The Dugmeat Rexton

[Out Run]

Just now, Supernaut said:

That's precisely what it's doing. No clicking, just the indicators stuck on solid.

It actually manifested by the right-hand side sticking on, followed a few seconds later by the left joining in. At one point, the right-hand side went out again, and I was able to blink the right indicators a few times before they got stuck again.

Rollin' USDM style 👌🏻

[Supernaut]

I just went out and put a multimeter across the battery. 13V.

The indicator relay seems to have unstuck itself, but it did stick slightly when I was flicking them on and off, but went off again.

 

I tried to crank it and it shat itself though. Definitely seems like an earth issue on the starter.

[Supernaut]

Just had @Lacquer Peel round to compare and contrast.

Swapped the battery from his one over to mine, and mine cranked over perfectly. So it does need a new battery.

We still couldn't get it to start, as it seems to need new glow plugs too. The light comes on and the relay clicks, but it just sits there puffing half-burnt diesel out the exhaust without firing.

 

Progress has been made, anyway! I have a rough idea of what it requires.

[SiC]

Bit of easy start to wake it up a bit first from the lack of glow plugs?

[808 Estate]

10 hours ago, Supernaut said:

Upon turning off the ignition and removing the key, it stayed like this:

I disconnected the battery and went to bed. I haven't been back outside to look at the cunt yet.

 

Its obviously possessed. 😮

[Lacquer Peel]

With enough cranking I think it would have started but @Supernautwas worried about flattening my battery. I think it's a decent enough vehicle that has been a bit neglected. 

It is interesting to see the differences between an E model and my high faluting SE but this thing has extras like a sunroof and side steps that mine doesn't. 

The E should have steel wheels like this brown lad which also has that side skirt/side step setup. 

[loserone]

That brown lad is fit.  I think I would, and I'm not usually inclined that way.

[Jim Bell]

It's a real shame it's being a pain in the hoop at the moment. They're lovable, livable things when they're running straight. 

[Out Run]

I've never seen an E. Just S and SE.

Mine's an S. no idea what they stand for.

[Mrcento]

Seems the secret of these as a value 4x4 is out now, been a few up for sale fairly locally over the past couple of months and i can't get near them, they're gone in minutes. And i'm not even joking..... enquired about a couple of them less than 20minutes after an ad has been posted, same reply 'Somebody is already on the way to collect, sorry'. They weren't even 'cheap cheap'.

[Lacquer Peel]

21 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Well they did jump ship and stick in the Aus BTR auto box, with the Rexton 290 but methinks the 270 got a MB one?

No idea about the manual boxes, car like that : why would you 😃

Tremec T-5 in the 2.9 TD, like many muscle cars and possibly Australian Fords, the source of the auto box. 

[Lacquer Peel]

5 minutes ago, Out Run said:

I've never seen an E. Just S and SE.

Mine's an S. no idea what they stand for.

Superlative. 

[Out Run]

Just now, Lacquer Peel said:

Superlative. 

Smellzgr9

[Lacquer Peel]

No "E" here but it is a price list from 2003.

 

[Out Run]

'Flip Up Glass Air Spoiler'

Just when I thought I couldn't get any cooler.

[Zelandeth]

I think step 1 with regards to diagnosing electrical madness on anything made this side of around 2000 is to make sure you've got a decent battery fitted.  With even slightly marginal system voltages all sorts of ECUs can end up throwing their toys out of the pram in strange, unpredictable and on occasion exciting ways.

I've no experience with these vehicles myself, but know two folks who owned them back when they were pretty new and they always seemed like decent honest work horses.  

[320touring]

5 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

I think step 1 with regards to diagnosing electrical madness on anything made this side of around 2000 is to make sure you've got a decent battery fitted.  With even slightly marginal system voltages all sorts of ECUs can end up throwing their toys out of the pram in strange, unpredictable and on occasion exciting ways.

