I am taking her in tomorrow for a service but I suspect the following may need doing:-
1) Curing a rattle from the camshaft area, as discussed on another thread oil change should help or fix this.
2) Brake pads
3) Valve clearances checked
4)Tappets adjusted
5) New oil, filter and plugs.
How much would this cost me? Is spending £200 on a car I have just paid £400 for stupid?
The car runs fine, there is a few spots of rust but I have repaired the worst bits, the rest of the body is spotless and so is the chassis.
Its an N Reg Fiesta 1.1 btw :) with 101.7k on the clock.
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I really can't see the point in owning an old fiesta, especially a rattly 1.1.. Scrap it.
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I am not scrapping a car that I have just paid £400 for and still drives perfectly and has 6 months MOT left on it :)
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Do the oil change yourself
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I used to own a G reg 1.1 Fiesta, which in many ways was the best car I ever owned. The most expensive service I had on it was about £150, including most of the above (except brakes). Even chenging the clutch only set me back £95.
Whereabouts are you Rattle? Servicing costs vary a lot around the country.
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South Manchester.
I should also add I am just learning so I don't want a nice car when I am just likely to burn out the clutch anyway :p
Did that £95 clutch job include labour it seems very cheap.
The machanic (who's not seen the car) reckons it will need £90 spending on it:-
New oil (thicker grade stuff to compensate for wear)
Brakes adjusted and cleaned
New plugs
No oil
New filter
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every cars needs some maintenance, so £200 is not too bad. Its when it get to be the value of the car that you should start worrying.
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Hi Rattle,
As said above, spending 200 quid on a car for servicing is ok. At the end of the day any car you have will need servicing, be it worth 400 or 40000. The cars market value is low so the ratio of service vs worth is alway going to be close numerically. I think its just a case that the initial purchase price is just the starting point for any motoring costs.
When you've got the car fettled, its notional worth to you will be more than 400 quid because you should then have a car thats a known quantity and will be reliable. Any car at that price level will need money spending, you could bail out of this one now and buy another cheap car and be in a lot worse position in terms of what needs to be spent to bring it up to good order. If you were facing a single component that was 400 on its own, then that'd be a reason to quit on it.
HTH
David.
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I agree with davidh. If you know the car's a good un then stick with it and just run it into the ground. I have a P-reg diesel Fiesta that is reliable, extremely economical and cheap to run. Almost anyone can work on them and the parts are cheap enough (loads of patent parts available too). Get yourself a Haynes Workshop Manual or similar and have a go at doing the oil change and plugs etc. Its really easy (it must be if I can do it) and you may even enjoy doing it. Hope that helps. Mark.
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A colleague has just spent £800 getting an N reg Escort through the MOT (new brake pipes etc), having a service and having the cambelt changed. His attitude was he needs a car, but better the devil you know. It would have cost him more than this to replace it and he would have no knowledge of the new car's history.
Spend £200 (it could be less) on this and it will give you another 12 months motoring - 55p a day seems a good deal to me!
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The £95 clutch was in darkest Bootle 'strictly cash mate!'. Never let me down though. I live in Stockport now - garages are definitely a bit pricier than they were in scouse-land, but not bad by London standards.
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brake pads £20.00 , oil filter and oil £20.00, plugs £8.00, tappet adjustment (free) rocker gasket £3.00, italian tune up (obligatory) total = £51.00 + a feeling of self satisfaction and a job well done = priceless, and with your £149.00 change get the emissions done and a new air filter and a "new car smell" tree air freshner....good luck
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brake pads £20.00 , oil filter and oil £20.00, plugs £8.00, tappet adjustment (free) rocker gasket £3.00, italian tune up (obligatory) total = £51.00 + a feeling of self satisfaction and a job well done = priceless, and with your £149.00 change get the emissions done and a new air filter and a "new car smell" tree air freshner....good luck
He'll still be spending £200 then on an old banger!
