It's still a way off being sorted but it's getting there and it's definitely no longer a cheap 200😂. But as a rare colour and one I personally really like I had to have it. It's still relatively low mileage just over 70k so who knows maybe I'd still breakeven?
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Paul’s Pearl
- Thread starter Clio_fool
- Start date
MrBlonde
ClioSport Club Member
Yep anything tinted is a 👎🏻
Look forward to seeing how the clio does in Wales mate 🤟🏻
Look forward to seeing how the clio does in Wales mate 🤟🏻
The car felt odd this morning going to work. There was a huge flatspot in the steering which was worryingly noticeable on roundabouts. The only thing I'd done since yesterday was turn the steering wheel 180° so in could see the hole for the airbag catch. So starting at the top and working down...
Aye that might not be right. Getting a pair of spanners on there was a painful job but I manage to nip it up and that play is gone now. I've still to test drive it but I'm hopeful that's sorted it. More scratches knuckles though 😡. The pedal arms are surprisingly sharp!
Le pearl b'stard.
Aye that might not be right. Getting a pair of spanners on there was a painful job but I manage to nip it up and that play is gone now. I've still to test drive it but I'm hopeful that's sorted it. More scratches knuckles though 😡. The pedal arms are surprisingly sharp!
Le pearl b'stard.
Steeing still feels a bit odd. I've done a spanner check on the front suspension, even though I know everything was torqued to the correct spec and there's nothing loose or broken that I can see. It still goes around corners but I don't like it. Anyone got any idea what could be causing this noise?
It sounds like it's the uj in the footwell but I can't tighten that any more.
I wanted to get new brake pads for the upcoming Wales trip and very nearly ordered some 1144's when @Chode Lint put a set up for sale so I had them off him and he even sent me some decent used caliper pins just incase mine died in the process. If what the previous owner told me is true the brakes haven't been touched for nearly 5 years so I was expecting a real fight from the pins.
All 4 tapped out nice and easy and were good enough to reuse. Discs and old pads look like new still so there's not a big build up of crap.
Not sure what brand they were but I'm a bit more confident I'll be able to stop well now.
Next up a trip to the garage for the exhaust swapping and maybe diagnosis on the steering.
It sounds like it's the uj in the footwell but I can't tighten that any more.
I wanted to get new brake pads for the upcoming Wales trip and very nearly ordered some 1144's when @Chode Lint put a set up for sale so I had them off him and he even sent me some decent used caliper pins just incase mine died in the process. If what the previous owner told me is true the brakes haven't been touched for nearly 5 years so I was expecting a real fight from the pins.
All 4 tapped out nice and easy and were good enough to reuse. Discs and old pads look like new still so there's not a big build up of crap.
Not sure what brand they were but I'm a bit more confident I'll be able to stop well now.
Next up a trip to the garage for the exhaust swapping and maybe diagnosis on the steering.
When I bought the car it had yoko eco slip tyres on the front and some unheard of ditch finders on the rear. Any amount of damp and the car would slide like a corsa on Teflon maccies trays. I was debating between eagle F1 asymmetric 6 or accelera 651 sports when @jakeg put a set of 651's up for sale for a bargain price so I figured I may as well give them a try.
They are a road/ track tyre and these are the 200 tread wear version. It will be intresting to see how much they wear over the weekend in Wales.
I had the car booked in at my local garage to diagnose the broken radiator fan and to change the thermostat and the exhaust. Apparently the fan issue was a broken wire in the loom at the side of the battery tray. The loom apparently comes from the relays and then loops back up which was a pinch point and the wire had broken there. Fan now kicks in as it should and temp sits solid on the correct mark for once.
The exhaust needed changing for a couple of reasons. Firstly the cat was fucked and rattling it's tits off when cold and secondly some pillok had tried to DIY some extra noise from the back box. I picked up a full mani back standard exhaust for £100 a few weeks ago and after picking it up there was no way I was going to be fighting with that hefty back box myself!
Pics of the old pipe:
That just caused an annoying buzzing noise and sounded w**k.
The old cat came back empty 🤔. Strange how it rattled so much with f**k all in it. The exhaust had had some work done previously too. Just look at those welds @dann2707 😣.
Bit of sealer sir?
The car now sounds a little better and goes a bit smoother too, hopefully it doesn't break before I get to Wales! Next update from a foreign land 🏴.
They are a road/ track tyre and these are the 200 tread wear version. It will be intresting to see how much they wear over the weekend in Wales.
