Daves Metro - Your CT result is.....[dramatic pause]....[music intensifies]....[camera zooms in]...its a PASS

[Guest Lord Sward]

Fiush  it!

[MarvinsMom]

the hoses on mine where jut the same, i used a flexible bottle brush in the end to give them a good clean.

 

deffo sounds like a caked up rad rather than anything serious/hard t put right.

 

flush it!!

[M'coli]

Alternatively, the radiator could be missing most of its fins.

[dollywobbler]

A series is spectacularly good at silting up. Get some Daz in there.

[JohnDeere]

This website allegedly has the correct tyres at £37 each

 

http://www.roadtyres.com/160-65-315-S.asp

[dave21478]

I stripped off all the cooling hoses and it wasnt pretty.

 

All the hoses felt crispy when squeezed - off the car it was obvious why....

 

I think this poor thing hasnt seen antifreeze for a very long time. Lacking a suitable bottle brush, I tied a clump of rags onto the end of some fence wire and drew that back and forth through all the hoses. I also laid them flat on a paving slab and gently pounded them with a lump hammer to break up this crud inside. As a result, loads of powder and bigger chunks came out....

 

I got the hosepipe on the radiator (which is mint externally, all fins perfectly intact) and flushed it through for ages, shaking it about, turning it this way and that and generally looking a bit odd in the back garden. Eventually the water ran through it nice and clean. I also flushed through the heater matrix, oil cooler and the heated inlet manifold.

 

The persistent leak turned out to be the metal pipe to the bottom of the rad which had rotted through in two places, one teeny pinhole on the bend and quite a large gash where the hose seals onto it. I cleaned it up and welded it.....feck knows how long that will last - I will need to find a replacement, I reckon.

 

With the thermostat housing and waterpump off I flushed the block through as best I could. Its all back together with some antifreeze in it and its not leaking, so thats a good start, plus the water hasnt turned brown straight away either. Being a povvo, I dont have a dishwasher so will snag a couple of dishwasher tablets next time I am at the farm, grind them up and add to the coolant as a ghetto flush. I reckon a few days of local running about and then drain and refill should see it right.

 

 

In other news I binned off the old stereo - It was crap, so I have fitted a basic Phillips USB / SD card player. I also found out why the speakers sounded so rubbish....

I chucked them out too and fitted some standard 10cm speakers in their place - not exactly pumping bass, but a big improvement.

[dave21478]

Been doing a few bits n bobs over the lest few evenings - oil change, all new filters and generally tidying things up.

 

Took it for CT today and it passed first time. 3 advisories...dented wing, loose rear bumper end and the usual A-series oil leak. I then hit the prefecture and did the registration paperwork - €108.

 

Its still not running right though - it still boils the coolant on a longer run and forces some of it out of the header tank. Once stopped the coolant can be heard boiling for a good few minutes afterwards. It doesnt loose any huge quantities - today was about 80km round trip on some fairly steep hills but the level has only dropped a centimeter or two.

 

I stupidly didnt test the thermostat when I had it in bits last week. It definately has a wee hole in it with a jiggle-pin in place as normal, but whether the bugger opens fully or not I dont know - might take a peek this afternoon.

 

It also has an annoying flatspot when pulling away in first - it starts moving, bogs down for a second then shoots off. The dizzy vac advance seems to working ok. I have a timing light somewhere but never had much success with it due to it being cheap rubbish.

[Skizzer]

The 'like' is for the CT, and in general - not for the boiling bit, obviously.

 

In fact anyone who can persuade a French person to sell them a car is some sort of god, in my book. [/grumpy]

[Bear]

How's the water pump. if it was that bunged up?

[Bear]

I miss Metros with crazy ride heights a rotten front wings. When they did get pumped up in the old days they always seemed too high. Presumably done to delay having to pump it up again

 

People forgot that the ride height has to be measured and adjusted for temperature. Pump up to 'specified height' in winter, get a 4x4 with no travel in summer.

