I'm sure the pricing is OK. They have promised to do me a deal (!) given a) the amount of work and b) that I spent about £900 with them about 9 months ago!

Question is, even if I decide to get rid, is the B worth more fully repaired? I suspect the answer to that one is "no". 11 years old, worn hood, no special features, paintwork in OK but not sparkling condition - maximum is surely around £1500-£2000. Even with a blown head gasket, its got to be worth more than £500 for parts alone.

Sleepless night ahead of me tonight.....

Matt

You cheap :tosser: I spent about £5000 fixing my 96 last year...

Well, if after spending that kind of money you think you will then have a fine fettled car hang on to it. If you sell as it is you will get £1,000 if lucky, what the hell can you buy for that? Get it fixed, treat her nicely, check all fluid levels weekly and look forward to the warmer weather driving with the hood down. No brainer really.

LittleRedB said:

Excellent - a big leak!! You sure your not Welsh??

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should i be offend guys and robot we only get romantic with sheep when we are drunk.

any back on topic i have had my car 18 mths and have spent very little on it for running cost i have spent a fair bit on upgrading stuff but nothing that would have waited if i dint have cash, so my point i think these cars arnt that expensive to run of have i been very luck so far.

but has to be said you must check all fliuds regually in all car of you are asking for repair bill a stich in time saves nine and all that

Richpea said:

Well, if after spending that kind of money you think you will then have a fine fettled car hang on to it. If you sell as it is you will get £1,000 if lucky, what the hell can you buy for that? Get it fixed, treat her nicely, check all fluid levels weekly and look forward to the warmer weather driving with the hood down. No brainer really.

Click to expand...

I'm biting the proverbial bullet - they are giving me a loyalty discount (!) to keep the bill around £1500 and doing:-
Head gasket
Sump
Skim
New radiator
Timing belt
Variator

Bar the transmission / gearbox I'll have a well looked after engine!!

I'm looking forward to the summer already!

Matt

larkim said:

I'm biting the proverbial bullet - they are giving me a loyalty discount (!) to keep the bill around £1500 and doing:-
Head gasket
Sump
Skim
New radiator
Timing belt
Variator

Bar the transmission / gearbox I'll have a well looked after engine!!

I'm looking forward to the summer already!

Matt

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Delighted you are keeping her and looking forward to the Summer. Please, please and please again, remember to check all fluids etc. weekly and top up when required. Happy motoring.

Sounds like the right decision on car you know well and which hasn't got any other problems.

Should find it drives better too!

Ah, you assume she has no other problems!

That's my only fear - I'll live to regret spending £1500 now when I need to spend £xxx in 6 months time!

Ah well, I won't bother with an annual service this year (other than oil / filter etc) given the amount of work done this time around, just get the MOT done and keep on top of my fluids!

Matt

Re: Hot / cold blower - symptom of something else? UPDATE!

So after giving the green light to £1,500 work on the engine, radiator, variator etc, I get a call today saying that they've rebuilt the engine back up and now when its running full pressure they've picked up leaking coolant into the passenger area - i.e. failed heater matrix.

When I took the B in a week or so ago my first comment was "its leaking coolant, I've spotted liquid in the footwells, I think it may have a failed heater matrix".

But me not being an engineer, when they came back with a different set of faults I took them at their word assuming that they had investigated this too. Clearly not!! :bang::bang::bang:

So now they want another £700 or so for the heater matrix work. I'm fuming!! I don't doubt that it needs doing, and I don't doubt that the other work they have done needs doing, but if they'd started off at £2,200 I would have said "no" and bought something else. Now they've got me bang to rights on the £1500 and I won't have a working B without the heater matrix work being done.

What would you do? Plan A is to speak with their servicing manager and dearly hope to get this work done as a freebie - after all, most of the work is labour. I think I could even stretch to paying for the parts as a compromise.

I agreed with SWMBO that £1500 was the max I would spend on this

Matt

Re: Hot / cold blower - symptom of something else? UPDATE!

I'll give credit to the garage (Mangoletsi, Knutsford), I expressed my displeasure over the phone (in a calm and measured way), told them that I was prepared to compromise at a parts-only deal, and within 2 hours they've agreed to that. Fair play, some garages would have dug their heels in!

I'm still not completely happy that they missed it in the first place, but at least they've dealt with me as well as I could reasonably have expected once the cock-up was known.

Matt

Re: Hot / cold blower - symptom of something else? UPDATE!

That's a pretty good result fella, well done. I suspect many would have blown their stacks and ended up with a much worse offer!

Re: Hot / cold blower - symptom of something else? UPDATE!

The matrix's is about £50 - so I'd say that it's a helluva deal

Re: Hot / cold blower - symptom of something else? UPDATE!

Got her back today - £1,648 all told. Sounds like she's running nicely, but hey what the hell do I know about cars!

But on that vein, would you suggest 500 miles of gentle revving to allow all of the new parts to introduce themselves to the remaining parts of the engine? Is there a "breaking in" approach anyone would advise?

Matt

Re: Hot / cold blower - symptom of something else? UPDATE!

larkim said:

Got her back today - £1,648 all told. Sounds like she's running nicely, but hey what the hell do I know about cars!

But on that vein, would you suggest 500 miles of gentle revving to allow all of the new parts to introduce themselves to the remaining parts of the engine? Is there a "breaking in" approach anyone would advise?

Matt

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Pleased she's back and running sweet. There seems to be two schools of thought on this. When buying new cars I have been told to just drive them as you would normally but some mechanics say you should keep below 3,000 rpm for the first 1,000 miles. I think keeping the revs low for the first 500 or so miles is the best option.

Re: Hot / cold blower - symptom of something else? UPDATE!

You haven't got any new main engine components like bearing shells or piston rings that need bedding in. If it were mine I'd be tempted to drive fairly gently for the first few days keeping an eye on oil and water levels, if all looks good after that then razz as per usual.

Re: Hot / cold blower - symptom of something else? UPDATE!

That's the plan. I wasn't sure whether the head gasket or timing belt were so significant that bedding in might be an issue. On the other hand, I was tempted to "stress test" the new components a little - I'd have an easier argument with the garage if something failed in the next week or so than I would if in 3 months time something failed!

Matt