Hi folks,

Looking for some advice on what to do with my Schumacher. I picked it up recently and it now owes me about £300 in total having done some small fixes and odds and ends.

It's on 63k miles and all the original Schumacher parts are still on the car, it's in red which I think is the nicest colour.

However it needs some substantial money spending on It.

Faults include:

- 99 percent sure head gasket is gone, random misfire code and CEL along with lost coolant and milky oil on the cap and in the inlet manifold.

- Roof clear coat is peeling as is rear bumper, needs sanding back and new top coat as a minimum.

- Inner arch rears are rusty, not the top of the arch just the rearmost thin panel.



So my question is what to do with it? Options are

1.DIY the head gasket for about £100 and maybe a long weekends work. Sell on for £400 and break even.

2. As above but spend a further £200 on sorting the rust and roof leaving the car owing me (and thus needing to sell for) £600.

3.Do one of the above and keep the car for a year, values may rise slightly and I'd get to enjoy the work I put in?

4.See if I can get £300 for it as it is (still has some MOT too) and just get rid.

5. Break to recoup my £300.


Any thoughts welcome, it's something I know I'm going to stew on!

Cheers

A lot depends on how much you like it? If you really enjoy driving and owning it and looking to own it longterm spend the cash and keep hold of it.
If however it's just a car for you and your looking to just get your money back spend as little as possible get HG done and put a full mot on it then sell it on with the paint issues.
I was looking at getting a Red Schumacher tip top ones low miles and owners with fsh sell for 700-1000. With 'project' cars needed various minor bits and bobs with no mot go for as cheap as 150-300.
So as you can see there's not a massive price in difference in price. I think prices of the really good ones will rise in time but you will have to wait longer than a year, more longterm.
I ended up getting a genuine Abarth but still look for Red Schumachers regularly.

Thanks mate, I do like the little thing a lot but I've yet to drive it in anger as only owned it a week or so. A few people are telling me not to write off the headgasket so quickly but with a random misfire,coolant use and milky sludge on the oil cap I think it's highly unlikely that it's the problem.

HG could cause the milky sludge in the cap but then so could lack of use/short journeys. I'm sure you already have but make sure there is no physical coolant leak anywhere.

Also your 'random' misfire doesn't sound as though it's a blown HG causing it, if the HG has blown your misfire would be more consistent as the HG wouldn't suddenly fix itself. Sounds like the misfire maybe something altogether different.

Before you commit to any repairs try and get a definitive answer on the HG/Coolant lose issues if this isn't something you can do any half decent mobile mechanic should be able to diagnosis a blown HG very quickly.

I've got a compression tester so I'm going to get that done after work tomorrow, the misfire itself is pretty consistent the random comes from the code its thrown up.


Would be nice if the misfire was something else.

Bottom of the bell housing looks wet, core plug leak caused HG failure perhaps.

Just been out to do compression test but I don't have a 10mm spark plug socket and my 17mm standard socket is too fat to fit. I took some pictures(and promptly smashed my phone screen to pieces dropping it....:bang::bang::bang::bang so you can see the offending parts!

The good news, if you can call it that, is that I bet your coolant lose is because the core plug behind the flywheel is shot. If you search my posts I had the same thing on my Seicento Abarth. It means gearbox out, clutch off, flywheel off then you will see it. The core plugs are only £5 from Fiat. It's a fair bit of work and again if you're going to keep it you would want to replace the clutch kit at the same time. So that may well mean that the coolant isn't being lost through the engine due to HG. Maybe.

The rot in the pics is pretty standard areas. You may well be better selling it as is as a project being upfront and honest in your description. From what you have previously said you don't want to chuck to much cash at it.

Can you weld? If you can and have a mig that will save you a big chunk of cash. If you can't then paying someone to weld it could well be the deciding factor.

I also meant to say that if you decide to take the gearbox out to do the core plug make sure you are 100% sure the coolant isn't leaking from somewhere else and running down the engine or into the bellhousing. The stat housing is directly above the gearbox on the engine, make sure the coolants not leaking from a pipe going on the stat housing or the stat area

foggymx5 said:

Just been out to do compression test but I don't have a 10mm spark plug socket and my 17mm standard socket is too fat to fit. I took some pictures(and promptly smashed my phone screen to pieces dropping it....:bang::bang::bang::bang so you can see the offending parts!

Click to expand...

This is what greeted me once I got the box, clutch and flywheel off. Obviously previous owners didn't think antifreeze was necessary.

jaygrint said:

View attachment 175130

This is what greeted me once I got the box, clutch and flywheel off. Obviously previous owners didn't think antifreeze was necessary.

Click to expand...

Cheers Jay, I think if it turns out the core plug behind the flywheel is gone then it's game over, I changed the clutch on a mates panda and on axle stands it was so much hassle. I'll have a look at the thermo housing but I don't think it's leaking.

foggymx5 said:

Cheers Jay, I think if it turns out the core plug behind the flywheel is gone then it's game over, I changed the clutch on a mates panda and on axle stands it was so much hassle. I'll have a look at the thermo housing but I don't think it's leaking.

Click to expand...

Shame. Good luck with whatever you decide mate.

jaygrint said:

Shame. Good luck with whatever you decide mate.

Click to expand...

