Scrap is fetching a good price these days. We weighed in an Escort estate the other week, drove it to the yard and got £145 for it.

Guess this is why there aren't so many cars popping up for prices like a tenner anymore - and those signs at the side of the road offering £60 for your car pop up everywhere.

Just saw a very nice old Ford, think it was an escort 1600 automatic, parked outside B&Q as I went to get a blow torch. Guess it's more amazing that an automatic has survived that long - although can't remember the reg.

Well I've had the new 1.6 Skoda since Tuesday and it's working just fine.

The temp gauge is random just like the previous owner said it was, but strangely sometimes when I've turned off the ignition the gauge stays where it is. This is making me think it's the actual gauge that's faulty, not the sensor?

Does this sound likely?

I've viewed the engine while it's been running and the fan seems to come on at intervals. The engine seems to be running at the correct temp, just the gauge itself appears to be in a world of it's own.

Still waiting for the garage to tow back the old car, but when I get it back I'll see if I can salvage the gauge from the old car, although if it's a dashboard out job, I might just leave it

If the gauge was reading full all the time instantly that would point to a wiring fault (short circuit). The gauge should drop to the bottom with ignition and everything off. If it wasn't for that I'd suspect a fault on the cooling system, such as an air lock, faulty thermostat and so on.

The Felicia is based on the Favorit (and shares the same lower dashboard design) - so I assume that the instrument panel is nearly just as easy to remove as the Favorit one. A Haynes should explain how. On the Favorit it's a screw either side of the dash panel, remove switch panels, 3 screws remove hood, 2 screws remove instrument panel. Although I suspect the instrument panel for the 1.6 is different to the 1.3. Probably easier to find a 1.6 in a scrap yard and swap out the entire panel.

The switches are worth saving though as light switch or hazard light switch etc failure means MOT failure. As is the fusebox.

The gauge has never reach full at all. Most it's been is normal mark 1/3? If you know what I mean. Just a couple of times now, it's stayed where it is when I've turned off the engine.

So the temp gauge rarely to never reaches Full Scale Deflection (FSD) either way?

If I've understood that correctly, then it's neither not getting power (always at min FSD) or shorted (max FSD as already stated). I'd say that the problem is that the needle mechanics aren't working correctly.

So the temp gauge rarely to never reaches Full Scale Deflection (FSD) either way?

If I've understood that correctly, then it's neither not getting power (always at min FSD) or shorted (max FSD as already stated). I'd say that the problem is that the needle mechanics aren't working correctly.

On driving it home from Yorkshire (180 mile trip), the needle didn't move at all for the first 30 miles, then went up to the first mark, and then only reached normal mark when I finally had the confidence to hit 70mph. When I switched off the ignition it fell to zero very slowly.

The next day when I used it for a 20 mile journey, the needle didn't move from the first mark when I switched off the ignition. The following day it had eventually gone back to zero, before I started the engine. This is what makes me think it's just the gauge that's faulty. :confused:

The fan comes on under load/when the engine is hot - so I'm thinking it's maintaining the correct engine temp when running.

i hope you haven't scrapped the 1.3!!!!

the ECU fault is nothing major but garages can't diagnose it. i fixed a car that was due to be crushed in less than half an hour...

Hundreds of good perfectly working cars are scrapped every day unfortunately.

i hope you haven't scrapped the 1.3!!!!

the ECU fault is nothing major but garages can't diagnose it. i fixed a car that was due to be crushed in less than half an hour...

It's not scrapped as yet (still at the garage), but it will be. Just not worth getting it sorted, or spending any more money on it. The MOT has expired now as well, so that would be required before it could be put back on the road.

Quite frankly it's pointless me throwing money at the damn thing, as I'd never be able to sell it to even recover what it's already had done, MOT and sorting out whatever it is with the ECU.

It is a shame for it to end it's days like this, but that's the way it goes sometimes with old, low value cars. No point in being sentimental about it

It's not scrapped as yet (still at the garage), but it will be. Just not worth getting it sorted, or spending any more money on it. The MOT has expired now as well, so that would be required before it could be put back on the road.

Quite frankly it's pointless me throwing money at the damn thing, as I'd never be able to sell it to even recover what it's already had done, MOT and sorting out whatever it is with the ECU.

It is a shame for it to end it's days like this, but that's the way it goes sometimes with old, low value cars. No point in being sentimental about it

money? its the simplest ECU known to man!

this is how you fix it:

remove ECU.

replace with another one from another 1.3 felicia or favorit.

start car.

i mean, i know its complicated and all, and probably you're going to need a lottery win to fund the repair or else take a week off work to do the intensive labour, but sure, nothing simpler than scrapping a perfectly good car otherwise - that's the real fun eh?

p.s.

if you do attempt this high-scale service, you need just 2 similar tools to do it. unfortunately you cant buy them anywhere really, but luckily God graced us with one on the end of each arm, so you might be in luck...

p.p.s.

OLD???!!

The temp gauge on mine stays at halfway now.

When I had the stat and fan switch changed the gauge would stay at cold on a motorway cruise!!!

But all is normal now.

And sell the 1.3!!! dont scrap it!!!

Any piccies so we can gauge the condition?

Unfortunately it's possibly more financially beneficial to save parts that are usable (well if you end up using them, I've been lucky and taken a distributor off a car prior to it being scrapped and later needed a distributor) and weighing the car in for scrap metal value and getting the best price possible (sure I read somewhere that it's not impossible to get £200 for a car in scrap metal value).

Not that I advocate scrapping good cars - it's just unfortunate they don't sell for much and scrap metal is at such a good price.

I was reading scrap metal value went up due to increased demand from places like China.

money? its the simplest ECU known to man!

this is how you fix it:

remove ECU.

replace with another one from another 1.3 felicia or favorit.

start car.

i mean, i know its complicated and all, and probably you're going to need a lottery win to fund the repair or else take a week off work to do the intensive labour, but sure, nothing simpler than scrapping a perfectly good car otherwise - that's the real fun eh?

p.s.

if you do attempt this high-scale service, you need just 2 similar tools to do it. unfortunately you cant buy them anywhere really, but luckily God graced us with one on the end of each arm, so you might be in luck...

p.p.s.

OLD???!!

I'm not going to spend any time or money on this car. Sure I could fix it up and get it MOT'd, and sell it - but financially that is just not worth it for me. It's worth £150 at best. It's a scrap car now. I've already spent more than half of that trying to get it sorted out. Why would I throw away even another £10 on the damn thing? Preservation of a Skoda?

I know people do spend £100's even £1,000's on sorting cars out and then sell them for a loss, but quite frankly I'm not into throwing money away. I don't need the car, as I now have a replacement, on which I would rather spend money now.

My plan is to butcher what I can use on the new Skoda, and then scrap it. This way at least I recoup a small amount of the money I've already spent trying to get the old one sorted. The tax disc has already been cashed in, and it's declared SORN.