Astra 2008 1.4 Circa 130,000 KM on clock

[Brian76]

Hi there
Can you help. I have a 2008 petrol Astra which is serviced once a year THE BODYWORK is not in great nick - lots of dints and scratches. Over the past 6 months it for some reason and every now and again won't start. When this happens I found out that by keep cranking the engine it will start after about about 20 seconds. On average this could happen once every 2 -3 weeks. The problem is that it appears to be happening more regular. Yesterday - I started and and drove about 10 times and it happened twice.
I only recently got the car serviced about a month ago - the engine is always a little noisy and it appears to be burning oil - The mechanic told me that its just an old car. So, I brought it back to the same guy yesterday to throw his eye over it. Before i started the engine - the thought that it could be a buildup of dirt etc - Then i started it and he said that it is noisy and sounds like a diesel. He said that its a petrol and should run smooth. To be honest - the car sounded the same way when he serviced the car and the problem happened a few times before but i forgot to mention to him. You see - i am not sure if i trust him

So - he is now mentioning that i need a new timing chain and its about 800 euro - The car is not worth much more - i dont have a huge amount of cash. What should i do?
1. Keep driving it and hope for the best
2. Go to another mechanic
2. Trade it in for a cheap car - circa 5K that probably has issued
3. Give him the money and get him to fix it


Any advice would be much appreciate .......

[Bobupndown]

It's a 16 year old car which clearly has a number of issues. You don't appear to have the ability to address these yourself and are reliant on mechanics.
It's basically not worth spending any more on this car, so either drive on until it expires, at which point it will be worth its weight in scrap only, or get out of it now, buy the best car you can for £5k and hopefully have some years of reliable motoring.
(We recently bought a 2016 Peugeot 108, 49000 miles, truly immaculate for £4500. With its simple, if not very powerful 3 cylinder 1 litre Toyota engine it should be a reliable little car for many years to come.)

Edited by Bobupndown on Sunday 14th April 13:15

[Brian76]

Thanks for the advice

[Truckosaurus]

Bobupndown said:

...It's basically not worth spending any more on this car...

I'd not totally agree with this. All cars are going to need money spending on them to keep them going, so it could be that spending 1k on sorting the existing car could give you a couple of years of trouble free motoring whereas spending 5k on a newer car might bring up similar issues in the same time frame.

There's no correct answer.