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He'll still be spending £200 then on an old banger!
how do you work that out ?
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£51 + £149 = £200 spent, whether the work is done by yourself or a garage.
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£200 spent on a £400 fiesta, I just can't understand how thats worth it??? Thats a fairly pricey service at the main dealers! I don't encourage credit, but just get yourself a cheap little car like a micra- £1600 on average for a 2001 X reg one.. Bullet proof engine, and easy to drive, cheap to insure, and will not rot!!
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Hello
Having many cars myself i know that when you find a good car that is reliable cheap and causes no problems it tends to be worth repairing that is my idea anyway.
It is fine calling it an old banger, But in practice if you do not save any old bangers you are really just polluting the environment by sending them to the scrap yard every increasing our carbon footprint.
Furthermore if you do not save old bangers they do not turn into classics and vintage cars.
Do you think that in the 30's 40's and 50's when these vintage and classic cars were new, People also said scrap the old banger there would not be any car heritage left.
--
(iam not a mechanic)
Martin Winters
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I get your point, but I dont think an N reg 1.1 fiesta will ever be a "classic"
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pot
if you read it properly he only needs to spend £51.00 to fulfill his criteria the £149.00 is to spend on what ever he wants!
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OK Just had a full service done on it for £90 including all the filters, 10/40 oil, plugs etc. He said the car is in very good condition for an N reg, no underbody rust or anything and he said it would pass the MOT in the condition it is in. However there is a big but.
The oil pump is a bit lazy and it has caused damage to the camshaft area (I assume me meant a pulley or something). This is quite is causing the rattle when cold. He said as longs as I let the rattle go (takes 30 seconds) before I drive it no further damage will occur and the engine should be fine.
Finally he says if I do need a engine it doesn't cost much to change on Fiestas.
It was worth paying the £90 just to have the piece of mind too that car is not a total lemon or death trap.
The thing is it runs beautifully.
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£95 sounds about right for a cash in hand clutch.
Plenty of spare oil pumps on eBay. 3 bolts at the back of the engine and it's out. Couldn't be simpler. Any pump from around 1986 onwards fitted to Fiesta, Escort or Ka with OHV/HCS/Endura-E 1.0/1.1/1.3 will fit.
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Mike Farrow
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The oil pump being lazy is just guess work based on my machanics experience but I don't know for certain its iffy.
Is there a simple way of testing it?
What about the cam shaft damage? Some people are saying don't worry about it, its only a long term problem and the car is only a short term vehicle, others are saying its a major problem.
I intend to about 3000 miles in this car.
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Its a shame that you aren't thinking of keeping the car a bit longer as the old ford OHV (Over Head Valve) engines are a great introduction to anyone who wants to learn to do a little bit of mechancial work as they are such simple engines. Its so easy to have a go yourself and everything is so accessible. I learned loads tinkering with my old carb fed 1.3 Escort. These fords are chock full of old fashioned simple engineering. Get yourself a Haynes Manual and and replace the Oil pump yourself if you are worried about it. There are only a few bolts holding it in place. The pump shouldn't be expensive. It will be an education for you too. It never harms to know a little about the car you drive. The only trouble is if you remove the oil pump now you will lose the fresh oil that you just put into the car.
I replaced my old escort with a newer version with a 16 valve engine with air con last summer and its an absolute pig to work on. Hardly enough room to swing a spanner in the engine bay with air con pipes everywhere. I miss the old car for the mechanical simplicity and "revvy" nature of the engine.
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Is this the overhead valve pushrod unit? If it is then it is not difficult to remove the rocker shaft and give the oilways a good clean out. Checking that the oilway through the head and into the rocker shaft is worth doing as well. The best way to check oil pressure id to connect a gauge to the oil supply passage, usually by removing the oil pressure warning light switch. If it is the overhead valve engine then it will rattle quite happily for years. (At least the two examples which live down the road have)
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Yes they make a distinctive noise. I can identify a push rod Ford by ear from a hundred yards away if the wind is in my direction.
