Supernaut's Cars - 323i / Megane

[Tayne]

Congratulations.

[Supernaut]

11 minutes ago, Tayne said:

Congratulations.

Probably the cleanest MOT pass I've had on anything in years.

 

I need to wait for these guys to clear off first. They've been busy replacing three power poles today. I'm standing at the top of the farm yard to get a whiff of 4G.

 

[Tickman]

Brilliant news, always nice to have someone else look over your work and get the thumbs up.

 

[Supernaut]

It is indeed.

I'm going to squint at the engine mount that got an advisory at some point.

Not right now.

I imagine the engine bay is warm right now for some reason. Nothing to do with hitting 5k in 3rd while overtaking a council van.

I won't say what speed that equates to on a public forum.

[Sunny Jim]

Chuffed for you, well done.

[SiC]

🤔

https://www.endtuning.com/gearratios/

TMI 🤣

 

[Supernaut]

14 hours ago, SiC said:

🤔

https://www.endtuning.com/gearratios/

TMI 🤣

 

Fucking speedo over-reads by about 5mph then!

 

I'm actually quite happy about the advisory for the offside engine mount. Those who have seen this car in person will recall it making a squeaky / creaky noise from the front offside corner. It's been doing it almost my entire ownership.

It's still doing it now, with basically the entire front suspension minus the hubs replaced in my ownership!

Now I have another line of investigation.

 

 

Oh. I'm potentially viewing a Daihatsu Materia 1.5 with a year's MOT today. 103k miles, £1,200, clean MOT with just advisories for one disc and a tiny exhaust blow.

What do people know about them? I thought parts would be a nightmare but from having a quick Google it seems all the mechanical parts are easy enough because it's actually a Toyota underneath.

[Supernaut]

Typically, the Astra has almost a full tank in it. Not for long...

Also, fuck my phone's default camera. I'm going back to OpenCamera. It never screwed around with the rotation of photos...

[Stanky]

4 hours ago, Supernaut said:

Oh. I'm potentially viewing a Daihatsu Materia 1.5 with a year's MOT today. 103k miles, £1,200, clean MOT with just advisories for one disc and a tiny exhaust blow.

What do people know about them? I thought parts would be a nightmare but from having a quick Google it seems all the mechanical parts are easy enough because it's actually a Toyota underneath.

Brilliant cars, all Daihatsu's are. Watch out for rust, but as you say they're basically toyota parts bin stuff. Officially, Daihatsu pulled out of Europe in 2013, but many parts will be shared with the Toyota Yaris, and specific stuff can be found using the excellent amayama.com website. You can also get the parts diagrams and OEM part numbers from there, which you can use to search with, or phone a toyota main dealer and get parts generally next day (at quite a high price).

the 1.5 is the same engine as in the Yaris, so will be a tough old hector and probabaly about 100bhp so not slow.

Daihatsu are the sort of 'funky' youth brand for Toyota in Japan, think of it like Seat in the VAG lineup and you're not a million miles off. 

I have a 2004 Sirion, it was a cheap car then, its done 120k miles and literally everything still works. Which is more than can be said for my 2021 Dacia currently...

[Supernaut]

27 minutes ago, Stanky said:

Brilliant cars, all Daihatsu's are. Watch out for rust, but as you say they're basically toyota parts bin stuff. Officially, Daihatsu pulled out of Europe in 2013, but many parts will be shared with the Toyota Yaris, and specific stuff can be found using the excellent amayama.com website. You can also get the parts diagrams and OEM part numbers from there, which you can use to search with, or phone a toyota main dealer and get parts generally next day (at quite a high price).

the 1.5 is the same engine as in the Yaris, so will be a tough old hector and probabaly about 100bhp so not slow.

Daihatsu are the sort of 'funky' youth brand for Toyota in Japan, think of it like Seat in the VAG lineup and you're not a million miles off. 

I have a 2004 Sirion, it was a cheap car then, its done 120k miles and literally everything still works. Which is more than can be said for my 2021 Dacia currently...

