I'll get round to it at some point - Bratislava and Back: Things not to do in a mk2 Clio

[High Jetter]

Moar pls

[sdkrc]

Fucking ace thread @Rust Collector. How many MPGs did you manage in the Honda?

I slept in my Insight the night I picked it up, I opted to stay seated upright, was just about passable. The worst night's sleep I ever had was across the back of an Audi A2 in Plymouth. 

[High Jetter]

Have slept in an Imp and a Mini. Audi sounds like luxury. Oh, and in the back of a Hijet, but not alone.

[Rust Collector]

3 minutes ago, sdkrc said:

Fucking ace thread @Rust Collector. How many MPGs did you manage in the Honda?

I slept in my Insight the night I picked it up, I opted to stay seated upright, was just about passable. The worst night's sleep I ever had was across the back of an Audi A2 in Plymouth. 

Thanks mate, I'll be honest I was a bit disappointed with the MPG as on the back of a fag packet I worked it out to be something like 50-60mpg on average. The killer was time, I was driving at 80-100mph throughout most of the journey and I think the fuel efficiency of the Insight tails off pretty quickly at speed, especially with 300-400kg of people/dogs/luggage/fuel onboard. If I had of taken it at 60mph or so I think it easily would have done 80+ which is what I was hitting when driving it to trade shows in the North, but the journey time would have sucked even more. I also probably would have died from a BMW lodging itself up my arse at 200km/h 😅

[Rust Collector]

As for sleeping in cars, I find wrapping your head in a jacket helps to keep the cold air off your face, but does alarm passers by. Worst night in a car was 6 of us sleeping in a mk3 Fiesta 3 door in a car park after a lash up on bonfire night. Woke up and one person was in the boot, and somebody else had moved to sleeping in a shopping trolley outside the car as that was apparently more comfortable. I remember when I first looked out the window at my mate in the trolley there was a member of the general public just stood there looking at him in disgust 😅

[lesapandre]

Great write-up. Thanks for posting that!

[Fumbler]

Yasssss, he be back. Fantastic write-up and some stunning scenery!

[Rust Collector]

Catch up time then I guess, seeing as there's a few bits due to happen in the next few days! It's probably not going to work out in chronological order, so I'm just going to go project by project.

Fisrt in line then... My brother's 2002 Renault Clio DCi: The car that just wouldn't die. Or live.

So this one has been causing me grief on and off for years. My youngest brother is at uni, and the Clio lives there with him. Unfortunately, it has broken a few times and the garages have been crap. Lots of money gets spent and then eventually it ends up with me recovering it home and having to fix it. The latest drama was that after I did a full service on it, including cam belt change, it died a few days/few hundred miles after. Prior to me servicing it, it had been laid up for months as he was using another car (the Clio my partner drives now). I'm sure anyone familiar with these early DCi engines knows what a bastard they are, and so of course without seeing the car I was shitting bricks. I did a few trips up to diagnose it, and the fault was that the car would start, idle but would cut out as soon as you raised the revs. I had a chat with a couple of my mechanic mates, and they both had money on shagged fuel pump. That worried me a little as it did briefly struggle after the fuel filter change as they're a bastard to prime. My brother and his partner had 2 cars, and so I ended up dragging the Clio back so I could spend more time on it.

I left it behind the stables for a bit to come up to temperature

 then in fits and starts I tested various sensors and components. The car is too early to be OBDII compliant as a diesel and I don't have Renault Clip so the diagnostics were a slog. Couldnt find anything awry in that respect in the fuel system, so I pulled the injectors and sent them for testing. They were properly seized in there, but it was an excuse to buy new kit;

The result from the injector tester was that they were worn but well within limits, and that they found no particles that would suggest fuel pump failure...

So I put it back together, and I got to make some new return lines as they went missing (spoiler alert, they ended up in the boot of my BX somehow) and we were here:

Cue next drama - the key could not be found anywhere. Turned over my house, my parent's house, the stables, the yard, every single car twice... nothing. And so the car got left for some time, until my other brother and I decided to clear out my parent's garage. Turned out somebody had put logs for the fire on top of a small box with the key in, that then crushed and obscured it. With the key in hand, we put jump leads on the Clio and hoped for the best.