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Mine rattles more than most Pushrod Fords :p When starting from cold the rattle is quite embarrassing.
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I've just read your other post. Brakes are always rubbish on Fiestas. My brother is on his second and the first time I borrowed his car I was quite disconcerted by the brakes. Dont spend money on the brakes. They wont improve. They were rubbish from new. I scrapped my pushrod Escort with 135k on the clock and the engine was still running fine. You should get plenty of miles out of yours, fingers crossed. If I were you I'd consider keeping the car and take it to get MOT'd when the MOT runs out. Its much less grief than having to risk your cash on another old car You may be pleasantly surprised by how liitle it will cost to get it through the test if it costs you anything at all.
If its really bad news at the MOT it will have only cost you 35 pounds or so. Car breakers will pay thirty quid minimum for an MOT failure where I live. Scrap metal has value these days so the MOT will effectively be free.
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Must say I agree with milkyjoe and RichieW. Get a Haynes manual and do the work yourself.It will give you a great feeling of satisfaction and will help you to spot rip off merchants in future. Sometimes I think it`s short sighted not to repair an old car just because it`s going to cost more than it`s worth. I know of a few people who own the same model car as I do who think nothing of spending more than their value on them,but we have to be a bit mad to own a Fiat Coupe!
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Thanks :)
Just had a good look under the bonnet, there is no idle shake at all which must be a good sign, there is a bit of carbon on the exhaust but all these fiestas seem to be like that.
Just spent most of this afternoon fixing silly little things like small rust spots.
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Yes. They are quite sooty engines. I remember a new replacement exhaust turning black within a few weeks.
A few more things....
Just about every Fiesta rusts around the fuel filler area.
Check the oil dipstick every week as the engine can use a lot of oil and the oil warning light wont start flashing red until you've lost half the oil. This probably relates to the sooty exhaust.
The engine will also turn the oil black after a few days following an oil change so dont worry about it as they all do it but equally its a reason to change the oil fairly regularly. I changed mine three times a year which was probably overkill but the car was always reliable and much more so than my mates with much smarter cars who didn't know where their bonnet release catch was!
Enjoy.
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Final post on this topic from me. Dont forget about the spark plugs. They have a horrid tendency to corrode into the cylinder head and seize.
There are loads of threads of about this on this site if you care to do a search. The plugs can snap in half when you try to remove them and cause no end of bother. May be worth asking your mechanic if he changed them or even removed them to check them or not.
Its worth applying copper grease to the spark plug threads to stop this from happening.The design of the cylinder head allows dirt and water to collect around the plugs so its worth cleaning them out regularly. The breather take off pipe on top of the engine rocker cover has a tendency to drip moisture on the the plug directly underneath it. Its the plug towards the gearbox/passenger side of the engine. Also clean out the breather regularly as the moisture from the engine leaves a mayonaise like residue caused by oil and steam in the breather attatchment. This is nothing to be concerned about and there's loads of threads about this too on this site.
Most horror stories regarding the spark plugs on this site usually relate to someone doing a service on behalf of a female relative who has neglected to have any maintenance done on their car for years.
I think I'll duck for cover and retire for the evening now.
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Good advice from Richie:
Dont forget about the spark plugs. They have a horrid tendency to corrode into the cylinder head and seize. >>
This happened many years ago to my SiL's Fiesta, so beware!
>>Also clean out the breather regularly as the moisture from the engine leaves a mayonaise like residue caused by oil and steam in the breather attatchment.>>
If we don't pay regular attention to this in my son's old Fiesta it causes the engine to die after a few hundred yards. The only way we can get it going again is to clean out the 'mayo' and tow-start it. It can be a particular problem after a spate of short journeys in cold weather and I suspect (only suspect) it can be reduced when using 10-40 rather than 20-40 oil.
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