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No gameshow Bin or buy anymore. more tinker time with added renault teaser


garbaldy

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In my view, a Stilo is in many ways similar to a Golf... Inoffensive to look at, dull to drive, fundamentally reliable but with quite a few built-in-obsolescence-type problems, especially electrical, that can cost £££ to put right.

 

The main reason they're uber-cheap and undesirable is because they lack the main selling point of Golfs :

 

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Having owned ours for four years, I think a Stilo is good choice if you want a reliable comfy safe family car. The trim inside is a good finish and you get lots of kit as standard like height reach adjustable steering wheel, electric mirrors, stability control, rear seats that slide and recline, etc. They were really well rust proofed as well they even got a separate mention in car mechanics rust report as being much better protected than the rest of cars of a similar age. They have some clever features like the rear axle bushes are use fluid filled voids so as you corner they passively steer.

 

If you do get any electrical problems you just need FiatECUScan and a cheap VAG OBD cable to have diagnostics as good as a dealer. My air bag light came on one day I used this software which told me that the passenger seat air bag was open circuit. I used the Fiat Forum to research this which told me to check the connector behind the glove box, cleaned this job done. 

 

I'm happy to take £600 for mine as is now if anyone is interested.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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A big up to garbaldy for saving this shiter to do a bit more useful work. Octavia is earning its keep, proving 90s cars are a good combination of simplicity, reliability and practicality - if a little soul-less, as this bottle green thing is. No collection pics - it was an evening dash up the A1, turn left into the beautiful Scottish Borders and a good chat with mr garbaldy in the 10pm broad daylight, 30 litres of used veg tipped into the tank and a tedious hum back to Yorkshire with what seemed like 100 miles at 50mph through roadworks, to protect the workforce who were all in bed.

 

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Annoyingly, the headlamps went out every time the electronics were rebooted so I soon learned how to pulse the power in 4 second fits in order to cruise at a sensible speed. Reconnecting the temperature sensor stopped the glow plug relay from clicking on and off in a state of confusion and made every dial fully operational. As I'd been promised, the brakes were iffy, limp mode cut in when you squeezed the loud pedal in fourth or fifth and once onto North Yorkshire's finest trunk roads the off-side front damper lost what oil remained. Modern rising rate springs which are on the stiff side turn out to be surprisingly good at resisting the urge to bounce a car off the road, when the shocker has totally gone.

 

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Cursing the complication of the variable turbos fitted to newer shite like this 2000 year Skoda, I read up and found that a couple of hours soaking in Mr Muscle foam usually rids them off their stickiness - which forces the ECU into its limping safety mode (max speed 75-80). It involved undoing two nuts/bolts on the EGR pipe which on this car looked very rusty so I dabbed some veg oil and coppaslip and left it for a fortnight to soak. In that time, my style of driving seems to have improved matters no end and limp mode is now a rare occurrence - yippee! I suppose I should blank off the EGR, but this car is a tool to see me through a period of ridiculous poverty, so I'll continue to make it breathe its own veg gases out of sheer bloody-mindedness. Hesistant and smoky starts from cold suggest the timing's a little out or compression's a little down on one cylinder - must take to a man with a poota and interface cable - but it does help remind you it is an oil-burner, sounding a little like a Class 37 on a winter's morning. Lack of glowplugs never helps with veg, switching them on by re-disconnecting the ETS improves matters but is a proper hassle - this can be programmed via VAGCOM, I think.

 

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With no structural rot, four newish tyres, a recent test, recent service, new front pads, glow plugs, an air mass meter, new cambelt in 2013, front springs and no doubt all the other stuff a car with over 200k will have had, it's an indicator of how crazy our system has become that it was on its way to the scrapper. The leaking damper was caused by a lazy mechanic - the shaft had been badly scored with mole grips, he obviously couldn't be arsed to fish out an allen socket to stop it turning. But he had copper greased the pinch bolt, expecting it to be coming out again. A pair of good s/h ones a mate fished out of his shed now makes it ride and handle as it should.

