Repair, Sell or Scrap?

benn333

I have a 1998 Audi A3. It’s an old car, but it’s treated me well for 10+ years. I’ve always said I’d drive it into the ground, and that time may be approaching. But before I pour more time and money into it, does this sound like something to repair, sell, or scrap?

* Engine revving while idle.
This is the key problem. It started revving while idle, then occasionally cutting out. I’ve had it in the garage a couple times, and while it still revs occasionally, it’s under control and doesn’t cut out. The lads in the garage, having tried a number of things, say the throttle body needs to be replaced. A new one is too expensive—almost the value of the car. The garage hasn’t been able to source a used one, so I’ll probably have to find it myself.

* Motor Tax/NCT expired.
Both of these recently lapsed. It likely won’t pass the NCT right now, and I’m hesitant to waste money on motor tax if the car is a lost cause.

* Dent in body.
Has to be factored in if I sell: I properly nicked the side on a post in a parking garage. (Still kicking myself!) I was able to pop the dent out, but it's a fairly good sized scrape.

* Good nick otherwise
I work from home and have covered parking, so it has low miles and is in relatively good condition otherwise for something this age.

So factoring all these in, I'm weighing what should I do: repair the engine, sell it to someone willing to repair it, or just scrap it at this point?

Alanstrainor

Put it through the NCT first, if it passes that then you can keep it ticking along for another year at least. And if it fails, you can review just what it failed on, and get a good idea of how much it would cost to put right. It's not going to be worth very much anyway, but with a fresh NCT, you may be surprise if you do decide to move on.

commited

Throttle body is €85 +3.95 parcel motel delivered new from ebay - pretty cheap! However, have they plugged in VAG-COM? Lots of people on boards with access to it, someone might help you out for a pint and you'll get a good idea of what needs to be done - could just be a new idle control valve needed.

NCT - throw it in for the NCT, worth a go for €55. It'll give you a full picture of what's needed to keep it legal.

Dent - Have you tried buffing the scrape out?

Only other advice I can give you is don't use Audi to keep the car on the road, find a decent independent garage and offer to supply any major parts that are required such as the throttle body above etc.

benn333

Interesting, I thought a new throttle body would be far more expensive. I'll probably go that route, then take it in for the NCT. I'm fairly certain the garage (independent) used a VAG-COM to tweak the idling, as they do a fair share of work on Audi/Volkwagen.

Regarding the dent, I nailed that post pretty good and it's gone down through the paint. I buffed out what I could (black car, white post) but it's still pretty obvious. I'm not bothered though if I'm still driving it.

Thanks for the advice!

Cork boy 55

mileage?

Volvoair

1998 Audi A3 throttle body's for sale here....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_mPrRngCbx=1&_nkw=audi+a3+1.6+throttle+body