Anthony

The 205 saga continues in June of 2011, my ebay search had been pinging up decent looking 205s for a while and I had bid here and there, but I had just finished teacher training and was SKINT. This next one stretched my £300 budget to its limit, I was swayed because of the beige, again.
 
Here's a rear shot because otherwise this thread is going to be veerrry dull. Instead of just regular dull.
 

 
Looks tidy, hey? Loadsa beige inside:
 

 
My excuse for selling this one was a big commute that was slowly killing the car. Not the other issues I'd found with it. Nope.
 
Next!
 

 

 
1996 106 XR. This was a really good steer, but I didn't bond with it. The rear brakes decided to fall apart at one point. I arrived outside Barrett's house to drop off some wheels with smoke pouring off them, which was slightly worrying. A quick blast around the block showed they weren't sticking so I set off home. I made it 200+ miles and the brakes locked solid at the end of my road. Could have been a lot worse.
 
As good as the 106 was, it just wasn't a 205, so I went and got yet another. (As you've probably guessed, I get bored easily and change my mind regularly with cars)
 
1990 205 XE. Bought in March 2013 and still used daily, the longest I've ever owned a car. This one might actually be a keeper!
 
As bought:
 

 
The XE is pretty much the lowest spec 205 that was available, 954cc engine, 4 speed box, no equipment, not even a clock. Perfect. As this is still going and has gone through a few changes I’ll leave it for a later post.
 
 

After even my coworkers have noticed a preference for french chod, I've got to admit I've got a bit of a Peugeot problem. Over the years I've owned a variety of old clunkers, lots of different marques and ages, but Peugeots account for nearly half of my overall purchases. I'm a serial 205 botherer (on my 7th & 8th currently), because they are frankly brilliant cars, the lower the spec the better I say.
 
So here's a bit of my car history if you can be arsed to read it. I'll warn you now, it's low on XUD content and contains small amounts of pineapple.
 
My first sampling of Peugeots was this 1993 309 GLDT. Bought in July 2006 from the original owner and in great nick. It went everywhere filled with band gear and never missed a beat.

 
Beaut. I used this for a year and then decided it was too new (at 13 years old in ’06) and reliable, so I sold it for far too cheap and bought a Mk1 Astra (saloon, in beige). I’d have another 309 TD in a heartbeat, true they are bland and lack the 205s character, but they drive great and are really useful.
 
I was going through cars at a great rate at this point, so the Astra was quickly replaced by a Hyundai Pony.
 
Ok, its May of 2008, I've just sold my '88 Hyundai Pony and I've got £175 burning a hole in my pocket. A quick browse of the local paper brings up a 205 Auto not far from my house. It's got a short MoT and its a Cat C, so of course I bought it.
 
Oh, and its metallic pink.
 

 
There wasn't a mark on it, panels all straight, interior tidy. No idea why it was a cat C. I enjoyed it mainly because it went like stink, or it did compared to the Hyundai. Most things did.
 
My ownership of this particular shed didn't last too long as I bought a Mk1 Golf a month later and had to sell this due to lack of storage. The Golf was shit in comparison.
 
Fast forward a couple of years, I've been made redundant and am struggling to make ends meet so I sell the Mk1 Golf (which had appreciated nicely) and start looking for a cheaper set of wheels to tool around in/get to interviews in.
 
Ebay threw up the ideal car almost straight away (probably because I was searching for it) a 1992 205 Auto. Resplendant in light gold with beige interior, it was a feast for the eyes.
 
205 numero deux.
 

 
This photo was taken after I'd given it a good clean and painted the wheels with a bit of hammerite. Spec was quite good on this beast, a leaking sunroof and a propensity for stalling at junctions were fan favourites.
 
Beige:
 

 
I proper loved this car, I even fixed some of the problems it had. I went a bit mad along the way and lowered it slightly and fitted some Allycat wheels. I enjoyed the look though. Here it is a the Retro show in 2009 (I think).
 

 
The only downside of this particular (and any 205 auto I suppose) was the fuel consumption. So, using my bestest logic, I thought I'd get a diesel 205 to replace this one. Beige-mobile was returned to standard and put up for sale.
 
I managed to sell the poor thing for a half decent amount (recouping my purchase price I think) and set out to buy another, but in XUD format. I particularly wanted a turbo dizzle and ended up travelling to Mansfield to view a particularly ropey example. Being the prat that I am, I drove it, it went well ( there's a theme developing here) so i bought it. *Sighs audibly*
 
This particular shitter was not my best move. When I went to pick it up it wouldnt start, and the seller (Backstreet Shonky Garage Co) had to jump start it. Suspicious, seeing as it was fine when I viewed it. Anyway, I bought it anyway and drove home enjoying the wooosh of an obviously leaking boost system/exhaust.
 
