picked up the cerbera last night.....
Discussion
and loved it for every minute of about the first half an hour! then, when trying to convince an already unhappy girlfriend that this purchase wasnt completely unreasonable the clutch completely lost pressure. darn! hopefully its going to get sorted out today. haha!
anyway, i have a couple of questions im afraid about things that raised their head whilst i was out driving:
1. whats the normal running temperature? mine seemed to be getting above 100 degrees a lot with no action from the fans which seemed a little on the high side to me.
2. how do you get the air con to work? and how to the heater controls work full stop?
3. whats the bottle in the engine bay right at the front with zf marked on the cap? is it gearbox oil? what colour should it be?
and finally,
4. what does the button that looks like a door opener but in the middle of the dash do?
thanks guys and sorry for asking annoying newbie questions!!!
anyway, i have a couple of questions im afraid about things that raised their head whilst i was out driving:
1. whats the normal running temperature? mine seemed to be getting above 100 degrees a lot with no action from the fans which seemed a little on the high side to me.
2. how do you get the air con to work? and how to the heater controls work full stop?
3. whats the bottle in the engine bay right at the front with zf marked on the cap? is it gearbox oil? what colour should it be?
and finally,
4. what does the button that looks like a door opener but in the middle of the dash do?
thanks guys and sorry for asking annoying newbie questions!!!
the temp gauge over reads by varying amounts on a car by car basis. Hooking a laptop up to the ecu (behind footplate cover in passenger footwell) should relax you a bit by showing real temps and when fan 1 and 2 cme on respectively).
The red halo'd alloy knob is heat control, the blue halo'd one is cold - if you push either it starts the blower for the one you've pressed and rotating the knob controls the speed of blow from flatliner to athsmatic octogenarian, lol!
you should hear a sort of thud when you press either which is a servo opening up a butterfly in the air pipe to allow airflow (this means that when they're shut - they really are shut with no hint of breeze).
There are two little black rubbery press switches on an alloy plate to the left of the wheel - one of these is heated rear screen and the other is air con - you'll know which cos the led for air con is blue. You should here the air con pump 'engage' when the switch is pressed - if it doesn't there isn't enough pressure in the system so off to your local aircon regasser
Re: clutch one of your cylinders has gone - slave or master.
Bottle at front of engine bay is power steering fluid
The "door" button in the middle I think is to lock the car when you're in it - sorta security panic lock. Never pressed it tho so bit of a blag on that one!
And now - with potential vendors hat on - can I ask what year you bought and how much paid? Cheeky I know but if you don't ask . . .
The red halo'd alloy knob is heat control, the blue halo'd one is cold - if you push either it starts the blower for the one you've pressed and rotating the knob controls the speed of blow from flatliner to athsmatic octogenarian, lol!
you should hear a sort of thud when you press either which is a servo opening up a butterfly in the air pipe to allow airflow (this means that when they're shut - they really are shut with no hint of breeze).
There are two little black rubbery press switches on an alloy plate to the left of the wheel - one of these is heated rear screen and the other is air con - you'll know which cos the led for air con is blue. You should here the air con pump 'engage' when the switch is pressed - if it doesn't there isn't enough pressure in the system so off to your local aircon regasser
Re: clutch one of your cylinders has gone - slave or master.
Bottle at front of engine bay is power steering fluid
The "door" button in the middle I think is to lock the car when you're in it - sorta security panic lock. Never pressed it tho so bit of a blag on that one!
And now - with potential vendors hat on - can I ask what year you bought and how much paid? Cheeky I know but if you don't ask . . .
Edited by smash on Friday 22 May 08:58
cheers mate, i thought the clutch might have been one of the cylinders.
dont think my air con or the cold fan are working cos the red halo switch lights up but the blue one doesnt and the air con light dont come on. need to have a proper play tho.
its a 98 and i paid 9600 for it. not a bad price i didnt think, and fingers crossed i'll get these niggles ironed out. we shall see!
dont think my air con or the cold fan are working cos the red halo switch lights up but the blue one doesnt and the air con light dont come on. need to have a proper play tho.
its a 98 and i paid 9600 for it. not a bad price i didnt think, and fingers crossed i'll get these niggles ironed out. we shall see!
Firstly welcome to the fold...
1) As already said the temperature reading on the dash is higher than reality, it's to do with the capillary being routed near to the manifolds I believe. I have just stopped worrying about it now. You can get after market electronic dials, but that loses some of the originality of the car in my opinion, but each to their own...