It struggled, and then burst to life... After letting it idle for a bit I revved her up, and lo and behold it ran fine. We got the volvo out the way and ragged it round the field a bit *for testing purposes* and it didn't die. I dropped it down at the house, told my parents to insure it and run it to see how it runs before my brother collected it over Christmas. I also offered to take it away and run it just in case the problem came back, but they wanted to hold on to it. I went away to Slovakia for a bit, and when I came back I chucked a new battery on it as it was due to go up to my brother. And of course, it now didn't run properly again... It hadn't been run at all since I left, so there had been no chance to pick this up before the car was due back. I was so sick of the car that I pulled in a favour and had a lend of a mate's all singing all dancing Snap On computer thing. After a shit tonne of codes from low voltage etc., I cleared the ECU and one code kept coming back (ignoring the single glow plug that's borked).

At the end of my tether with this car I just spent the £20 on a sensor from the local place and prepared to play parts darts. When we pulled the old sensor it wasn't great - Here's me and my prother comparing tips 😅

New sensor in, car was spot on. I just took it this time rather than leave it to sit, and ran it as a daily for a couple of weeks. To find niggles. First was the washer pump not working, so being a cheapskate I stripped it, cleaned it and it now works again. That little slider thing was jamming and reversing the water flow.

Then there was the suspension clonk that my Dad said had always been there... that turned out to be a snapped coil spring. I swapped it out (I know, I know, change them in pairs...) and that sorted the clonking noise.

 Result,  it was the perfect 'an car' and didn't miss a beat. I put an MOT on it, valeted it, punted it back up to my brother, we had a celebratory burger king.

That was a couple of weeks ago now, and so far he hasn't managed to break it again so I'm calling this one fixed, finally!!

 I appreciate that the Clio isn't the most interesting thing in the world, but I'm glad to write up a condensed version as it's been one of those cars that's been niggling away at me for months, so it feels so good to finally have it fixed and out the way 😀 

Next up when I have time, the Shogun, Favorit and Volvo all shit themselves. I sold the small trailer and bought a bigger one. I fixed the Favorit and the Volvo. I have also agreed to home another free BX this weekend. Plus other stuff I've probably forgotten.

 

[Rust Collector]

Aaand seeing as I'm a little excited, here's the chod that I should be collecting at the weekend 😀

[Datsuncog]

Now that BX looks like a fine vehicle.

Top spannering on the Clio too - decent enough wee things, but being scrapped in their droves these days over trivial faults. Your brother's example had more than just trivial problems! Good going. They'll be a rare sight soon.

[wesacosa]

great work on the BX.   I always wanted one of those since I was a kid. remember trying to convince my dad to buy one.   always planned to have one one day, but have gone XM instead

[Rust Collector]

12 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Now that BX looks like a fine vehicle.

Top spannering on the Clio too - decent enough wee things, but being scrapped in their droves these days over trivial faults. Your brother's example had more than just trivial problems! Good going. They'll be a rare sight soon.

Cheers mate - the Clio was one of those cars that was just causing me grief and despair for so long, but I couldn't let it go as finding the fault had become something of an obsession 😅 Plus I'd done something like £200 on parts for the main service so I felt pretty guilty about the car being immobile after that, especially after what my brother/parents had spent at various garages getting problems misdiagnosed/not fixed... Failure was not an option! After all the time invested in it plus running it for a couple of weeks, I'm actually a little bit fond of it now.

3 hours ago, wesacosa said:

great work on the BX.   I always wanted one of those since I was a kid. remember trying to convince my dad to buy one.   always planned to have one one day, but have gone XM instead

I'd love an XM, I'd really like a left hand drive with the big turbo diesel for our European adventures. The turbo diesel BX I've already got is a close second, and this petrol one I'm due to collect is kind of surplus to requirements but I needed some parts and a free car seemed a better idea than the fairly hefty prices I've seen from the the usual ancient Citroen specialists. I just have a horrible feeling the petrol one will be less rotten than my TZD, in which case I'll probably want to keep that too...

[Fumbler]

20 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

Aaand seeing as I'm a little excited, here's the chod that I should be collecting at the weekend 😀

Oh nice! Now that's An Colour. With the bonus blue interior. Yessssssss.

Is it going to end up as a parts car or are you going to fettle it into fine health alongside the other one?

[Rust Collector]

2 hours ago, Fumbler said:

Oh nice! Now that's An Colour. With the bonus blue interior. Yessssssss.

Is it going to end up as a parts car or are you going to fettle it into fine health alongside the other one?

It's meant to be a parts car as I need a few bits, but there's a part of me that doesn't really want to pull it apart. The main problem I'm aware of on it is a cracked windscreen - I wouldn't mind having a bash at fitting one, as it's a job I need to do on my Prelude and I would like the practice, but I really dont want to pay for a new screen 😅 It will probably sit at the farm for a while so I'll have plenty of time to figure it out!

