2005 Clio 182 FF - Occasional track car
Discussion
Bad news 
Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects):
Rear Brake pad(s) less than 1.5 mm thick (1.1.13 (a) (ii))
Repair immediately (major defects):
Nearside Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
Offside Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
Repair as soon as possible (minor defects):
Battery insecure but not likely to fall from carrier (4.13 (a) (i))
Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):
Central Upper Stop lamp(s) non-obligatory stop lamp not working (4.3.1 (a) (ii))
Rear Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii))
Nearside Rear Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
Offside Rear Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
Front Anti-roll bar linkage pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement Both front D bush's (5.3.4 (a) (i))
But, as I say, I have brakes all round and a bit of polish on the lights and it'll be good to go
Not all bad and give me something to do over the break!
Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects):
Rear Brake pad(s) less than 1.5 mm thick (1.1.13 (a) (ii))
Repair immediately (major defects):
Nearside Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
Offside Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
Repair as soon as possible (minor defects):
Battery insecure but not likely to fall from carrier (4.13 (a) (i))
Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):
Central Upper Stop lamp(s) non-obligatory stop lamp not working (4.3.1 (a) (ii))
Rear Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii))
Nearside Rear Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
Offside Rear Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
Front Anti-roll bar linkage pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement Both front D bush's (5.3.4 (a) (i))
But, as I say, I have brakes all round and a bit of polish on the lights and it'll be good to go
Not all bad and give me something to do over the break!
It never stops with this car!
After the failure, I ordered new brakes all round and a DA polisher for the lights (I've wanted one for years, it was a good excuse!)
Some logistic issues with the brakes and a lot of chasing they finally turned up from ECP. Went about my merry way of replacing them all. First thing I noticed on the nearside rear was the state of the seal, shagged! So I promptly dispatched the other half to go collect a new caliper. Easy thing to swap over, no issue. But, assembling the brakes, I could not get it to all align. I tried 5+ times, posted on the Clio FB page, and decided it'd sort it self out.
Everything back together, I figured I needed to test the brakes out, so jumped in and went to start the car. Nothing. It's not moved for 4 weeks, so figured the battery, put it on charge and left it overnight. Jumped in the next day and still nothing, so tested the battery and all was fine. Decided I should try to jump it, still nothing. Have you ever tried to bump start a car on your own, on your drive? Don't, it's a massive waste of time... After a lot of checking and faffing I discovered the starter motor 'excite' cable was not connected. (Previously I swapped the starter over on the road, in the rain, at night time) I know how much of an arse it is to get to, it's between the block and the exhaust manifold, so I tried to do it by hand. Amazingly, I was able to, just, get the connector on the terminal and it started no problem. Only with an array of dash lights and a misfire.
I rolled the car down the drive and broke, they worked but I could tell they needed to be bled again. Not to mention I needed to sort the misfire. I tried to start it again but it wouldn't, but now the manifold was too hot to do anything near it. My code reader confirmed the misfire on cylinder 3, so I ordered new HT leads and a coil pack. Surprise surprise, only the coilpack turned up, but didn't cure the problem. The order for the leads was just randomly cancelled by ebay, so I called the supplier and re-ordered. Unfortunately, this also did not solve the issue, only thing left was an injector. These cars are very particular about some parts, if it's not a genuine injector, it just isn't going to be happy, so £35 later...
Hurrah, it lives on 4 cylinders, although I was still getting a misfire error code, but from the noise it clearly wasn't missing. I ignored it and went back to the brakes. At this point, I was having to connect the excite cable to the starter every time, it was not tight enough and kept vibrating off. As this was a painful exercise, I set my mind to fixing this issue. The cause of the issue was the crap connector, and lack of slack in the cable, so I decided I needed to extend the cable and put a new end on. Luckily, it was just a fancy spade connector, so I took a trip out and got a variety of connectors and cable. I done some dummy runs and really struggled to get crimps tight enough, had to make adjustment to the cheap crimper to get it to work. Being brave, I snipped the end off the excite cable and set to work. My hand was swollen from all of the tight spaces, and I'd read previously I could drop the manifold to get more space, I'd been reluctant so far, figuring the nuts would be impossible to shift, but gave it a quick go and they all came off with easy. I had so much more space (but still not enough). I made the cable up, crimped it all together and got a good connection to the terminal on the starter, manifold back and sorted.
I decided now was a good time to run it up the road, I was still getting lots of dash lights, which could only be attributed to the brakes and misfire. I left the car get fully up to temp whilst reading the codes and continuously clearing the misfire code. Eventually it stopped coming up. But the dash was still lit up and no other codes were being shown. Research suggests it's a ABS issue, so I figured I'd knocked a sensor or cable. Car back up on stands, I went over everything, checked sensors, connections, even cleaned the ABS rings. Bled the system again as the pedal was a little spongy still. But still the dash lights would come on. Interestingly, when I started it, they didn't I could drive maybe 200m and the traction control would kick in (barely accelerating, but clearing still an issue), but no lights. Then they all appeared. Once again, the car had defeated me, so I gave up for that day.