2) Well it depends what you mean by 'work'. Mine had a re-gas and on the hottest day of the year last year I managed to get the wife and daughter out in the car (a very rare thing indeed) and it blew red-hot air on the wife's legs for the whole journey - she was not impressed. Oh well.
3) No idea, but somebody here will know - maybe post a pic?
4) That button locks the doors from the inside, so they can't be opened from the wing mirror buttons whilst you are out and about.
You have to accept that your OH is never going to like the car, it's very, very rare that they do...
Sorry to hear about the clutch problem, hopefully it will get sorted quickly and for not too much expense. Look on it as a sort of new car tax and move on. These cars do require quite a bit of TLC (hmm maybe why the wife doesn't like it???), but they pay you back in grins many, many times over...
1) As already said the temperature reading on the dash is higher than reality, it's to do with the capillary being routed near to the manifolds I believe. I have just stopped worrying about it now. You can get after market electronic dials, but that loses some of the originality of the car in my opinion, but each to their own...
2) Well it depends what you mean by 'work'. Mine had a re-gas and on the hottest day of the year last year I managed to get the wife and daughter out in the car (a very rare thing indeed) and it blew red-hot air on the wife's legs for the whole journey - she was not impressed. Oh well.
3) No idea, but somebody here will know - maybe post a pic?
4) That button locks the doors from the inside, so they can't be opened from the wing mirror buttons whilst you are out and about.
You have to accept that your OH is never going to like the car, it's very, very rare that they do...
Sorry to hear about the clutch problem, hopefully it will get sorted quickly and for not too much expense. Look on it as a sort of new car tax and move on. These cars do require quite a bit of TLC (hmm maybe why the wife doesn't like it???), but they pay you back in grins many, many times over...
prettyboyben said:
cheers mate, i thought the clutch might have been one of the cylinders.
dont think my air con or the cold fan are working cos the red halo switch lights up but the blue one doesnt and the air con light dont come on. need to have a proper play tho.
its a 98 and i paid 9600 for it. not a bad price i didnt think, and fingers crossed i'll get these niggles ironed out. we shall see!
Welcome to Cerb ownership dont think my air con or the cold fan are working cos the red halo switch lights up but the blue one doesnt and the air con light dont come on. need to have a proper play tho.
its a 98 and i paid 9600 for it. not a bad price i didnt think, and fingers crossed i'll get these niggles ironed out. we shall see!
Make sure you get a pic, and update the Cerbera register at the top of this forum
Even if it's the slave the seal kit is change out of £30, but it is a dirty heavy job changing them. Worst case (apart from actual clutch failure) is that the slave is scored then you will be spending a bit more, around the £160 mark for the part so still not a disaster by super car standards.
The master is about 60.00 for a full new cylinder but again it's a bit of a job, not much room in a cerb footwell or inner wing.
Mine hovers around 90-95 but goes over 100 in traffic then the fans cut in and pull it down to 88ish, then it kind of cycles until you get moving and the rad sees some air. So nothing to worry about there.
Go easy for a while, pretty much whatever you have driven before you have probably never driven anything like a Cerbera. Remember no traction control, no ABS. The only thing keeping you alive is you. My top tips are watch out for changes in road surface, watch out for down changes while under heavy breaking, it's easy to lock the back end up with engine braking which can catch you out. Never forget you have close to 400BHP on tap, combine that with cold tyres and wet roads and it's pretty easy to get into big problems.
Above all ENJOY!
The master is about 60.00 for a full new cylinder but again it's a bit of a job, not much room in a cerb footwell or inner wing.
Mine hovers around 90-95 but goes over 100 in traffic then the fans cut in and pull it down to 88ish, then it kind of cycles until you get moving and the rad sees some air. So nothing to worry about there.
Go easy for a while, pretty much whatever you have driven before you have probably never driven anything like a Cerbera. Remember no traction control, no ABS. The only thing keeping you alive is you. My top tips are watch out for changes in road surface, watch out for down changes while under heavy breaking, it's easy to lock the back end up with engine braking which can catch you out. Never forget you have close to 400BHP on tap, combine that with cold tyres and wet roads and it's pretty easy to get into big problems.
Above all ENJOY!
my temp gauge kept reading 100-105 before fan cut in, changed the dash to a brushed steel one (fiddelly but well worth the effort
) this required removing the gauge and capilier tube, put it all back in and gauge now reads 85-90 before fan cut in, what a spot of luck 
. by the way does anyone know which of the two fans should cut in first as i have only ever seen the passenger side one work (the one with the bigger cowling), i have tested the other one with 12v supply and it does work just never seen it work on its own.
