Bargain Basement Motoring

[NewcastleFalcon]

Ah right, have you sorted the exhaust now, can't remember!

Sorted as much as its going to be for the retest Mick.

Remade the joint between the back box and middle pipe which was leaking using this stuff today, decent enough break in the weather sunny, and Dudley had blown over mostly during the night...

I think I've done all I intend to do. I found I had a new set of spark plugs lying around and although I've done the job, before on a Clio, i decided not to bother. They are buried down some very large holes and require this tool (the long metal tube), to remove them, and then there's stuff to disconnect/remove to get at them, so rather than disturb things I didn't bother. I will have some feeler gauges somewhere but haven't seen them for years, gap supposed to be 0.9 mm.

The other thing in the pic is a good little tool for removing the oil filter, because its in the most awkward of locations matches the flutes at the end of a proper spec Clio 2 Oil filter.

REgards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Well you've certainly done all in your power!! Good luck at the retest!!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Well you've certainly done all in your power!! Good luck at the retest!!

Thanks Mick, as far as the finicky electrics and the emissions go good luck is exactly what I'll need

I'm just wondering if he can get his probe shoved far enough up the exhaust, the silencer has a downward facing short pipe I don't know how a zero parts per million hydrocarbons test result comes out of an 18 year old Clio's Exhaust.

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Nice four-letter word today!

Regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Well done that man!! Only trouble is we'll never really know which action cured the emissions!! But at least the car will be a bit more sprightly for this tank!!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Thanks Mick, the Lambda emissions test was virtually spot on

1.06 on the previous test
Today 1.007

Only changes

about 20 litres altogether of Esso Synergie Supreme 99+ Unleaded in the tank...I added 15 L this morning on the way.
Remade leaking joint between Silencer and Middle section of the exhaust.

Well pleased but like you say what made the difference or was it a bit of both? Hopefully the method could be repeated for others with marginal emissions fails.

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

BB Clio on tour, after a bit of maintenance https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/ ... 79#p714579

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

you can in a Nissan

I wonder if the "cost of living crisis" is going to result in a minor change in car ownership behaviour for those who enjoy currently 2 car or more motoring.

If you are lucky enough to get a decent one bargain basement motoring shaves an enormous amount off the cash exiting your bank account on a monthly basis against what could be considered to be an economical transport option, a reliable low mileage 3-4 year old car.

Although the BB Micra is a fine workhorse aesthetically probably only me would put up with it, and Bargain basement isn't for everyone. Newish 3-4 old car on 48 mth PCP with £100 deposit is costing £2520/year in this example.

This is the bargain basement motoring thread. Its the perfect thread to consider such matters.

Anyone considering their options for reducing their current motoring costs or mileage.

BB Motoring side by side

Regards Neil

[Gibbo2286]

Reading in the motoring press I see they're saying used car prices have risen by 30% this year so far, seems they're in short supply
The C5 got a lot of interest on Ebay and sold for the asking price to the first person who made contact.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Reading in the motoring press I see they're saying used car prices have risen by 30% this year so far, seems they're in short supply
The C5 got a lot of interest on Ebay and sold for the asking price to the first person who made contact.

Excellent result Gibbo, and a few decent years of bargain basement motoring for yourself, well deserved after that resurrection job you did with sourcing and fitting that AM6 Autobox DIY. You would have had to fork out £2,500 easy for that job had you not done it yourself.

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Still weighing up whether to MOT the BB Micra this month seeing as I've done 15 miles and 6 miles in the last 2 months in it. £40 to see whats up with it before I start, probably have to address some of last year's advisories at least involving maybe new tyres, flex brake hoses at the front where the ferrules got mentioned even if there's nothing else.

Did the easy checks lights, horn, wipers, but had to do a bit of a poking a wire through to get the washer jets squirting as they should. The plastic jet fittings are a bit of a cross your fingers and hope they dont break removal job so did the wire poking in situ.

REgards Neil

[Gibbo2286]

My 93 year old neighbour had her V reg Micra failed this week so she's giving up driving, too expensive to fix says her grandson, needs some welding and like yours Neil those brake hose ferrules are corroded but that's been on the advisories for a couple of years now.
Her grandson rang a guy who advertises' £300 to £3000 for your car running or not' in the local rag he popped round and offered £300 then disappeared quickly before she could accept.
It's a nice enough car with a very sweet sounding engine and just 70k miles on the clock, she's had it for ten years.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Tracked down a "not quite right" noise with the aid of the listening devices as in the pic. Coming from the nearside hub in the vicinity of the outer CV joint. Not sure the CV joint itself is a MOT fail, although a split boot is one of the commonest fails. Not sure whether they even test whether a CV joint is noisy or worn.

Could be a wheel bearing, which they could pick up although no discernable rumble or roughness I can make out.

I do have, I just noticed, one very clear headlight on the offside and a clear but a distinctly worse shade of clear on the nearside. Gave that a bit of a brillopadding, clear enough (edit yes it was when it was recently rinsed and wet, in the clear light of day the brillopadding was probably the worst thing I could have done, too much bargain basement thinking there, lenses now worse than they were before as may well have been predicted with some serious polishing off of the too deep scratches left by the too abrasive pad. , but it still shown up by the other one.

Still a coin toss whether to put it through the MOT or not, whatever is picked up to do, the MOT cost is going to be more than the £100 I paid for the car in February 2019, since which 19,563 miles have been done in the 3 and a bit years to now.

https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/ ... 89#p601889

Where's that noise coming from listening devices

Regards Neil

[Rp0thejester]

So it's a case of money, if gunna use then fix it. If not sell for spares, you'll easily get your money back.

[mickthemaverick]

I don't think you'll need to break it for spares to get your money back, although that would probably gain the most return. I suspect nowadays you can recover the investment simply by selling it to a recycling centre or scrappy as we used to know them!!