Pile of shite XR2.

[mk2_craig]

So I bought this thing coming up on ten years ago as an early 30th birthday present to myself:-

 

 

Not the bike that's more recent.  Lurking behind:-

 

 

I wanted to give the garage a good tidy-up today as the weather was behaving itself for once.  I hadn't fired up the Fiesta in ages so gave the battery a good charge up overnight, but on reconnecting, absolutely nothing, not even the dash lights.

 

 

Time to bust out these:-

 

 

Along with the family Datsun:-

 

 

But still nowt.  Arsecakes.  Worked fine* in November.

 

I gave up and went off to help the wife with some gardening.  Most likely source of the bother?

[Talbot]

Corroded off cable.  If you've not even got any dash lamps with jump cables on, then there's no connection at all betwixt battery and rest-of-car.

 

Check the ground first, as it's easier to fix.

[Cavcraft]

  Most likely source of the bother?

 

1) It's fucked

 

2) £200 cash tomorrow.

[mk2_craig]

1) It's fucked

 

2) £200 cash tomorrow.

Aye got your ferry booked then Mr Craft?

 

Further info, car has been started up every couple of months over the last year or two, recently it has thrown random misfiring episodes at me. Occasionally from cold, but more often after a good start from cold then an hour or more switched off. I'm struggling to link that to dirty cables/connections though?

 

PS. The auto choke is buggered and warming up via throttle pedal is the order of the day.

[Wingz123]

Main fuse blown?

[sheffcortinacentre]

Have you connected the small wire to the pos terminal aswell as the thick one?

If not the car will have no power.

[Lord Sterling]

Bah. When I was about 20/21 I was offered one of these from a mate for £300, a C-reg of I recall correctly. I still kick myself for not buying it. Sadly £300 then was like £3k is now to me, almost impossible to raise.

[purplebargeken]

I used to have a Mk2 just like that, except it wasn't red and it wasn't an XR2.

[Vince70]

I had one the same as yours back in 1994 on a C plate which I bought for £400 without seeing it as I needed a cheap car as I sold my nice newish XR2i for a down payment on a house.

 

I think it was a Spanish built example as it was rotten as a pear but very quick and reliable.

 

I once parked up at work and we had heavy snow and went to wipe a bit off the screen and open the door and drove up the road only to discover I had actually taken the wrong car as someone had parked an identical one next to mine (but in better condition) I did wonder why the locks seemed stiff lol.

I took the car back and changed cars and the guy who’s car it was thanked me cleaning the snow off and warming the engine up for him.

 

I think mine was a bent motor though as after buying it I lifted the flap in the carpet and discovered the chassis number had disappeared what I couldn’t understand though was if you was going to steal an XR2 why steal the most rotten example in the country.

 

I sold it in the end with 6months tax and test but as spares and repairs to a mechanic down the pub for £80 and a pint on a Friday night.

 

3 years later someone asked if I sold a Red XR2 as their other half got pulled over and the car got taken away,

I doubt it could of been the same car as it would of been impossible for it to pass 3 more MOTs without a new shell so I guess the logbook must of been used a few times on various cars.

 

I never worked out why it was so quick though as I never serviced the thing and it was run on £3 a gallon comma 20/50 and only got topped up once the oil light came on.

My friend had a lovely cherished example on an E plate and he borrowed it and he couldn’t work out why it was so quick either but it might of been down to the brakes being shite on mine so the thing never stopped on a sixpence.

[Mr A Lawrence]

i blame brexit.

[mk2_craig]

Have you connected the small wire to the pos terminal aswell as the thick one?

If not the car will have no power.

I woke up halfway through the night thinking "bet its the ignition relay". Had 5 mins in the garage before heading off to work - three screws had the fusebox out, swapped ign relay with the identical heated rear window relay, turned key. Dash lights on. Good. Turned key further. Starter operated. Excellent!

 

Battery still too flat despite another overnight charge, fluid levels looked low in half the cells so topped up and back on charge. Tune in later to see if it'll fire!

[mk2_craig]

I had one the same as yours back in 1994 on a C plate which I bought for £400 without seeing it as I needed a cheap car as I sold my nice newish XR2i for a down payment on a house.