I had the car booked in at my local garage to diagnose the broken radiator fan and to change the thermostat and the exhaust. Apparently the fan issue was a broken wire in the loom at the side of the battery tray. The loom apparently comes from the relays and then loops back up which was a pinch point and the wire had broken there. Fan now kicks in as it should and temp sits solid on the correct mark for once.
The exhaust needed changing for a couple of reasons. Firstly the cat was fucked and rattling it's tits off when cold and secondly some pillok had tried to DIY some extra noise from the back box. I picked up a full mani back standard exhaust for £100 a few weeks ago and after picking it up there was no way I was going to be fighting with that hefty back box myself!
Pics of the old pipe:
That just caused an annoying buzzing noise and sounded w**k.
The old cat came back empty 🤔. Strange how it rattled so much with f**k all in it. The exhaust had had some work done previously too. Just look at those welds @dann2707 😣.
Bit of sealer sir?
The car now sounds a little better and goes a bit smoother too, hopefully it doesn't break before I get to Wales! Next update from a foreign land 🏴.
Wales never disappoint's. If you enjoy driving and ever need to get away from the daily grind a few days exploring Wales is highly recommended. This time we booked a cottage for the duration which was so much better than racing from one booking to the next and gave us plenty of options for exploring. The car still had the annoying dead spot in the steering but as I was unable to find the cause I figured the best thing to do was to see if it would break properly and do the trip anyway
. I had the tyres fitted Thursday morning and after a wash on Friday I then headed to kwik fit for an alignment.
The back was spot on but the front needed a slight adjustment, nothing was found to be loose so off I went on the 181 mile journey. Apart from the dead steering I had no issues but the last 20m on a dirt track had some really concerning rattling coming from the front suspension. @MrBlonde and Jez were there as Jon and I arrived.
WIth my car making scary noises and feeling a bit sketchy I did the sensible thing and ignored it all and headed out Saturday at the back of the convoy. On smooth roads and loaded up in corners you'd never believe anything was playing up at all, the car handled perfectly and over the weekend I threw it about, used all the revs and even did an emergency stop and nothing broke. It certainly sounded like it was broken though with lumpy town roads rattling the suspension and occasionally a judder under braking. Very strange behaviour which definitely needs investigating. I learned a few things about the car while using it properly too. the mk3 is not as slow as people make out it really does pull well all the way to the shift light. The driving position although better than the 182 still needs refinement as the seat is too high and the steering wheel too far away. The mpg is worse than the 182 but not enough to break the bank. I'm not missing the 182 as much as I was initially when the 200 needed work before I was confident to drive it properly.
Pic dump time!
. I had the tyres fitted Thursday morning and after a wash on Friday I then headed to kwik fit for an alignment.The back was spot on but the front needed a slight adjustment, nothing was found to be loose so off I went on the 181 mile journey. Apart from the dead steering I had no issues but the last 20m on a dirt track had some really concerning rattling coming from the front suspension. @MrBlonde and Jez were there as Jon and I arrived.
WIth my car making scary noises and feeling a bit sketchy I did the sensible thing and ignored it all and headed out Saturday at the back of the convoy. On smooth roads and loaded up in corners you'd never believe anything was playing up at all, the car handled perfectly and over the weekend I threw it about, used all the revs and even did an emergency stop and nothing broke. It certainly sounded like it was broken though with lumpy town roads rattling the suspension and occasionally a judder under braking. Very strange behaviour which definitely needs investigating. I learned a few things about the car while using it properly too. the mk3 is not as slow as people make out it really does pull well all the way to the shift light. The driving position although better than the 182 still needs refinement as the seat is too high and the steering wheel too far away. The mpg is worse than the 182 but not enough to break the bank. I'm not missing the 182 as much as I was initially when the 200 needed work before I was confident to drive it properly.
Pic dump time!
Wales was great, England not so much. On my way home I was calling into see a mate who was over from America and staying only 50 miles from where we were. The route was quite nice with some quiet twisty roads, although the surface was substantially worse than the Welsh roads! No wonder the Ferrari 430 didn't keep up
( reg was A430 FER !) Pulling in through the gate where they were staying my exhaust caught on the gate stop and the clamp at the front promptly let go. Having no tools and my back given up a couple of days earlier it was a good job I hadn't cancelled my AA membership.He managed to reattach it but the centre section is twisted so the silencer and the connection to the rear box are low. Halfway home it started knocking too so It needs attention. I managed to get home without it falling off thankfully.
