Berlingo - now for sale.

[The Vicar]

Brilliant; they really are excellent cars. We have a 03 2.0 HDI here in Rome for gardening duties etc, yet I find myself going for the keys most mornings and taking it instead of my year old Lancia Ypsilon. 275k and still going strong!

[Marm Toastsmith]

Haynes manual arrived - all the main jobs on the to-do list were at least a 3 spanner and I'm planning a big trip in it next week so I decided to ring my mechanic. As luck would have it, he was able to fit it in today.

Just drove it home and took it to the jet wash on the way to remove some of the Cornish salt and soil. Glad I did.

I spent some money, but it's been totally transformed. New clutch cable means hill starts are no longer a cause for minor panic, the aux tensioner pulley replacement has stopped it whining (so I can now hear the  mild clatter of the TU clearly), and the replacement CV joint means another annoying noise has been muted and there's one less thing to worry about.

I trust it now, and on the way home I enjoyed chucking it about town with gusto.

Assuming we get some dry weather, tomorrow I'm going to clean it to within an inch of its life. I might also chuck those wheel trims in the bin.

 

[Marm Toastsmith]

Nice couple of hours of tinkering. Tat removal, lubrication, cleaning (with an oily rag), and miner fixeration. Kettle's on now, hoping to do a bit more later.

Unfortunately, brief inspection of the work done by the mechanic yesterday resulted in the discovery of a clip hanging loosely off the driveshaft; not surprising given they were done on a Friday afternoon and involved delays and let downs from Euro car parts etc., but nonetheless a dent in my confidence. Makes me wonder what I haven't noticed...

Replaced CV clip with a cable tie. Looks different to the other side - see splines... hoping it's OK? Also any tips on how to do it up tight or maybe it doesn't matter too much? Anyway, obviously I'll keep an eye that the boot is staying put, and will cut off the end once I'm confident it's tight enough.

Other side:

Oh and also this is loose and wobbling about. I'm not too worried about that although maybe I'll fashion something out of cable ties.

[EyesWeldedShut]

22 minutes ago, Marm Toastsmith said:

Looks different to the other side - see splines...

If other side is the inner boot on the same driveshaft  then I reckon you are looking at 

[purplebargeken]

Cracking vehicles.   Would.

[Marm Toastsmith]

42 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

If other side is the inner boot on the same driveshaft  then I reckon you are looking at 

No, the "other side" is the same outer boot on the other driveshaft.

I don't think mine has ABS, it's pretty base. Maybe he's fitted a CV joint for an ABS equipped car? In which case I guess it's fine? Was kind of wondering whether the boot was supposed to be covering the splines, or something.

[EyesWeldedShut]

ABS pump on these looks like this and would be under the bonnet, passenger side, behind the battery. 

Place I buy driveshafts from lists the same part as ABS and non-ABS  so should be OK

[EyesWeldedShut]

ABS pump on these looks like this and would be under the bonnet, passenger side, behind the battery. 

Place I buy driveshafts from lists the same part as ABS and non-ABS  so should be OK

p.s. I'd ask him to come back and put the clips on properly

[Marm Toastsmith]

Yep, seems my car is non-ABS as there's a nice big gap behind the battery. Searching up the part for my reg seems to bring up the same toothed/splined part.

eBay pic of driveshaft attached - looks OK to me. I pushed the boot right up to the splines to tighten the cable tie but in that pic there's a gap. Which probably means that the boot is more secure than I thought - it can be moved towards the driveshaft but presumably there's a lip to stop it sliding any further.

[Marm Toastsmith]

4 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

p.s. I'd ask him to come back and put the clips on properly

Agreed

[Marm Toastsmith]

CV boot doesn't seem to be falling off.

Smoll French car is preparing to fulfil its destiny of delivering a moped to the IoW. How many family cars can seat 4 humans and a Honda PC50 in comfort? It's still practically empty with the moped in the back. What a car!

[Marm Toastsmith]

 

Made it to Southampton! Ferry mode engaged. Berlingo en vacances. 

[Marm Toastsmith]

Mine’s the blue one. Hope it fits in the Berlingo,

[Marm Toastsmith]

Loads of room!

