Should i sell and try again

[smoggi]

My husband and family are in agreement.
But what is your opinion?
Previous reciepts include 12 valves replaced, head gasket set, timing belt, rockers, tensioner wheel and new plugs. all done only 12 months ago.
Since buying this car at the beginning of February i have had 1 new passenger headlight bulb (its going again) new air filter. New inlet manifold gasket fitted. New cat and front pipe and lambda sensor. new front brakes and disks. and now the ecu needs repair ( see looks like its the ecu post).
They are saying once it is running right sell it to recoup some of the costs and get another. My opinion is that once its running right there shouldn't be any thing else that can go wrong and i should be able to get years out of it (with a bit of luck) and if i bought another i could end up with a whole new set of problems.

P.S. its a 96 1.4 12v sx brava.

P.P.S I know i bought a lemon so please no citrus related gags.

 

[Tom]

Mmmm... lemon fresh! (sorry, had to!)

The bulb is probably a loose wire or corroded connector, not a hard job. Brake discs/pads are wear items and need replacing occasionally anyway. Its an old car.

As for the lambda, cat etc.. sounds like the previous owner botched it together so he could flog it on. One way to look at it is better the devil you know. You know its got all these new parts on and you know it runs right with a different ECU. Buying a new car could run you into exactly the same problems.

See how much the ECU is gonna cost.

 

[smoggi]

Re: Re: Should i sell and try again

Thanks Tom. If enough people are in agreement then i may just show the forum to the hubby to say see some people do agree with me

 

[Bahney]

Re: Re: Re: Should i sell and try again

i agree with tom and yourself

i would rather have a car i had speant money on and knew what had / hadent been done then a mystery car that you hope will be alright.

a mate of mine bought a 106 had so many problems with it after 4 months sold it (after speanding nearly a grand on repairs he had enough)

he bought himself a corsa and loe and behold he had problems with that as well...he was gutted

but in fareness if you do come to sell it all those recepts etc will proabibly make it an earlier sale, i know when i bought my bravo i was impressed with the shere ammount of recepts, things like bulbs pads etc there was a recept for everything so i knew the full history.

 

[LightWarrior]

keep it

I bought a 97 R 1.4 S 7 months ago with the intention of tidying it up a bit, it had been sat unused for a little over 5 months, as the guy had moved to london, and left his car in Scotland. His folks kindly sold it to me for £1700. Anyway, i had £600 left to start the modifying. I had the car standard a week, and had just bought oil, filter, etc to service it, as i had no record of its history, when i tore a hole on the back-box on a speedbump. I waved goodbye to £300 on a Powerflow Cat-back exhaust. Then, while servicing it, i discovered that the master clutch cylinder was leaking all over the place. I also had the reverse light switch replaced to cure a non-working reverse light. I got a used indicator block/switch sent to me for £50, and had it fitted at the same time. That, distressingly, saw off another £210 of my modifying money. All i've been able to afford is a set of mats, gearknob, tax disk holder, smoked side repeaters, a pair of xenon bulbs, wheel trims (shock, no alloys yet) 12 months road tax, and i maxed out my overdraft to pay the £700 insurance.

Anyway, the point is, after spending all that cash, its running great(touch wood) and if i traded it in, or sold it, i'd never recover any of that money. You should hang on to it.

 

[smoggi]

Re: keep it

Thanx your all making me feel better. I only paid £800 for it.

 

[Tom]

Re: Re: keep it

Fix it and drive it until it dies

 

[Ian@Work]

Re: Re: Re: keep it

Agreed.

I managed to pick my 1.2 16V Bravo (T reg, 28k Miles) for just over £1,900 in November 2003.
For that price there HAD to be something wrong - and there was. The problem was clutch+gearbox, and after a few diagonistic tests and £500 later I've managed to sort it all out.

I realise that £500 is quite a lot of money if you don't have any, but at the end of the day, the car is still worth well over £2,400.

Then I knew that there's not much else wrong with it so I went ahead and modified it. I spent over the amout of what I actually bought the car for 4 months ago on modifying - and looking out of the window at work here I still think it's worth it. Even if i don't manage to recouperate anything back of it.

Keep it.

Ian.

 

[smoggi]

Re: Re: Re: Re: keep it

With regards to other problems with this car. Obviously this car has already cost me a fortune.
But the warning lights along the bottom of the instument panel dont work (with the exception of the main beam warning light) have had the panel out and all the connecters are connected but i cant get the bulbs out (but surely all the bulbs couldn't have gone)all fuses have been checked and replaced as neccesary but still no joy. anyone any ideas?

 

[Craig]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: keep it

could be a dodgy earth behind the dash.

 

[Tom]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: keep it

Also the connections to the bulbs get a bit old and dirty and sometimes the bulbs just need a wiggle. Pliers are good for that

 

[smoggi]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: keep it

I think the bulb i tried to get out was the main beam warning so the wiggling may have worked. When the car comes back i will try wiggling the rest.

 

[smoggi]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: keep it

Just come in from wiggling, moving and exchanging bulbs for warning lights in instrument panel. Side light one was missing so replaced that. But i was wondering if the others e.g. injector light and key code go through the ecu first because obviously that isn't working right. Any other ideas i can try?

 

[smoggi]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: keep it

anyone

 

[Tom]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: keep it

Injector and key light are from the ECU.

 

[smoggi]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: keep it

ok but any ideas on the others (oil,battery,brake)

 

[smoggi]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: keep it

and air bag light

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: keep it

p.s. the first attempt at the panel was done at night hence me not noticing the missing bulb