It was from a post on the Clio FB page I'd made, that a reply came through a week later, mentioning the incorrect ABS rings maybe. I done some research and saw that the Brembo discs I had purchased came with the bearings but NO ABS rings. What a fool I'd been, In a rush, I'd fitted discs with no ring on them! Amazing, this should be an easy fix. Old rings removed from old discs, car up again, new discs off. I bloody knew it, they have rings on them! I was sure they did when I put them on. But upon closer inspection, they were different to the old rings. Not only did they say they came with NO rings, but they did come with rings, just the wrong ones (a clio 172's ABS rings I later found out). I had even messaged a mate saying I was going to be tight and re-use the old rings, but I just never bothered to check when fitting.
I managed to do the offside ring change in less than 30 minutes. Amazing. However, putting the near side back together I still didn't have it all aligned as before. As it was daylight I decided to investigate. Long story short, the hub's thread for the caliper was cross threaded, causing the bolt & caliper to not align correctly, hence the misalignment with the disc/pads. A known problem (one of many...) with the clios is the ABS sensors are a bugger to remove, I tried but failed and quickly decided I'd just buy a new sensor to go with the replacement hub I needed. I found a used hub + sensor on ebay for £30, so took a punt on that, which I will fit next weekend.
I have come close to listing the car for sale over all of this. I've done under 1000 miles in a year in it, and I've spend close to £800. Not to mention the amount of times I've had to re-do stuff. I feel there is a massive unbalance, but probably as I don't need to drive it and can't do a track day. Knowing the misfire is sorted, the abs rings were wrong, and the hub is cross threaded has almost made me see the light at the end of the tunnel. I hope a few hours work at the weekend, followed by a fresh MOT being issued (and being allowed to go out!) will restore my love. Part way through all of this, when I thought it was ok, I did attempt a drive to the MOT station, and even driving it sensibly as I'd not bedded the brakes in, I had a massive smile on my face. I don't want to get rid of it, just yet
Oh, I almost forgot. As I had to change the rear discs, I also had to remove the loctit'd rear stud's I had swapped to. In this process, I managed 2 before I snapped my socket set allen key piece. Luckily it's Halfords pro range, so a replacement has been ordered. Also luckily that I kept the old wheel bolts.
After the failure, I ordered new brakes all round and a DA polisher for the lights (I've wanted one for years, it was a good excuse!)
Some logistic issues with the brakes and a lot of chasing they finally turned up from ECP. Went about my merry way of replacing them all. First thing I noticed on the nearside rear was the state of the seal, shagged! So I promptly dispatched the other half to go collect a new caliper. Easy thing to swap over, no issue. But, assembling the brakes, I could not get it to all align. I tried 5+ times, posted on the Clio FB page, and decided it'd sort it self out.
Everything back together, I figured I needed to test the brakes out, so jumped in and went to start the car. Nothing. It's not moved for 4 weeks, so figured the battery, put it on charge and left it overnight. Jumped in the next day and still nothing, so tested the battery and all was fine. Decided I should try to jump it, still nothing. Have you ever tried to bump start a car on your own, on your drive? Don't, it's a massive waste of time... After a lot of checking and faffing I discovered the starter motor 'excite' cable was not connected. (Previously I swapped the starter over on the road, in the rain, at night time) I know how much of an arse it is to get to, it's between the block and the exhaust manifold, so I tried to do it by hand. Amazingly, I was able to, just, get the connector on the terminal and it started no problem. Only with an array of dash lights and a misfire.
I rolled the car down the drive and broke, they worked but I could tell they needed to be bled again. Not to mention I needed to sort the misfire. I tried to start it again but it wouldn't, but now the manifold was too hot to do anything near it. My code reader confirmed the misfire on cylinder 3, so I ordered new HT leads and a coil pack. Surprise surprise, only the coilpack turned up, but didn't cure the problem. The order for the leads was just randomly cancelled by ebay, so I called the supplier and re-ordered. Unfortunately, this also did not solve the issue, only thing left was an injector. These cars are very particular about some parts, if it's not a genuine injector, it just isn't going to be happy, so £35 later...
Hurrah, it lives on 4 cylinders, although I was still getting a misfire error code, but from the noise it clearly wasn't missing. I ignored it and went back to the brakes. At this point, I was having to connect the excite cable to the starter every time, it was not tight enough and kept vibrating off. As this was a painful exercise, I set my mind to fixing this issue. The cause of the issue was the crap connector, and lack of slack in the cable, so I decided I needed to extend the cable and put a new end on. Luckily, it was just a fancy spade connector, so I took a trip out and got a variety of connectors and cable. I done some dummy runs and really struggled to get crimps tight enough, had to make adjustment to the cheap crimper to get it to work. Being brave, I snipped the end off the excite cable and set to work. My hand was swollen from all of the tight spaces, and I'd read previously I could drop the manifold to get more space, I'd been reluctant so far, figuring the nuts would be impossible to shift, but gave it a quick go and they all came off with easy. I had so much more space (but still not enough). I made the cable up, crimped it all together and got a good connection to the terminal on the starter, manifold back and sorted.
I decided now was a good time to run it up the road, I was still getting lots of dash lights, which could only be attributed to the brakes and misfire. I left the car get fully up to temp whilst reading the codes and continuously clearing the misfire code. Eventually it stopped coming up. But the dash was still lit up and no other codes were being shown. Research suggests it's a ABS issue, so I figured I'd knocked a sensor or cable. Car back up on stands, I went over everything, checked sensors, connections, even cleaned the ABS rings. Bled the system again as the pedal was a little spongy still. But still the dash lights would come on. Interestingly, when I started it, they didn't I could drive maybe 200m and the traction control would kick in (barely accelerating, but clearing still an issue), but no lights. Then they all appeared. Once again, the car had defeated me, so I gave up for that day.