Upon proper inspection at home, the battery was the wrong one, too small for the bloody car and about 15 years old. The exhaust was held together with hessian sacks and only the drivers door locked. Excellent.
 

 
(Looks like all of my photos are front corner views - get used to it) 205 'Sceptre' TD. Never realised how wonky the front of this was, what a heap.
 
Arg. I bought a new battery for it and used it through the winter, this would be 2010/2011 I suppose. It was ok in the end, but it was too rough to be the 'long term keeper' I thought I was after. So I popped it on ebay and had people falling over themselves to look at the damn thing, think I took £350 for it in the end.
 
There was another intermission at this point for a Mk2 Golf.
 
 
 
 

Bargain at that price, thanks for pointing that out.
 
Local store didn't have one, but one near where my colleague lives did so he's picking it up for me this evening

Fuse or relay (if it has one) would be best place to start. Guess it's possible you've killed the motor if you'd had it running ages and it was already on its last legs.

There was indeed a 172 Cup, although it wasn't quite as hardcore as the mechanic made out - still had full compliment of seats, but did without ABS, aircon etc.
 
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-reviews/15219/renaultsport-clio-172-cup

Glad to see that this is still going strong and more to the point, getting used and enjoyed
 

Always baffles me why people use copper grease on any moving part frankly - the "grease" part of the name is a bit of a misnomer really given the questionable lubrication properties.
 
Ironically given that it's an anti-seize compound, I can almost always guarantee that any car people have used copper grease as a lubricant on will have had all the threads and spline fittings assembled dry with the inevitable effect over time and/or exposure to the elements...

I don't think that anything has changed - an MOT failure has always potentially highlighted that the car is unroadworthy even if the existing MOT certificate is still valid.

Glad to see that this is still going strong and more to the point, getting used and enjoyed
 

Always baffles me why people use copper grease on any moving part frankly - the "grease" part of the name is a bit of a misnomer really given the questionable lubrication properties.
 
Ironically given that it's an anti-seize compound, I can almost always guarantee that any car people have used copper grease as a lubricant on will have had all the threads and spline fittings assembled dry with the inevitable effect over time and/or exposure to the elements...

Check the hub where the balljoint pin goes - the hubs suffer from ovalling and bellmouthing allowing the pin to move around, which is often mis-diagnosed by garages as play in the balljoint.
 
This seems particularly likely in your case given that I seem to recall you mentioning that the pin has separated from the hub on a couple of occasions suggesting that the pin wasn't clamped properly.

I'm fully expecting to be shafted by the Government in successive years, as I drive the exact sort of car they want shot of - namely a 306 HDi that only meets Euro 2 standards.
 
I don't care much for diesels if I'm honest and would rather a good petrol engine, but the car does exactly what I need and exactly what diesels excel at - it plods up and down the motorway doing 20k miles a year and averages 55mpg.  Any petrol car isn't going to be anything like as frugal, and unsurprisingly someone like me isn't about to get rid of a £500 car and pay that every couple of months to lease something new and shiny to save the world.
 
The ridiculous thing is that a modern equivalent-ish of it - a Merc A200d that my missus has - seems to be about 5mpg less on the same journey.  Call me cynical, but if it burns more fuel to do the same journey, is it really much better for the environment despite the supposed Euro 6 compliance?  It has after all already been proved that the tests are pretty much meaningless in the real world.
 
And the other problem is that because so many people have been buying diesels for years, it's actually quite hard to find petrol models of various mid-sized cars.

I'm fully expecting to be shafted by the Government in successive years, as I drive the exact sort of car they want shot of - namely a 306 HDi that only meets Euro 2 standards.
 
I don't care much for diesels if I'm honest and would rather a good petrol engine, but the car does exactly what I need and exactly what diesels excel at - it plods up and down the motorway doing 20k miles a year and averages 55mpg.  Any petrol car isn't going to be anything like as frugal, and unsurprisingly someone like me isn't about to get rid of a £500 car and pay that every couple of months to lease something new and shiny to save the world.
 
The ridiculous thing is that a modern equivalent-ish of it - a Merc A200d that my missus has - seems to be about 5mpg less on the same journey.  Call me cynical, but if it burns more fuel to do the same journey, is it really much better for the environment despite the supposed Euro 6 compliance?  It has after all already been proved that the tests are pretty much meaningless in the real world.
 
And the other problem is that because so many people have been buying diesels for years, it's actually quite hard to find petrol models of various mid-sized cars.

I'm fully expecting to be shafted by the Government in successive years, as I drive the exact sort of car they want shot of - namely a 306 HDi that only meets Euro 2 standards.
 
