Part exchanging a car with problems

Shock

Shock

Shock

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Joined
28 Sep 2004
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1,279
In need of some advice...

I regrettably own a 2003 Seat Toledo v5 with 110k on the clock. I've had it about three years and recently it's started developing some really ******* annoying faults. Random warning lights, erratic idling, delayed acceleration, stalling when slowing down, major water leak etc. It also has what i've been told is a 'secondary air pump' which sounds like a jet engine on startup. What its purpose is other than embarrassing me I have no idea. Two different garages have been unable to pinpoint the problems so it needs to go. Furthermore, the front corner of the bumper is stowed in after I lost control in the snow and drove it into a bank. So all in all, there's not much going for it.

I don't want the hassle of selling a problematic car to Joe Public so there are two remaining options: Torch it or part-ex it. If I reset the warning lights it will behave itself for a while but I need to know what to do about this bumper. I have a replacement bumper but a bodyshop has quoted me a minimum of £300 to get it sprayed and fitted. I want to replace it with a car that will be worth around 4-5K. Bar these few 'niggles' the rest of the car is pretty straight (lol), so am I right in thinking if I get the bumper fixed, I should get at least a grand for it in part-ex? I just don't want to waste time/money fixing it if I don't get the money back.

What to do Motors?
 
Find a car, take yours on a Sunday when some oik will offer you a PX and haggle then just drop it off when you pick your new one up, drive off in new car and forget about old car, most go straight to auctions so the dealer passes off any risk anyway.

When they ask say its fine and dandy, they don't care anyway unless is something special.

I even rolled my Mazda 6 in with no petrol and a shagged clutch and they didn't bat an eyelid.
 
Me i would reset the lights and leave the bumper alone, throw it in with the deal when you part ex it.
 
This is music to my ears. My only concern is that they will refuse the car because of the damage? It's all still in one piece - just bent where it's been pushed up.
 
Shock said:
This is music to my ears. My only concern is that they will refuse the car because of the damage? It's all still in one piece - just bent where it's been pushed up.
Click to expand...

No danger of them refusing it, get it stuck into one :)
 
You need a new air flow meter. It will cost you about £70 from TPS and takes no more than 5 minutes to replace.

You will need a 5 sided security hex bit though to remove bolts.
 
I didn't realise the MAF was so easy to replace.

The reason for my annoyance is because I took the car to a main stealer with a print out of all the fault codes (which clearly indicate it could be a problem with the MAF):

7 Faults Found:
17967 - Throttle Valve Control part (J338): Fault in basic settings
P1559 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent
16795 - Shareware Version. To Decode all DTCs
P0411 - 35-10 - Please Register/Activate - Intermittent
17511 - Shareware Version. To Decode all DTCs
P1103 - 35-10 - Please Register/Activate - Intermittent
17553 - Mass Air Flow Sensor (G70): Short to Plus
P1145 - 35-00 - -
17972 - Shareware Version. To Decode all DTCs
P1564 - 35-10 - Please Register/Activate - Intermittent
17551 - Shareware Version. To Decode all DTCs
P1143 - 35-10 - Please Register/Activate - Intermittent
16891 - Idle Control System RPM Higher than Expected.
P0507 - 35-00 - -

And they did absoulutely nothing to help apart from attempting to charge me £150 for running it through the diagnostics again. Of course that time no faults came up (because the problem is intermittent which is why I took the print out).

I suppose if all these things can be fixed for under £500 then maybe it's worth hanging onto it for a bit longer. Will have to think about it. Thanks.
 
Shouldn't think it'd cost anywhere near 500 :) I'd get on seatcupra.net ask for more info/advice and prices.

Also http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page - go on the fault codes section to read more about the codes and possible fixes.

You can also buy handy little code scanners off ebay for £20, search on ebay for U280 or U281 you'll see what I mean :) Lets you read and clear codes, handy to have to hand and no need pay a stealer for diags seeing as you can do what they did with their free version of vag com without them having the nerve to try and charge you £150 :)
 
secondary air pump used to pre-warm the cat to reduce emissions.
VW realised it was useless and removed it from later cars.

As said further up you can fix it for pennies OR you can just scrap it completely.
The noise it is making is because the plastic body is rivetted together and over time these rivets work loose, the fix is to replaced said rivets with screws and washers which will seal the casing backup again and get rid of the vacuum cleaner esque noise on startup.

Ta
James
 
sry to bring up an old thread , but i was searching the forums for some details on auctioning a car and found this thread

im thinking of putting my car to action for a fast sale and save me the hassle of fixing the minor issues wrong with the car

can i ask:

what is the process of selling it ? (obviously ive never used auctions before) how much does it cost to sell ? can you add a reserve and do you still pay if it doesnt sell ?


thanks :)
 
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