It was from a post on the Clio FB page I'd made, that a reply came through a week later, mentioning the incorrect ABS rings maybe. I done some research and saw that the Brembo discs I had purchased came with the bearings but NO ABS rings. What a fool I'd been, In a rush, I'd fitted discs with no ring on them! Amazing, this should be an easy fix. Old rings removed from old discs, car up again, new discs off. I bloody knew it, they have rings on them! I was sure they did when I put them on. But upon closer inspection, they were different to the old rings. Not only did they say they came with NO rings, but they did come with rings, just the wrong ones (a clio 172's ABS rings I later found out). I had even messaged a mate saying I was going to be tight and re-use the old rings, but I just never bothered to check when fitting.
I managed to do the offside ring change in less than 30 minutes. Amazing. However, putting the near side back together I still didn't have it all aligned as before. As it was daylight I decided to investigate. Long story short, the hub's thread for the caliper was cross threaded, causing the bolt & caliper to not align correctly, hence the misalignment with the disc/pads. A known problem (one of many...) with the clios is the ABS sensors are a bugger to remove, I tried but failed and quickly decided I'd just buy a new sensor to go with the replacement hub I needed. I found a used hub + sensor on ebay for £30, so took a punt on that, which I will fit next weekend.
I have come close to listing the car for sale over all of this. I've done under 1000 miles in a year in it, and I've spend close to £800. Not to mention the amount of times I've had to re-do stuff. I feel there is a massive unbalance, but probably as I don't need to drive it and can't do a track day. Knowing the misfire is sorted, the abs rings were wrong, and the hub is cross threaded has almost made me see the light at the end of the tunnel. I hope a few hours work at the weekend, followed by a fresh MOT being issued (and being allowed to go out!) will restore my love. Part way through all of this, when I thought it was ok, I did attempt a drive to the MOT station, and even driving it sensibly as I'd not bedded the brakes in, I had a massive smile on my face. I don't want to get rid of it, just yet
Oh, I almost forgot. As I had to change the rear discs, I also had to remove the loctit'd rear stud's I had swapped to. In this process, I managed 2 before I snapped my socket set allen key piece. Luckily it's Halfords pro range, so a replacement has been ordered. Also luckily that I kept the old wheel bolts.
The replacement hub arrived. Looking a bit sorry for itself. It came with 2 of the bolts, and a damaged spacer. All of which I didn't need, but had to grind one of the bolts out as it was so rusted up. But it was only £30 with the sensor...
As the thread was stripped, I thought it best to replace the bolts also, just incase. £15 later and an hours round trip, I get to work and find out this. Given these were direct from Renault and confirmed the correct parts, I figured my old bolts were wrong!
Luckily, they were long enough to go most of the way in, had a good fixing.
As the car was in the air, I decided to fit the studs to this side. I had my replacement hex socket bit, whipped the heat gun thing out and set to work. It lasted all of 1/2 a turn before snapping. So reverted to an allen key and a bar. Easy. 'Borrowed' some acetone from the missus' nail kit, cleaned them up and fitted.
I also bled that caliper again, a lot of air. Last time I done 3 full depresses on the pedal and no air. Now all of a sudden, air. Maybe air is getting into the system? I've purchased a better bleed bottle, as I was using one of those cheap £5 Halford ones. Will do all corners again...
Oh, I still have the same error on the code reader. P0500, Vehicle Speed Sensor. Apparently ABS ring related. Need to get a proper code reader on it.
As the thread was stripped, I thought it best to replace the bolts also, just incase. £15 later and an hours round trip, I get to work and find out this. Given these were direct from Renault and confirmed the correct parts, I figured my old bolts were wrong!
Luckily, they were long enough to go most of the way in, had a good fixing.
As the car was in the air, I decided to fit the studs to this side. I had my replacement hex socket bit, whipped the heat gun thing out and set to work. It lasted all of 1/2 a turn before snapping. So reverted to an allen key and a bar. Easy. 'Borrowed' some acetone from the missus' nail kit, cleaned them up and fitted.
I also bled that caliper again, a lot of air. Last time I done 3 full depresses on the pedal and no air. Now all of a sudden, air. Maybe air is getting into the system? I've purchased a better bleed bottle, as I was using one of those cheap £5 Halford ones. Will do all corners again...
Oh, I still have the same error on the code reader. P0500, Vehicle Speed Sensor. Apparently ABS ring related. Need to get a proper code reader on it.
Where did I leave it last time? Ah, that's it, a misaligned caliper and ABS error.... childs play. Add into the mix an additional misfire too.
The mis-aligned caliper was actually solved with the new hub & bolts. Obviously the thread had had it. So once they were fitted it all lined up. I'd put the car back together and still had the ABS lights, but I had driven it 50meters, so figured it'd go.
I booked it in for it's MOT, it'be been too long for a re-test, so had to pay for an other full one. On the way, I had to bed the brakes in a little and get the cat nice and warm
Happy to say it passed!