I've no experience with these vehicles myself, but know two folks who owned them back when they were pretty new and they always seemed like decent honest work horses.  

These are all mechanical badboiz with an engine closer to your camper than a C Class😃

Relatively simple to diagnose, but certainly a good battery should cure most of the ills. 

[Out Run]

Also, whoever manages to get an OBD II reader to recognise the ECU, wins.

[crad]

am i a wrongun to say these look almost good??? perhaps i need a new prescription for my glasses...

[Out Run]

3 minutes ago, crad said:

am i a wrongun to say these look almost good??? perhaps i need a new prescription for my glasses...

Yesssss. Join us....  These will soon be all over this forum. #INVACAR #MODEL70 #BETTERTHANAMINI

[stuboy]

10 hours ago, SiC said:

Take out the relay to give it a few sharp taps and try again. 

 

[Lacquer Peel]

28 minutes ago, 320touring said:

These are all mechanical badboiz with an engine closer to your camper than a C Class😃

Relatively simple to diagnose, but certainly a good battery should cure most of the ills. 

I wish it was all mechanical so I could turn up the fuel. But there is minimal electronickery. 

[garethj]

Have you tried connecting a handy jump lead from the battery negative to a good ground on the engine block?

A free first check to see if that heats up the glow plugs and awakens the starter.  Otherwise I agree with others that a fresh battery is a good start, as yours is marginal anyway.

[Supernaut]

10 hours ago, garethj said:

Have you tried connecting a handy jump lead from the battery negative to a good ground on the engine block?

A free first check to see if that heats up the glow plugs and awakens the starter.  Otherwise I agree with others that a fresh battery is a good start, as yours is marginal anyway.

Yes, we tried all that before swapping in a known good battery.

The battery sorted it.

 

The glow plug relay clicks and the light comes on but it struggled to start. I suspect it's probably on its original 18 year old glow plugs.

 

Also, I'm really disappointed it's been upgraded to alloy wheels! Those steelies look ace!

[Supernaut]

The parts cannon has been fired.

Glow plugs and new battery terminals have been ordered.

[Supernaut]

Picked up a pair of facelift Rexton tail light lenses from U Pull It.

I looked at them and thought "aye, that'll work" because all the bulbs are in individual holders.

 

No. Most of the bulb holders are identical but the reverse lamp bulb holder would need to be smaller to fit the facelift lens. Why go to the effort of changing just one of the rear bulb holders on a facelift? Gaaaah.

[Supernaut]

Today @Lacquer Peel turned up again after I'd made a slow start on taking things apart.

Being somewhat taller than me, he leaned into the engine bay and made short work of the intake manifold, then just kept soldiering on and took the glow plugs out.

Five very sad glow plugs were removed.

We also put a multimeter on the glow plug wiring to confirm 12V is getting to them. It is. The plugs are just deader than a dead thing.

Packed up and called it a day. I get the joy of reassembling it tomorrow.

I also still need to source my own battery for it anyway...

[Jim Bell]

I bet it feels like a slog man, but fingers crossed that you've got the worst if it done now and it will start returning big fuel savings. 

[Supernaut]

Two weeks later.

 

Yes. That's a different parking space. It drove there by itself, via a trip to Halfords with @dome and @Lacquer Peel in the passenger seats.

 

With the new glow plugs in it and the new battery in there too, it fires up with barely two turns of the starter.

What was really surprising was that after sitting for a week with the injector lines disconnected and the entire atmosphere leaking into the fuel system, all I did was run the glow plugs and crank it. Two turns, and it barked into life.

What a fucking trooper.

 

I have yet to sort the non-functioning (but clicking from the switches) windows, and the heater vents that don't change direction.

 

 

Still. It's no longer a paperweight, it's a functional vehicle.

 

 

Does anybody want a spaceship Civic?

[Lacquer Peel]

It sounds great too, quieter than mine at idle. 

https://youtu.be/IFylJrC-DJQ