Cool. All really nice to hear, as I rather like how they look.

The seller has stopped replying to me though.

[Supernaut]

First it giveth then it taketh away.

The vet was round today. Looks like the fleet may be one horsepower down in the near future.

[Supernaut]

In other news I confirmed that the offside engine mount on the BMW is indeed hosed.

I leaned on the engine and gave it a shoogle. That 100% reliably recreated the creaking from the front right.

A pair of Meyle lower engine mounts have been ordered up for £notmuch.

 

 

Aaaand that Daihatsu has sold. Back to hunting for the Astra replacement.

I've been using the vacuum pump on the Astra's fuel tank on and off most of the afternoon and pouring it into the BMW. Now the BMW is nearly full and the Astra is fairly far down.

[SiC]

Surely 323i is the daily replacement and astra is fall back if it breaks, especially with the weather warming up and salt off the roads?

 

[Supernaut]

11 minutes ago, SiC said:

Surely 323i is the daily replacement and astra is fall back if it breaks, especially with the weather warming up and salt off the roads?

 

Yeah, sort of...?

I still want something smol and boxy or along those lines though.

 

The Astra is hardly a backup with a month of MOT and a steadfast refusal to run properly.

 

Oh, also. The Astra has an insurance policy until next January with about 10 years of no claims on it. Meanwhile the BMW is on a "modern classic" policy which doesn't use no claims discounts. Never heard of that before but it was also the cheapest way to insure it by a huuuuuge margin.

So y'know, may as well use that good insurance policy on something.

[Dyslexic Viking]

17 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

I still want something smol and boxy or along those lines though.

I don't know what budget you have or anything about buying a car in the UK but I thought this seemed good it is also the larger 1.2 engine as well  https://www.gumtree.com/p/hyundai/2010-hyundai-i10-long-mot-£35-road-tax-£1495/1476257309

[Supernaut]

2 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I don't know what budget you have or anything about buying a car in the UK but I thought this seemed good it is also the larger 1.2 engine as well  https://www.gumtree.com/p/hyundai/2010-hyundai-i10-long-mot-£35-road-tax-£1495/1476257309

Going by the url that was in my budget.

Didn't hang around long though, the advert has already been deleted.

[Dyslexic Viking]

3 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

Going by the url that was in my budget.

Didn't hang around long though, the advert has already been deleted.

Yes, I see it is deleted now. It was a shame because it was a nice i10 for 1500  not far from you.

[loserone]

Go for the Laguna 

[Supernaut]

Gonna potentially view a Dacia Sandero 1.5 DCi tomorrow.

[AnnoyingPentium]

10 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

Gonna potentially view a Dacia Sandero 1.5 DCi tomorrow.

Very good "an cars"... my Granda loves his. Think its four years since he bought his now.

Just keep an eye on the sills, in my experience they can get a bit scabby.

[Supernaut]

24 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

Very good "an cars"... my Granda loves his. Think its four years since he bought his now.

Just keep an eye on the sills, in my experience they can get a bit scabby.

I have a significant proportion of a 5L tub of lanolin underseal here, plus a variety of brushes.

[AnnoyingPentium]

40 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

I have a significant proportion of a 5L tub of lanolin underseal here, plus a variety of brushes.

You'll be grand then.

The one we've got is a 14 plate, used all year round. No underseal, by the sea, etc. It's still there, but I haven't taken the sill covers off (it's a Stepway), but the rest looks okay-ish. Hasn't given any bother in our time with it.

[Supernaut]

https://www.gumtree.com/p/dacia/dacia-sandero-1.5-dci/1476024339

 

Just home from viewing this.

Looks ok in the photos, eh?

 

It was so rough in person I almost didn't bother knocking on the door.

I looked at it anyway, but spent about a minute there.

Seller: "it's got some age related marks as you can see"

Me, inside my head: "you clearly reversed it into something quite substantial..."

