repair work and questions...

[daz_uk]

Hi,

I'm looking to sell my V-Reg Clio Mk2 1.6 16v, but before i did so I wanted to run it through the MOT and get rid of some annoying sounds and niggles. First i spent £500 on new standard exhaust system and some new Avon ZZ3 tyres for the front and some other stuff, then I noticed a noise when i was turning. Of course i thought it would be the CV joint, but they couldn't find anything wrong with it so after weeks of this annoying noise (I can't sell it while it makes this noise!) I went to a recommended garage near where I live and booked it in for an MOT, hoping he'f find the noise and sort it too.
Well he reported back that the anti-roll bar was fractured, so replaced this, ran it through the MOT with a few other replacement parts and that was that.
Problem is I noticed on the drive back that the noise was the same! It did feel better to drive, it had been leaning badly when turning and making a funny noise, which had now gone since replacing the anti-roll bar so i didn't doubt the repair, however the main problem was still there!
Also, on the same drive the speed-ometer went to zero while I was doing 60 - 70mph and stayed there for a bit and then shot back up to the right speed!? What is this?! Could they have accidentally knocked some sppedometer sensor or something whilst repairing it that day??

I took it back to him (but stupidly forgot to mention the speedometer thing) about the noise, and he came for a little drive with me so i could show him the noise when i turn. Straight away on hearing it he said it was my driveshaft. he said I could replace one but may as well do both as the noise was present on turning both ways (worse to the left though). he said new driveshafts are £200 each but he could do re-conned ones for £100 each with fitting/labour included. My fan belt tensioner needs replacing too (£40) and while we were on the drive he said the whining noise i could hear as well was a wheel bearing startng to go!

If I pay for all this work I'm gonna have spent upwards of £900 on it and I just want to sell the thing! It's been a great car but because i don't want to sell anyone a nigglesome car I'm trying to get it in tip-top shape but all these problems have all come to a head it seems lately...

Any advice on the driveshaft and speedometer situation? Is £200 for two re-conned driveshafts fitted too much money? Should I mention that the speedometer keeps going to zero randomly whilst driving? I've never seen that before in 4 years of owning the car and it's funny it happened on the day I got it back from them...

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Daz

 

[daz_uk]

no advice?

 

[TomTom]

If you shop around you could probably find a wheel bearing for about £20 at a guess, try German & Swedish gsfcarparts.com or Euro car parts eurocarparts.com try them for the driveshafts aswell, they'll knock cash off if you give them your old shafts (they send them away to be reconned and sold again, ask if they do service exchange)

Like you say its annoying to have to put money into a car you are, ultimately, trying to get rid off. But you could just take a chance and let the buyers know of the stuff wrong, and if they haggle then your not losing money as such - as you haven't spend cash on parts. Ask your local garage man thats already looked at the car if he'd do you a deal on the labour if you get all the work done with him.

Speedo could either be a loose wire in the gearbox or on the back of the speedometer. If it happens again, trying tapping the area near the needle with your fingers quite hard see if it jumps into life. Only a 10 minute job to get the dash top off if you did want to check it.​

 

[edde]

Firstly don't bother going back to the first garage if they didn't notice a bust ARB link when they were supposed to be looking for it.

Check the top mounts under the bonnet arn't catching firstly. Also check the top mount bungs and bearings. You can check the CV joints though by hand so a garage should be able to check you could say well I'll pay the ££ oonly if it fixes the problem shafts are a bad item for failure though.

As for the speedo loose ABS wire or bad earth check behind your dash and under the bonnet on the gearbox and or abs stsrem for a loose connection. They could have caught somehting.

No idea what fan belt tensioner he's on about thats on the AUX belt or cambelt which in the cambelt case is £££ and aux belt case is £40 maybe.

£200 is a bit streep but commo price. Try a breakers yard ou cna get them for £80 or so I expect and fit them yourself not that diffiuclt to do if you've the tools etc.