So, I was driving home and 3 dash lights came on again. Misfire again. So was easy enough, given leads and coil pack was new, so an other injector was purchased and fitted, back to 4 cylinders!
I now had a working, MOT'd car with no dash lights. For the first time in forever, so I put the car back into service, first job was a trip to a hardware shop for some bits.
So, I leave the shop and the car won't start. I had a sneaky suspicion it was the same cable for the starter motor I'd replaced recently. I tried my hardest to fix it between the very hot manifold and failed. Luckily a group of lads on a smoking break saw me and bump started me. I then just had to get the 25 miles home without stalling it, with the petrol light on!
The next day I went to investigate, sure enough the cable had come off. I came up with a genius fix, rather than have the inline connection I'd previously done behind the manifold (this was the bit that came apart), I saw I could pull the cable out of the trunking and make the connection in spare space in the engine bay. This allowed me to get much better crimps and wrap it in a lot of tape. The spade onto the starter motor was still very firm, so I suspect that won't come off.
Since then it's worked faultlessly. I'm probably jinxing it by saying that! Track days are back open too, so I'm looking at booking one of them. But I need new tyres first...
Oh it needs oil too, may as well service it
On a side note, the Z4M failed it's MOT on front brakes and read tyres. Both something I knew it needed, but put off over winter with it SORN. £1000 later and it's passed. I then spent £100 on some replacement bits, the 3rd brake light has disintegrated, the numberplate lamp has fallen out and got damaged and a snapped a bleed nipple doing the brakes...
The mis-aligned caliper was actually solved with the new hub & bolts. Obviously the thread had had it. So once they were fitted it all lined up. I'd put the car back together and still had the ABS lights, but I had driven it 50meters, so figured it'd go.
I booked it in for it's MOT, it'be been too long for a re-test, so had to pay for an other full one. On the way, I had to bed the brakes in a little and get the cat nice and warm
Happy to say it passed!So, I was driving home and 3 dash lights came on again. Misfire again. So was easy enough, given leads and coil pack was new, so an other injector was purchased and fitted, back to 4 cylinders!
I now had a working, MOT'd car with no dash lights. For the first time in forever, so I put the car back into service, first job was a trip to a hardware shop for some bits.
So, I leave the shop and the car won't start. I had a sneaky suspicion it was the same cable for the starter motor I'd replaced recently. I tried my hardest to fix it between the very hot manifold and failed. Luckily a group of lads on a smoking break saw me and bump started me. I then just had to get the 25 miles home without stalling it, with the petrol light on!
The next day I went to investigate, sure enough the cable had come off. I came up with a genius fix, rather than have the inline connection I'd previously done behind the manifold (this was the bit that came apart), I saw I could pull the cable out of the trunking and make the connection in spare space in the engine bay. This allowed me to get much better crimps and wrap it in a lot of tape. The spade onto the starter motor was still very firm, so I suspect that won't come off.
Since then it's worked faultlessly. I'm probably jinxing it by saying that! Track days are back open too, so I'm looking at booking one of them. But I need new tyres first...
Oh it needs oil too, may as well service it
On a side note, the Z4M failed it's MOT on front brakes and read tyres. Both something I knew it needed, but put off over winter with it SORN. £1000 later and it's passed. I then spent £100 on some replacement bits, the 3rd brake light has disintegrated, the numberplate lamp has fallen out and got damaged and a snapped a bleed nipple doing the brakes...
Christ, over a year since the last update!
I've done about 5k in it and no track days. Covid was still a thing early last year, but now commuting daily in it. Only a few things done, mainly just maintenance, a few upgrades (gear knob and cig lighter for charging phone)
03/03/2021 Injector £34.50
15/04/2021 Injector £34.50
31/08/2021 Petronas 5W40 5L 3000 AV (spare filter also fitted) £32.00
02/09/2021 Oil Pressure Switch £38.78
06/12/2021 Steering Wheel Controls £6.00
05/01/2022 New gear knob £16.45
05/01/2022 Boot Lock Mechanism £16.00
10/01/2022 New gear knob insert (red for go faster) £8.30
19/01/2022 Rear wiper blade £12.50
21/02/2022 windscreen wiper linkage £50.00
06/05/2022 Cigarette lighter £8.99
Along the way I've sorted the slightly off centre exhaust, I say sorted, I managed to snap a bolt off the chassis and put it all back together to still be misaligned. I just think it's one of those things!
About May time, my brother decided (whilst living abroad) to buy some old Alfa from the 60's and make me go view/collect/store/fix, so that took on a lot of my summer car time. That and driving the Alfa about!
The wipers managed to seize mid drive home in some of the worse rain we had at the beginning of the year, had to stop and wait it out until it was pretty much stopped to carry on. Swapped the linkage and away we go!
Anyway, the main reason for posting. My brother was moving home, he had some Alfa parts in Amsterdam that needed to come back (specifically not on the moving truck) so a road trip was planned, in the Alfa. Alas, the thing wasn't working and I gave up trying to fix it at 8pm the night before heading off. So I took the trusty clio! I think it was about 100 miles into the trip when 5th gear started popping out, not that bad, I could hold it in, but this wasn't going to be a fun 900 miles home!