 

There's so much room in the back I managed to fit in a couple of 205 litre barrels without a squeeze, it's averaging 54mpg according to the computer running on waste veg/misfuel (and is driven actively in hilly country), handles and rides perfectly well and even the brakes work properly now the front discs have been cleaned up - again, that lazy-arsed mechanic. When your back's against the wall, cash-wise, you really don't mind boringly good cars -  even if only three windows work, one rear door handle needs looking at and the radio's off. I hate the sad drone of most straight four engines, so must sort out a radio.

 

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I shall play belt tensioner pulley roulette, an interesting version of cambelt roulette - it seems this same cack-handed spannerman who fitted new pads without cleaning up the discs and mullered a front strut may have done the belt last year, with all the whining which is going on. I could dive in there, but generally avoid anything more complicated than oil changes on modern cross-wise engines, in preservation of my sanity.

 

Having said that, I was called up by a mate (the one with the 124 coupe dizzler) yesterday evening to see if I could fit the driveshafts to his Traction Avant, on refitting the engine and box. Apparently even Traction specialists have a stiff drink when someone asks if they could do something which involves this job on the narrower Légère models - there's about 12mm of space to work in every direction. The shafts pass through a small hole in the subframe structure and can just move a little up and down and side to side, the engine and box can barely move, sandwiched into the tightest possible space. Anyone who has done driveshafts on a GS will have an inkling of the lack of access, but those are a cinch by comparison.

 

There are stories of garagefuls of mechanics breaking down into tears after ten hours of trying without any form of success, or of succeeding then finding the stud threads are damaged beyond use. I helped remove the shafts when it all came apart and that was something which defied physical possibility, or so it seemed.

 

Suffice to say, within just over an hour, I was downing the free* beers, wine and fine food. It's good to succeed against all the odds, I felt like I'd won the lottery, but without all the concerns* that would bring.

 

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That's a 'library' pic - my mate's car is filthy, grease all over the old shaft joints, wings still on, f-all room to move around the car and so on. To work in a workshop which is as clean as a surgeon's workplace would be a treat.

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I forgot to update this thread doh

 

Glad you are getting good use out of this and on the amber nectar will be saving you a fair bit on running costs, 

it sounds like the mechanic or possibly last owner may be a bit mechanically challenged,  I am just glad I don't use him if that's the standard of workmanship :shock: 

 

It was nice to meet a fellow car nut as most of my friends cant be arsed with old motors and just want to talk about crap :-D

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This car must be one of the cheapest overall to run - although computer said I only managed 43ish to the gallon this evening when on a fast cross-country dash. The limp-mode seems to be ever harder to trigger, to the point it would be possible to use the towbar to pull something heavy. It's either my driving or the carbon-dissolving effects of veg fumes.

 

Must put those 'Achilles' Chinese tyres on the front - they're a little loose on the rear. What a perfect name for Chinese tyres!

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  • 1 month later...

Well I didn't even waste time taking pics of the stillo as it was shit :shock:

 

So now onto round three, is there any love for an old citroen berlingo forte dizzler ? its on a Y plate and the present owner has had it since it was 6 months old, I don't think its a veg drinker though but I could be wrong. think it has short mot and no tax, so now onto the big question is it worth saving from the crusher as that's where it heading.

no pics yet as I've not been to see it yet.

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I've just bought one, a 52 HDi with tax and test for £600.

 

Unlikely to be veg friendly that one as they're almost exclusively lucas pumps, possibly semi-ecu at that age.

 

It's worth it for bridge money as it will fetch £500-£1000 if you can get it through another test, depending on cleanliness.

 

Mine was ditched inside from van usage but cleaned up ok after 3(!) wet shampooings of the seats.

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Well I jumped on the week in A&E fired up the two smoke powerhouse and buzzed down to collect this new purchase,

paper was swapped two smoker was dumped in the back and I was back home within 20 minutes :-D

 

so here it is in all its French glory and after a quick wash to remove the patina (moss)

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wheel trim is in the back along with the spare and a new tyre.

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I'd recommended putting some air in the tyres, it will improve the fuel economy and the handling, all for 20p!

