Markeh's Adventures in Shiting - 31/1/25 False alarm

[Markeh]

12 hours ago, paulplom said:

Is it a keeper? I bought my mother one a couple of years ago off a mate. I found it incredibly grim and soulless. That was a 1.6 too iirc.

Northern Monkey bought it off me cheap when she wanted shot of it.

Probably not, although I wouldn't be upset if it took a while to sell. 

Not exactly the most engaging driving experience I've ever had but it's capable enough at being an car.

[Markeh]

Taken the Meriva today to my mate's work to service it and change the thermostat.

Oil and filter change, air and cabin filters and change the clearly stuck stat.

Stat didn't look too happy. Original GM item by the look of it.

Air filter was a bastard, all the screws had been rounded off and rusted. Took a lot of work to get them off. Didn't look too grim.

Cabin filter also an original GM. Given it requires removal of the scuttle panel and the wipers, can't say I'm surprised!

He decided to clean the engine bay afterwards, it's not looking too bad now.

]

We were tight for time but he has done a corner of the bonnet and it seems to have come up well. Will be getting some G3 to finish off the rest of the bonnet. Also need to order a touch up paint, couple of blebs on the bottom of the bonnet and top of the wing, and the bit of paint that came off the tailgate.

So did the thermostat fix it?

Yes it did! Gets up to temp nicely now and heater gets lovely and hot as well.

To do list:
- See if I can get some better Vauxhall wheel trims for it
- Touch up paint and sort the bonnet
- If I happened upon a head unit and bits cheap enough I'd stick a more modern one in but the CD player in it works well enough.
- Get the whole car valeted.

And then I'll look to move it on.

[Dobloseven]

Son in South Wales who took over the Meriva I revived last summer, phoned to say the clutch had gone on it. Slipping so badly it can be put in gear without depressing the pedal, he says. Seems a bit odd that it had gone without warning. He's not too worried, it replaced a car he had on a salary sacrifice scheme that went back when he changed his job last June and if he scraps it, it's paid for itself. He's going to ask a local garage he uses how much to repair it next week. He could use something a bit bigger, ideally with seven seats anyway. His other car is a 15 reg C4 Cactus diesel. The Meriva is roomier though and has been good for family trips and holidays. 

[Markeh]

Not much going on with the Meriva at the moment. I've been using it for post office runs and park and ride trips. Have done all the tip runs I need to do in it. Drivers electric window was being a little dodgy but a blast of silicone spray down the window channel seems to have sorted that one. Not bothered sourcing any wheel trims because I can't bring myself to put cheap aftermarket ones on and Vauxhall ones are either too expensive or worse condition. I've ordered a touch up paint and not used it, I've had a terrible go at polishing up the bonnet by hand with some G3 and it looks better but not great still. While it's proved useful, I've only done about 550 miles in it and a good chunk of those were driving it back from Reading.

I think I'll get it valeted at some point this week and I'll probably look to list it for sale. I've no idea what to ask for it.

[Markeh]

The Meriva is now force hail 

 

[Markeh]

SOLD, to the Essex trader buying up cheap petrols in the north to take back down and flog to the ULEZ crowd for £1100. Being collected on Wednesday.

Sad to see her go and be down to just the modern but it's for the best.

[Markeh]

This thread's been a bit quiet given I've only had the reliable* Qashqai since selling the Meriva, but lo, a new potential project car is entering the fold later today hopefully.

Just sorted out the insurance, and my friend who's facilitating the deal is picking me up later on. For those who hadn't seen News 24, it manages to be both shite, shit, dull and interesting at the same time. I've already got an offer on it should I wake up soon and question what I've done. The purchase price of the car is going to a good cause locally as well, so even better!

Hint: It's done high mileage and it's covered in stickers. More info to follow later...

[Markeh]

My mate should be picking me up any minute but we've just realised there's a good chance the tax class is not PLG and therefore I may have issues taxing it. This can only end well.

[Markeh]

And it's here. No pez station shot or PC because it was 15 mins up the road.