It got worse, and worse, and worse. It was popping out every 20 seconds, or if I applied pressure I got 4-5 mins before it threw my hand off. But, it did get us home on it's own steam. I've used it a handful of times, whilst trying to arrange it to be look at. I've found someone but was waiting for a courtesy car. In the mean time I dropped the gearbox oil, and took the 5th gear cap off, and whilst it didn't look great, nothing looked too bad, so I assumed it all needed stripping and rebuilding.
Yesterday I was driving it and it locked into 5th gear, in the middle of town, at lunch time, when the main road was closed. I managed to slip the clutch enough to get it going and limp it the 0.5 miles home. Drained the gearbox oil and took the cap off again and was presented with this. Suffice to say, it needs a full rebuild, less than 3 years and 10,000 miles of use. To say these gearboxes are made of cheese is an understatement.
Talking to the gearbox guy, it seems the last rebuilder left something out, called the drip tray, which is kind of important! Previous guy pissed me about so I don't even see the point in going back.
You can see the selector fork is rather dark, so getting super hot, it's also 1/2 worn. Oh, then there is the metal clip just trying to break free...
I love the car to bits, it's been generally pretty solid and taken a lot of abuse, but I can't help but think it's time to (get it repaired and) move on.
I've done about 5k in it and no track days
. Covid was still a thing early last year, but now commuting daily in it. Only a few things done, mainly just maintenance, a few upgrades (gear knob and cig lighter for charging phone)03/03/2021 Injector £34.50
15/04/2021 Injector £34.50
31/08/2021 Petronas 5W40 5L 3000 AV (spare filter also fitted) £32.00
02/09/2021 Oil Pressure Switch £38.78
06/12/2021 Steering Wheel Controls £6.00
05/01/2022 New gear knob £16.45
05/01/2022 Boot Lock Mechanism £16.00
10/01/2022 New gear knob insert (red for go faster) £8.30
19/01/2022 Rear wiper blade £12.50
21/02/2022 windscreen wiper linkage £50.00
06/05/2022 Cigarette lighter £8.99
Along the way I've sorted the slightly off centre exhaust, I say sorted, I managed to snap a bolt off the chassis and put it all back together to still be misaligned. I just think it's one of those things!
About May time, my brother decided (whilst living abroad) to buy some old Alfa from the 60's and make me go view/collect/store/fix, so that took on a lot of my summer car time. That and driving the Alfa about!
The wipers managed to seize mid drive home in some of the worse rain we had at the beginning of the year, had to stop and wait it out until it was pretty much stopped to carry on. Swapped the linkage and away we go!
Anyway, the main reason for posting. My brother was moving home, he had some Alfa parts in Amsterdam that needed to come back (specifically not on the moving truck) so a road trip was planned, in the Alfa. Alas, the thing wasn't working and I gave up trying to fix it at 8pm the night before heading off. So I took the trusty clio! I think it was about 100 miles into the trip when 5th gear started popping out, not that bad, I could hold it in, but this wasn't going to be a fun 900 miles home!
It got worse, and worse, and worse. It was popping out every 20 seconds, or if I applied pressure I got 4-5 mins before it threw my hand off. But, it did get us home on it's own steam. I've used it a handful of times, whilst trying to arrange it to be look at. I've found someone but was waiting for a courtesy car. In the mean time I dropped the gearbox oil, and took the 5th gear cap off, and whilst it didn't look great, nothing looked too bad, so I assumed it all needed stripping and rebuilding.
Yesterday I was driving it and it locked into 5th gear, in the middle of town, at lunch time, when the main road was closed. I managed to slip the clutch enough to get it going and limp it the 0.5 miles home. Drained the gearbox oil and took the cap off again and was presented with this. Suffice to say, it needs a full rebuild, less than 3 years and 10,000 miles of use. To say these gearboxes are made of cheese is an understatement.
Talking to the gearbox guy, it seems the last rebuilder left something out, called the drip tray, which is kind of important! Previous guy pissed me about so I don't even see the point in going back.
You can see the selector fork is rather dark, so getting super hot, it's also 1/2 worn. Oh, then there is the metal clip just trying to break free...
I love the car to bits, it's been generally pretty solid and taken a lot of abuse, but I can't help but think it's time to (get it repaired and) move on.
Edited by illmonkey on Wednesday 1st June 08:05
si_xsi said:
Correct me if I'm wrong Mr Monkey but was it not your 05 182 I followed on the A420 to Eynsham this evening. I noticed the PH sticker and thought I remember this car.. the Frenchie sounded good from behind and just shows what great power to weight these cars are.
Ha! Yes it was. Strangely when I passed your R32 on the A34 I thought about the time I saw you post crash. Small world. Did you struggle to keep up joining the A420?
As for the car, it's been neglected. Nothing new apart from brakes and a new caliper due to it sticking. It's been a great dump run car for the house renovation, I gave in and cleaned it last night as it was thick with dirt and rubble inside.
Oh, I don't have any rear seats. The old ones got covered in brake fluid, so removed them. To do so, had to grind a bolt head off. But the thread is still stuck in the hole. Need to get a garage to weld a nut onto it, but have no time.
The exhaust also sounds ropey, I imagine it's just a perished U bolt that's come lose and it's blowing at the mid section. Strange you say it sounded good Si, as it sounds awful from inside!
si_xsi said:
illmonkey said:
Ha! Yes it was. Strangely when I passed your R32 on the A34 I thought about the time I saw you post crash. Small world.
