HMC Quattroporte assaulted

[MorrisItalSLX]

That grill reminds me of 2 Australian market cars, The Holden VP Commodore and the facelifted AE92 Toyota Corolla Seca.

[HMC]

I’m often in 2 minds wether to bother doing certain cosmetic stuff to cars. It may satisfy me but it’s usually a waste of money on certain cars as it doesn’t make it worth anymore if it’s a worthless banger and not a  nailed on classic driven by the heroine in coffee adverts and what have you. It’s never stopped me turd polishing in the past, let’s be honest.

So it is with fiesta. The urge to tinker was strong and the single biggest return on pointless tinkering would be the bonnet.

At some stage someone has bought the right paint and laquer and then made a right mess of it. In the past I’ve got nice results on panels using basic colour matched rattle cans but the mess on the bonnet was so uneven it needed quite a bit of messing with. A bit out of my comfort zone. 

So I took the lazy/ and go for a fun drive way out and collected a panel off a scrapper down in a quiet Dorset village and had a nice drive out there and back. 

 

Pointless but satisfying 

DISCLAIMER: aeroblades not by HMC

[wuvvum]

49 minutes ago, HMC said:

It may satisfy me but it’s usually a waste of money on certain cars as it doesn’t make it worth anymore if it’s a worthless banger and not a  nailed on classic driven by the heroine in coffee adverts 

I initially read that as "the heroin in coffee adverts" and assumed that you must have access to a much wider range of TV channels than I do...

[HMC]

Not much to report here fleet wise. The fiesta and the a30 are both behaving and all is well. 

Actually not true entirely, the fiesta tended to have a sort of flat spot at higher revs. Fuel starvation? It also happened a bit eratically lower down during warm up. Not a big problem but annoying. I parts darts guessed an out of spec air flow meter, and a £15 second hand item off a low mileage car (so the ad said...) has cured it. I went for a free revving Moorland drive In it earlier to celebrate. Such a sweet little engine this 1.25 lump.

[HMC]

What was I up to 3 and a bit years ago? Oh yes I remember I had so many mg rover cars I needed a panorama shot to get them all in.... (out of shot- mg ZTT 190)

[HMC]

Just filled up the a30 (£not much) and taken it for a spin. Comical low gearing plus 1098cc does mean it’s easy to Potter about town as 4th Can happen from 15mph. I tend to do 2-4 on the flat or 1-3-4 if on a hill to avoid frantic cog swapping and it’s quite torquey so is perfectly happy like that. I suppose they chose the box ratios and final drive in 1951 for a car with almost half its current power output and at the time they tended to under gear most things anyway. 
 

 

Ive loads of minors so having one of these has been interesting. I’m not sure what I prefer. These almost look cartoonish and perhaps it’s the colour but Non Car People tend to want to talk to me about it when I stop far more than anything else I’ve owned.

[HMC]

Years ago I had a Lovely facelift 2.0 hdi berlingo. One owner; full length electric roof (very rare on the facelift) and it was lovely in every way.

This one is not lovely. It was bought new in Cornwall and used as a 4 wheeled donkey. It’s a battered  beast of burden; it has only 4 forward gears (5th is AWOL) Although it’s seemingly never strayed from Cornwall (and now only just over the border) it carries with  it the vibe of an elderly Frenchman on his way to market, somewhere far off the beaten track. It was £200, so essentially disposable.

[AnthonyG]

Love the ‘desire’ badge. Is the rear number plate trim piece off a different model (or car)?

Looks very grim but very useful. Well bought!

[holbeck]

Wow HMC, that's pretty grim!

I nearly bought a slightly older one at a house clearance,  equally grim, I managed to resist. 

[HMC]

I couldn’t bring myself to take pics of the interior. Think horses and dogs.

[HMC]

2 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

Love the ‘desire’ badge. Is the rear number plate trim piece off a different model (or car)?

Looks very grim but very useful. Well bought!

Yes it looks like the original piece was wider, you can make its outline out in the paint. Presume it was lost when the boot was dented and the replacement seems totally different and is the wrong shape. It’s not able hold the number plate lights in well enough to survive the boot closing. PROPER JOB

[phil_lihp]

Good lord.  That's practically brand new, too.  I do like a Multispace, pre-facelift is preferred though but at £200 I'll let you off.

[HMC]

Yeah 07- i was thinking the same. I think outdoorsy people with no mechanical sympathy have owned and abused it, probably not a shrewd buy if I start trying to improve it (rather than do nothing to it and bin it when it dies.) I wish I could be so disciplined but I can’t help myself when an automotive orphan crops up.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

12 hours ago, HMC said:

I couldn’t bring myself to take pics of the interior. Think horses ...

Can't be as horse-infused as my interior. Or can it....?

[phil_lihp]

To be fair you could probably triple its value with a wash and a set of wheeltrims.

[HMC]

Given it a quick jet wash to help morale.

Tonnes of Cornish muck blasted out of the wheel arches (very therapeutic) and a quick drive using all 4 available forward gears.

[HMC]

Why did I need a morale boost?

