Opinions/knowledge needed regarding failed MOT

Hi all, I'm new here.

I've had my 1995 Punto for about 6 months now, and have done 9000 miles (Total of 69000). I bought it for £575, and I've just taken it in for its MOT and its failed...catastrophically, despite having no problems driving it at all. Problem is, I need it for work as I deliver Pizza's on a Friday and Saturday (Classy, I know). It failed on the following:

Nearside and Offside rear (Floor) seat belt anchorage prescribed area is excessively corroded.

Nearside and offside front tyre tread below requirements. (1.6mm)

Nearside front brake hose excessively deteriorated.

Rear exhaust has a major leak of gases. (Excessive Lambda)

Offside and nearside Trailing arms have excessive play in a pin/bush.

Emissions: The garage said they were not sure what was causing this.

The garage are quoting this at around £500-600, however someone else has just called me to say that the fiddly bits with the trailing arms can be pre-assembled, reducing the overall cost (minus the tyres) to £450.

My Dad however is thinking its better to buy the parts at around £109 (minus tyres) and do the job ourselves over a weekend. We will however probably have to get someone to do the welding for us.

What are your thoughts? We are not sure of the best places to buy parts or how hard it will be or anything, so any tips or opinions you have on the situation would be appreciated.

.

Jesus you got screwd when you bought that.

As for the rear arms, better buying them predone like from eurocarparts as unless you have a press they are bitch to get in (and get the old ones out). £59.84 each at eurocarparts (no i dont work for them).

As for the welding that shouldnt cost too much I would of thought.

£5t75 sounds cheap to me. Deffo cheap enough to make me suspicious.

The rear wheel arches are easy enough to check. Look in line with the tyre at the "top" of the wheel. Pull out the boot carpet and dig around. Welding costs depend how bad it is. A good quality job could set you back £100 per side. Make sure the inner sills are ok before doing too much.

when you get tyres, get part worns, they are £15 and sometimes you can get near brand new tyre, a breakers yard is good for them as they sometimes get smashed up cars with decent tyres on them

Ok, well tyres are the least of of worries. We need to get the emissions sorted out first because there is no point spending hundreds of pounds fixing everything else and then finding out the engine is gone.

I'm gonna replace the spark plugs, air filter, oil filter, and oil itself (There is none in there. Bone dry. No warning light. Weird.)

As regards emissions did the garage give
you a read out of them as you payed for one
with the mot.

Any hole in the exhaust will effect the Lambda
and thus emissions.

Punto's normally rot on the floor behind the
seats to the back and to the outer edges.
Remove the carpets and felt, use a heat gun
and scrapper to remove the hard tar on the
floor, cut out the rot and weld in a new plate
from the inside. Or prepare for someone to
weld and ask for a cheaper price for the
welding.

John

Yeah, the Lambda has a min limit of 0.970, with a max limit of 1.030, and the actual value is 1.322.

Were going to take it to the garage for another emissions test after we've changed the spark plugs, air filter, oil filter, and oil itself. We're also going to take it for a blow out; drive it really hard for a short while to clear itself out.

WhiteSei said:

£5t75 sounds cheap to me. Deffo cheap enough to make me suspicious.

The rear wheel arches are easy enough to check. Look in line with the tyre at the "top" of the wheel. Pull out the boot carpet and dig around. Welding costs depend how bad it is. A good quality job could set you back £100 per side. Make sure the inner sills are ok before doing too much.

Click to expand...

I got my one for £280 long mot and tax on a p plate full service history. Nothing at all wrong with it. So not all cheap motors are rustbuckets. But then again the bloke selling it had just been given a brand new RX-8

Re: Punto suspension parts failures

We have some similar diagnostic for P Reg Punto 75SX (75,000 miles). O/S/F bottom ball joint, both rear axle mount bushes and N/S/R trailing arm bushes. Appears from some garage conversations that complete trailing arm replacement will be required - and from reading a lot of threads, doesn't seem like I want to do this Rough costs from £250 (plus vat) upwards.

Need a good garage in the cheltenham/Oxford area - any suggestions?

Recently replaced gear box/clutch (complete break down, 1/2 was paid for by AA policy, but still cost me £400). Does this seem sensible to do?

Thanks for thoughts.

Alan

Re: Punto suspension parts failures

alanwhitford said:

We have some similar diagnostic for P Reg Punto 75SX (75,000 miles). O/S/F bottom ball joint, both rear axle mount bushes and N/S/R trailing arm bushes. Appears from some garage conversations that complete trailing arm replacement will be required - and from reading a lot of threads, doesn't seem like I want to do this Rough costs from £250 (plus vat) upwards.

Need a good garage in the cheltenham/Oxford area - any suggestions?

Recently replaced gear box/clutch (complete break down, 1/2 was paid for by AA policy, but still cost me £400). Does this seem sensible to do?

Thanks for thoughts.

Alan

Click to expand...

Get a haynes manual and get the bits and do it yourself. It ain't as hard as it sounds.

Re: Punto suspension parts failures

Thanks Simon

In the old days I would have. But no tools to speak of and no real facility to do it, so stuck with the garage route.