And here she is. A 2012 Octavia Scout with the 2.0 140 CR diesel, 4WD, and 252k on the clock 😂 formerly a Yorkshire ambulance car, it's since been in the hands of two blood bikes groups, and it is they who have retired the car. Mine for a £500 donation.

And this is all you'll be seeing of it as its found a new home already. While mechanically it drives well, seems to change through all the gears fine, even has the aux battery system which helped to start it earlier, it needs more work than I have the time to put in, and for what I use a second car for, this won't be any use. It's been sold to the friend of a friend who had first refusal, and I've made a little bit and covered my costs, they'll get an actually not that mechanically bad car that'll suit their needs, and the blood bikes got their bit too, so I feel like everyone's a winner.

I have to show the spectacular electrics.

Known issues so far include a dodgy fuel gauge (though I believe there's nearly a full tank in it!), a broken bonnet release, an airbag light on, and heavy wear and tear. May also need a stat as it doesn't get particularly hot.

[Matty]

Looks awesome!

[Markeh]

Had a quick look during daylight.

For the age and mileage, the bodywork is not in terrible condition. There's a few scratches on the tops of the wings, and a dent by the Skoda badge on the boot, but most of the paintwork has likely been protected by the livery. You may be able to see where it said ambulance on the bonnet. Hilariously, the red is just laid on top of the ambulance green!

The boot and bumper lights were added when it was turned into a blood car. The light bar would have had a controller, this has been pulled so obviously the lights won't work. Interestingly, the headlights and telltale appear to be on with the ignition, no matter what I do with the switch. Maybe a side effect of the system being removed.

The window tints aren't great in the back window, not sure if done while an ambulance or not. The camera on the plate surround was previously connected to a rear view mirror screen we believe.

Couple of missing parking sensors - the two that are there continuously beep. I'm assuming this is due to an incomplete system but VAG aficionados probably know better than I do. I am told the wheels do look a bit shit behind the muck.

Seats aren't too horrifically worn, gear knob more so, as is the wheel. That Parrot kit is dead, why its fitted I'm not sure as I believe the Bolero stereo would've had BT from factory? There's an on off switch for the Parrot kit but it does nothing. You can see where a lot of stuff would've been mounted. I'm told the thing left on is a tablet holder.

This control panel is interesting. I can enable or disable the aux battery, and link the two systems should you need to e.g. the battery's shit and won't start it. Sat nav/TV is on apparently, no idea what it does. There's instructions for a 7 inch monitor and a DVB-T tuner in the book pack. Not tried the hazard switch but screw holes in the dash mean you probably couldn't have reached the factory one.

Glovebox? Who needs one of those... Nice to see its had genuine Octavia mats fitted though. Back seats unsurprisingly quite tidy!

Nice invisible repair there. Spec wise it's not bad, climate, auto lights (although looks like they're always on), all round leccy windows, CD changer, cruise. 

No glovebox, parcel shelf, boot floor or bonnet release indicate this was an Octavia Superleggera spec. Also no locking wheel nut key but it looks like no locking wheel nuts fortunately!

Faults wise, I've spotted the following:

Dicky fuel gauge. Reports fine at first but drops to nothing pretty soon after.

Sidelight out - I'd change this for the new buyer... if I could open the bloody bonnet. 

Airbag light on - bet it's the drivers seat connector given how many times this will have been moved.

Possibly needs a stat. Runs a bit cold. Hadn't warmed up much after a 15 min drive and 45 mins idling, not sure if expected in this weather, they're all like that or there's an issue. 

Main battery seems weak. I did have to link to the aux battery to start it to drive home.

Tax class - its currently classed as an NHS vehicle. From what I can tell I (or specifically the new owner, as its not moving another inch under my stewardship and disappears tomorrow) need to go to the post office to request change of class to PLG similar to getting disabled tax removed.

