Xsara - £sold! Alive, well and MOT Pass with the new owner!

[Andyrew]

Looking sweet!

[beko1987]

All done! We went out for lunch and now all I want to do is sleep, so the bsi reset can wait for another day

I found a nice screwdriver too

It all came up very nicely indeed, its a canny place to sit now! In the summer it could do with a seats out shampoo of the carpet, but for now a damn good vacuum has done it the world of good! 

Just need to re pop off the centre air vent as I forgot to clip the fascia onto the vents properly. 

[500tops]

I love a good 'turnaround' post

[beko1987]

We got back in good time and the weather was not raining so I tried a bsi reset, and no dice, still no central locking. 

I'm not too fussed, ill put a new battery in the fob, and try again as I opened a door too soon I think. It might also not be liking the broken boot lock wire, and I should check the fuse incase it took that out as well (as the Zafira B does when it's wires break) 

Car still works though so I've not gone backwards, I'll class that as good enough! 

[Talbot]

I knew you'd be able to turn the interior condition of that car around.  Very pleasing to see, and I'll bet even more pleasing to be in!

[beko1987]

I only gave it a quick* vacuum!

Smells nicer already, but ive not spent 6 months smoking in it yet... 

[Talbot]

15 hours ago, beko1987 said:

but ive not spent 6 months smoking in it yet... 

No-one has ever smoked in that car.  The interior was "suffering" somewhat from general ick and gunge and a reasonable amount of damp-induced mould, but never any smoke.

Also, if that's a "quick" vacuum, what on earth do you do for a "deep clean" 

[beko1987]

I put £30 in Friday night when the light came on, and drove 270ish miles. The light came on again 10 miles from home, so another £30 went in

Its also alot nicer at 70/80 in the pissing rain than the zx is, bless it! 

[beko1987]

Pinch Punch it's the First of the Month

Flipping win too, it's the same cost to tax as the ZX was, I assumed the 2.0Hdi would have put it in a higher tax bracket. Not complaining though!

Now to find the paperwork for the ZX ready for when @comfysofa collects later.

[UltraWomble]

Done better than me - Ive been meaning to tax the bike on the 1st of the month since last September...... Still havent got around to it yet.

[maxxo]

9 hours ago, beko1987 said:

Pinch Punch it's the First of the Month

Flipping win too, it's the same cost to tax as the ZX was, I assumed the 2.0Hdi would have put it in a higher tax bracket. Not complaining though!

Now to find the paperwork for the ZX ready for when @comfysofa collects later.

strange that mine is only 160 for a 2.0 hdi,

is it the 90 or 110?

[beko1987]

110. I thought it would be back in £22 a month territory

[maxxo]

12 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

110. I thought it would be back in £22 a month territory

i bet that is fantastic to drive!

annoying they don't do the 110 in the egg

[beko1987]

It is a bit rapid. Its the nice combination of a smaller, lighter car with a big engine. My 406 had the 110 hdi too and it wasn't as rapid as it was heavier. 

[maxxo]

31 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

It is a bit rapid. Its the nice combination of a smaller, lighter car with a big engine. My 406 had the 110 hdi too and it wasn't as rapid as it was heavier. 

Mine is rapid downhill, otherwise just average

i could get a remap or a "tuning box" but it's not worth it, i'd like to be able to average at least 47 mpg per tank too

[beko1987]

Mine did 50 verified over 270 miles, I'm halfway through the £30 I stuck in on commuting now so it'll be cool to see what it does in normal driving! 

[beko1987]

This all very nearly didn't happen, as my bonus this year is severely reduced thanks to coronavirus. But, when the money from their house came through my mum and stepdad gave me £500, which was jolly nice of them, so it was back on!

Then another coronavirus spanner is that @Andyrew s place of employment is not open at the moment, so the amazing parts quote he gave me could not be acted upon. So I've spent half an hour on the webz, and a combination of ebay and Euro Car parts has got me only just above the excellent quite I had (did type the INA part number into ebay though, I kept that the same)

INA Timing Belt kit	£57.09
Oil	£14.86
2x Droplinks	£15.58
Oil Filter	£3.29
Thermostat	£5.06
Coolant	£15.99
	£111.87

Added a few more things it needed, have had nut splitters recommended for droplink nut removal before so treated myself, so spent a bit more

Bastard Windscreen	£50.00
Nut Splitter	£12.59
Dipstick	£6.64
	£69.23

 

Total of £181.10, bloody £20 more than I paid for the car! But worth it. Spending big once worked well last year with the ZX, so I'll try it again this time. Tyres don't seem to be going down and their decent so I'll leave those for now.

