fortune82 Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 One for the mechanically minded I think. My brother left for Australia 5 months ago and despite me advising him not to, left his VW Golf parked on my parents drive. I arrived at my parents this morning and had a look at the car! Both front tyres were a bit flat, the engine oil levels are low, there is no power steering fluid in the reservoir, the battery is totally dead, the brake disks are rusted badly and the hand brake is seized on, oh and its almost impossible to move the gear stick! Question is how easy would it be to get it into a road worthy state? The disks are badly rusted, will these need changing or can it be "worn" off? What about the gear stick, any ideas why it wont move? Does the power steering fluid suggest a leak? As for the siezed hand brake any ideas on how to free it? The car is a VW Golf 52 reg 1.9 TDI with 122,000 on the clock. Anyone fancy buying it!!!!!! Its a sweet little runner!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul223 Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 (edited) Both front tyres were a bit flat, the engine oil levels are low, there is no power steering fluid in the reservoir, the battery is totally dead, pump the tyres up correct the levels and charge the battery (obviously) run it and check for leaks the brake disks are rusted badly that might well clean off with use, try it first, has it got test left on it? if so use it for a bit and the hand brake is seized on, alloy wheels or steel? if steel pull the trims off and give the rim a clack with a hammer close to but not bang on center, sort of between the nuts if it's alloy then may be better to pull the wheels off first to save marking the rims, if that don't work check the calliper is releasing on the cable oh and its almost impossible to move the gear stick!wd40 on the linkages Question is how easy would it be to get it into a road worthy state? The disks are badly rusted, will these need changing or can it be "worn" off? What about the gear stick, any ideas why it wont move? Does the power steering fluid suggest a leak? As for the siezed hand brake any ideas on how to free it? The car is a VW Golf 52 reg 1.9 TDI with 122,000 on the clock. Anyone fancy buying it!!!!!! Its a sweet little runner!!!! Edited February 19, 2011 by Paul223 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaxiDriver Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 (edited) One for the mechanically minded I think. My brother left for Australia 5 months ago and despite me advising him not to, left his VW Golf parked on my parents drive. I arrived at my parents this morning and had a look at the car! Both front tyres were a bit flat, the engine oil levels are low, there is no power steering fluid in the reservoir, the battery is totally dead, the brake disks are rusted badly and the hand brake is seized on, oh and its almost impossible to move the gear stick! Question is how easy would it be to get it into a road worthy state? The disks are badly rusted, will these need changing or can it be "worn" off? What about the gear stick, any ideas why it wont move? Does the power steering fluid suggest a leak? As for the siezed hand brake any ideas on how to free it? The car is a VW Golf 52 reg 1.9 TDI with 122,000 on the clock. Anyone fancy buying it!!!!!! Its a sweet little runner!!!! After you've just sold it so eloquently, How can anyone resist :lol: It doesn't sound as if he's maybe not looked after it particularly well?. Things like Power steering fluid shouldn't really go unless its leaking badly, and usually leaks more in use as its under pressure. Has it left puddles under the car ? Hand brake might come off it you try and drive it back and forth, likely just to be stuck through irregular use. Brake discs shouldnt be too bad, merely surface rust through lack of use, (assuming they were in reasonable shape to start with) Again the gear linkages could be stiff due to surface rust through lack of use, or lack of lubrication if not looked after regularly. Or could be due to clutch being stuck, again surface rust. I'd be tempted to A: Charge the battery up B: Blow the tyres up C: Give the car a good wash/polish D: Top up the oil levels and power steering fluid Edited February 19, 2011 by TaxiDriver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marmitemania Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 If the battery has been dead for the last 5 months it will be had it, they brakedown inside and you can charge it and it will probably hold a charge for a day or a week but IT will let you down new battery £60/70, power steering could be a fractured pipe as this tends to happen in cold weather, no more than around £100/150 fitted in a garage, but it could be the rack which will be considerably more, the gear change is **** on a golf at the best of times but it sounds as if the cables might be seized and I have never had much luck freeing of gear change cables