So I now have more jobs to do on the car but all in I think the trip went well. Germany next year maybe!
It needs a bloody good wash now
.
MrBlonde
ClioSport Club Member
I think a German Nurburg trip or Scotland next year 👍🏻
MrBlonde
ClioSport Club Member
Been a while. Last time I washed the car was shortly after our Wales trip so with a spare hour on Saturday I gave it a quick wash. It was getting close to looking how it did when I first got it! It's also been a long time since I took a pic of it so here's one I just took while it's still clean.
It looks all bluey under the lights at work but the camera never catches it 🙄. As I was going out the other day I caught a glimpse of the mileage before the usual key battery warning took over.
Reset the trip so it was nice and neat 😆. So that's about 7k I've done in it so far.
How's it gong? Well the steering still feels sloppy around straight ahead and I've noticed it pulls to the left quite significantly if you let go and the steering makes all sorts of clunks and bangs, especially when reversing. Also I think the engine mounts may be shot because there's a strange lurch when letting off the throttle at certain rpms. The cruise control still doesn't work nor does the AC.
So plan for this year 🤔. Buy another car first. The shortlist is down to a 135i coupe, a Renault Wind or a Twingo 3 GT. All really bad choices probably and I'm not sure how I got there. Anyway hopefully I won't buy a lemon and then I can pull the Clio apart and throw lots of new parts at it. It may then be relegate to weekend car duties so I might sneak a couple of mods on while I'm at it too.
Next update in July when I can't remember where any of the bits go😂.
It looks all bluey under the lights at work but the camera never catches it 🙄. As I was going out the other day I caught a glimpse of the mileage before the usual key battery warning took over.
Reset the trip so it was nice and neat 😆. So that's about 7k I've done in it so far.
How's it gong? Well the steering still feels sloppy around straight ahead and I've noticed it pulls to the left quite significantly if you let go and the steering makes all sorts of clunks and bangs, especially when reversing. Also I think the engine mounts may be shot because there's a strange lurch when letting off the throttle at certain rpms. The cruise control still doesn't work nor does the AC.
So plan for this year 🤔. Buy another car first. The shortlist is down to a 135i coupe, a Renault Wind or a Twingo 3 GT. All really bad choices probably and I'm not sure how I got there. Anyway hopefully I won't buy a lemon and then I can pull the Clio apart and throw lots of new parts at it. It may then be relegate to weekend car duties so I might sneak a couple of mods on while I'm at it too.
Next update in July when I can't remember where any of the bits go😂.
The key card saga has been running for a while now and for most of winter I've had to piss about with unlocking the passenger door to get in which is very annoying. So with having a week off work I decided to send my one and only key card to a repairer on ebay 😬. Someone on the 197 Facebook page recommended this particular guy so it wasn't a complete guess at least.
I sent my key on Monday and recieved a message that it was done on Wednesday but return would be delayed a day due to him not having a new case. It's just arrived back and it's like a miracle has been bestowed upon me 🙏.
All the buttons have been replaced so they now work and the keyless entry works too, shame the door sensor is a bit picky and the lock button doesn't work but at least I can press the key card to lock and unlock now.
And the price of bringing such joy into ones life? £35 with the option of special delivery return over plain old recorded del. The car still says "replace key battery" on the dash though 🤔. That can wait for now though 😆.
If you need a key repairing this is the guy.
www.ebay.co.uk
I sent my key on Monday and recieved a message that it was done on Wednesday but return would be delayed a day due to him not having a new case. It's just arrived back and it's like a miracle has been bestowed upon me 🙏.
All the buttons have been replaced so they now work and the keyless entry works too, shame the door sensor is a bit picky and the lock button doesn't work but at least I can press the key card to lock and unlock now.
And the price of bringing such joy into ones life? £35 with the option of special delivery return over plain old recorded del. The car still says "replace key battery" on the dash though 🤔. That can wait for now though 😆.
If you need a key repairing this is the guy.
Security measure
Mr Trailer Man
ClioSport Club Member
The replace key battery message should disappear after a few drive/lock cycles.
Get that on a few cars.
Get that on a few cars.
I stumbled across a post on here by @Martin_172 about the steering issue being caused by knackered anti rotation links so bought a pair off Ebay for £30 as a first shot of the parts cannon.
