SKcats fleet. Mazda 323f collection.

[brownnova]

My uncle had a Marea as a company car, and I really rather liked it. Hence a Marea has always been on the periphery of my want list! It’s a good looking little car, and this one looks like a great buy! 

[Zelandeth]

When the new unit's only £40 there really doesn't seem to be much argument for buying used in my book.

[Skcat]

I ended up buying the used unit as the same seller had a passenger window motor I needed and I'm unsure if they will run into issues sending of those those units as it has explosives in it. I understand they get sent all the time but I just want it on the road ASAP! 

Also got This tool to reset the airbag. The old forums seem to all say the airbag ecu is non volatile so needs a tool to reset it unlike the engine ecu. Will see how it goes! 

[Split_Pin]

Shame about the Omega but from the picture the chassis rail below the hole looked shot as well.

I love the Marea much more, nice one!

[Skcat]

2 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Shame about the Omega but from the picture the chassis rail below the hole looked shot as well.

I love the Marea much more, nice one!

Its a fun mix of cars, it makes me wonder if anyone has owned a Roadmaster and a little fiat Marea. It's very autoshite! 

[Skcat]

I won the coupe alloys, for £80. But still, The alloys will smarten it up! It Currently has steel wheels that  are 6Jx14 ET43 with four random cheapie 185/65R14 fitted. 

The new alloys are 6.5Jx15 ET44 with 205/55R15. But I think these are the wrong tyres and it should officially be 205/50R15 does not really matter for me anyway. 

The 1.8I officially came with a 6.5Jx15 ET40 with 195/55R15 fitted so do I go for a 195 or a 205? I guess I'm thinking about this way too much 😆

I noticed the key barrel has a extra mode you can out it in "Park" so I looked it up. You can lock it in a position where the park lights are on but the steering lock is engaged. Odd, I've not noticed it on other cars it works though. 

Removed the cluster too change the back light bulbs. Took a few visits too find the bulbs as they are a more rare 3w, most I come across are 1.2w, 2w or a 504 3w. Never normally a 508 style 3w.

Fiat wanted over £65 for the three but after I realised they are in fact socketed I paid around £2.20 for the three. 

Unfortunately even though I followed the fiat guide I scuffed up the steering wheel surround. Looks really naff now. Will need to removed it and take it too a friend who is good with this stuff. 

Not really sure why I'm wasting so much time and money into this car but I do really like it!

Took the volvo out the garage for the first time sinse volvo600 and its been faultless... Apart from the dash bulbs being iffy (but that's a annoying connection issue). I seem to always be changing dash bulbs but they really annoy me when they are burnt out. 

 

Oh and I fitted some new wiper blades, turns out the ones fitted too the car where actually too small. Another trope of every car I seem to buy! 

[Bitzer]

1 hour ago, Skcat said:

Odd, I've not noticed it on other cars it works though. 

Common on Italian cars. It is very useful if you happen to live in a country which requires use of DRLs. You just switch on your lights and forget about them forever. The lights will switch on upon switching on ignition and switch off when you remove the key.

No need for those bloody "you utter cretin, you are leaving your car with lights on" chimes and similar shite.

[Ian_Fearn]

I’ve never understood why Fiats have such a bad rep. I’ve now had 3 (admittedly all Pandas) from 94 to 07 and despite everything they’ve had thrown at them, they are great.

I reckon they are well built too but because they were relatively cheap to buy, they attracted disinterested owners who never maintained them and threw them away when a minor bill came.

Well bought, would love to try a Marea.

[Mrcento]

1 hour ago, Ian_Fearn said:

I’ve never understood why Fiats have such a bad rep. I’ve now had 3 (admittedly all Pandas) from 94 to 07 and despite everything they’ve had thrown at them, they are great.

I reckon they are well built too but because they were relatively cheap to buy, they attracted disinterested owners who never maintained them and threw them away when a minor bill came.

Well bought, would love to try a Marea.

That's it. It's all in attitude of owners.

A punto breaks at 100k miles having never been serviced and owned by 2 or 3 owners who gave no fucks because it was just a Fiat, it's a 'shit Italian car, Fiats are shite'

A Fiesta breaks at 50k 'It's had a hard life, never been serviced'.

I've not seen too many that have just broke. Most issues come from neglect. Head Gaskets of FIRE engines 99% of the time are cooling system issues. On Cinqs and Seis, ususally the lower coolant hose gets battered off kerbs, speedbumps and showered with crap on the road over the years and starts to drip (Even with new pipes and radiators, they are a bitch to get not dripping. Coolant level drops over time, never gets checked let alone topped up,  Overheats, OMGHGF.

[Bitzer]

I have zero experience with newer Fiats, but those from eighties or nineties were just great - practical, economical and, last but not least, good looking. Unfortunately, it is my opinion the company made a major mistake with Stilo. The wisecrack at the time of its introduction was something like "too German for Italians, too Italian for Germans. And it cost them the family car segment for good (Remember the second reincarnation of Croma? I do not.)