Did you struggle to keep up joining the A420?
As for the car, it's been neglected. Nothing new apart from brakes and a new caliper due to it sticking. It's been a great dump run car for the house renovation, I gave in and cleaned it last night as it was thick with dirt and rubble inside.
Oh, I don't have any rear seats. The old ones got covered in brake fluid, so removed them. To do so, had to grind a bolt head off. But the thread is still stuck in the hole. Need to get a garage to weld a nut onto it, but have no time.
The exhaust also sounds ropey, I imagine it's just a perished U bolt that's come lose and it's blowing at the mid section. Strange you say it sounded good Si, as it sounds awful from inside!
Indeed a small world, think you may have joined a Sunday blast through Oxfordshire I organsied few years back, but can't remember what car you were in at the time. Yeah that was the grey supercharged R32 which got rear ended in traffic, sadly no longer, always get a slightly anxious feeling driving past Woodstock airport now.Did you struggle to keep up joining the A420?
As for the car, it's been neglected. Nothing new apart from brakes and a new caliper due to it sticking. It's been a great dump run car for the house renovation, I gave in and cleaned it last night as it was thick with dirt and rubble inside.
Oh, I don't have any rear seats. The old ones got covered in brake fluid, so removed them. To do so, had to grind a bolt head off. But the thread is still stuck in the hole. Need to get a garage to weld a nut onto it, but have no time.
The exhaust also sounds ropey, I imagine it's just a perished U bolt that's come lose and it's blowing at the mid section. Strange you say it sounded good Si, as it sounds awful from inside!
Wouldn't say struggle but there was nothing left to give
The 182 looked pretty dialed in. I was pleased you were making progress - I was late picking up my daughter from nursery. The noise from behind was a mixture of induction and rasp, and sounded good to me, even if it didn't for you with the optional rear seat delete! I've just replaced a rear brake caliper on the R32, its solved the squeak but I still have a drone at about 60mph when warm and off throttle, which i need to get looked at, hoping its a wheel bearing and not the rear diff.
Wheres the house reno project? I'm in Witney so will keep an eye out for you.
Depends if you hit the gas at the same time as me, that corner is always good fun if it's quiet! It never ceases to amaze me, very capable car.
Diff sounds pricy, fingers crossed.
Just in Hanborough, so only down the road. We should arrange an other drive/meet. Good to meet like minded folk about. There is Kingsley Café local and Hook Norton do car events. coffee, run out, end with a beer. Sounds perfect!
si_xsi said:
illmonkey said:
I’ll post one up when I have time and figure a bit of a plan!
Spotted you just driving past waitrose in Witney, I was in the red 2002, too late to wave!
Sounds good, yeah it looked sweet as, red really popping in the eve sun. You have all bases covered, classic for cruising around in, Clio for track and BM for those special drives! Spotted you just driving past waitrose in Witney, I was in the red 2002, too late to wave!
It's been a minute! Life gets in the way and whilst I've been maintaining the little Clio, finding time to post is not high up the list.
The last major update was the gearbox saying goodbye to 4 gears. I sat on the car for a good month before deciding what to do. Only 13k on the refurbished gearbox I'd spent £1000 on 2 years before, it was tough to justify another gearbox. But, it was worthless as it was, so bit the bullet and got it shipped off to a different specialist. The new guy was highly recommended and very helpful. Even explaining why the last refurb didn't last; they have a oil drip tray/straw that feeds the end of the box that he'd forgotten to put in! I didn't even bother to go back to the last gearbox guy, as I complained about something else back then and he just ignored me.
This is becoming too frequent!
Cheeky snap of the other 2 when moving them about
Refurbished gearbox fitted and we're back on track. Specialist did say the refurb guy may buy mine back, apparently he just laughed when he saw it, so that's a no then... I treated it to a oil change and just got on with life. I was selling a house, had no where to go, ended up going through several short term rentals with all my stuff in storage, so 2023 was quiet on the car front!
New boots, MOT, replacement caliper (seized), pads, boot sensor all sorted in this time. I even paid someone to fit the caliper as all my tools were locked up.
Due to the living conditions, I had a 10 gallon drum on my back seats with about a litre of used brake fluid. I kept meaning to ditch it at a mates, but life. Inevitably it spilt on my back seats ruining them, and leaving a punchy smell in the car too. I decided I had to remove and skip them. Sadly the bolt holding the read bench in is threaded through the boot floor and to under the car, this gets dirty and rusty and is hard work to get out. So the car had no rear seats for a few months. I tried and tried and was unable to remove the bolt, the internet told me it needed a nut welding to it to remove it.
Having the rear seats out was at least beneficial for all of the dump runs I was doing due to renovating the house I'd bought (silver lining!). I found a set for £50 and stored them until I could get the bolt out. Alas, upon heading to my new friends to take the bolt out (who look after the 2002) the stars aligned and decided to do a number on the car. It started misfiring and making a hell of a racket from the exhaust. I was on a very busy DC in rush hour, but by luck there was a junction for an industrial estate, so I darted across to that and stopped the car. I knew it was only firing on 3 cylinders so started investigating, I even posted a video on the Clio FB group and within 3 minutes a handful of people had all said it's thrown a spark plug. To my fortune, I'd broken down outside a friends office, so a quick call and I had a set of sockets enabling me to remove the inlet manifold to inspect the sparks. Not much detective work needed...