I honestly believe a weekend spent removing the wrap and any lights that wont leave holes alongside a good clean, and another weekend spent fitting a few bits of trim and odds and sods off a scrapper should see it to be a presentable winter hack. Just more work than I was expecting and not work I want to spend my time doing. My use case for a second car is to load up with shite for booting and tip runs, which this would handle with aplomb, but it's fairly short mileage so DPF would start giving me grief eventually, and I'm not sure this would like standing for days/weeks at a time.

[sierraman]

No big spurts of blood up the windows/seats? 🤣

[Markeh]

And as quickly as it arrived, the Emergency Loo has left this evening to a friend of a shiter. I've made a drink, the blood bikes got a sizeable donation that'll help them out, the new owner has a hopefully decent steed for his commute, everyone's a winner.

[Markeh]

I have done an purchase. Collection due to occur Sunday morning. Not be much of a thread because I've managed to convince my dad to give me a lift up to the car in question in the affectionately-named 'milk float' (their E-3008). I suspect it's reasonably obvious what I've bought.

[Marshall2810]

32 minutes ago, Markeh said:

I have done an purchase. Collection due to occur Sunday morning. Not be much of a thread because I've managed to convince my dad to give me a lift up to the car in question in the affectionately-named 'milk float' (their E-3008). I suspect it's reasonably obvious what I've bought.

Beat me to it but well bought 

[Markeh]

3 minutes ago, Marshall2810 said:

Beat me to it but well bought 

Odds are it will be back up here at some point within the next few months. Possibly sooner depending on the MOT result! Least it's not too far away from you!

[Marshall2810]

Just now, Markeh said:

Odds are it will be back up here at some point within the next few months. Possibly sooner depending on the MOT result! Least it's not too far away from you!

Probably worth sticking with it if you can. The clean test last time around is good so fingers crossed, cars like this just go on and on. I'm quite relieved it's not been bought to be broken 

[Markeh]

6 minutes ago, Marshall2810 said:

Probably worth sticking with it if you can. The clean test last time around is good so fingers crossed, cars like this just go on and on. I'm quite relieved it's not been bought to be broken 

Oh god no - it's lived this long, it deserves to live a bit longer! Hope is to do some of the smaller jobs if they're still outstanding, try and tidy it up a bit, probably desticker it as much as I can, and see how well it does on the MOT. I am hopeful it shouldn't need too much to get through, and I get the impression its been looked after quite well this last two years. I certainly won't be getting involved with a cambelt, it'll go without that being done. Won't be doing huge miles in it likely.

[Marshall2810]

1 minute ago, Markeh said:

Oh god no - it's lived this long, it deserves to live a bit longer! Hope is to do some of the smaller jobs if they're still outstanding, try and tidy it up a bit, probably desticker it as much as I can, and see how well it does on the MOT. I am hopeful it shouldn't need too much to get through, and I get the impression its been looked after quite well this last two years. I certainly won't be getting involved with a cambelt, it'll go without that being done. Won't be doing huge miles in it likely.

Yep, feel exactly the same! Look forward to seeing how you get on with it 

[Markeh]

Unfortunately, it conked out this morning, so the deal is unfortunately off. Shame, was looking forward to it.

[Markeh]

After being reminded of a mates car I checked a few more I've owned. I already knew the Corsa, Megane and Sedici had been scrapped (and I was gutted about the Sedici, didn't even last 6 months after I sold it), and I was pretty sure about the 206 being gone too - but what has surprised me is the Meriva is dead now too. Last MOT it had in 2023 stated it had only done about 4k since I'd had it. Shame that, definitely felt like it had more life left in it.

So once the Skoda goes for scrap on Wednesday, that'll be everything I've ever had scrapped apart from the Qashqais.

On the bright side I am delighted to learn mum's old Tacuma is still alive and MOT'd, and indeed sporting a fresh MOT, well outlasting the hateful Zafira that replaced it (although the C3 Picasso that replaced that is still going). If I ever found the Tacuma for sale I probably would end up buying it - for absolutely no good reason, of course, but still.

I will at some point write about the adventures I had in the Megane.