[dave21478]

Got it registered and definitive insurance, new plates etc and have been doing wee jobs here and there.

Its just not "right" though so I took it for a blast today to see whats what - it has a dead spot on acceleration low down the rpm range and often bogged down when pulling away from rest.

On a whim I slackened off the dizzy and wanged it clockwise about half an inch and it seems much improved - I will take it out again later to check how it drives and if it is pinking that far advanced. Will take a spanner and adjust it out on the road to get best results.

I had a timing light but it caught fire last time I used it - a combination of cheap chinese shite and operator error.

[M'coli]

There's timing marks on the alternator pulley, pop a spare plug on number 1 plug lead and set it up statically if you can to about 2-3mm BTDC.

[dave21478]

Got to the end of the driveway and there was a loud pop and a funny smell. A quick peek under the bonnet and its popped the top off the battery. A "sealed for life" job rather than one with unscrewable cell caps. A bit of acid splash here and there but nothing damaging.

 

Weird.

Will check alternator output tomorrow.

[the judge]

If you can hear it boiling,you may need a rad cap

[Bear]

Got to the end of the driveway and there was a loud pop and a funny smell. A quick peek under the bonnet and its popped the top off the battery. A "sealed for life" job rather than one with unscrewable cell caps. A bit of acid splash here and there but nothing damaging.

 

Weird.

Will check alternator output tomorrow.

 

Ooosh, Voltage regulator failed on my Fifth Avenue and it did that.

[dave21478]

Well, voltage seems normal, so perhaps it was just a ropey battery? A new one was €50 from the local tractor spares place, so thats now fitted and doing the business.

I then added some decadent luxury and fitted a cigarette lighter, which was dead easy. Popped out the blanking plug on the dash, had a rummage and I found the proper wiring loom and plug taped up above the glovebox. Wanged in a lighter and now I can charge the phone or satnav etc.

I then had a look at the bodywork. A rummage in the garage turned up an aerosol of metallic grey high temp oven paint that is a surprisingly close match, so I sprayed a puddle onto an old saucer and used a wee brush to fill in the scrapes. Its far from perfect but a lot better than the white primer showing through and will do nicely until I can do it properly.

 

Oh, and I have ordered a new thermostat and headertank cap which should arrive during the week.

[dave21478]

I have racked up a few hundred kilometres in this now and it seems to be running fine. My guess with the ignition advance was pretty much spot on....if I really labour the engine up a hill in too high a gear it will pink very slightly, so it cant be far off. It certainly pulls well through the gears away from rest now with no more flat spot.

 

The new stat and rad cap have cured the boiling coolant, and I have flushed it out three or four times now and its as clean as an A-series is likely to be....ie still a little bit murky but not full-on chocolate. Temp sits steady around the middle of the gauge, rad fan kicks in if stationary a while and the heater is nice and hot.

I have given it a couple of oil changes as it was manky and its now on decent 20w50 which seems to be staying nice and clean too.

 

Still rolling with the metric tyres for now......dunno what to do. I have a set of 4 mini steelies but they seem kind of narrow...maybe 4"? certainly meant for 145 tyres but 155`s shouldnt be a problem I suppose. I will need to try one on to see how the offset and centre bore is. I dont have hubcaps for them but thats a minor detail. In fact I believe the original caps will go on if I remove the spring clips and cable-tie them on so the looks would remain all original.

The alternative is a set of alloys. There is a set of MG Metro pepperpot 12`s on LeBonCoin for not much coin, but the dude is adamant on collection only and its a 4.5 hour drive away. I currently cant justify a 9 hour round trip for a set of €50 wheels.....but then when will another set ever come up for sale?

The alternative alternative is to get a different set of wheels. I was looking at some mini accessories sites the other night. What I really want is a set of Compomotive MO`s, but the chance of finding some in the right fitment are nil, but a set of 4-spoke Revolutions could look good.....looking at €500+ all in though with tyres, nuts, delivery etc which is more than a paid for the whole bloody car.... I keep an eye on ebay for used sets but nothing much comes up at the moment.

