Is my Yaris dead?

hengilas

Hi,

I know nothing about cars, so apologies if this is a stupid question.

I have a 2001, 1.0L, 3 door Toyota Yaris (Terra) with 86K miles on the clock, a few scratches on the bodywork.

Just before its last service (Sept. 2010), it started getting noisy, particularly at idle. The mechanic diagnosed worn bearings in the gearbox/transmission. Recommended that it would soon need a new gearbox. Estimated that with parts and labour, as well as the replacement of a few other bits and pieces that would be worth doing at the same time, it would come to over a grand.

I decided to put it off, and see if I could get the car past its next NCT (April 2011) before making a decision. I'd pretty much already decided to try and drive it into the ground, but I didn't think the ground would approach this quickly.

After a long trip, with plenty of low gear driving - the car now has a problem staying engaged in first. As in, I put the car in first and as soon as I start to apply power it slips out and grinds. After a couple of attempts, it will stay in. It's annoying, but I can still take off in second (as long as I'm not attempting a hill start).

But the gear stick now wobbles alarmingly when it's in second, especially when I take the power off. The wobble goes away when I clutch in or apply power.

Given that I have neither the skills (nor the patience) to obtain or supervise proper repairs - I have decided to try and sell the car and get something newer. I'm not in any huge hurry, but I have some questions:

1. Is it dangerous to be driving a car with the gearbox in this condition?
2. Could I be doing further damage to the car by continuing to drive it like this (the engine is perfect, it's only the gearbox/transmission that's banjaxed).
3. Is the car worth anything much? The engine is fine, the interior is ok. The electrics all work (it's a Toyota). It's fairly scratched (some exposed metal on some panels) and the gearbox is on it's way out, but those are the only real issues.

- HL

Plug

Why not get a gearbox from a scrap yard, 200 quid and fitting it maybe 200 give or take 50/ don't bother putting in a new clutch or release bearing if you don't want to. job done.

fonecrusher1

Yeah try to get it repaired. If you sell the car with the fault you'll get offered silly money for it. Yaris's have a very good resale, even old ones.

However if the repairs are going to run into several hundred euros...i dunno???

Someone else take this one...

colm_mcm

Here's the thing....

If the car is ratty looking, it'd be hard to sell if it was running properly anyway. From your description its worth 1k tops running and without nct.

So, if you had it in your head to change cars to something nicer then I'd sell it as is. The gearbox will serve a distraction and the body repairs and nct jobs don't get the attention.

Stick it up on donedeal, take 500 quid and spend the 600 you'll spend on a box, The 200/300 you might spend on nct and buy something decent with the test done.

Raskolnikov

colm_mcm wrote: »

Stick it up on donedeal, take 500 quid and spend the 600 you'll spend on a box, The 200/300 you might spend on nct and buy something decent with the test done.

If you were an asshole, you could flog it for €2k and not say a thing about the gearbox.

colm_mcm

Whereas here in the real world nobody will pay 2k for a 3 door yaris with a rough body, 3 months nct, no first gear, hardly any second gear and funny noises coming from it.

hengilas

Thanks for the feedback. It's pretty much what I thought. I'm not enough of an asshole to try and hide the problems with the car, and I certainly wouldn't sell it privately in this condition. I'd much prefer to deal with a garage who'd understand what they're buying/trading for (and have the skills/parts to fix it more cheaply than I could).

The car's not exactly ratty looking. Some scratches where it scraped against a gate, but no dents, hanging bumpers, shattered lights etc. From a distance (or in dim lighting), it looks fine...

I was hoping to get some sense of the trade/sale value of the car in this condition. From the sounds of it, 500 - 1K. Maybe a little more if I'm trading against something the garage really wants to get rid of. If the gearbox was fixed, it would make a pretty decent starter car from someone (as it was for me).

So, 500 to 1,000 Euros?

fonecrusher1

hengilas wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback. It's pretty much what I thought. I'm not enough of an asshole to try and hide the problems with the car, and I certainly wouldn't sell it privately in this condition. I'd much prefer to deal with a garage who'd understand what they're buying/trading for (and have the skills/parts to fix it more cheaply than I could).

The car's not exactly ratty looking. Some scratches where it scraped against a gate, but no dents, hanging bumpers, shattered lights etc. From a distance (or in dim lighting), it looks fine...

I was hoping to get some sense of the trade/sale value of the car in this condition. From the sounds of it, 500 - 1K. Maybe a little more if I'm trading against something the garage really wants to get rid of. If the gearbox was fixed, it would make a pretty decent starter car from someone (as it was for me).

So, 500 to 1,000 Euros?