That said, I am convinced Panda and 500 are great cars. 

[Skcat]

The new drivers seat belt unit came today. I measured the circuit on the dummy unit tucked under the drivers seats contacts and it was almost 0Ω, so I checked the replacement unit and that was the same. When the dummy unit was plugged in I had no airbag light so hopefully when the computer is reset it will go out. 

fitted the new unit and then all the trim, ran the wire the correct way and plugged it in. The interior is now, just waiting on that wire to reset the light. 

Downloaded the service manual and found that the radio why the radio would not turn on or off with the ignition. Even with the radio having a broken wire I managed too change the setting so now the radio turns on and off with the ignition. Another little annoying thing sorted. Even though I will be fitting a modern radio soon. 

The new passenger side window motor/regulator turned up but I will tackle it another time. 

[stephen01]

I do love a marea / brava. Had several over the years, the 5 pot 2.0l is still one of my favourite engines, slow and thirsty by modern standards but a hoot to drive just for the noise. 
 

 

[wesacosa]

blimey, that's some attempted flip @Skcat 🤣

[DoctorRetro]

1 hour ago, wesacosa said:

blimey, that's some attempted flip @Skcat 🤣

Just came here to post that 😂

[Split_Pin]

I presume they've done that because it's no longer available?

[Skcat]

7 hours ago, wesacosa said:

blimey, that's some attempted flip @Skcat 🤣

That actually appeared before they took down the original. I thought the issue was local to my phone phone somehow then it did not go away.

It's very odd. Will be accepting offers, for autoshite members offers over  £25k though! 😅

Edit:

Got bored at work and called auto-trader, they said it is a test advert then generated.

[Scrubworks]

You've done it again 😝

[Zelandeth]

Actually saw another one of these today, over in Newport Pagnell on an X plate in a sort of blueish silver colour.

[mintwth]

Anything randomly fallen off this yet or is your luck with Mareas far better than mine ever was? 

[Bitzer]

11 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

blueish silver colour

IIRC, there were two of them - one was  simply very pale blue metallic, while the other one was a work of Unseen University. It is hard to describe - mother-of-pearl blue/silver with green-ish accents, depending on the viewing angle. I believe it was rather expensive and thus quite rare on Fiats and seen more frequently on Alfas.

[Skcat]

On 9/21/2021 at 11:57 AM, mintwth said:

Anything randomly fallen off this yet or is your luck with Mareas far better than mine ever was? 

I've only done around 250 miles but it all seems fine so far! I can't get the airbag light off at all, will need to consult someone who knows what they are doing. 

Passenger side window mechanism turned up a while back. Thermostat housing/thermostat has also turned up. And today I got the passenger side mirror. 

I was a bit worried it would be wrong but it appears to be new old stock oem. Just a shame its not painted black. But as the car is black anyway I still think it will look better then what's fitted!

Ought to actually fit it. Maybe service the car too! 

[mintwth]

As the Rolling Stones said

 I want it painted black
No colours anymore
I want them to turn black

[Skcat]

Well that did not take long! And now it's too rainy/I am too lazy too do more. 

Now I need one for the passenger side. 

[Scrubworks]

2 hours ago, Skcat said:

 I can't get the airbag light off at all, will need to consult someone who knows what they are doing. 

 

*AHEM* Mate, you remember that I have access to a full OBD2 scanner?

[Skcat]

5 hours ago, Scrubworks said:

*AHEM* Mate, you remember that I have access to a full OBD2 scanner?

You think it will work? It's not OBD2, We can always try! 

[Scrubworks]

28 minutes ago, Skcat said:

You think it will work? It's not OBD2, We can always try! 

Is it not? I assumed being this late into the 90s it would have the socket. Bugger.

[Skcat]

Another week another issue fixed. Removed the electric window lifter (actually pretty easy) and saw the issue. The cable had somehow become tangled in the cassette and it was all sized. It had pulled so hard on the plastic part the slides along the rail and broken it off. But the new one seemed all correct so I fitted that. 

Unfortunately the motor on the new unit was duff, Never got it too work. The old motor was fine though and thankfully I took the two cassettes apart and swapped the motors.

Stuck it all back together and it all works like new again! Was too dark to take photos though. 

[crapcarcollector]

These are OBD1 multiecuscan and the right cable will help diagnose the airbag.


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[crapcarcollector]

If you are anywhere near stoke on Trent I’d be happy to give my cable and laptop a whirl on it for you. Use it to do resets on the wife.s OBD1 GTV


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[Skcat]

On 10/10/2021 at 10:33 AM, crapcarcollector said:

If you are anywhere near stoke on Trent I’d be happy to give my cable and laptop a whirl on it for you. Use it to do resets on the wife.s OBD1 GTV


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Thanks! Sounds like a great offer. I will try with a local buddy first!

 

A car has come up for sale near me that peaks my interest so if anyone fancies the Marea send me a Pm, £750 would be ideal with the alloys and bits! I should make a thread on the for sale group but who knows how long the car I'm intrested in will stick around.