The Doctor's travels through time - The End - of chapter 1

[TrabbieRonnie]

I once had an old Toyota with the same symptoms... It was the starter contacts (something like that, wee copper bits, pennies to buy anyway...).  They came as a pair, I could only fit one easily in situ, but even following that half-arsed repair it was transformed.  Before repairing it, I found that if you gave it a shove/bounce (in gear) before re-trying to start it, it would invariably go... Must've budged the contact round onto a good bit or sumfink.  

The lbd sounds like a more fun solution mind....!

 

EDIT... Having said that, a cursory eBay search suggests the starters are cheap enough that no-one's bothering to sell bits to repair them...  This was not the case with obscure Japanese imports!  Good luck with it Doc, another nice wee car.

Edited March 9, 2020 by TrabbieRonnie

[Angrydicky]

Weird. Never had that particular issue. I did have the battery connection come loose but then I had no ignition lights when I tried to start it, and I gave that an extra nip before dropping it around to you!

Starter connection sounds a good call. It does sound like a bad connection in that area.

[DoctorRetro]

Decisions, decisions. 

I know you lot like to tell people what they should do, so how about this? 

Do I spend the funds received from selling the AX for... 

 

a) Maintaining/fixing the Clio, making it perfect*

b) Buying something else

c) Getting my divorce rolling and hope that the Clio keeps going for the foreseeable without needing any major jobs done

d) Do none of the above and build up savings so I could potentially do all 3.

*Clutch etc would be on my list. 

 

a) is risky in that you could plow money into something that rewards you by genading itself the following week. b) is probably the Autoshite way, but we all know the grass is never greener. c) could end up the same as a) . d) is the most sensible, but also the most boring. 

[Spurious]

E. Try swap the Clio for the AX? ?

 

Realistically, if you depend on the car for work/life at least have it working right so there's a reasonable chance of it starting in the morning and not letting you stranded somewhere. 

[loserone]

Why ask, you're going to do B anyway?

[Jim Bell]

[Wingz123]

E) save money to buy a house to give something to son to inherit - yes THIS!!

[DoctorRetro]

26 minutes ago, Wingz123 said:

buy a house

Unfortunately, never going to happen in my lifetime. 

[BorniteIdentity]

9 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

Decisions, decisions. 

I know you lot like to tell people what they should do, so how about this? 

Do I spend the funds received from selling the AX for... 

 

a) Maintaining/fixing the Clio, making it perfect*

b) Buying something else

c) Getting my divorce rolling and hope that the Clio keeps going for the foreseeable without needing any major jobs done

d) Do none of the above and build up savings so I could potentially do all 3.

*Clutch etc would be on my list. 

 

a) is risky in that you could plow money into something that rewards you by genading itself the following week. b) is probably the Autoshite way, but we all know the grass is never greener. c) could end up the same as a) . d) is the most sensible, but also the most boring. 

Not sure I see the problem with A. If something fails you fix it. A bit like a house - you don’t knock it down because you need a new roof. You re-roof it because the original one has served its time. I dare say you’ll be able to get spares for a little car like this for another 20 years, especially if you buy one for spares. 

I know this sounds patronising but I don’t mean it to. The whole “durable motoring” thing can be very rewarding - honest. You don’t need to do a full restoration, just pick things off as they turn up - and you’ll hopefully avoid any bone crunching bills. 

[DoctorRetro]

The worry is mostly the high clutch, I know that's going to be a doozy of a bill... 

[mitsisigma01]

I've just checked ECP for clutch kits and with the PAT75 code a Transmech kit is £49 or a Valeo kit is £54 so not to pricey really, some cheap/free labour and the jobs a good un. 

[DoctorRetro]

11 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

Unfortunately, never going to happen in my lifetime. 

Just to clarify this, and to be realistic. Say I save £100 per month, for 10 years. I will have £12,000.

My pending debts that I've not started paying off properly yet amount to more than that, so then say another 10 years to get another 12k together. I'll be 60 then. 

I'm all for putting something aside for a rainy day, but when you're down at the 'bottom' and have made some bad decisions, it's always raining. 

So you enjoy the little pleasures where you can, knowing that even if you live like a monk and put every penny aside, it won't be enough, and you'll then be too old to enjoy it. 

Sorry for the depressing post, but it annoys me when people say 'Save up and buy a house' like it's an easy thing. It isn't. 

 

[Wingz123]

47 minutes ago, TheDoctor said:

it annoys me when people say 'Save up and buy a house' like it's an easy thing. It isn't. 

I only suggested this because in posts gone by you had referenced getting a promotion at work and with that a pay increase. I have no idea how much disposable income you nor your income or outgoings - that's none of my business either. I said this hoping you'd aspire to get out of the rental trap. 

I'm tired of frittering away money on cars and would rather put it to good use. That's not to say I cant enjoy my banger motors following/hobby but I also can't keep changing my car every 5 minutes if I get bored - I wouldn't expect my mrs to put up with that I'm 29. 