They look decent but the threads felt s**t and the nuts were well tight so I reused the old nuts. I'll swap them out for genuine renault links later in the year I think but for fault chasing they will do. The old ones came off easy enough, I have had the hubs off before though so they weren't re-seized yet.
I do believe that's best described as fucked. The other one was the same so yeah they needed changing.
I've been for a quick test drive and it definatly feels better with the dead spot reduced. There's still a knocking that's definitely from the drivers side, it's east to tell by going over those stupid square speed bumps with one wheel. I think next up I'll swap the drivers side swivel hub as I have a spare and new ball joints for it and hope that makes things better still but for now the car does feel safer to drive!
They look decent but the threads felt s**t and the nuts were well tight so I reused the old nuts. I'll swap them out for genuine renault links later in the year I think but for fault chasing they will do. The old ones came off easy enough, I have had the hubs off before though so they weren't re-seized yet.
I do believe that's best described as fucked. The other one was the same so yeah they needed changing.
I've been for a quick test drive and it definatly feels better with the dead spot reduced. There's still a knocking that's definitely from the drivers side, it's east to tell by going over those stupid square speed bumps with one wheel. I think next up I'll swap the drivers side swivel hub as I have a spare and new ball joints for it and hope that makes things better still but for now the car does feel safer to drive!
Martin_172
ClioSport Club Member
yeah they are definitely done! mine weren't even like that, I did fully fix my steering issues in the end, I had put a new rack on it but didn't know the rack needed calibrated!!! that transformed it and its been like a new car since
Speedo Gonzales
ClioSport Club Member
Yeah your old ones were way past it!
Have you done your droplinks? If not I have a spare set here I think
Have you done your droplinks? If not I have a spare set here I think
Apart form the one swivel and shocks that's the rotation links are the only new parts so far. I intend to freshen it all up once I've moved house.
Mr Trailer Man
ClioSport Club Member
The new nuts will be tight on those links because they're a deformed nut to make them self locking.
Drivers side headlamp bulb gave up the other night so I ordered some Philips racingvision ones to replace the osram night breakers I put in when I got the car.
Fitted it in the drivers side and tested and it didn't work. Checked fuses, pissed about scraping my hands making sure its in right and then realised I'd swapped the main beam bulb and not the dipped beam. What a spakka🤦. Left the passenger side one because I cba pulling the bits off required to get to it. Also having parked the car nose in for once I noticed this.
Camber on the driver side appears to be a bit off?
Also I dunno why the forum decided on italics but I can't turn it off 😆.
Fitted it in the drivers side and tested and it didn't work. Checked fuses, pissed about scraping my hands making sure its in right and then realised I'd swapped the main beam bulb and not the dipped beam. What a spakka🤦. Left the passenger side one because I cba pulling the bits off required to get to it. Also having parked the car nose in for once I noticed this.
Camber on the driver side appears to be a bit off?
Also I dunno why the forum decided on italics but I can't turn it off 😆.
Speedo Gonzales
ClioSport Club Member
Just like @Louis top mount cups, one broken and one nearly broken👀🤣
I'll be sure to point it out to you every time we meet then 🧐😄
Hidden out of sight while I enjoy Peugeot ownership.
Only kidding😂. I'm slowly building a pile of parts to refresh the front suspension and steering and I'll replace the very very rusty radiator support too. Oh that reminds me the aircon system needs looking at too. It'll probably need the belts doing again by the time it comes out of there.
Speedo Gonzales
ClioSport Club Member
Does it need a set of wheels?👀
It needs new tyres so maybe. But which ones🤔.
Stefan.
ClioSport Club Member
Decent size garage!
Speedo Gonzales
ClioSport Club Member
225/40/18 on some 18" Turinis? 🤔 👀
Yeah it's great I managed to get out of the car without banging the door into anything, and the mk3 has a 187 foot wingspan!
Hit the black Friday sales hard and ordered some parts from @Kev@KAM and along with a totally un needed purchase a couple of months ago the car has officially hit 'money pit' status. We've slowed down at work as usual at the end of the year so hopefully we'll be on 3 day weeks soon so I'll start stripping the car apart. It needs to be 100% working for a road trip next May.
Winter project has started! 🤣 Rolling around on the garage floor in winter turned out to be a bit unappealing so the clio was ignored and only moved out of the garage so I could move my new toolbox to the back.
