I've got a building list of repairs for my 52 Finesse 1.3 that I want to get done this side of christmas as my commute's increased dramatically, looking to see if you guys could give me an idea of what's going to cost what. I've been very broke all year so the car's only had an oil change since April 2011 (i know nothing about cars so some of this might read like nonsense)

Brakes - started making a quiet grinding sound at very slow speeds. Hoping i just need pads.

Speedo - not working for months. Second time it's happened. When it went, i smacked the dash and it came back for a day, but now there's nothing - no speedo, no odo, nothing ticking over.

Sparkplugs and cables - RAC changed out the head a few months ago and advised i relace the plugs and cables.

Breather (?) hose - at the front of the engine under the cover, the one on the left - car lost power because the hose had a hole in it, RAC man cut off the piece with the tear in it and forced the hose onto the socket but said i should replace.

Rough idea? I'm going to put in a budget of £250 including labour and get as much done as i can until next payday (end of january). I've got a mobile mechanic that's looked after me when i needed my thermostat housing replaced that I'm hoping can do it all outside my house.

Spark plugs and leads £20 ish easy to do yourself if you have a socket set if not 5 minuite job for your mechanic.

Breather hose would imagine £10 tops can be done yourself easily.

Brakes -pads £25 if discs probably double

Speedo could be many things

Lovely. Only other question is can this be done mobile or will the car need to be garaged?

Everything bar the speedo depending on what's wrong with it can be done by a mobile mechanic

For the Speedo, as you've lost the odometer as well I'd suspect the Speedo sensor on the gearbox.

It's accessible without a big tear down either from above or below.

It can be a pig to do as the retaining pin tends to snap off requiring a good amount of pulling with pliers or suchlike and the sensor can be a bit snug and need a bit of persuasion.

Doable on the road but allow about an hour.

Replacement sensor and pin readily available on eBay for £15 and up.

Had my guy out and he said the sensor and everything's fine, so he thinks it's a replacement head - told me to take it to Ford and they would tell me for sure. My petrol guage goes up and down a bit too so he reckons it's just dodgly electronics, but couldn't give me an idea of price. Can anyone here? No idea if i'm looking at £50 or £250.