Looks like it's thrown a spark!
Fortune was clearly in my favour, there was a GSF 2 minutes walk away! I popped in and they had stock of the correct spark plug, but not a tool to fit the new one. The socket set my friend had was limited. So I had the spark but no way to fit it. But no worries, I'd also stopped outside an ATS, I popped in, explained it and within 30 seconds a chap with a spark plug tool was fitting the spark to my car. He left me to reassemble the HT leads and manifold and it bloody worked! I popped back and thanked him, he'd take no money from me (I did pop back a few days later with a massive tray of KK donuts for them all)
Sadly this issue had caused problems with the exhaust and it was not happy. I limped it home and inspected the exhaust, the bracketry was shagged.
Lots of research and a post of FB saw the latest specialist tout for the work. He reckoned it'd be £500+ to sort, due to the issues with removing and welding the cat. I'd read this over and over, so trusted him and arranged the car over to him. The belts were also due, an other specialist only job, so I went all in and got him to do that too. I also asked him to remove that rear bench bolt so I could fit the new seats.
It's like ground hog day with this car.
He managed to get it all back together, with one noticeable exception of the pads being on the metal on 1 side, so he swapped them out. The caliper was sticking but he freed it, fingers crossed it stays that way.
We're pretty much up to date, it's had some more tyres, it seems to eat them (honest guv!). It runs 1.5degrees camber on the front, look at the progression of wear on that!
Sadly the exhaust is some how slightly misaligned, so the exhaust has fallen, and won't go back, into it's hanger at the rear. So it's going back to be looked at, just an annoying 3 hour round trip, but hey, at least it won't go on a flatbed this time!
I'll finish on a high note, of it working and clean (photo is old!). I am trying to get a few mates to sort dates out so it can be spanked on a track, it's gagging for it! The car is so encouraging.
The last major update was the gearbox saying goodbye to 4 gears. I sat on the car for a good month before deciding what to do. Only 13k on the refurbished gearbox I'd spent £1000 on 2 years before, it was tough to justify another gearbox. But, it was worthless as it was, so bit the bullet and got it shipped off to a different specialist. The new guy was highly recommended and very helpful. Even explaining why the last refurb didn't last; they have a oil drip tray/straw that feeds the end of the box that he'd forgotten to put in! I didn't even bother to go back to the last gearbox guy, as I complained about something else back then and he just ignored me.
This is becoming too frequent!
Cheeky snap of the other 2 when moving them about
Refurbished gearbox fitted and we're back on track. Specialist did say the refurb guy may buy mine back, apparently he just laughed when he saw it, so that's a no then... I treated it to a oil change and just got on with life. I was selling a house, had no where to go, ended up going through several short term rentals with all my stuff in storage, so 2023 was quiet on the car front!
New boots, MOT, replacement caliper (seized), pads, boot sensor all sorted in this time. I even paid someone to fit the caliper as all my tools were locked up.
Due to the living conditions, I had a 10 gallon drum on my back seats with about a litre of used brake fluid. I kept meaning to ditch it at a mates, but life. Inevitably it spilt on my back seats ruining them, and leaving a punchy smell in the car too. I decided I had to remove and skip them. Sadly the bolt holding the read bench in is threaded through the boot floor and to under the car, this gets dirty and rusty and is hard work to get out. So the car had no rear seats for a few months. I tried and tried and was unable to remove the bolt, the internet told me it needed a nut welding to it to remove it.
Having the rear seats out was at least beneficial for all of the dump runs I was doing due to renovating the house I'd bought (silver lining!). I found a set for £50 and stored them until I could get the bolt out. Alas, upon heading to my new friends to take the bolt out (who look after the 2002) the stars aligned and decided to do a number on the car. It started misfiring and making a hell of a racket from the exhaust. I was on a very busy DC in rush hour, but by luck there was a junction for an industrial estate, so I darted across to that and stopped the car. I knew it was only firing on 3 cylinders so started investigating, I even posted a video on the Clio FB group and within 3 minutes a handful of people had all said it's thrown a spark plug. To my fortune, I'd broken down outside a friends office, so a quick call and I had a set of sockets enabling me to remove the inlet manifold to inspect the sparks. Not much detective work needed...
Looks like it's thrown a spark!
Fortune was clearly in my favour, there was a GSF 2 minutes walk away! I popped in and they had stock of the correct spark plug, but not a tool to fit the new one. The socket set my friend had was limited. So I had the spark but no way to fit it. But no worries, I'd also stopped outside an ATS, I popped in, explained it and within 30 seconds a chap with a spark plug tool was fitting the spark to my car. He left me to reassemble the HT leads and manifold and it bloody worked! I popped back and thanked him, he'd take no money from me (I did pop back a few days later with a massive tray of KK donuts for them all)
Sadly this issue had caused problems with the exhaust and it was not happy. I limped it home and inspected the exhaust, the bracketry was shagged.
Lots of research and a post of FB saw the latest specialist tout for the work. He reckoned it'd be £500+ to sort, due to the issues with removing and welding the cat. I'd read this over and over, so trusted him and arranged the car over to him. The belts were also due, an other specialist only job, so I went all in and got him to do that too. I also asked him to remove that rear bench bolt so I could fit the new seats.