So now I need to get on with sorting it so it's now jacked up and the front suspension is ready to be removed. It's all been apart a couple of times since I bought the car and all the bolts have been free and easy so far, no need for the big ugga dugga yet.
Hopefully I'll get it stripped down quickly and then probably find loads more jobs that need doing while I'm at it, I also need to dig out all the new parts I bought and buried in the garage somewhere. I'll be taking pics as I go so I can remember what goes where so at least I'll be able to keep this updated. Watch this space.
So now I need to get on with sorting it so it's now jacked up and the front suspension is ready to be removed. It's all been apart a couple of times since I bought the car and all the bolts have been free and easy so far, no need for the big ugga dugga yet.
Hopefully I'll get it stripped down quickly and then probably find loads more jobs that need doing while I'm at it, I also need to dig out all the new parts I bought and buried in the garage somewhere. I'll be taking pics as I go so I can remember what goes where so at least I'll be able to keep this updated. Watch this space.
Mr Trailer Man
ClioSport Club Member
Are you doing the front swivel hub joints?
Mine are shot on the Megane, booked in with Mick to sort them.
Mine are shot on the Megane, booked in with Mick to sort them.
One was done a couple of years ago so I'll be doing the other one. I've been told the bottom arms could be my issue so I've got new ones to fit and I expect everything else will be shot too but I've refrained from fully loading the parts cannon so far 😆.
Mr Trailer Man
ClioSport Club Member
Yeah I just did the whole lower arms on mine seeing as the old ones were the original.
Did you get the heavy duty OCAP joint from KAM?
Yeah I think so.
About time I test my memory and update this tale of woe. The car is still in the same position as my last update but much less together. Lets see what I can recall...
At the end of March I did start to remove parts and took loads of pics of screws and fixings because I knew it would be a while before they would be put back again. For more space I pulled the bumper off and removed the wheel arch liners and was surprised to not find tonnes of muck.
As I said before the air con never worked and that may be because the condenser is good at protecting the radiator.
So a new one was added to the list. Just look at the state of that rad support too! I removed the crash bar, condenser and the headlamps and added more parts to the list.
2 fixing points on the passenger side headlamp were broken which might explain why the bumper kept popping out at that side as the headlamp wasn't sat right. The rad support decided that it was going to start removing itself too, I'd not touched it at this point.
I managed to remove the front hubs and dampers pretty easily as most of the nuts came off easily. I removed the damper from the swivel hub that needs new bearings so I wouldn't replace the wrong ones.
Wheel bearing was a bit rough and the wheel hub crusty so they were added to the list too. With that done I started noseying into areas I really didn't need to and noticed this wobbling around.
Apparently its a resonator for the air intake and after a bit of wiggling it appears to only come out with the radiator removed so after some contorting and lots of swearing its reattached to the pipe above and seated in its mount at the bottom and can stay put. First part fixed, YAY!
Next job was to dismantle the swivel hub so new bearings can be fitted. By now I had a decent pile of parts to go on but motivation was waning and my attention was elsewhere.
Running out of space in the garage as it was filling up with Clio, BMW and Mercedes parts.
At the end of March I did start to remove parts and took loads of pics of screws and fixings because I knew it would be a while before they would be put back again. For more space I pulled the bumper off and removed the wheel arch liners and was surprised to not find tonnes of muck.
As I said before the air con never worked and that may be because the condenser is good at protecting the radiator.
So a new one was added to the list. Just look at the state of that rad support too! I removed the crash bar, condenser and the headlamps and added more parts to the list.
2 fixing points on the passenger side headlamp were broken which might explain why the bumper kept popping out at that side as the headlamp wasn't sat right. The rad support decided that it was going to start removing itself too, I'd not touched it at this point.
I managed to remove the front hubs and dampers pretty easily as most of the nuts came off easily. I removed the damper from the swivel hub that needs new bearings so I wouldn't replace the wrong ones
.Wheel bearing was a bit rough and the wheel hub crusty so they were added to the list too. With that done I started noseying into areas I really didn't need to and noticed this wobbling around.
Apparently its a resonator for the air intake and after a bit of wiggling it appears to only come out with the radiator removed so after some contorting and lots of swearing its reattached to the pipe above and seated in its mount at the bottom and can stay put. First part fixed, YAY!
Next job was to dismantle the swivel hub so new bearings can be fitted. By now I had a decent pile of parts to go on but motivation was waning and my attention was elsewhere.
Running out of space in the garage as it was filling up with Clio, BMW and Mercedes parts.
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