 

I really rated the berlingos I occasionally drove for work, they would hustle along at a fair old lick if you planned ahead and were smooth, they just seemed to shrug off the bumps.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well I decided to investigate the lack of braking power and to my surprise I found this to be the cause. anyone spot the problem?

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so I popped the wheel of and bonus free mole grips

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so I made up a new length of brake pipe and one new wheel cylinder later and blingo the brakes work spot on,

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once finished then I checked the other side and it too had rusty brake pipes so I made up another.

after the back was fettled I moved onto the front and since both front brake pipes where also rusty I let the jack down and buggered of for a play in the jago instead.

metal brake pipes are the work of the devil so I will attack it the morn now.

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SHit!!! Thats amazing!

 

 

Yeh that's some bodge,

so this fine night I decided to fit the front brake pipe and I found more bodgery :shock: (forgot to take pics though)

first I made and fitted the brake pipe after removing the battery tray to get to the pipework and while turning the front steering noticed it was rough and clicking, so decided to strip of the strut and pull it to bits and found the top mount was full of insulating tape and the bearing wasn't seated properly,

I cleaned of all the tape and the dirt which had forced its way in to the bearing greased it all then refitted it back together, now nice and smooth so should now please Mr mot man, one more pipe to do then I shall pop it in for test :-D

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  • 2 months later...

well the blingo is still sitting on the drive after I lost the brake pedal while bleeding it :shock:

 I have just ordered an easy bleed for it as what's happening is once the pedal is pumped and the brake fluid level drops I top it up but it isn't filling the back part of the reservoir and sucking in air damn thing. 

 

 

 

 

so now onto a new project which this time I did not ask for any advice as I've not really listened the previous times anyway and just jumped in :-D

 

Same story as usual, friend calls telling me about a young lads car broken down and sitting in a garage in Edinburgh, mechanic says cam chain issue not worth fixing so advises scrapping it :shock:

me being me I agree to gamble with it on the price of the mot bill from 4 weeks ago and set of with A frame in the back of the hippo, 

meet the lad and his father and hitch it up and hand over 150 bar for what can only be described as a right bloody bargain, 

 

corsavior would be proud is all I can say,  

 

to be continued

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So decided to have a looksy at the new project,

since winters here I thought I would stick its nose into the garage so I could stick the heater on to keep warm.

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typical the jack doesn't even like the cold and failed to lift high enough, a few bits of tree soon sort that out.

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some spanner twirling later and the sump is of to show that its got worms.

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yup it looks like its snapped,

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I did ponder trying to take the link out and re rivet it to see if we have piston valve interface but thought better.

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time to wip the rocker box of now and check for further damage, bungee cord comes in handy for getting crap out the way and saves daughter or misses complaining :-D

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half an hour later and can you spot what's missing.

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here we go four broken rockers, all valves appear to spring shut with a nice reassuring thud once flicked down.

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 I think I shall have a gamble and order the cam chain kit plus four rockers and hope we have no bent valves.

so I shall tuck it up nice and warm until parts come, wouldn't want it catching a cold.

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tbc

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well I have took the plunge and ordered four new rockers at £21 and a cam chain kit at £52 some toothpaste sump gasket at £8

Its a bit of a gamble as I really don't want to be removing the head for bent valves but im pretty sure if the engine is goosed the corsa will break for more than what I've spent so far.

 

Forgot to say that this is a 70 k corsa 1.3ctdi with full main dealer service history, if fiat had used a belt then it would have been changed at 60k and a quick google suggests this is a very common thing with cam chains, especially this engine :shock:

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Don't know if it's the pictures but that camchain looks pretty weedy, like a pushbike chain!

 

When you get round to bleeding the brakes on your Blingo, give the pedal a few pumps at the same time as vacuum bleeding.

I had some issues getting all the air out of mine when I did it.

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Don't know if it's the pictures but that camchain looks pretty weedy, like a pushbike chain!

 

When you get round to bleeding the brakes on your Blingo, give the pedal a few pumps at the same time as vacuum bleeding.

I had some issues getting all the air out of mine when I did it.

 yes it is pretty weedy I would say a pushbike chain is stronger.

 

Its an easy bleed I've bought so it pressures the system rather than suction,

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