Yes the problem is a garage will offer you about 650 euro for it, repair the gearbox & sell it on for up to 4 times what you got. Personally that wouldn't sit well with me. I'd look around, try to source a replacement gearbox & have the work done for a reasonable fee & sell it privately in my own time.

Like i said the yaris has a strong resale value.

Esel

Replacement gearbox, as Plug said. Then 'drive it into the ground'. You should get a few more happy years from it, if you keep it serviced.

hengilas

Esel wrote: »

Replacement gearbox, as Plug said. Then 'drive it into the ground'. You should get a few more happy years from it, if you keep it serviced.

I would go the fix and continue route if:

1. I had much confidence in my ability to get the car fixed for a reasonable amount, and that would be the end of my mechanical problems.
2. I hadn't already decided that I really, really want a new car. Specifically, a 2nd hand Civic 1.4i.

...so it comes down to the following options:

1. Tidy up the Yaris and try to get a reasonable trade-in with its current mechanical problems (hopefully up to 1K) - leaving the garage to sort out the problems and to market it as a decent starter car. I have no problem leaving some money on the table for them since they're taking a risk.

2. Get a new gear box and clutch for 500-700 quid, and hope that improves the resale value by 800-1000 quid (basically getting myself 300 quid for taking the time, hassle and risk). I do know someone who owns a scrap-yard, so it mightn't be that difficult.

...the second option just seems unlikely, since there are so many Yaris' about the place, and mine does sound pretty rough.

It sounds like my best bet is to take the car to a dealership anyway and talk to them about getting it valued/repaired and see what they say. If they have another crocked Yaris with a decent gearbox hanging around awaiting scrappage, it might be worth their while. In case anyone's remotely interested, I'll post back with their findings.

Thanks for all the replies. And to the person who PM'd me asking where I was based, I'm in the West.

-HL

colm_mcm

You'd probably get more of a discount off the civic for a stragigt deal.
I think someone looking for a fixer upper for tha daughter would give decent money on donedeal.

dr.fuzzenstein

I hear that if you fill the gearbox with sawdust it will function for a little while longer.
Maybe just long enough to sell it...?;)
(This is of course not an advised course of action)

hengilas

Follow-up for anyone who's interested:

- I had a couple of expressions of interest in PMs from mechanics who were on this thread, looking to buy it as is, as a fixer-upper. Never got to prices though, because I was still trying to figure that out.

- I was quoted between 500 and 700 to replace the gearbox and clutch (2nd hand part included).

- After two weeks of taking off in second gear, the clutch/gearbox finally gave out last night (could shift into gear, but no power getting to wheels), and the car is now immobilised, leaving me car-less. Which is annoying.

- I was offered 3K scrappage for the car this morning off the price of a "new-ish" 2010 1.2L Suzuki Swift with 10K miles on the clock (ex-demo model?). The scrappage would take the price of the Swift to E9950. But I don't really want to buy a Swift (plasticky interior, noisy engine, whiny gearbox) so...

- I'm getting the car towed and fixed. New gearbox/clutch. I'll eat the cost, take it through its NCT, and then decide whether I want to trade it in for a decent used Civic at some point later in the year.

Thanks to all.

-HL.

Stevie Dakota

Did I hear Renault are offering and extra €3.5K on trade ins for Meganes over the next few days, could be worth a call.

http://www.renault.ie/

johnbobtheslob

i got a gearbox for a corolla for 90 euro last week and it was 100 euro to put it in. go to scrapyards for a gearbox

dr.fuzzenstein

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

Did I hear Renault are offering and extra €3.5K on trade ins for Meganes over the next few days, could be worth a call.

http://www.renault.ie/

Only problem is that you then have a Renault...;)

hengilas

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Only problem is that you then have a Renault...;)

Having already established that I know nothing about cars, the only thing I actually do know about cars is to never buy a French one - no matter how pretty it is. I was just about willing to make an exception for Citroens, because they're very, very nice to look at. But then I got sense.

Plus, I can't stand Bill Cullen. I actually went to my local Renault dealership and I spent the entire time resisting the urge to punch his cardboard cutout.

Thanks for the suggestion, but not really an option.

sh1tstirrer

Search for car dismantlers they are plenty of them around and a lot of them have parts on the shelf. That way if anything else goes after the gearbox you won't be after spending a fortune on it.

dr.fuzzenstein

hengilas wrote: »

I was just about willing to make an exception for Citroens, because they're very, very nice to look at. But then I got sense.
.

Have to say +1 on the Citroens, VERY nice to look at, tempted meself.
Saw a C4 with alloys so nice I wanted to have it there and then.
But my Focus will do it for another while, so no worries.

fricatus

hengilas wrote: »

Plus, I can't stand Bill Cullen. I actually went to my local Renault dealership and I spent the entire time resisting the urge to punch his cardboard cutout.

LOL

I know how you feel.