I don't care much for diesels if I'm honest and would rather a good petrol engine, but the car does exactly what I need and exactly what diesels excel at - it plods up and down the motorway doing 20k miles a year and averages 55mpg.  Any petrol car isn't going to be anything like as frugal, and unsurprisingly someone like me isn't about to get rid of a £500 car and pay that every couple of months to lease something new and shiny to save the world.
 
The ridiculous thing is that a modern equivalent-ish of it - a Merc A200d that my missus has - seems to be about 5mpg less on the same journey.  Call me cynical, but if it burns more fuel to do the same journey, is it really much better for the environment despite the supposed Euro 6 compliance?  It has after all already been proved that the tests are pretty much meaningless in the real world.
 
And the other problem is that because so many people have been buying diesels for years, it's actually quite hard to find petrol models of various mid-sized cars.

I'm fully expecting to be shafted by the Government in successive years, as I drive the exact sort of car they want shot of - namely a 306 HDi that only meets Euro 2 standards.
 
I don't care much for diesels if I'm honest and would rather a good petrol engine, but the car does exactly what I need and exactly what diesels excel at - it plods up and down the motorway doing 20k miles a year and averages 55mpg.  Any petrol car isn't going to be anything like as frugal, and unsurprisingly someone like me isn't about to get rid of a £500 car and pay that every couple of months to lease something new and shiny to save the world.
 
The ridiculous thing is that a modern equivalent-ish of it - a Merc A200d that my missus has - seems to be about 5mpg less on the same journey.  Call me cynical, but if it burns more fuel to do the same journey, is it really much better for the environment despite the supposed Euro 6 compliance?  It has after all already been proved that the tests are pretty much meaningless in the real world.
 
And the other problem is that because so many people have been buying diesels for years, it's actually quite hard to find petrol models of various mid-sized cars.

I'm fully expecting to be shafted by the Government in successive years, as I drive the exact sort of car they want shot of - namely a 306 HDi that only meets Euro 2 standards.
 
I don't care much for diesels if I'm honest and would rather a good petrol engine, but the car does exactly what I need and exactly what diesels excel at - it plods up and down the motorway doing 20k miles a year and averages 55mpg.  Any petrol car isn't going to be anything like as frugal, and unsurprisingly someone like me isn't about to get rid of a £500 car and pay that every couple of months to lease something new and shiny to save the world.
 
The ridiculous thing is that a modern equivalent-ish of it - a Merc A200d that my missus has - seems to be about 5mpg less on the same journey.  Call me cynical, but if it burns more fuel to do the same journey, is it really much better for the environment despite the supposed Euro 6 compliance?  It has after all already been proved that the tests are pretty much meaningless in the real world.
 
And the other problem is that because so many people have been buying diesels for years, it's actually quite hard to find petrol models of various mid-sized cars.

I'm fully expecting to be shafted by the Government in successive years, as I drive the exact sort of car they want shot of - namely a 306 HDi that only meets Euro 2 standards.
 
I don't care much for diesels if I'm honest and would rather a good petrol engine, but the car does exactly what I need and exactly what diesels excel at - it plods up and down the motorway doing 20k miles a year and averages 55mpg.  Any petrol car isn't going to be anything like as frugal, and unsurprisingly someone like me isn't about to get rid of a £500 car and pay that every couple of months to lease something new and shiny to save the world.
 
The ridiculous thing is that a modern equivalent-ish of it - a Merc A200d that my missus has - seems to be about 5mpg less on the same journey.  Call me cynical, but if it burns more fuel to do the same journey, is it really much better for the environment despite the supposed Euro 6 compliance?  It has after all already been proved that the tests are pretty much meaningless in the real world.
 
And the other problem is that because so many people have been buying diesels for years, it's actually quite hard to find petrol models of various mid-sized cars.

Judging from the underbonnet picture earlier in the thread, it looks like Bosch Motronic 1.3 management to me - I assume this is a CAT equipped car and has a lambda? Rare beast in the UK if so, as most were non-CAT.
 
Non-CAT cars are as in the quote above (although it's Bosch rather than Magneti Marelli) but yours clearly isn't MP3.1 due to the AFM in the picture, plus the inlet manifold is different on the non-CAT XU9J2 engine.
 
Given that it'll run on easy start, you've presumably got spark and thus the crank sensor, ECU etc are working as spark is controlled by the same ECU as the injection.
 
Sticky or gummed up injectors are possible, I've seen it before on XU engines that have sat for a prolonged period. A sharp tap with a spanner whilst cranking over will often free them off, otherwise those injectors are comparatively easily sources as they're used on various XU9 engines, some Volvos and a few other cars. I should have a set somewhere if needs be.
 
