A hello with a tear in my eye..

Hello all,

I've been happily reading this forum for a few months now - a top site, picked up lots of handy tips! The bad news is I suffered a loss last weekend. My Y reg lhasa mk1 of 5 years died on the A12. To cut a long story short, it was a horrible mess - I am told the intermediate shaft has gone.

I am in a fix as to what to do with it now. Dropping a new engine in is going to cost mucho deniro, and the car is sound but by no means perfect. It needs some attention to a couple of minor rust patches. I would have thought before the engine blew up it would have been worth around the ?1500 mark-ish. The burning question is what's an honest mk1 gti with a busted engine worth?

Cheers,
Guy.

Hi calahan, unfortunatly your car is worth very little with a bust engine and in need of body repair too. Your best bet is to take it on the chin and pay the money for a 2nd hand engine and get some one to fit it for you. If you decide to sell afterwards then so be it, but trust me broken cars are almost worthless.
Fix it up and enjoy it some more :wink:

Yep, affraid Danny is right, you should be able to pick up an engine for not too much.

Good luck and keep us posted

Cheers
Andy

yea .dont loose out .if you sell it cheap them some one else will get an engine .and have the pleasure . i have several engines in stock . i do you one at a reasonble price . it wont kill your budget

Arse. Suspected as much. Cheers for the advice fellas. I guess I'll take it on the chin and try to source me a decent second hand lump..

We picked up a reasonable price TSR engine and gearbox from ebay a couple of weeks ago for our other MK1 currently off the road.

When we got there the guy was really sound and we didn't have to take it if we weren't happy.

There are some bargains out there to be had if you look and trust.

And what is it about the A12? Thats where my one died!

The AA are true friends of Mk1 drivers
 :dontknow:

Welcome Guy! If you have a basically sound shell its worth keeping. A second hand engine or even just the block is not going to cost too much to fix.

Guy,

I have some good used lumps also - one only reported to have 20K on it  

Cheers

Rich

Thanks for the replies. I'm on the case as I type.

On a side note, what are people's thoughts about a garage charging 1/2 an hours' labour to provide me with an estimate for replacing my engine? No diagnostic work was required, it was simply a case of working out how much labour and what the parts would cost. I think this is outrageous - especially as I am a regular customer at the garage in question. Am I wrong? What is standard practice in the industry?

Ta,
Guy.

Most garages would give a free estimate for such a job. My main concern is that if they need to look at the vehicle to estimate the amount of work they probably have not done a replacement engine on a Mk1 before and hence you may not get a good quality of workmanship.

Ring round a few places including specialists for a free estimate first.

As someone has pointed out, he only needed to view your car as to get an idea of what he was up against - tell him you thought you were a valued customer and wont be coming back to be treated like that!!

So get it to a proper Vw garage(thats either been reconmended on here or locally has a good name) that will understand the little Golf and how important it is to you as its not just another car on the road! - Maybe a garage will reduce the costs if you dont imply a time limit i.e they have it as a weekend fix or when the garage has time, depending on your circumstances…

Whilst the engines out its a good excuse to give it a makeover  :wink:

Whatever happens dont give up on the car, as someone will make Money on your bad luck!

Dave

Turns out my garage, which was once a friendly and honestly run VW specialist, has changed ownership. Sadly I think that customer service isn't top priority anymore.

The fella must've thought I was born yesterday. He claimed he got a mechanic to look at the car for a diagnosis, when he had identified a piece of the auxilliary shaft in the palm of my hand when I first went in and he offered to get the quote together!! The ?30 pocketed by them for a quotation will be the last money I spend there. I really can't understand the mentality of it. Surely in such a competitive industry reputation is everything?

Anyway my mk1 now has a date with a trailer and a long journey next week.

Anyone recommend somewhere in SE london for general servicing MOT work etc?

I am going to steer well clear of the A12 from now on…