[Fumbler]

4 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

It's meant to be a parts car as I need a few bits, but there's a part of me that doesn't really want to pull it apart. The main problem I'm aware of on it is a cracked windscreen - I wouldn't mind having a bash at fitting one, as it's a job I need to do on my Prelude and I would like the practice, but I really dont want to pay for a new screen 😅 It will probably sit at the farm for a while so I'll have plenty of time to figure it out!

Ah very nice! Was the nearside parked next to a hedge perchance? The hole in the rear door, missing rear arch and folded in mirror looks like that'd be the cause.

If it is going to be destined for parts, I can see a few interior bits (and cosmetic stuff) which may be of use on my car. That steering wheel looks in a million times better condition than the one I have 😉

[Rust Collector]

26 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

Ah very nice! Was the nearside parked next to a hedge perchance? The hole in the rear door, missing rear arch and folded in mirror looks like that'd be the cause.

If it is going to be destined for parts, I can see a few interior bits (and cosmetic stuff) which may be of use on my car. That steering wheel looks in a million times better condition than the one I have 😉

God knows, it's been living in the back of Whitehawk for who knows how long so it's amazing it's not just a burnt out shell 😅 If I tear it apart then you know where I am so you're more than welcome to come and see there's anything useful. Will be interesting to see what's what on it, it's a 19 TRS apparently.

[Rust Collector]

So another post that's a small loop back in time.

Towards the end of last year I was on a beer run. Vehicle of choice was the Favorit. I ran to the local Tesco Express, parked up and bought beer. Came back out to the the car, cranked her over and she wouldn't fire. Tried again, and she tried to idle bust just couldn't get there. Admitting defeat, I put it in first gear and bumped it down the hill on the starter. Behind the Tesco Express is an excellent road for dumping cars that you don't have space for on your drive as there's no houses there. I wandered up to the main road, called my partner for a lift, and opened a beer. I then left it a few weeks before bothering to go back and get the Favorit.

This was the first proper use of my big trailer, and my Shogun Sport had shit itself so my mum's L200 had to do the honours. Bonus van chod parked behind me whilst I was broken down.

Then in the spirit of things, I left the Favorit on the trailer for a bit.Roll on January to unload it. Note the 16 inch Mercedes alloys on the trailer... These are not suitable trailer wheels. I need to put a post up at some point about my brother and I buying sixteen 4 x 5.5 inch trailer wheels and studding the hubs to run them but that's for another day...

Unloading the Favorit disturbed a lot of hibernating ladybirds. I'm not sure why, but the Favorit undercarriage seems to be the perfect environment for them to hibernate in.

Ladybirds rehomed, it was time to sort the car out.

Unfortunately I don't really have any pictures or videos, but the symptoms were that the car would run from cold then die once warm. Which was the same symptoms as last time it cut out and left me stranded. A second new crank sensor later (at about the same time as I put one on the Clio) and the Favorit ran beautifully hot and cold. Fuck Lucas and their sensor that lasted less than 2,000 miles. Celebratory picture of the Favorit pulling the healing trailer mk2 for some reason whilst my brother presses the brakes. I think the photo was something to do with trailer wiring woes but it is also right after we fixed the Favorit so it is kind of suitable.

Put the Favorit in the fixed pile then, and ignore the hole in the roof 😅

[Rust Collector]

Back to the present for this one...

I went and picked up the free BX estate today. Luckily my parents house is completely exposed to the sea and so I got to enjoy the fresh sea air and horizontal rain as I hitched up. Seeing as the Shogun Sport is playing up I've had to borrow my Mum's L200. I can't remember if I've said before, but if anyone enjoys vague connections to sort of well known people then I should point out that I went with her when she bought this and it turned out it was Michael Cooper selling it.

There was a bit of chod in Whitehawk. On this street there was also a mk2 escort and an MR2 turbo.

The chap who owned it was really nice, turned out this was his third BX and he ran it until his local garage were sick of the sight of it, it then got laid up and sat for a couple of years. After a bit of a chat we got it loaded up - this was good fun as the car wouldn't start and so the suspension wasn't raised up. We managed to bump it on the starter/push it to the trailer, and then I could winch it on with the heart attack inducing hand winch.

I decided against taking the coast road home, as the drive there unladen had been bad enough and I didn't fancy seeing how well a BX works as a sail. This meant taking the dual carriageway instead, which is fun* when you're towing with L200 gear ratios.

The best part was unloading it. Turns out that reverse gear cannot be selected, so bumping it off with the starter wasn't an option. Pushing it off it was then. Apart from it was sat so low that the sills were grounding out as the rear wheels went down the ramp. Concrete blocks and a small jump at the end cured that.

