K11 Lifespan

[Dazed and]

While doing a 300 mile drive from County Durham to Wiltshire last weekend my Micra K11 did her 100,000th mile. I was very proud. I'm a bit worried now though that it's going to fall apart on me and I should stop spending money on it. There are some rust issues which need sorting, and I have had to replace the backbox and the middle section of the exhaust in the last two weeks, and it has had to have a new clutch recently, and now the wiring on the headlights needs seeing to. Is this car destined to just keep going wrong now, or can I clean her up and keep on going for a few more years? Basically I can't decide whether to save my pennies for a new car or whether to spend it on doing up the one i have.

 

[Craig]

Sounds like the bad things have gone, you *should* be relatively alright with it - how does the timing chain sound on startup?
Craig

 

[Robb]

Sounds like youve done all the necessary work already!

What age is the car? I cant think of much else that would go wrong, maybe cv joints etc. might wear out over time but if you drive it sensibly it shouldnt need much work.

I had an s reg 1.0 k11 and after nearly 90,000 miles it only needed new cv joints and a few other things e.g. discs etc. changing. Suppose i should think myself lucky!

 

[1ucy]

Well, speaking from experience, I had a 93 plate micra with 137k on the clock, we got rid of it because it was due to fail an MOT quite badly. The cross member was a huge issue for my old car, and the lights were a nightmare, never managed to sort them out propperly. If they didnt come on, you used to have to get out of the car, bang on the bonnet and they'd come on. Also the speedo stopped working at about 130k ish mark. But mechanically it never let us down, we got it at 40kish in 2001 and had it until October 2007 and never once broke down, so I wouldnt worry about it, it'l be fine for a long time yet =]

 

[Dazed and]

Sounds like the bad things have gone, you *should* be relatively alright with it - how does the timing chain sound on startup?
Craig

Its sounds fine. In fact I recently thought I had a problem with it so I inspected it and it was in great nick (turned out to be some bracket on the exhaust had come loose and was rattling loudly). Thats the depressing thing, mechanically its sound and a joy to drive. The problem is there is a lot of ugly scratches and scuffs threatening to rust and there's rust already on the wheel arches. I think the brakes will need changing soon and it needs new tyres. Ideally I would like to get it wirebrushed, the paintwork retouched, some good new brakes and not only change the tyres but also get some alloys on there, make her a bit easier on the eye, but I don't know if its worth spending money getting it back up to scratch and then starting some minor mods, or whether that would be a waste of time.

To answer Robb's question, its a 94 Micra "Wave". 1ucy, what was wrong with your headlights? I know nothing about wiring so its going in the shop next week to have them sorted (I hope), do you think it may be a bit more complex than that?

 

[frank]

dazed and

the headlight issue is usually just the connectors or fuseholder (corrosion)
as for the consumables, tyres, brakes etc, you,ll end up buying those whatever the car eh :grinning:
for the paintwork, basecoat and laquer aerosol,s can be very effective

 

[1ucy]

Yeh, we ended up putting a new fusebox on it, didnt really solve it though, ended up replacing the grommits around the lights and a load of other stuff, never managed to solve it though it would be ok for a month, then go again.

Like I said, mechanically its fine, just corrosion that lets it down