My Old Truck And Work It Needs

[jims-terrano]

Had my old Terrano in for a dose of looking at today, here's what it needs. Trying to work out if it's worth keep spending £500ish every year to get it through MOT.

Needs At The Moment
Rear axle oil seal

To Get It Throught Next MOT
Front CV boot
Front ARB
Front Cross Member and possibly the body mounts
Front Bumper Brackets
ABS keeps chattering randomly even when sat not moving
And anything else that breaks between now and then

At the moment both front wings have holes and bottom of the c post which is where one of the rear arches joins top of the sill has a hole in it. So it looks pretty rough really. Both inner wings have small holes in them which are MOT advisories and are still only advisories. On the plus side both sills inner and outer have been replaced as full panels and seat belt mounts are also solid after being repaired.

So trying to work out if its worth repairing or cut my losses and start saving now and in the meantime getting the axle oil seal repaired as this is a safety repair to keep it running.
What's everyone's thoughts?

 

[perelaar]

Depends a bit on age and emotional value... and resale value

 

[jims-terrano]

Resale will be next to nothing really. Forgot to say it's a 1996 R plate.

It's very practical and is mainly used by the wife and a doggy transporter so looking pretty tatty nowadays.

 

[AlexD333]

Shame as they are lovely motors, shouldn't let the rust build up like that

Tackle it early and it saves a big future bill. I'm biased I say keep it, you know it and you know what it's like.

An at is 8 quid
A cv is about 25 quid
The various welding... :nenau

 

[bry]

How many years have you been spending around £500 ish on it?

 

[jims-terrano]

How many years have you been spending around £500 ish on it?

Probably more than I care to remember, the joys of not being a home mechanic I guess.

 

[Terrano Steve]

Sounds like you have already made your mind up but it's probably still more economical to repair than replace. £500 / year wouldn't go far on depreciation for a newer more reliable vehicle.

 

[jims-terrano]

No not made mind up yet, would love to replace it but that too will cost money. One of these years it'll surely not be able to pass an mot. The way we have looked at it is that we could spend more than £500 on another car. Its more about how safe is it? it's one thing passing an MOT but with each year of extra rust the body shell will be weakened.

 

[rustic]

We are in a similar position with our 1995 Mav, as to how long we should keep her. The difference for us, we have never spent £500 in total in the 20 years we have had her. Excluding wear and tear items, tyres, batteries, brakes, exhaust oil etc
Last year, one upper ball joint, and front exhaust pipe, that whistled, and was replaced again...the year before another upper ball joint.
The year before £6.99 for a screen pump, and the biggest expense, £30 for a replacement fuel tank.
I do all the servicing myself, which saves hundreds per year.
Now we are both (early) retired, we do not need two cars, we have a new yeti, with extra warranty, at the moment the Mav costs us less than £400 per annum in road tax, MOT and insurance.
So for a second car with zero depreciation, for us it is still worth keeping, but if we started to pay £500 per year on repairs then we would think again.
Fuel is also an issue, Mav at best 30mpg, Yeti close to 60 mpg on long runs.
Guess which one does most of the mileage...?
However, if the car was essential, ie for work, then even owning another younger car might prove more expensive in repairs, depreciation, etc.
The other issue, is one of reliability, if you know that getting into a car and it always starts on the key, every day year in year out, then that is major factor in car ownership.
How many modern cars can you guarantee that for?

Driving older cars can be economical if...
1 you have more than one car, you can get by, if one is off the road, or you need to go out and get second hand bits.
2 you have the basic skills, tools, and time to tinker.
3 you have a suitable place to work on the vehicle.
4 you still get satisfaction from keeping an old girl on the road.

Disposable income is also important.
If you are paid overtime, and there is plenty of it, then letting someone else work on it whilst you work in a warm and dry environment becomes feasible.

This year I have a few jobs that I'd like to do on the mav, but it will all wait until after the MOT, most is preventative maintenance, de rusting, waxoyling, new fuel filter and clean the mini filter.
The Mav is due it's MOT but my shoulder surgery has meant that it will be at the last minute, as I still can't drive it, let alone do any minor repairs, so after the MOT if there are any issues, I might get the garage to sort it, or get my wife to drive it home, and SORN it, for a couple of months.

The next point is... replacement tyres... Due to low mileage, the tyres are now quite old, but with plenty of tread, to buy new ones would be quite expensive.
235 75 R15 but there are plenty of used ones out there :nenau

For us it might be more economical to only run one car, and should we need another at short notice, then to hire one.

I would have to do the sums...
What does the Mav really cost us per year, and that calculation must include tyres, exhausts, batteries, fuel, and we could probably hire a car for a few weeks on that, should we need too.
So what am I saying...? If our Mav starts to cost big bucks... then time to move on.:nenau

I love the Mav, I love driving it, I would need therapy if anything happened to it, but over the last few weeks, following my surgery, I am having a wake up call, could it be that my ability, of working on cars has now reached a turning point?
Time will tell, I haven't even started physio yet, to start building up my muscles etc. You can tell I am fed up with it all at the moment. I can't wait to get back into the driving seat lol. Also, my shoulder is giving me some jip at the moment, hence the nocturnal posts again.:doh

 

[jims-terrano]

Rustic, you're right. You don't need two cars so I'll give you fifty quid and instantly save you 350 a year:augie

The fuel thing doesn't really matter too much as the wife doesn't do loads of miles but needs it for work and to transport the dogs.

I used to tinker with cars but a combination of pressure of needing it on the raod, confidence and time has taken it's toll on my ability to work on the cars. If I were to remove the bumper and wings to set about replacing front cross member and patch the inner wings, whilst I was at it patch the front wings and tidy them up there would be so much pressure to get it finished I wouldn't enjoy it or have the time to take my time.

I Possibly spend too much time doing voluntary work to the detriment of my personal time which doesn't help. I don't think I'm as attached to the Car as I used to be.t

It's looking like we will probably be keeping it for another year at least and similarly to you Rustic we still have another car that will do the lions share of motoring other than transporting the dogs.