When to give up with a car?

[Jiff Lemon]

Unless it's dripping off the car I don't think this is an MOT failure? Where's Jiff when you need him?

Right here fella

I'm in a similar position with my car, just failed it's MOT with a long list of issues. Quotes for the repair are about £750 to fix it properly, or about £500 to just get it through the MOT. Plus, it's got a big service due for the drive belt to be replaced. The car is only a Y reg Seat Ibiza with 145k miles.

A few of the things wrong with it: Radiator leaking, worn rear tyre, broken spring in front suspension, hole in exhaust, minor oil leak, corroded brake cables, and some others I've forgotten. The leaks are only minor, since I've only had to top up the coolant once in the last 6 months, and he says it's leaking oil because he can see it on some exterior parts of the engine, but it's not leaving any oil on the ground below when parked.

Radiator leaking - Not a fail
Worn rear tyre - Substitue with spare
Broken front spring - Yup, thats a fail, but and easy fix.
Hole in exhaust - Fail but easily fixed
Corroded brake cables - Not a fail. Pipes - Maybe; Cables NOT

Now granted, some of those may be advisory items; Post up your Fail sheet if you want me to go through it with a toothcomb, but certainly doesn't sound the end of the road for a Y-plate motor.

[jimbouk]

What car is it?

1995 Mondeo - very basic model. Possibly was worth £500 if I got very lucky as it was in good condition, now tuppence. It's been a great load lugger but I'm in a similar position to Mblaster that I don't really need it. Might be worth the £50 for an MOT just to see what happens, scrap value is still fairly low and I might get lucky...

[Mblaster]

Radiator leaking - Not a fail
Worn rear tyre - Substitue with spare
Broken front spring - Yup, thats a fail, but and easy fix.
Hole in exhaust - Fail but easily fixed
Corroded brake cables - Not a fail. Pipes - Maybe; Cables NOT

Now granted, some of those may be advisory items; Post up your Fail sheet if you want me to go through it with a toothcomb, but certainly doesn't sound the end of the road for a Y-plate motor.

Thanks for the info, and it was the pipes not cables for the brakes.

I'll get a hold of the proper list and put it up here, there was probably other stuff I've forgotten as well.