) this required removing the gauge and capilier tube, put it all back in and gauge now reads 85-90 before fan cut in, what a spot of luck . by the way does anyone know which of the two fans should cut in first as i have only ever seen the passenger side one work (the one with the bigger cowling), i have tested the other one with 12v supply and it does work just never seen it work on its own.
well, cars gone in today for master and slave cylinder to be fixed (i think) and the garage is paying for all the work so im a happy bunny! having a couple of other things looked at whilst its in so fingers crossed itll be sorted by the weekend so i can finally have some fun! hehehe!
Welcome, hope that you get the niggles sorted, & soon come to appreciate and realise that you have bought an extremely desireable car that turns head like no other (forget your ubiquitous 9XX's etc), high performance, unique British built car with a bespoke British built engine, and totally unique and gorgeous interior (IMO, sorry been at the vin rouge this evening, hic)
Put aside a budget for getting it sorted, i.e all the small niggles done that then makes it YOUR car; allow about £3k budget per year to service (might be less, but put aside for the inevitable rainy day), get it looked at by a good well respected specialist (see what condition it is REALLY in, and what might need doing to it).
Then get out there and thoroughly enjoy it!!! You've bought into a relatively small club (not sure, some posts on PH seem to state just under 2000 Cerb's built in total); & one that is very passionate about the car. I'm still a newbie (owned my 4.2 since Jan this year), but other Cerb owners I've met so far are pretty decent bunch, very friendly.
Just start getting yourself some of those uniquely Cerb experiences.......... like timing your pop crackle and bang on the overun just right as you pass under an accoustic chamber (under a large bridge) or past a possible audience (childish but fun); rolling on and off the throttle just to hear the change in engine note; driving in a gear lower than really necessary to both get the instant engine response, and also the NOISE; pulling into the parent and child parking space to glares of hatred, then getting the kids out of the back; going out with the family (kids asleep in the back) and using it as a proper family car (no eating or drinking in my Cerb, mind); going out on your own and giving it the berries (I'm used to motorbikes, this thing is proper quick), revelling in the performance, the roadholding, the feeling of intimacy in the way the car speaks to you; the noise as you give it full beans, accelerator mashed into the carpet and hearing the engine note change as it passes 4k and starts to really howl; the immediacy of the revs of the AJP engine, how a blip of the throttle quickly gains and looses rev's seemingly inertia free; the almost pornographic experience of bathing it in soapy suds and caressing it's beautiful curves..... erm, or is that just me.
Oh, and if you are worried about the temperature, get one of Joo's engine cooling chips; relatively cheap, and brought my temp right down even in heavy traffic on hot days (see my other posts). Cooled the engine and driver's worries right down, that did....
Put aside a budget for getting it sorted, i.e all the small niggles done that then makes it YOUR car; allow about £3k budget per year to service (might be less, but put aside for the inevitable rainy day), get it looked at by a good well respected specialist (see what condition it is REALLY in, and what might need doing to it).
Then get out there and thoroughly enjoy it!!! You've bought into a relatively small club (not sure, some posts on PH seem to state just under 2000 Cerb's built in total); & one that is very passionate about the car. I'm still a newbie (owned my 4.2 since Jan this year), but other Cerb owners I've met so far are pretty decent bunch, very friendly.
Just start getting yourself some of those uniquely Cerb experiences.......... like timing your pop crackle and bang on the overun just right as you pass under an accoustic chamber (under a large bridge) or past a possible audience (childish but fun); rolling on and off the throttle just to hear the change in engine note; driving in a gear lower than really necessary to both get the instant engine response, and also the NOISE; pulling into the parent and child parking space to glares of hatred, then getting the kids out of the back; going out with the family (kids asleep in the back) and using it as a proper family car (no eating or drinking in my Cerb, mind); going out on your own and giving it the berries (I'm used to motorbikes, this thing is proper quick), revelling in the performance, the roadholding, the feeling of intimacy in the way the car speaks to you; the noise as you give it full beans, accelerator mashed into the carpet and hearing the engine note change as it passes 4k and starts to really howl; the immediacy of the revs of the AJP engine, how a blip of the throttle quickly gains and looses rev's seemingly inertia free; the almost pornographic experience of bathing it in soapy suds and caressing it's beautiful curves..... erm, or is that just me.
Oh, and if you are worried about the temperature, get one of Joo's engine cooling chips; relatively cheap, and brought my temp right down even in heavy traffic on hot days (see my other posts). Cooled the engine and driver's worries right down, that did....
Edited by mikeinsheffield on Tuesday 2nd June 21:45
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