it usually means new cables you might be looking around a couple of hundred quid for these fitted as the cables can be very expensive, handbrake if its disks on the back could be seized caliper/s or handbrake cable or just the pads stuck to the disc budget again £200 if the caliper is seized and needs replacing, if its drums a lot cheaper, just bang the wheel as said before, the front brakesstuck on might clean up with use but if left for some time the pads can burn into the disk necesitating the replacement of disks and pads. Also if the tyres have been flat for a long time check that the sidewall is not damaged when you pump them up as the weight of the car on a flat tyre can damage the sidewall and give you a carbunkle which is dangerous, cars worth about £2000 with a full mot and in good condition so you have to weigh up if its worth repairing or shove it on fleabay as spares or repairs and you could get £1000 or more possibly without laying out any cash or risking finding any more problems. My experience is cars dedterioate quickly when parked up espcially over winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortune82 Posted February 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 After you've just sold it so eloquently, How can anyone resist :lol: It doesn't sound as if he's maybe not looked after it particularly well?. Things like Power steering fluid shouldn't really go unless its leaking badly, and usually leaks more in use as its under pressure. Has it left puddles under the car ? Hand brake might come off it you try and drive it back and forth, likely just to be stuck through irregular use. Brake discs shouldnt be too bad, merely surface rust through lack of use, (assuming they were in reasonable shape to start with) Again the gear linkages could be stiff due to surface rust through lack of use, or lack of lubrication if not looked after regularly. Or could be due to clutch being stuck, again surface rust. I'd be tempted to A: Charge the battery up B: Blow the tyres up C: Give the car a good wash/polish D: Top up the oil levels and power steering fluid I've been inundated with requests to buy this sweet little motor!!! In Reality the car is in a bit of a state! I phoned him this morning and he says he wants 2500 quid for it !!!!!! I told him Im going to get it dragged onto a trailer and take it to my mates farm so we can rag it around the fields then just scrap it! He wasnt very impressed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hodge911 Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 In Reality the car is in a bit of a state! I phoned him this morning and he says he wants 2500 quid for it !!!!!! wow has he been doing some tribal ceremonies while out there coz i think he,s still halucinating .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marmitemania Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 I think there has been a typing error one to many zero's £250 :look: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodcock11 Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 One for the mechanically minded I think. My brother left for Australia 5 months ago and despite me advising him not to, left his VW Golf parked on my parents drive. I arrived at my parents this morning and had a look at the car! Both front tyres were a bit flat, the engine oil levels are low, there is no power steering fluid in the reservoir, the battery is totally dead, the brake disks are rusted badly and the hand brake is seized on, oh and its almost impossible to move the gear stick! Question is how easy would it be to get it into a road worthy state? The disks are badly rusted, will these need changing or can it be "worn" off? What about the gear stick, any ideas why it wont move? Does the power steering fluid suggest a leak? As for the siezed hand brake any ideas on how to free it? The car is a VW Golf 52 reg 1.9 TDI with 122,000 on the clock. Anyone fancy buying it!!!!!! Its a sweet little runner!!!! Vampire is the one to fix it - He has just posted this on the Golf GTI thread - obviously an expert! Here is what he says..... I used to work for vw/audi in the 80s,have driven most makes of cars and one of the fastest was an old astra gte fitted with a pace turbo which according to the figures would accelerate faster than a fully blown quattro,well i had to find out and by heck did it,couldnt keep it straight weaving all over the road it was so fast. Nearly totalled an audi 80 sport picking it up from body shop,thought i would see what kind of speed it would do so gave it the big un and over took a van,was out and back in to my lane before i new what was happening,it was first time i had driven a car with power steering. Gave a rover sdi the biggun,went to change gear and did a nose dive emergency stop,it was automatic,the first time i had driven one and hit the brake instead of clutch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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