I'll wait for that lot to turn up and have a nice weekend of it soon, can give me something to look forward to.

[Andyrew]

To most normal people  it wouldn't make sense to spend that much on an old motor especially as it's more than the purchase price.

To me it makes perfect sense. You've got yourself a sorted car for sub 500 quid. 

 

[Kiltox]

Cheap nut splitters are awful - you’d have been better off with an angle grinder 

Wouldn’t feel bad about that shopping list - it’s all consumables that any car could want. 

[beko1987]

Yea I think it's a bargain for what I'll get and the jobs that can be done. Take the windscreen out and it drops the cost alot! If this lockdown carries on I'll not need to change the oil again for another 12 months! 

@Kiltox well I'll give it a go, otherwise it'll be back to swearing at vice grips and such! 

[Six-cylinder]

A working, serviced car for £500 has got to be good, especially one that goes well, is roomy and does 50 mpg.

Did you sort out the tailgate release?

[Talbot]

Windscreen?  I didn't think the one in it was particularly bad.. certainly acceptable for an MOT surely, or did something happen to it?

TBH, the purchase price of the car isn't really relevant.  This outlay is to keep the car on the road.  Not spending it would mean you'd de-value it to scrap very quickly.

And I have to agree.  Forget the nut splitter for removing these droplinks.  Just use a grinder.  Far quicker and easier.  And cheaper if you already have a grinder.

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

A working, serviced car for £500 has got to be good, especially one that goes well, is roomy and does 50 mpg.

Did you sort out the tailgate release?

Haven't touched it! Only been in the boot about 4 times since I bought it...

[beko1987]

52 minutes ago, Talbot said:

Windscreen?  I didn't think the one in it was particularly bad.. certainly acceptable for an MOT surely, or did something happen to it?

TBH, the purchase price of the car isn't really relevant.  This outlay is to keep the car on the road.  Not spending it would mean you'd de-value it to scrap very quickly.

And I have to agree.  Forget the nut splitter for removing these droplinks.  Just use a grinder.  Far quicker and easier.  And cheaper if you already have a grinder.

Yea the windscreen was perfectly passable, until this happened Wednesday afternoon... 

This is where the massive rock bounced off the bonnet

100% an unwanted bill but not much I can do about it! The screen is scratched to shit though so it'll be nice when it's done, but I wouldn't have done it otherwise

[beko1987]

Infact talking of the windscreen, some bloke from Auto Windscreens just called, could they nudge my appointment from the 15th April to the 21st as they've got 2 other jobs in Thame that day. I didn't have a problem with it so it's now on the 21st or something (doesn't bother me, I'll be here anyway!). I just chose the earliest date the website would allow.

[Talbot]

Where did said rock come from?  if it was flicked up by another vehicle, you'd be perfectly justified in claiming from their insurance for the full cost of a new screen.

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, Talbot said:

Where did said rock come from?  if it was flicked up by another vehicle, you'd be perfectly justified in claiming from their insurance for the full cost of a new screen.

It fell off the back of a wagon with 6x ton bags on the back. I'd dropped right back too after having a warning shot. 

I've even got the reg plate, but ive no proof, the truck was un-liveried etc. If I had a dashcam then maybe (plus he went to the m40 when I just wanted to go home). 

Seemed a lost cause

[Talbot]

If you've got the reg plate you should be able to make a claim.  The fact that it came off the back of a wagon is actually very much in your favour, as the wagon driver was committing the offence of having an insecure load, the result of which being you have suffered damage to your vehicle, even though you took adequate precautions (dropped back).

It might be worth pursuing, as I'm assuming the £50 is the excess on your own insurance, meaning you'll have a claim on your insurance come renewal time.  If you give your insurer the registration plate and any other detail of the other vehicle, I *think* they can look up who insures it and claim on your behalf.

[beko1987]

Checked my cambelt was correct earlier, seems to be! 

Still awaiting the oil, filter, thermostat and something else

[beko1987]

Euro car parts came today and delivered the correct stuff, huzzah! 

Just waiting on the oil now before I start the big job, and I have the kids next week so it'll be a while now but I got parked on the road earlier after shopping so I might fit the droplinks tomorrow and have a general mooch about the car.