2 utterly ruined front tyres replaced; plus a track rod end.

Also my initial diagnosis from it sounding like a traction engine has proved correct. One injector seal seems to have gone and is chuffing away. Weighing up DIY attempt (apparently no where near the shit show of merc CDI engines) but I’m time poor.

Please link me back to this when I get tempted by the next cheap banger. Ok I could just run it and bin it which is what the more pragmatic of you would do. I have to be pragmatic in my job but I very rarely am with old shite. Presumably in 3 months someone will be able to buy a sorted but battered Berlingo for less than it owes me. C’est la vie

 

[Marm Toastsmith]

win some lose some - it's only money

and i like it

[shoddybanger]

Berlingo the abused donkey has been washed and taken to rest in the stable. It has crossed roads with a good samaritan!

[Six-cylinder]

On 7/24/2020 at 7:10 PM, HMC said:

Presumably in 3 months someone will be able to buy a sorted but battered Berlingo for less than it owes me. C’est la vie

If only you had bought an HDi one.....

[HMC]

2 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

If only you had bought an HDi one.....

It is an HDI- the 1.6 - apparently flakier than the 2.0 though. IIRC it’s the basic engine found in thr fiesta TDCI

[Six-cylinder]

4 hours ago, HMC said:

It is an HDI- the 1.6 - apparently flakier than the 2.0 though. IIRC it’s the basic engine found in thr fiesta TDCI

I borrowed a 90 bhp Picasso and it was great, not fast but just enough grunt to get up to speed and overtake.

[DoctorRetro]

On 7/24/2020 at 7:10 PM, HMC said:

Why did I need a morale boost?

2 utterly ruined front tyres replaced; plus a track rod end.

Also my initial diagnosis from it sounding like a traction engine has proved correct. One injector seal seems to have gone and is chuffing away. Weighing up DIY attempt (apparently no where near the shit show of merc CDI engines) but I’m time poor.

Please link me back to this when I get tempted by the next cheap banger. Ok I could just run it and bin it which is what the more pragmatic of you would do. I have to be pragmatic in my job but I very rarely am with old shite. Presumably in 3 months someone will be able to buy a sorted but battered Berlingo for less than it owes me. C’est la vie

 

What you need* is a R8 Diesel Tourer... 

[HMC]

Soooo the injector is now gas tight thanks to my local PSA place.

The thing is that this 1.6 hdi feels flakey. Uneven when starting and quite smokey at times. Noisy too. It’s not their finest hour apparently this 1.6 unit. Anyway before I write it off I’m hoping a glow plug change sorts the lumpy running when cold. I also decided to dismantle the Electricalky controlled EGR valve - I disassembled it and a spring and a few parts pinged out of it. After cleaning and reassembly it promptly went into limp mode and wouldn’t rev.
 

I broke my Berlingo! OBD interrogation reveals many many fault codes related to my EGR work. I’ve ordered a new Valeo (oem) replacement. Yes I feel stupid. Hopefully the glow plugs and a new EGR will help. It just feels like it’s going to let go on me this abused berlingo, just a Gut feeling. Watch this space.

 

Ps please note the 14 inch Nissan (micra?) trim I found in a moorland hedge and promptly fitted. Pushing the boat out.

[SiC]

1 hour ago, HMC said:

It just feels like it’s going to let go on me this abused berlingo,

Probably when the bits of gear from the fifth cog floating around, hits the rotating bits in the gearbox?

[HMC]

39 minutes ago, SiC said:

Probably when the bits of gear from the fifth cog floating around, hits the rotating bits in the gearbox?

This. Plus a sub par engineering job on the oil feed to the turbo, no service history and a very hard 13 years of duty. That is the cold reality of true, end of life autoshite; Take your pic.

[HMC]

This beaten up Berlingo idles so much better following swapping the fuel filter. A few longer runs seem to have made it run better and smoke less. 

I wonder if the rear beam thing is past it. The camber on the wheels is fine but at speed on sharper curves it feels a bit squirmy at the back when the car rolls. I can’t think of a better word- just a little bit disconnected. At speed in a straight line it’s ok - it’s just pushing it into a corner where the body roll builds and it happens.

I wanted to change all the glow plugs- 2 were tricky and eased out carefully but 2 came out Too easily but minus the tips. Somebody’s been here before and snapped them. I just re inserted them.  Also the steering rack is leaking quite badly. plus let’s not forget 5th gear is missing in action. Ive been sooo tempted to bridge it and buy @Eavb ‘S one instead.

Verdict: total HEAP, but a practical one.

 

[SiC]

Do glow plugs matter? Probably pretty much dead by the time you get to the coldest part of winter down there. 

[HMC]

If this has a DPF (dunno) they can do in terms of regenerating it. Having said that I’m saying they don’t- as you say the mot is up mid December and if it gets there I’ll be mildly surprised, let alone actually having another MOT submission

[SiC]

2007 won't automatically be DPF on a diesel, that's mostly post 2009 and almost all 2010 (except late reg). 

How well do HDI engines like veg? Might be a good test bed to experiment on when it's getting even close to end of life!