Supernaut's Cars - 323i / Megane

[Supernaut]

I didn't win the smol car in Glasgow.

It was a 57 reg Citroen C3 1.4 with 80k miles and an MOT until December.

I had the high bid of £650 and with under 5 seconds left somebody bid £670.

I did a Ron Burgundy style "I'm not even mad, I'm impressed".

Also, the seller had already rejected my offer of £700, plus the listing said it was a 1.6 not a 1.4!

Also also, it saves me facing public transport over Easter weekend.

[SiC]

Always the thing with eBay auctions when they end mid day. Often go cheap.

The highest may have been £670 but they may have chucked in like a grand and are really chuffed they got it cheap.

[Supernaut]

The thing is, I bid £650 and it immediately went to £650 rather than splitting the difference like I'm used to eBay doing. I was well confused.

[mk2_craig]

On 24/03/2024 at 16:16, Supernaut said:

I didn't think I was leaving the place alive without agreeing to buy the Clio

 

[Supernaut]

First proper drive since I took it off the road in October.

Going to the MOT and back barely counts.

It drives... better than it has before in my ownership. The front suspension doesn't wallow, the gear change feels positive, it doesn't creak and squeak over bumps, the brakes don't bind. It's sorted.

I bought an amazing tin sign while I was out.

Malaise as fuck.

 

My to do list is now to set up a saved search on eBay and find a smol hatchback, then scrap the Astra.

[Supernaut]

£900

140k miles

MOT to October

110dci 6 speed

£0 road tax

Drives like a big Clio

Those awful wheel trims will go in the bin tomorrow .

[Tickman]

Sensible car is sensible.

Astra removed from history already?

Maybe you could run a mystery* roffle 😂

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, Supernaut said:

£900

140k miles

MOT to October

110dci 6 speed

£0 road tax

Drives like a big Clio

Those awful wheel trims will go in the bin tomorrow .

Should be trouble free, going by my experience with two of them, plus two friends having them as well. And reasonably light for the size for a modern, so quite lively with 110hp. Expect an extra 20 mpg over the Astra. The six speed is quite nice because the top 4 ratios have fairly small gaps between, it's not like some cars where there's a massive gap between fifth and top.

[Supernaut]

I went back outside.

After remembering I own that generic silver car dumped at the top of the farm yard, I then removed those abominations from the wheels.

[artdjones]

39 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

that generic silver car

They are like a Corolla with a bit more flair.

[loserone]

Dibs please 

[Supernaut]

It was actually £20 for a year of road tax, not £0.

 

FUKIN SKRAP IT M9

 

Honestly, if it lasts until October I'll be impressed. I'm debating whether to even bother cleaning it. It's quite evidently been a family fun bus.

[Supernaut]

5 hours ago, Tickman said:

Sensible car is sensible.

Astra removed from history already?

Maybe you could run a mystery* roffle 😂

I'll do that after booking a collection with Copart.

The roffle will either run, or it'll be baled. Win/win!

[Supernaut]

Oh yes.

What have I bought?

A former family fun bus, that's had absolutely zero sales prep done.

It looks better for having those awful trims removed.

It has various sun cream hand prints and scuffs all over it. No dents or scratches though.

Three of the tyres look like this:

Then the left rear is an almost dead Landsail.

Ah, but. The full size spare has a tyre that matches the other three but has a slow leak. A trip to the local tyre place may be in order.

Moving on to the interior...

I'll be throwing mats and seat covers in there anyway.

I know it's not exactly warm this morning, but I suspect the external temperature sensor is dead. Level of caring about that = zero.

I also bumped the clock forwards an hour.

I then discovered that the radio has an aux in function, but...

What the fuck, Renault?

 

How does it drive? Seems fine, clutch is light and maybe a wee bit higher than you expect but that seems to be a Renault thing. Doesn't slip or judder or anything. Very narrow gate on the gear change. I had to check I was actually in 2nd, not 4th, a couple of times.

There's a wee rattle from the front right over bad bumps. File under ignore for now.

I know modrin eco diesels run quite cool but it didn't move above one notch in the crappy digital temperature gauge on the circa 10 mile drive home. Thermostat time?

Service history? None.

Are these DCI lumps belt or chain? I can't recall. I also don't really care...

[SiC]

Does it have a DPF? At the age I'd thought it would.

Duff thermostat won't be helping it. Exterior temperature can potentially give regen problems too.