 

I think the reason I havent made a decision either way is that true to my usual form I am bored of it already.

Its a great wee car, no doubt and probably one of the cleanest around, but.....I have precisely zero use for it. I cant use it for work....boot is too small and it would be criminal to get the interior shitted up with muddy boots and carrying chainsaws and strimmers and stuff like that around. I dont do a huge amount of driving for pleasure, so its only going to get the odd run out to the supermarket - ok, thats a 40 minute drive each way but still....also, given the way numpties here act in carparks I would much rather the Escort gets dinged up than this wee thing.

 

Dunno.

 

[sloth]

sell it to monseur bollox?

[Noel Tidybeard]

wrap it in cotton wool and bubble wrap then be a smug bastid when you got the only one left .......in the world

[HH-R]

In other news I binned off the old stereo - It was crap, so I have fitted a basic Phillips USB / SD card player. I also found out why the speakers sounded so rubbish....

P1010111 (Medium).JPG

I chucked them out too and fitted some standard 10cm speakers in their place - not exactly pumping bass, but a big improvement.

Ha, my Metro did the same thing!

 

Pfft Pfft Pfft all through the muzak. I did the tight man's trick and just unplugged the back ones.

[dave21478]

Two fuggin years. jeezus. TWO YEARS.   

 

Anyway, this thing has been fine. I have used it every now and then...it drives fine now, no overheating problems....nothing to report at all really.

 

The CT has recently lapsed, so time for a re-test which I have booked for tomorrow after work. I gave it a pre-test check this evening and all lights, wipers etc are fine.

Also, since this is france and the CT is more about ticking boxes on a form than actual safety I had to refit the old metric wheels and tyres.... Yeah, I have to remove my modern, good quality, good condition 12" tyres and refit the 19 year old cracked, hard and shit old tyres for the test....deliberately making the car less safe to pass the safety inspection   because only the metric tyres are homologated for this model. Since they are rare and expensive to buy new, I run it on a set of Mini steels and decent 12" tyres for normal use and keep the old metrics at the back of the garage purely for the CT.

 

 

I dragged a damp cloth over it too...Well, thats underselling it somewhat....wash, dry, Autoglym super resin polish then Autoglym extra gloss protection. Polished the glass, hoovered it and gave the interior plastics a clean.

Fitted a new vanilla Magic Tree too.

 

And the good wheels ready to go back on this weekend, assuming it passes.

Just like the Ferrari F1 garage, innit....

 

 

 

 

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Looks lovely !

 

Will CT man really know that Metros are meant to run metric wheels ?

[dave21478]

Aye, when he enters the details at the start of the test the computer spits out various things that must be checked, what emissions standards it needs to pass etc. This includes a list of possible tyre sizes...in this case only the metrics, no other options.

[SiC]

I assume the insurance company doesn't give a toss the wheels are different?

[dave21478]

Eh, third party only fleet insurance...no fucks given.

[RobT]

Looking good Dave.

 

Did you replace the metal coolant pipe in the end, or have the welds done the job? Mine has been leaking slightly for years, but is now pissing out so I can't ignore it anymore. I would've replaced it a long time ago but I've never been able to find a direct replacement. I'll work out a solution when I can be arsed.

[dave21478]

Looking good Dave.

 

Did you replace the metal coolant pipe in the end, or have the welds done the job? Mine has been leaking slightly for years, but is now pissing out so I can't ignore it anymore. I would've replaced it a long time ago but I've never been able to find a direct replacement. I'll work out a solution when I can be arsed.

 The welds have held fine, to my surprise. I had wanted to replace it, but could never find a new one for sale.

[Arthur Foxhake]

That is a lovely little car.

I've never seen one before and never really had much time for Metros in general but that is very nice.

[oldcars]

Looks great with those trims. Paintwork looks great after the polish and wax.

[dougiefourspeed]

That is seriously nice. I've CT'd some proper chod in the past without issue so I'm sure you'll have no trouble with this!