Technical Marea 125 HLX: Is it time for the scrapyard

[Jimbo1]

Howdo Folks,

I've owned my TD 125 HLX Marea since 2007 (1998 model), and have been very happy with her. Unfortunately, she's reaching the point where problems that don't fit the "General Maintenance" category are occurring. For example, recently I ended up paying £400 to have the shifter in the gearbox replaced....

My Marea was serviced recently, and here's a list of the non-standard problems that were identified:

1. o/s inner drive shaft boot split.
2. o/s/r radius arm needs replacing.
3. n/s/r radius arm needs replacing.
4. o/s/f bottom ball joint has slight play.
5. n/s/f bottom ball joint has excessive play.

In addition to all this, when the MOT (due in late May) is carried out, I'm probably going to be looking at a complete set of brake disks.

Taken in isolation, not a single one of the above would put me off, if that was the sole problem. However, when combined, I've been informed I'm going to be looking at a major bill - probably in excess of £1000, including parts and labour.

I'm far from being a car expert, but I have enough knowledge to know that 2, 3 and 5 are definite MOT failures in waiting. I suppose I'm posting this to get a second opinion though, and am looking for the opinions of mechanically-minded people who've done a lot of work on Fiats and are far more knowledgeable than me.

If you fit this category, please could you answer the following two questions:

1. On a scale of 1 - 10, "1" being "simple" and "10" being "an expensive nightmare to sort out", what would you give the above jobs? Any detail about the effort required for each one would be great..

2. If you were me, would you send my Marea off to her final resting place in the great scrapyard in the sky?

Any answers and opinions would be massively appreciated, People.

Cheers.

James

 

[johnson550]

The first thing I would do before spending anymore money on it would be to check the floorpan see if it is solid no tinworm. The only thing I have replaced in your list is the wishbones (front balljoints) four bolts and a nut. This is a fairly easy job but can be a bit of a chew if the balljoint dosent co-operate and part company with what its bolted to easy.Should be able to buy one for around £30-£50 if you look about. At the moment Ebay £30. Shop4parts wishbones £48, rear radius arms £65-£68.

 

[Venters]

The first thing I would do before spending anymore money on it would be to check the floorpan see if it is solid no tinworm.

:yeahthat:
I'd be tempted to spend the money, but can you imagine if you do and then a year later you find the cars rotten?

 

[MrMigs08]

1. o/s inner drive shaft boot split.
2. o/s/r radius arm needs replacing.
3. n/s/r radius arm needs replacing.
4. o/s/f bottom ball joint has slight play.
5. n/s/f bottom ball joint has excessive play.

Who did the report may i ask, is it a trust worthy local garage?

1) 1 scale difficulty quick replacement, i'd imagine up to an 8 for a proper replacement, you can sometimes get quick wrap around boots and reseal them yourself.

2-3) I'd imagine the radius arms are doable but its time consuming, although looking at the marea guide, it doesn't look like much to do on paper, but being an old car, dirt and rust is also 1 hell of an annoying factor here.

4-5) Check for play yourself first, but fitting a set of new wishbones shouldn't be hard, its just breaking the joint apart that i hear is quite tricky.

Hows the car driving at the moment, any excessive knocking?

I recon you should examine the parts yourself, 1000 is out of the question when you could buy another marea for that, but either way the parts on this list don't really equate to 1000, just the massive labour tax they're putting on you there.

2 Wishbones,
2 Radius Arms
Temporary boot (Or shop around for a place that does them cheap! and fitting)

Had my car done for CV boot split for like 65 quid if i recall, but then again, the marea has some pretty nice but tricky designed suspension system.

I wouldn't throw in the towel just yet, but thats my oppinion!

Good luck.
Migs

 

[Jimbo1]

Guys,

Thanks for the responses you gave last month. To answer some of the questions, the Garage is trustworthy. I've used them since 2009, and they've done quite a few freebies for me when it comes to quicker jobs. The £1000 was my own estimate, and included a full set of pads and disks. Looks like I'll now only need a set for the front wheels....

Anyway, I'm posting today because the car has just failed its MOT (never saw that coming - NOT ). In addition to the known issues, it's been found to have high emissions. I'm going to quantify just how high in the morning when I go to collect it, but at the end of the day, the car was serviced in late March and I'm pretty sure they'd have added injector cleaner.

Now, to answer one of the other questions, the engine runs fine (no knocking) but has approaching 155,000 on the clock. I have used the car for heavy motorway mileage in the past, but tend not to use it on 50% of weekdays (bus it to work). It does get used at weekends though - predominantly for higher mileage motorway and national speed limit road drives.

The high emissions failure is some concern, but at the end of the day, I'm not using the car on a daily basis. I'm going to add some injector cleaner and take it for a blast up to Leeds and back on the M1 (I live in Sheffield). The plan is to then get the emissions re-tested early next week before comitting to any of the other work.

Now, after that short essay, the main question I have now is, if this DOESN'T fix the high emissions, would this put a more serious slant on the situation? I'm aware that emission problems in engines can indicate something more serious in older cars, so this could be my first red flag in terms of a nail in the coffin of this Marea.