It was then just a case of shunting it into place with the Volvo (no pics I'm afraid as I was having a solo stunt session today) as I was definitely not pushing it anymore, I'm too fat and unfit for that type of thing.

I'd have started dicking around with it after that, but in order to obtain forgiveness for my sin of bringing home another rotten BX estate I had to help my mother with the horses this evening.

I'll hopefully be giving it a going over tomorrow on the off chance it's worth saving, it is pretty fucking rough though. It'd be simpler to make a list of what's not shagged on it I think. Best case scenario it will hopefully yield enough parts to get my other BX project moving further forwards. Worst case scenario I'm an idiot and I try to fix it.

[High Jetter]

Was that really the Brighton whitehawk?

[Rust Collector]

Just now, High Jetter said:

Was that really the Brighton whitehawk?

It was indeed. I was shocked to see some greenery emerge from the concrete, and I didn’t see a single burnt out car on my journey through.

[High Jetter]

Brave man! Never seen greenery there, well only in a bag. Is it a local car?

[Rust Collector]

It’s been with the Whitehawk owner since about 2015 apparently, and from the BX owners group on Facebook I’ve gleamed that about 10 years ago one of them pulled it out of a barn or garage somewhere. I’m not sure where it was originally registered, I haven’t checked the plate.

The chap who found it 10 years ago reckoned it was in good nick back then, it’s done something like 30k miles since but it’s obviously had a tough paper round in that time.

it’s been pointed out that it’s possibly the oldest Mk2 estate known to the BX group, which makes me feel a little guilty when I think of pulling it apart.

[High Jetter]

5 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

it’s been pointed out that it’s possibly the oldest Mk2 estate known to the BX group, which makes me feel a little guilty when I think of pulling it apart.

And your carefully though-out reasoning for that is...?

[Rust Collector]

5 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

And your carefully though-out reasoning for that is...?

Nothing rational, just pure sentiment kicking in.

[High Jetter]

Please, don't break it. Will help if I can.

[Rust Collector]

Cheers mate, I appreciate the offer. This one may be too far gone though. It’s one of those cars where just everything seems to be damaged or broken. If you wanted to put it back into a condition where it could be used long term then I think you’d end up spending more than if you just bought a half tidy running one. If I can source cheap enough parts I might see about getting it running, but the whole reason I ended up with it was down to how steep parts prices are on these cars.

I’ll get the photo appraisal up tomorrow so you can see its glorious* condition.

[Fumbler]

5 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

Cheers mate, I appreciate the offer. This one may be too far gone though. It’s one of those cars where just everything seems to be damaged or broken. If you wanted to put it back into a condition where it could be used long term then I think you’d end up spending more than if you just bought a half tidy running one. If I can source cheap enough parts I might see about getting it running, but the whole reason I ended up with it was down to how steep parts prices are on these cars.

I’ll get the photo appraisal up tomorrow so you can see its glorious* condition.

I was looking at the nearside photos again and I suspect that entire rear quarter is pretty rotten. The offside quarter doesn't look so hot either. That being said, though, the front arch tubs are metallic unlike the ones on yours!😉

[barrett]

Wow, a local BX I knew nothing about! Must admit I don't venture into Shitehawk very often although I grew up nearby. I saw it on facebook and thought it was probably one of the oldest estates left. Shame if it has to die, b ut you can't save them all.

[Rust Collector]

My only goals today were to fit 2 outdoor switches at the stables and replace a light unit, so I had some time to poke around the new BX. I think a photodump is probably easier than me writing an essay. This is how she sits as she came off the trailer.

As you can see from the floor mounted exhaust, I did manage to start it. I've no idea how. It's started twice now, but most of the time it doesn't start. I did manage to get it to idle, and the suspension seems to work as it should.

There wasn't any fluid pissing out in the short time I had it running. I didn't try and drive it as reverse is still missing and it's loud as fuck, I won't be popular if I freak the horses out with it as I drive by with the exhaust hanging off...

I'm still not quite sure what to do with it long term, but I reckon if I can get it starting and running reliably at least then it would be a point in favour of letting it live. It helps that I like it, despite how shit a condition it's in. It's safe up at the stables anyway, there's no rush to get rid of it currently. I've put the feelers out for parts for my other BX estate so if they come up cheap enough it would remove the need to pick at what's left on this one anyway.

[mat_the_cat]

2 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

 

I've put the feelers out for parts for my other BX estate so if they come up cheap enough it would remove the need to pick at what's left on this one anyway.

What bits are you after? I haven't seen anything on the BXC Facebook page.