MOT failure - rusting seals??

[rubinxwolf]

Hi Guys

My puma is currently undergoing an MOT and I have just heard from the garage about the fault/s:


The ONLY thing the car has failed its MOT on is rusting of the rear seals where the car is jacked up. He said there are holes in the seals both sides of the car with the near side being worse.

He has offered to take it some place to have a piece of metal welded onto the seal for £150 (both sides) to pass the MOT. He has told me new seals will set me back about £300-400.

I am in two minds about which route to take? Do they rust badly? Will I just end up spending over the odds if I leave it for potentially another year and the rust eats further in to the car (not sure how quickly it would rot) or can I get away with patching it up cheaply?

How many people have had their rear seals done? Is it a common thing?



Secondly, it has a small oil leak. Hes put some engine stop leak in to see if that helps for the time being but he thinks the leak is coming from the cambelt casing seals and he said the engine is covered with oil. Its not a significant leak though as I do not see any change on my dipstick. --------- he said the cambelt would have to be removed to access/ assess/ replace the potentially leaking seals. is this a common fault?

It is due to have a new cambelt/tensioner/waterpump fitted this year (last replaced 5years ago, 2009 prior to me having the car). Would the leak be something changing the cambelt would fix if its the cambelt seals? ------ this i understand would set me back financially about £400~?

So all in all, I spend £800~ or scrap it for a new car.........?

Knowing what you guys know about pumas.. do i go through with the work or say bye-bye?

 

[Cartman]

hi,

this rusty seal buissness confuses me... are you shure it's not the sills?? because as far as I can tell, there are no seals on the flor of the puma that would need welding, but I know the sills are an issue on many

 

[red]

Cartman, I think they mean sills not seals but the word can be confused over the phone.

The oil leak could be as simple as the rocker cover gasket which is a very common place to get a leak and it can go anywhere around the block, even on the inside into the spark plug wells.

As for the rust, in theory getting the rusty bits cut out and a new piece welded in should be a sufficient fix. Depending on how long you intend to keep the car, members have considered / implemented the full replacement route but it's not as common.

I had the sills repaired in a similar fashion on a 2000 Fiesta even though the car was only worth £500 because I intended to keep it running a couple of years.

 

[rubinxwolf]

thanks red for the reply, and as a female vet nurse im not hot on terminology of car repairs


so the best thing to do would be a patch up for the time being?

 

[red]

Personally I would say yes but of course this is my opinion

 

[rubinxwolf]

its due its cambelt too -_-

 

[Cartman]

I wil say to you what I say to all my customers in the same situation...

If you considder keeping the car for a long time, then you should do a propper job of fixing it.
But if you are noe especialy atatched to that particular car, you might be able to find a new better one for about the same money, and sell your current one onn to somone who can do all the work themselfe.

it's never an easy dsicion, but If you want to keep the car, go for it, every car has something that needs doing at some point anyway, sometimes there is more that neeeds doing then others, but basicaly everyone goes trough it at some point, and there isn't realy anything one can do about it

 

[evilrob]

As others have said, it sounds like you have rusty "sills" rather than "seals" - £300 to get them patched up isn't bad.

As for your oil leak, it's almost always the rocker cover gasket; if you get the cam belt done, the rocker cover gasket should be replaced at the same time anyway so hopefully that problem will go away.

As always, I recommend a trip to Richard at Tremona garage. My driver's side sill has been rusty for years, but he's always blagged it through the MOT.

 

[rubinxwolf]

mot passed! £200 all in (mot cost, engine stop leak and sill repair)


woop!

 

[Cartman]

That's grate news

 

[evilrob]

:thumbs:

 

[Glenn_]

You will have to tell us if this engine stop leak works.

 

[Catweasel]

mot passed! £200 all in (mot cost, engine stop leak and sill repair)


woop!

Good news !