If anybody has any opinion on the high emissions, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

James

 

[johnson550]

From what I remember last MOT dont think its a emission test on a diesel as such dont think its the same as petrol. Its more of a smoke test, full throttle type of thing thats why its best to make sure your car is fully warmed for the test and probably a quick blast I find full throttle in third does the trick.

 

[Jimbo1]

Hi Johnson,

Thanks for your reply. I'll bear it in mind for when I get the emissions re-checked on Monday (after a good motorway blast this weekend).

I figured it may help to list my MOTs main failure points and the accompanying advisory. The latter has a couple of points that concern me. This is possibly going to be the end of the road for this car, but would be great to get a forum vote for what any of you would do in my situation. At the end of the day, it's always hard to get rid of a car you enjoy for practical reasons, and any responses would be good in terms of helping me make up my own mind.....

Anyway, here's the MOT Results:

FAILURE POINTS (Labour quoted for some)

1. Exhaust emits an excessive level of metered smoke for a turbo charged engine.
2. Parking brake efficiency below requirements.
3. OS front brake juddering severely. (1 hour's labour)
4. OS suspension arm has excessive play in a ball joint. (1 hour's labour)
5. NS suspension arm has excessive play in a ball joint. (1 hour's labour)
6. NS radius arm has excessive play in a pin/bush (1.5 - 2 hours labour)


ADVISORY POINTS

1. Rear service brake has only just met the required efficiency levels.
2. OS radius arm has slight play in a pin/bush.
3. NS rear brake pipe slightly corroded.
4. OS rear brake pipe slightly corroded.
5. Handbrake lever has little reserve travel.
6. Slight movement in drivers seat fixings.
7. Oil Leak
8. OS Inner Drive Shaft Boot is split.
9. Front brake disks inner surface is worn.
10. Rear brake disks are corroded.

Okay, the only thing in the above flashing a major warning flag to me is the oil leak in (7). From what the garage have told me, it looks like it's coming from the front of the engine. The words "crank seal" or "sump seal" have been thrown at me as a possibility of the location. Either way, they're not going to know without being able to get at it. This is going to be significant. In the 125HLX TD, from when I last had my timing belt changed, this will involve jacking up the engine and disconnecting all the various stuff required to do this. Reckon I'm going to be looking at a 4 - 5 hour labour charge here.

None of the rest of the advisory points bother me that much in terms of the maintenance. However, the quantity is offputting. I may well be able to end up living with the oil leak, but there is a certainty of more work being needed on the horizon.

Still not made my mind up (must be obvious), but if you were me, would this be the moment of termination for this car?

I should have put a poll on this thread, but I guess I'm looking for opinions now the entire MOT result is out there. For starters, I didn't mention the engine oil leak when I first posted.......

Thanks in advance for any replies.

James

 

[rat20v]

its a tough one, sometimes its better the devil you know, have you thought about getting a lower milege one? and then selling yours on on for spares or repair, it depends how fond of it you are too? or buy a cheap runaround and fix the bits yourself, i think they would be the route i took

 

[Jimbo1]

Thanks for your reply rat20v. You're right. It is a tricky one. However, I've decided to go for it. I got the car (Bertha ) through an emissions retest today, so I'm getting the parts together now. Had she failed the emissions test, she'd have been heading for either Ebay (spare parts sale) or a scrapyard.

All told, the suspension related parts are going to cost me around £180 (incl. VAT). It's a lot for a car that's worth less than £500, but the way I look at it is, it's a LOT of car for the money, it's proved very reliable and I enjoy driving it. £180 is also a lot less than forking out £1k - £2.5k for a replacement car (not necessarily a Marea) that could later turn out to have issues (although myself and my brother seem to form a very effective team when it comes to checking out unknown cars). At least my car has more knowns than unknowns. Got a couple of hundred pounds in labour costs to come, but at least I'll have solid suspension afterwards.

The oil leak is the only real concern I have. If it's the crank seal, there is no way on earth I'll be getting it done in the near future unless it gets a whole lot worse. Reckon if I still have the car when the next cambelt change is due, I'll look at dealing with the oil leak then.

Thanks for all replies. Will update the thread with the end result. May even add a photo of Bertha.

 

[tinytim]

the trickiest job is likely to be the rear radius arm, when I did mine it was corroded in place and I had to use a large thin angle grinder blade to cut it in 2 places between the arm and the beam axle; a bearing kit is available so you do not have to buy the whole arm; take the opportunity to replace any suspicious brake parts especially the flexible hose and the steel pipe (cannot understand why steel is used rather than copper) as it all has to be removed anyway; also check the part of the beam axle where the shock absorber fits as its likely to be corroded; I treated mine to metalready and hammerite; also consider replacing the spring rubbers.
good luck

 

[Jimbo1]

Thanks TinyTim. Will keep all that in mind - for certain!

 

[johnson550]

Good luck with the work you need doing hope it all goes well.