 

I think it was a Spanish built example as it was rotten as a pear but very quick and reliable.

 

I once parked up at work and we had heavy snow and went to wipe a bit off the screen and open the door and drove up the road only to discover I had actually taken the wrong car as someone had parked an identical one next to mine (but in better condition) I did wonder why the locks seemed stiff lol.

I took the car back and changed cars and the guy who’s car it was thanked me cleaning the snow off and warming the engine up for him.

 

I think mine was a bent motor though as after buying it I lifted the flap in the carpet and discovered the chassis number had disappeared what I couldn’t understand though was if you was going to steal an XR2 why steal the most rotten example in the country.

 

I sold it in the end with 6months tax and test but as spares and repairs to a mechanic down the pub for £80 and a pint on a Friday night.

 

3 years later someone asked if I sold a Red XR2 as their other half got pulled over and the car got taken away,

I doubt it could of been the same car as it would of been impossible for it to pass 3 more MOTs without a new shell so I guess the logbook must of been used a few times on various cars.

 

I never worked out why it was so quick though as I never serviced the thing and it was run on £3 a gallon comma 20/50 and only got topped up once the oil light came on.

My friend had a lovely cherished example on an E plate and he borrowed it and he couldn’t work out why it was so quick either but it might of been down to the brakes being shite on mine so the thing never stopped on a sixpence.

Before early 86 the carb was different and apparently good for a few more bee aitch pees. Later models being more emissions friendly or something. Dont know if gear ratios differ at all. Mine is an 84 and always felt quick, though I've got a new old stock Weber upgrade carb kit to go on as the original seems tired. The upgrade kit being adapted from a carb originally fitted to some Fiat or another apparently.

[Vin]

My mate bought a Mk2 XR2 with coolant issues for £100 off a bloke in our local in about 2000. At some point it had had a full re-wire and every single wire in the car was white!!

 

I think he swapped it for a telly in the end.

[PiperCub]

1) It's fucked

 

2) 2ton tomoz m8

 

EFA

[AlabamaShrimp]

I have nothing to say at all about this car. In fact I hate Fiestas and would never have one....

[Bren]

In 1992 I bought a B plate cav sri off my cousin.

He replaced the car with an F reg Xr2 - his verdict was it was shite and it was quickly punted on and another cav bought.

[mk2_craig]

It runs!! No misfire either, which is standard fare for when its been sitting a few weeks. Won't idle until its been held at 2000 revs for a few minutes, so I'll grab something to eat then have another look later.

[AlabamaShrimp]

Aww shame it runs you could have dropped* a zetec in.

[Pillock]

Noooooo.

I love the noise you get from a stock XR2. Can't even tell you what it sounds like, maybe it's got a kazoo in the airbox or something, but it's iconic.

[mk2_craig]

Well the noise its been making for the last fifteen minutes sounds like a friggin Beetle with a hole in the block, I think it was only running on two at one point with a load of unburnt fuel spewing out the back end. Eventually cleared its throat about the same time as the rad fan cut in, by which point the garage honked of fumes and my neighbours are no doubt fed up of the din. So in summary still not right.

 

Don't think I've changed any of the ignition components since I've had the car, so might start with a look inside the dizzy cap, though I'll bet the spark plugs don't look too pretty.

[Cavcraft]

Probs worth changing plugs first, low cost option and all that. Do these have a coolant temp sensor?

[Tamworthbay]

I used to have a Mk2 just like that, except it wasn't red and it wasn't an XR2.

I had one like that as well, except mine wasn’t a Fiesta.

[AlabamaShrimp]

Noooooo.

I love the noise you get from a stock XR2. Can't even tell you what it sounds like, maybe it's got a kazoo in the airbox or something, but it's iconic.

Sorry it was a poor attempt at sarcasm.

 

I've definitely fallen out with mine and Tbh it can rot in the damp garage it's in. Stupidly it's still worth more than I paid for it but I'm not sure I'd sell. I know I wouldn't if it were red but it's grey.

 

Anyway is yours the only one on the island?

