miles and 4 years since.  Makes the repair bills this year seem cheap.  

Agreed, my Focus is 16 years old and still plodding along nicely..yes things will go wrong with age related issues but I am quite confident I've saved a shedload of money by running the same car for the last 10 years. Granted it's not exactly shiny or the most desirable car around but that's part of the appeal for me.I don't care if it gets dinged at Tesco's, nobody looks twice at it or wants to nick it yet it's still a fun car to drive, cheap to run and the petrol engines from that era of Ford seem to just go on and on as do a lot of the other n/a petrol engines used by various car brands before the small capacity turbo engines started the takeover.

Norman_Castle

CupofTea said:

Car wouldn't start straightaway 2-3 months ago. By turning the key, it would take a few seconds to come on. Sometimes as long as 7-8 seconds.

Then the car didn't start at all. Recovered it to the garage. They had a look. They said it was the starter motor. Got starter motor replaced. Was a temporary fix. Few days later the same problem started again with the car not starting again properly.

Called the same garage again. They said it could be battery. Tested the battery and they said the battery definitely did need replacing. Replaced the battery. Car was starting as normal but again, after a few days, the same issues. Having to turn the key and hold for several seconds before the car started.

Car not starting again at all now.

"By turning the key, it would take a few seconds to come on"

Cars don't "come on", they turn over, fire and run.

Could be an ongoing enrichment, fuel or ignition fault which has ruined the starter and battery by failing to cure the starting problem.

OP, Did the car struggle to fire only when cold?

Grumpy_chap

noclaf said:

I don't care if it gets dinged at Tesco's, nobody looks twice at it or wants to nick it 

The hidden appeal of bangernomics.  My car got a whopping dent in the front door during "beast from the east" and a dent in the rear wing where yobbos were hurling rocks from the council estate as I drove past on the dual carriageway.  No costs at all to me - both would have been expensive bills if I had a new car.  Minor parking knocks etc., who cares?

Rust is starting to set in now, though, and lack of use through lockdown has not been kind to the car - it is feeling neglected and starting to play up   Really need to use it more so the car is happy.

robertosherman

Supersonos said:

A 14yr old car probably isn't worth spending a great deal on. You'll spend a fortune getting this fixed and then the next problem will appear.

That's why I prefer saving more to buy a brand new one rather than settling on pre-owned. It's costly but for sure there is no underlying issues.