[Tickman]

That looks alright.
A bit of a clean up and that should be a pleasant place to be.

[Supernaut]

The rattle from the front right, then.

It's the brake pedal! It seems to have a worn bushing somewhere so it rattles.

[Supernaut]

36 minutes ago, SiC said:

Does it have a DPF? At the age I'd thought it would.

Duff thermostat won't be helping it. Exterior temperature can potentially give regen problems too.

Fuck knows! I guess it probably does.

I should look into the thermostat etc but it seems happy enough for now.

[Tayne]

EGR thermostat?

EGR valve?

[Noel Tidybeard]

external temp sensor may be in door mirror

[dome]

These are decent cars, I was surprised how good the one I had was. 

I'd not be too worried about the thermostat until you've done a decent drive in it, modrin diesels taking a while to heat up and all that

[Supernaut]

1 hour ago, dome said:

These are decent cars, I was surprised how good the one I had was. 

I'd not be too worried about the thermostat until you've done a decent drive in it, modrin diesels taking a while to heat up and all that

Aye, I'll get Torque running when I take it out tomorrow and see what it says for coolant temp.

 

I just spent about half an hour going over it with dashboard cleaner, glass cleaner and polish. I strategically targeted the sun cream hand prints on the exterior. They're all gone now and the inside is an order of magnitude nicer to spend time in now.

I reckon a proper polish plus a set of decent trimz will transform it.

 

Oh. I also went to the local tyre place and paid a whopping £14 to get the fourth matching tyre resealed. That's now back on the left rear and the shitey Landsail is in the spare wheel well.

 

I checked the oil. It's at the top but is black as the night.

I may be placing a large order with Opie oils soon, as the BMW is due about this time of year too.

[Supernaut]

I will also add; I just advertised the Astra on gumtree for £250 spears or rapiers.

Just for a laugh, like. I'll scrap it in a week.

[artdjones]

The one I had with the digital gauge used to stick on one bar a lot of the time in winter. So I got a thermostat, which improved matters, but it still took 3 or 4 miles to go to normal. The gauge jumps from 1 to 3 bars, bypassing any intermediate position.

The thermostat is on the opposite end of the cylinder head to the timing belt, a bit fiddly, but reasonably easy. Especially by VW standards.

[Supernaut]

1 hour ago, artdjones said:

The one I had with the digital gauge used to stick on one bar a lot of the time in winter. So I got a thermostat, which improved matters, but it still took 3 or 4 miles to go to normal. The gauge jumps from 1 to 3 bars, bypassing any intermediate position.

The thermostat is on the opposite end of the cylinder head to the timing belt, a bit fiddly, but reasonably easy. Especially by VW standards.

Aha.

I thought there was something thermostat-y looking there when I was poking around earlier.

[artdjones]

40 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

Aha.

I thought there was something thermostat-y looking there when I was poking around earlier.

You can buy them with housing or without. Most of the ones that are sold are 83°, fairly cool, which might explain why they dont warm up easily, but you can get an 87°item as well, which is what I did. I did notice from the fuel computer that having the engine warmed up enough to read three bars on the gauge made a noticeable difference to economy. 

[Supernaut]

8 minutes ago, artdjones said:

You can buy them with housing or without. Most of the ones that are sold are 83°, fairly cool, which might explain why they dont warm up easily, but you can get an 87°item as well, which is what I did. I did notice from the fuel computer that having the engine warmed up enough to read three bars on the gauge made a noticeable difference to economy. 

I'm not ordering one yet, but depending on the results from using Torque on it tomorrow...

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/ridex/15800178

Aye, why not at that price? Only the finest* parts for this car. 🤣

[artdjones]

17 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

I'm not ordering one yet, but depending on the results from using Torque on it tomorrow...

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/ridex/15800178

Aye, why not at that price? Only the finest* parts for this car. 🤣

As yours is down as an Eco on car checking sites it's probably got a k9k 636 engine, which has a different stat housing. I'm fairly sure the working part can be swapped over, though.

This is the one off the 636

[Supernaut]

53 minutes ago, artdjones said:

As yours is down as an Eco on car checking sites it's probably got a k9k 636 engine, which has a different stat housing. I'm fairly sure the working part can be swapped over, though.

This is the one off the 636

It has the Eco sticker in the rear window, so I'd belive it!

[SiC]

I keep buying cheap thermostats thinking surely there must be some okay and then regret it after it fails again in a few hundred miles.