Only a mere suggestion though Doc. You know I have tried to help in the past with offers etc so it was by no means said to wind you up. 

[Angrydicky]

I think a cambelt would be higher up my list than a clutch. It's only a little bit overdue, but the clutch will slip for a while before it actually makes it undriveable (and it's not slipping yet) but the cambelt snapping will wreck the engine. It's already snapped once!

[Spurious]

17 minutes ago, Angrydicky said:

I think a cambelt would be higher up my list than a clutch. It's only a little bit overdue, but the clutch will slip for a while before it actually makes it undriveable (and it's not slipping yet) but the cambelt snapping will wreck the engine. It's already snapped once!

Yes it's an interference motor. Lots of stuff will bend and make life unhappy. 

I changed mine on the 1.4 years ago, near enough the same engine. It wasn't a bad job, doable on a driveway with a Haynes manual. My water pump was leaking so I changed the belt at the same time. 

[mitsisigma01]

ECP Dayco timing belt kit £10.72.!!! 

[mitsisigma01]

More expensive belts are available ?

[DoctorRetro]

It's interesting how many different faces the Renault Clio has had over the years. I'd owned this a week before I realised it wasn't a true Mk1, but a Mk1-Phase 2 or something. See below pics for reference 

Mk1

Mk1-Phase 2

And then I get confused 

 

[Kiltox]

1 hour ago, mitsisigma01 said:

ECP Dayco timing belt kit £10.72.!!! 

This timing belt kit might not actually exist. It is the same part number as returned for the mk1 Megane Cabriolet I have inbound. I ordered one last week and it didn’t come with the rest of my order....

[Angrydicky]

2 hours ago, Spurious said:

Yes it's an interference motor. Lots of stuff will bend and make life unhappy. 

I changed mine on the 1.4 years ago, near enough the same engine. It wasn't a bad job, doable on a driveway with a Haynes manual. My water pump was leaking so I changed the belt at the same time. 

I read through the history file and the cambelt snapped in 2014. The then owner paid out around £500 to have the top end of the engine rebuilt with new valves etc, and a new cambelt of course. I think most 'shiters would throw in the towel with it if history repeated itself!

[Angrydicky]

1 hour ago, TheDoctor said:

It's interesting how many different faces the Renault Clio has had over the years. I'd owned this a week before I realised it wasn't a true Mk1, but a Mk1-Phase 2 or something. See below pics for reference.

As far as I understand it your one is a MK1 Phase 3. The Phase 1 and Phase 2 both had the prefacelift front end.

[Kiltox]

6 hours ago, Kiltox said:

This timing belt kit might not actually exist. It is the same part number as returned for the mk1 Megane Cabriolet I have inbound. I ordered one last week and it didn’t come with the rest of my order....

Might be wrong on this - ECP have dispatched something from my order 

[Eyersey1234]

5 hours ago, Angrydicky said:

As far as I understand it your one is a MK1 Phase 3. The Phase 1 and Phase 2 both had the prefacelift front end.

What was the difference between phase one and phase 2?

[seacow]

5 minutes ago, Eyersey1234 said:

What was the difference between phase one and phase 2?

Phase 3 had bigger front headlights but that was mainly it.  There were with very minor differences  Between 1 and 2 - steering wheel and the i think the grill was slightly different I had an N plate one as a company car .  We had a deal with Renault at the time so there were loads around - had a shot of the 16v a few times and that was ace!

[mitsisigma01]

6 hours ago, Kiltox said:

This timing belt kit might not actually exist. It is the same part number as returned for the mk1 Megane Cabriolet I have inbound. I ordered one last week and it didn’t come with the rest of my order....

I didn't enter your reg number but its a bonus if it is for your version 

[Kiltox]

Cheapy timing belt turned up today and it says on the box it’s good for the 1.2 as well

@TheDoctor if it doesn’t appear for your reg try K652LMH. 

[spartacus]

I don't know how things are with you and your wife but even though it's just words on paper I felt like a new, free man after I got divorced. It closed a chapter for me and helped me move on. So maybe sit down and think about the divorce.

[captain_70s]

On 3/11/2020 at 12:43 PM, TheDoctor said:

Decisions, decisions. 

I know you lot like to tell people what they should do, so how about this? 

Do I spend the funds received from selling the AX for... 

Invest the money in the car you have, if you want to keep it.

Otherwise sell it and buy something else and invest the remainder of money into that. There is no point in spending peanuts on an old banger every other month, by the time you factor in collecting the thing, insuring it and ironing out initial problems you'd be as well throwing your money into a big hole.

[DoctorRetro]

Needed to do a permanent fix to the lack of interior light... 

Fiver from eBay. Chocolate blocks because I'm a bodger. Wired up correctly so that it goes on when the door opens... 

 

 

[BeEP]

I'm guessing the asking price for this is somewhat more than you sold it for?......

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stunning-rare-ax-11tzx-1-years-mot-only-3-left-in-uk-60-000-miles/254540533305