Me, out loud: "hmm, the sills seem to be bubbling a wee bit"

Seller: "aye, but it's not failed an MOT "

Me, inside my head: "...yet"

Me, out loud: "let's have a look under the bonnet then"

[Opens bonnet, beholds the vast tracts of grot bubbling across the underside of the bonnet, the inner wings, the entire engine and all of its ancillaries, plus the bonnet strut itself]

Me, out loud: "you know what, I'll just leave it thanks"

Seller, as I'm getting into my car: "I have other people looking at it later...!"

Me, as I shut the door: "Oh? Cool."

[Split_Pin]

Buy my TT for a few hundred more and not have to worry about rot 😬

That era of Dacia are utterly grim. My Duster had really uncomfortable seats on a long journey too. Looked a bit better though.

[loserone]

9 hours ago, Supernaut said:

have other people looking at it later...!"

They obviously bought it too!

[Supernaut]

I'm finished looking at scrap in Aberdeenshire.

I'm going to enlist the central belt scotoshiters to find something, I reckon.

 

I set the location on gumtree to Falkirk with a 30 mile radius. It spat out almost 700 cars under £1,500, all of which looked an order of magnitude better than anything up here.

 

 

I looked at a mk3 Clio 1.4 nearby today. Long MOT and a reasonable-ish price.

Utterly fucking gutless even with my expectations set to a 1.4, and the clutch felt like it had about 5 minutes left in it.

When I say gutless, I mean you expect something to happen in most cars if you boot it in first and second. This thing just felt flat as a witch's tit. Basically like the Astra in limp mode...

 

Talking of which. I moved it around today. It's got the lambda unplugged, no MAF sensor even fitted, and the intake is wide open. The fucker doesn't have a single warning light on and runs like nothing is amiss... Bastard!

Won't go through an MOT like that though!

Even the clutch and throttle feel good and healthy. Damn it. I am rather annoyed about its refusal to accept repairs.

 

 

 

 

Viewing the Clio earlier was certainly an experience.

The address was a dairy farm in the middle of nowhere. The gentleman who greeted me was not who I was messaging.

He then shows me round to where the cars were stored. Three sheds' worth of them.

After making my excuses regarding the Clio he started opening more sheds and showing me more ropey cars. They had a fairly tidy looking 55 reg Fiesta but couldn't find the keys.

The place was covered in old scrap appliances, while a shotgun was going off very nearby.

I didn't think I was leaving the place alive.

Luckily I had parked facing out the gate and just fucked off sharpish. I spent the first few miles homeward bound checking the mirrors for a tail...

[Tickman]

Will any warning lights stay out if it was presented and plugged in outside the garage?

[AnnoyingPentium]

I'm happy to look at stuff Ayrshire and Galloway wise for you.

[Supernaut]

10 minutes ago, Tickman said:

Will any warning lights stay out if it was presented and plugged in outside the garage?

I'm reaching a similar stage to where I ended up with the Clio. I just want to throw stuff at it / crash a tractor into it.

 

At least the BMW has the good grace to break down good and proper when it does, making it abundantly clear what's wrong, then actually fucking accepting repairs that I do to it!

 

 

Somebody please explain how a car that was displaying utterly mad lambda readings still runs exactly as badly, if not worse, with a brand new lambda sensor. Then it just continues to throw spurious fuel trim and timing errors all the time.

It really does smack of the ECU going a bit doolaly, as twinports seem wont to do.

[Supernaut]

BMW lower engine mounts - replaced.

I leaned on the engine with as much force as I could muster and shook it afterwards. No noises.

The passenger side came out in two pieces!

That top bit was corroded onto the leg coming out of the engine block. I soaked it overnight in penetrating fluid then twatted it with a long metal bar and a hammer.

This combination was used extensively throughout the whole job:

 

I'm also the highest bidder on a smol car in Glasgow that ends in about an hour and a half.

I've already had a forum member view it and test drive it so it's not a total unknown...