[Marm Toastsmith]

[montytom]

On 30/05/2024 at 13:10, Marm Toastsmith said:

 

Made it to Southampton! Ferry mode engaged. Berlingo en vacances. 

Went to my homeland theres loads of good shite over there. What I would give to move back

[Marm Toastsmith]

Made it back! 280 faultless miles and still showing almost half a tank left… not bad at all.

[Rustybullethole]

Cracking little vehicles ain't they. Mine clicked over 130000 on the way to work when me and my mate detoured on a private test track. 

I reckon without the ridiculously large roof rack it would crack an indicated ton. Not bad for  20 year old 1.4 petrol box carrying two people, three tool chests and a moped amongst many other things. 

[Matty]

35 minutes ago, Rustybullethole said:

Cracking little vehicles ain't they. Mine clicked over 130000 on the way to work when me and my mate detoured on a private test track. 

I reckon without the ridiculously large roof rack it would crack an indicated ton. Not bad for  20 year old 1.4 petrol box carrying two people, three tool chests and a moped t many other things. 

Grand little things. If everyone weren't a twat I'd reckon it's all the car you need. They even drive nice as well ffs!

[Marm Toastsmith]

Berlingo has been generally berlingoing pretty well. It's leaving a nice big oily patch on the drive so need to have a look at that at some point but I'm sort of trying to postpone unnecessary work until we see what the MOT brings.

More urgent was the discovery of a borken exhaust clamp which quite annoyingly I became aware of when the exhaust started blowing.

Have bodged it. Was too late to prevent a small split forming in the middle box where the pipe joins. Wondering what options are for bodgery here, I would normally replace but be good to at least limp it to the next MOT without spending...

[SmokinWaffle]

If it's serving you well - I would just replace it personally! 

[Marm Toastsmith]

Well, for now I've replaced the rubber hanger, not convinced it will last as it's under quite a lot of tension and doesn't seem brilliant quality, so I attached a chunky cable tie along side it as a belt and braces measure. Worthwhile job as it now no longer rattles the whole car. It'll probably have a new exhaust come MOT time.

Also unblocked the windscreen washers.

An annoying issue is that the passenger side seatbelt inertia reel sometimes sticks so you can't pull the seatbelt out. Wondering if it's worth fiddling with or just picking up a secondhand replacement.

 

[Marm Toastsmith]

Bloody hell!

 

[Marm Toastsmith]

Picked it up this morning. Apparently the MOT tester commented on how clean it was underneath so I probably ought to treat it to a bit of waxoyl or similar so it stays that way.

Weirdly the front tyres have worn on opposite edges - they are not old and the last owner said the car had tracked up OK. Will get the tracking checked when I replace them, not too urgent yet.

Turns out the o/s rear brake light is a bit intermittent. I reckon the cluster is at fault - anyone got a spare?

While I'm asking, could also do with replacing the wiper linkage - wipers are pretty shonky - lots of give so they park in a slightly different position every time.

Having passed a test with minimal effort it deserves a bit of love now. Am knee deep in DIY at the moment but once the current project is done I'll give this excellent vehicle some attention.

[Marm Toastsmith]

Beep! Battery light on. 🤔

[djoptix]

On 19/06/2024 at 16:12, Marm Toastsmith said:

Y tho?

[Marm Toastsmith]

So yesterday the battery light came on during a short trip, accompanied by a beep.

Just checked voltages from cold and with engine running. Looks OKish to me...? Oh, and it seems the battery light has gone out again.

Have left it charging, can't hurt. Got a mission to do in it this afternoon so I suppose I'll find out whether it's an actual fault or an erroneous warning soon enough, although I'd prefer not to have to return on the back of a recovery truck.

Any ideas in the meantime much appreciated!

 

 

Battery voltage from cold 12.25v

 

With engine running 14.52v at the battery terminals.

 

Currently on charge...

[Sham]

Have you tried removing the French?

More seriously, but not much more, it must surely be a loose/corroded connection somewhere?

[Zelandeth]

First suspect for an intermittent charging fault usually is worn and/or sticking brushes in the alternator.  Usually not too expensive or difficult to change.

[Marm Toastsmith]

Seems to have fixed itself for now, we'll see.