Cerb Virgin

[Trtj]

Hello, everyone.

I am soon to be delving into Cerbera ownership/love/hate/depression/ecstasy. I have been to look at a few cars over with genuine interest. My background car-wise although i'm still quite junior is in very finicky classics, so the cerbera i'm willing to take on. Part of the allure.

Anyway, the car i saw last is currently my fave. It has a few issues i'd like to pick multiple brains on however.
1. Appears as if someone has gone into both door catches with a screw driver. Is there a manual cable release for the doors from the outside or in the booth for when the battery has died? Or has someone tried to nick this motor? Thus there is damage to both sides to the grp body.
2. MIL light on and constant buzz on test drive. Does this occur when the battery has drained and the car is immobilised? There was no way I could stop this. Then when the engine was switched off, the alarm sounded, every time.

Any thoughts appreciated. Cheers

[gerradiuk]

Hi T, unless your looking at a "project" I would walk in the opposite direction. There are plenty of "Good" cars for sale right now, if they cannot be bothered to fix the door locks/switches & have bodged the doors in this way just imagine what else they may have butchered!

Edited by gerradiuk on Friday 31st May 11:29

[Tanguero]

Run - do not walk!

There are manual releases for the doors. Location and entry technique is considered sensitive on a public forum but it sounds like someone attempted a forced entry.

The MIL light will not be triggered by an immobiliser or alarm problem. The only way that you can find out for sure what is causing it is to connect the diagnostic software to the ECU, but a constant MIL light would be enough for most owners to stop driving PDQ until the cause had been ascertained! The constantly triggering alarm is likely to be a separate and additional problem.

There are plenty of cars out there, as mentioned above, unless you are looking for a potentially very expensive project, I would run away from that one!

[Jhonno]

Unless it is about 10k below prices for a decent one, run to the hills, then run a bit further.

[ukkid35]

Has the seller offered any explanation for either issue?

TBH both issues could be comparatively trivial, because the elephant in the room is the condition of the chassis.

[Trtj]

Thanks all for the comments. I don't want to name the car or ruin anyones chances of selling it. I think i may have painted a slightly darker picture - overall its a very nice car. Alot of good points that i have not mentioned. Good chassis, brand new shocks, brakes, lines, always had the tappets done etc to name a few bits. A LOT of expense on the PO's part. Just a bit miffed as to why he's rid of it with these little niggles. The car is now up at a dealer, who doesn't know too much about Trevors. I've rang the specialist who serviced it, and he'll be tight lipped until i get permission of the PO to release the report on the car. Problem is, he's now out of the country. Am a bit blind on this one, may give it a miss. Its not as cheap as some of them out there, the chap is asking reasonable money. Im going to see another speed six hopefully this weekend (there seems to be loads of these for sale vs the 4.2, 4.5) and this is a much later example. I understand the early 4.0 six engines had an appetite for its own cylinder head. Maybe thats why its named the cerbera, because its needs three heads in its life!

[Englishman]

If the the MIL light is on, it is unlikely to be a minor niggle in my experience!

[ukkid35]

Englishman said:

If the the MIL light is on, it is unlikely to be a minor niggle in my experience!

Could be as simple as a Lambda Sensor or Throttle Pot.

[RPE11Y]

ukkid35 said:

Englishman said:

If the the MIL light is on, it is unlikely to be a minor niggle in my experience!

Could be as simple as a Lambda Sensor or Throttle Pot.

Agreed - I had same issue on a 4.2.

Resolved with a new Lamda....