Cheers mate, just did the compression test, from Cambelt end to passenger side....

255 220 215 220

All close apart from the 255?

Also managed to get the compression tester stuck in the plug hole so no idea how I'm getting that out!

foggymx5 said:

Cheers mate, just did the compression test, from Cambelt end to passenger side....

255 220 215 220

All close apart from the 255?

Also managed to get the compression tester stuck in the plug hole so no idea how I'm getting that out!

Click to expand...

Did all the spark plugs look the same sort of colour on the electrodes? Check to see if one looks cleaner than the others, if the HG is blown you may find one 'steam' cleaned a bit. Compressions seem OK to me. Does it overheat/run upto temp OK? Maintain a steadyish temp? Fan cuts in and out as it should?

foggymx5 said:

Cheers mate, just did the compression test, from Cambelt end to passenger side....

255 220 215 220

All close apart from the 255?

Also managed to get the compression tester stuck in the plug hole so no idea how I'm getting that out!

Click to expand...

Have you cross threaded the Comp tester? ?

jaygrint said:

Did all the spark plugs look the same sort of colour on the electrodes? Check to see if one looks cleaner than the others, if the HG is blown you may find one 'steam' cleaned a bit. Compressions seem OK to me. Does it overheat/run upto temp OK? Maintain a steadyish temp? Fan cuts in and out as it should?

Click to expand...

One was a bit blacker than the others(I think the 255 actually!) but the others looked old but not terrible, dark with some biscuit browning.

The temp warning light has never come on, I've got the torque app so can check it by sitting and letting it warm up I guess. Fan I'm not sure but will check.


Oh and I don't think I've cross threaded it, it's a cheapy clarke one and the rubber hose has lost grip of the fitting at the bottom so it just spins! They should have put a hex fitting on it so you don't have to use the hose to spin it in really!

foggymx5 said:

One was a bit blacker than the others(I think the 255 actually!) but the others looked old but not terrible, dark with some biscuit browning.

The temp warning light has never come on, I've got the torque app so can check it by sitting and letting it warm up I guess. Fan I'm not sure but will check.


Oh and I don't think I've cross threaded it, it's a cheapy clarke one and the rubber hose has lost grip of the fitting at the bottom so it just spins! They should have put a hex fitting on it so you don't have to use the hose to spin it in really!

Click to expand...

Again if HG was blown I'd expect over heating issues. Once you sort the Comp tester, get the plugs back in and start it up, make sure you've got water in it.

Then just stay watching it, checking the over heating light doesn't come on and making sure it's not boiling over. Run it til the coolant fan cuts in and out a few times, but like I say make sure no warning light comes on or overheating issues anywhere.

If it runs upto temp with the fan cutting in and out as it should and it's not boiling over I doubt very much HG is blown.

But whatever happens it's not going to help with the leaking core plug behind the flywheel so if your not going to fix that does it matter if the HG is blown or not anyway???

jaygrint said:

Again if HG was blown I'd expect over heating issues. Once you sort the Comp tester, get the plugs back in and start it up, make sure you've got water in it.

Then just stay watching it, checking the over heating light doesn't come on and making sure it's not boiling over. Run it til the coolant fan cuts in and out a few times, but like I say make sure no warning light comes on or overheating issues anywhere.

If it runs upto temp with the fan cutting in and out as it should and it's not boiling over I doubt very much HG is blown.

But whatever happens it's not going to help with the leaking core plug behind the flywheel so if your not going to fix that does it matter if the HG is blown or not anyway???

Click to expand...

Thanks Jay will do!

If the HG isn't gone I'd be much more inclined to get the box off and sort the core plug. The problem is if it's both of those it starts to get beyond economical repair, although with the ECP sale on I can get a headgasket kit for £25!


If the HG isn't gone it leaves me needing to sort the CEL and missfire(micro ecu maybe?), rust(hoping a local mobile welder might do me a good deal), core plug(local garage £150?) and the roof.

foggymx5 said:

Thanks Jay will do!

If the HG isn't gone I'd be much more inclined to get the box off and sort the core plug. The problem is if it's both of those it starts to get beyond economical repair, although with the ECP sale on I can get a headgasket kit for £25!


If the HG isn't gone it leaves me needing to sort the CEL and missfire(micro ecu maybe?), rust(hoping a local mobile welder might do me a good deal), core plug(local garage £150?) and the roof.

Click to expand...

Cool. Check out the HG as I said, hopefully it's not blown.
If you can find the right garage, more importantly at the right price, they should be able to give you a quote to do the core plug and the welding they maybe able to plug it into a code reader to give you an idea of the cause of the misfire.

Get your quotes first and then go from there. I would say to pay a garage to do the welding and core plug you're looking at 400-500ish at a guess.

jaygrint said:

Cool. Check out the HG as I said, hopefully it's not blown.
If you can find the right garage, more importantly at the right price, they should be able to give you a quote to do the core plug and the welding they maybe able to plug it into a code reader to give you an idea of the cause of the misfire.

Get your quotes first and then go from there. I would say to pay a garage to do the welding and core plug you're looking at 400-500ish at a guess.

Click to expand...

If your able to do they box out core plug job it would save you a fortune as it's all labour, like I said the part is £5. And garage labour rates are terrible.