It's like ground hog day with this car.
He managed to get it all back together, with one noticeable exception of the pads being on the metal on 1 side, so he swapped them out. The caliper was sticking but he freed it, fingers crossed it stays that way.
We're pretty much up to date, it's had some more tyres, it seems to eat them (honest guv!). It runs 1.5degrees camber on the front, look at the progression of wear on that!
Sadly the exhaust is some how slightly misaligned, so the exhaust has fallen, and won't go back, into it's hanger at the rear. So it's going back to be looked at, just an annoying 3 hour round trip, but hey, at least it won't go on a flatbed this time!
I'll finish on a high note, of it working and clean (photo is old!). I am trying to get a few mates to sort dates out so it can be spanked on a track, it's gagging for it! The car is so encouraging.
Edited by illmonkey on Wednesday 7th February 08:50
si_xsi said:
I'd be up for that, had a look at the Kingsley Cafe recently, can kind of see what they were hoping to achieve and i am a sucker for a classic Rangey, but it felt a bit soul-less. Not tried Hook Norton but looks good, also Caffeine and Machine (not been) and Classic Motor Hub (been). Perhaps a post in the PH events/meetings section for an Oxfordshire specific drive followed by Coffee/pub is a starting point.
Forgot to say, if you're still game I am going to try and organise something soon. I randomly met someone I know through work at a brewery, and someone else, neither of us knew, joined in for a impromptu car chat. We've set up a WA group in the hope to do some drives/beers etc.Cambs_Stuart said:
Good to see if still getting looked after, even if it's persistently causing issues. My Clio is very much the same. I've bene daily driving mine, and it does seem to run much better with regular use. It also means the oil that leaks out is spread over a much wider area...
Ain't that the truth fellow baguette enthusiast! I joked to a mate I don't see the point in oil changes as it seems to go through a few litres a year anyway It seems a ruinous amount of money spent on such a basic car, £10,400 to date (excluding the purchase price), but it's done 40k of hard, fast daily driving with the odd trackday and European trip thrown into the mix. I care little for it's appearance/tidiness and just ensure I do everything it needs mechanically to the best level. A tick over 7 years of ownership and everytime I drive it, it puts a smile on my face and asks for more. I look for something to replace it and nothing even comes close.
Mine doesn't leak generally. The last gearbox it's had (can't believe I can say the last one...) is fantastic and doesn't leak.
Well that didn't last long. 2 miles from my office this morning and it start idling rough at some lights. This isn't my first rodeo! Firing on 3 cylinders, so assume an injector, cos French....
Crossed 3 lanes of traffic at the light, so I could pull in and check it. Last time the spark blew out, this time everything looked ok, so read the codes and it says Cylinder 1 misfire. I'll point out that I forgot to mention cylinder 2 (when the spark blew out) was still a bit dodgy. I had an injector I'd replaced a year before in my spares box, so put that in and it was fine. Clearly that injector was ok and something else fixed the previous problem!
Limped it to work and tried to find an injector for a 20 year old car in stock close by. Luck would have it there was one 1.8 miles away. I decided to leave early and go fetch it, as well as a cheap £10 tool kit to fit it outside ECP. I was explaining that I couldn't believe my luck to the guy in the store when he told me it was the wrong part (1 number out!) and they didn't have the correct one
I still got the tool kit and removed the inlet manifold, checked over the leads and sparks, removed the fuel rail (it pissed EVERYWHERE), removed and inspected the injector, which looked fine, then put it all back together again. Sadly it was still rough. So I nursed it home going the on the slowest roads to ensure I didn't put much load on it and here we are. I've got lots of old parts I've replaced I can test (HT leads etc), but I reckon I'll end up ordering a new injector. That'll be the 6th I've ordered, but the first was 6 years ago, so probably starting the cycle again!
Well that didn't last long. 2 miles from my office this morning and it start idling rough at some lights. This isn't my first rodeo! Firing on 3 cylinders, so assume an injector, cos French....
Crossed 3 lanes of traffic at the light, so I could pull in and check it. Last time the spark blew out, this time everything looked ok, so read the codes and it says Cylinder 1 misfire. I'll point out that I forgot to mention cylinder 2 (when the spark blew out) was still a bit dodgy. I had an injector I'd replaced a year before in my spares box, so put that in and it was fine. Clearly that injector was ok and something else fixed the previous problem!
Limped it to work and tried to find an injector for a 20 year old car in stock close by. Luck would have it there was one 1.8 miles away. I decided to leave early and go fetch it, as well as a cheap £10 tool kit to fit it outside ECP. I was explaining that I couldn't believe my luck to the guy in the store when he told me it was the wrong part (1 number out!) and they didn't have the correct one
I still got the tool kit and removed the inlet manifold, checked over the leads and sparks, removed the fuel rail (it pissed EVERYWHERE), removed and inspected the injector, which looked fine, then put it all back together again. Sadly it was still rough. So I nursed it home going the on the slowest roads to ensure I didn't put much load on it and here we are. I've got lots of old parts I've replaced I can test (HT leads etc), but I reckon I'll end up ordering a new injector. That'll be the 6th I've ordered, but the first was 6 years ago, so probably starting the cycle again!
Edited by illmonkey on Friday 9th February 19:48
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