[mk2_craig]

Theres a few that I know of but I think there's no longer any in daily driver use. Maybe a couple like this that start run drive stop and a handful that are stored or semi derelict. my wife hates red and would be a bit more sympathetic towards it if it was any of the other colours, especially blue but they seem to command a price premium. I definitely couldn't afford another in similar condition at current prices.

[CreepingJesus]

Probably no help, but...

 

Last one I worked on was a red F-reg one that turned up in the Ford garage I was in, sometime in '97. The woman who'd owned it from new complained of it feeling a bit asthmatic. The enthusiastic road test concurred, and although the then new FDS computer was no help, the wayward gas analysis readings said 'carb'. Turned out the Weber DMTL (iirc) was cheaper than the shitey Ford replacement...! Went like a good 'un after that, everybody happy. Especially me. A red XR2 was one of the first quick cars my dad encouraged me to rag the arse off, so I've always thought fondly of them.

 

[/misty eyes]

[red5]

Later Xr2's have a vac operated secondary Carb and the long geared 5speed - hence they are 'slower'

[AlabamaShrimp]

Maybe it just because mine has had such a hard life, think I'm the 14th owner, but it was never fast.

 

My 950 might not have a very high top speed but it gets to 40 a lot quicker than you'd expect.

[fordperv]

I used to roll around in a mates orange mk2 xr2 with colour coded bodykit when i was 16, that thing was brilliant, had a straight through exhaust witha cherrybomb back box and i fiddled with the mixture the thing was a little buzz box, I never found one that didn't need a tonne of welding so never had one myself as I wanted one to drive straight away

[mk2_craig]

Got home sharp so that I could get another look at this old heap.

 

 

I appear to have been successful in reviving the battery, it held a charge and fired right up. So I pulled it out the garage then went for a nice piss.

 

 

On my return I took a few photos while letting it cool down. The roof rack is purely functional as my garage is CHOCK FULL OF YAD so I need the extra roof-based storage space for some of my son's outdoor toys and that.

 

 

Rejuvenating the faded old bootlid badging will be far, far higher up the list of priorities than sorting out some of the other (many) faults.

 

 

Though I suppose bolting the rear wiper arm back on won't be too big a stretch.

 

 

Obligatory long-defunct radio station sticker.

 

 

 

The whole car is pretty tired, but this is by a country mile the worst part of it (passenger side sunvisor and headlining removed for clarity). Lord knows how I'm going to deal with this. I do have a non-sunroof roof skin cut off another Rosso Red car, however thats definitely a job that wants farming out to a professional, assuming there'll be some future time when I'm no longer major-league SKINT.

 

 

 

Under the bonnet is actually not too bad, though there's some ugly-looking grot on the pass. side inner wing, whoever repaired it previously wasn't arsed about making it look pretty and didn't spend a lot of time to disguise the mixture of filler and screw heads.

 

 

 

Bit of rot on the drivers door (also round the window. I have a spare panel) and some paint damage resulting from the airhead last owner backing it into a bollard, I've already swapped the bumper for an uncracked one.

 

 

 

Right about now I thought I'd start it up again, well after running ok earlier it was back to exactly the frigging same with a hot-start misfire. I noted the fuel feed looking worryingly aged and frayed, should swap that out ASAP really for all the time it'll take. Couldn't find my spark plug socket after a quick hunt through the toolbox (bet its rolled under some junk) so I whipped off the dizzy cap and gave it a light once over with some 80 grit, cleaned up that slightly rusty shaft too. Not that it made any more than bugger all difference whatsoever, therefore with daylight fading and weather rapidly worsening I shoved it back inside until whenever I get the next opportunity to troubleshoot. Thanks for watching!

[mk2_craig]

Right there's good news. I sussed that a set of these might get rid of the misfire:

 

 

Worked a treat!! I also found the rear wiper and bolted it back on.

 

There's also bad news, I reluctantly agreed to sell the XR2 this morning, so I'm not now going to experience the joy of sorting out its many faults. It's going to a colleague who has a good track record of fixing up old nails though, which makes me feel a bit better about it all.

 

 

Never mind. I'll simply buy a better one when I win the Euromillions!