One thing that's worth checking is the wiring. I've not seen the loom for a late 8v BX GTi, but the wiring on BX 16v's is a joke, with the injection part of the loom connected to the main engine management loom through an unsealed wiring plug that ends up corroding and giving a bad connection. It's possible that the injector pins on that are grotty, assuming that your loom is built in a similar manner.
 
If you don't have any luck, I'm happy to cast an eye over it when I'm next up Buckingham way and I've got various spares for that engine/management

My offer still stands. Mine's on the road and freshly MOT'd as of yesterday, so happy to test any bits for you or whatever helps.
 
Ignore the mayo in the filler cap providing that there's not huge amounts of it - that's "normal" until you do some longish runs to get the oil hot enough to burn off the moisture.

Judging from the underbonnet picture earlier in the thread, it looks like Bosch Motronic 1.3 management to me - I assume this is a CAT equipped car and has a lambda? Rare beast in the UK if so, as most were non-CAT.
 
Non-CAT cars are as in the quote above (although it's Bosch rather than Magneti Marelli) but yours clearly isn't MP3.1 due to the AFM in the picture, plus the inlet manifold is different on the non-CAT XU9J2 engine.
 
Given that it'll run on easy start, you've presumably got spark and thus the crank sensor, ECU etc are working as spark is controlled by the same ECU as the injection.
 
Sticky or gummed up injectors are possible, I've seen it before on XU engines that have sat for a prolonged period. A sharp tap with a spanner whilst cranking over will often free them off, otherwise those injectors are comparatively easily sources as they're used on various XU9 engines, some Volvos and a few other cars. I should have a set somewhere if needs be.
 
One thing that's worth checking is the wiring. I've not seen the loom for a late 8v BX GTi, but the wiring on BX 16v's is a joke, with the injection part of the loom connected to the main engine management loom through an unsealed wiring plug that ends up corroding and giving a bad connection. It's possible that the injector pins on that are grotty, assuming that your loom is built in a similar manner.
 
If you don't have any luck, I'm happy to cast an eye over it when I'm next up Buckingham way and I've got various spares for that engine/management

Judging from the underbonnet picture earlier in the thread, it looks like Bosch Motronic 1.3 management to me - I assume this is a CAT equipped car and has a lambda? Rare beast in the UK if so, as most were non-CAT.
 
Non-CAT cars are as in the quote above (although it's Bosch rather than Magneti Marelli) but yours clearly isn't MP3.1 due to the AFM in the picture, plus the inlet manifold is different on the non-CAT XU9J2 engine.
 
Given that it'll run on easy start, you've presumably got spark and thus the crank sensor, ECU etc are working as spark is controlled by the same ECU as the injection.
 
Sticky or gummed up injectors are possible, I've seen it before on XU engines that have sat for a prolonged period. A sharp tap with a spanner whilst cranking over will often free them off, otherwise those injectors are comparatively easily sources as they're used on various XU9 engines, some Volvos and a few other cars. I should have a set somewhere if needs be.
 
One thing that's worth checking is the wiring. I've not seen the loom for a late 8v BX GTi, but the wiring on BX 16v's is a joke, with the injection part of the loom connected to the main engine management loom through an unsealed wiring plug that ends up corroding and giving a bad connection. It's possible that the injector pins on that are grotty, assuming that your loom is built in a similar manner.
 
If you don't have any luck, I'm happy to cast an eye over it when I'm next up Buckingham way and I've got various spares for that engine/management

Video time! 
 

Got the job I interviewed for on Weds

I've got a half-decent DA polisher (DAS-6 Pro IIRC) that you'd be welcome to borrow when I'm next passing through if you wanted to give it a go, although to be honest, your results without look damned good!

I've got a half-decent DA polisher (DAS-6 Pro IIRC) that you'd be welcome to borrow when I'm next passing through if you wanted to give it a go, although to be honest, your results without look damned good!

Whilst I agree with the general sentiment of your post and certainly have had similar experiences with inane, nit-picking forum members, I'll add a little insight from the "other side" on this point:
 

In fairness to them, I can understand the reasoning for such a rule as we do something similar on another forum that I help run.
 
The reasoning behind it is to help protect members against scammers and the like, because most of the would-be scammers aren't going to stick around to make x number of constructive posts or be a member for y number of weeks before advertising - they'll just move onto somewhere easier. Prior to implementing it, we'd had a few new users who'd advertised parts comparatively cheaply (but not suspiciously so), taken money of would be buyers (who perhaps should have been more cautious) and then failed to deliver. Often transpires after the event that the scammer has done similar on other forums and used false names and details.
 
I appreciate that's slightly harder to do with a car which needs collecting, but would be very easy to do on a roffle for example (and indeed why some forums ban them)
 
Obviously it has to be done in a sensible way though - a 200 post rule on a quiet forum isn't going to work however good the intention behind it.