Reaching the end of its life...?

[Ecas]

Hey guys,

My trusty old Golf appears to be at the end of its days. I've had it close to 10 years (95 model) and had to do almost no work to it in that time - until about a year ago I lost my job and simply haven't had the money to maintain it.

The MOT just expired and I know it can't pass a new one and the cost of repairing it is well out of my budget. So I'm wondering what advice you guys have and what options I might have. Please bear in mind that my knowledge of cars is... limited.

The problems are many, and varied.

There have always been electrical problems with the car, though nothing major. A while ago though the headlights stopped working (dipped only, full beam still work) , and I'm pretty sure a wire burned out. At the same time the immobiliser stopped functioning (it is my belief a previous owner bodged it in and did the wiring badly which eventually led to two wires meeting and burning).

The ABS has been acting up. It will "churn" and grind the brakes/wheels at times. I followed a guide and removed the ABS fuse in the hope of sidestepping the problem, which worked for a few weeks. The ABS light would be on constantly. After that, the light would not come on, and the brakes would have the same effect. This happens only some of the time, but it seems to be directly related to the heat of... something. If I start the car cold the brakes will be fine and the ABS will be off. But if I run it for a few minutes then turn the engine off, the ABS light will be off and the brakes will act up when I turn it back on. Also on hot days it'll act like this from the start.

The heat plate under the car has been rattling for a while, and I just ignored it, but that rattle has been joined by the exhaust which bounces around and rattles too.

So these seem like they are probably pretty serious and expensive issues to fix. I don't want to even take it to a garage if it's going to cost more than I am likely to be able to afford. The first two would be an immediate fail to the MOT, so at the moment my plan is to just off-road it and at least save some money while I work out what to do next.

I can do very limited repairs as I have arthritis and my hands are no nearly as strong as they used to be.

What advice do you guys have? Scrap it? Give repairing it a go? Sell it for parts?

Many thanks in advance for any help and advice!

[Len]

Those are minor.

Headlights may be a broken wire of the relay, either is an easy and cheap fix.

ABS is probably a wheel sensor and you need to find somebody with vag-com to check which one. They are around 20 to 30 quid and an easy fix.

Exhaust - take off the heatshield you dont need it!
Rattling is probably the middle box rubber mounts again a cheap and easy fix.

[Ecas]

Those are minor.

Headlights may be a broken wire of the relay, either is an easy and cheap fix.

ABS is probably a wheel sensor and you need to find somebody with vag-com to check which one. They are around 20 to 30 quid and an easy fix.

Exhaust - take off the heatshield you dont need it!
Rattling is probably the middle box rubber mounts again a cheap and easy fix.

Hi, thanks for the reply! So you think it is probably worth taking it in and getting it looked at? When you say "cheap and easy" are you talking in the region of £200 or less? Don't underestimate how broke I am right now

[Gavv8]

If the bodywork is good and the motor and gearbox are still sweet then its worth saving otherwise its time to say goodbye..

[Len]

As Gavv says, if they are then the bits you say need fixing is way under £200 if you can do them yourself.
And most people can with the help of a Haynes manual.
As for strength in your hands its all about leverage so get some long levers, a breaker bar or a spanner on the end of another spanner etc.

[Jasikasisback]

All of these can be fixed and there are guides on youtube/elsewhere on how to do this. As said above, buy a fault code reader off of ebay for £15 and it may surprise you in regards to your ABS. Most likely it will be one sensor that needs replacing, or just a good clean..You can try that first and clean the electrical connectors for the ABS and give the sensors themselves a gentle clean. Heat shield you can remove yourself as mentioned above. The lights may be that the ignition barrel needs a bit of jiggling. My other half used to crank the golf with quite a lot of force when she was starting it and then the normal lights would not illuminate properly but as in your case the high beams worked. Give it a go one night in front of a wall. After you crank the car just gently rotate the key back a little bit as it you are going to turn it of. If that is the case you will just need a new ignition barrel which is quite cheap. If you are very lucky no repairs will be needed.

[Gavv8]

The mk3 is a very simple and easy car to work on, the problems come where parts have been on the car for a long time and sometimes need garage tools to remove/replace but thats the same on any car, as long as the underneath/sills are solid and it still drives good then there are always lots of trustworthy members breaking mk3's for parts in the classifieds section of the forum, also remember to use the code GGTIUK25 to get 25% off parts at Europarts for anything you need to replace brand new.
The code reader is a very good idea as they are quite cheap on ebay and allow you to locate problems with the car quickly and are therefore very cost effective.