Clio Clio dci bargain daily driver

[Brigsy]

Took this pic after 20min wash the other day. Considering its had no wax on or nowt since i done it last (xmas ?) Still cleans up decent. Beadage getting a bit low now & trims a bit faded so will give it some tlc soon. Ticked over 132k on the way back from croft today

 

[Brigsy]

Some of you might have seen the pic of the clio on the jack the other day
Nothing broke really just filled the dogbone mount full of pu sealant to stiffen it up as gone a bit floppy, done both cars at once. Sadly it has worked a bit too well and causes a bit of vibration through the cabin on low speed manouvres so looks like i will need to get a new one bought soon. Works great on the megane no vibration i guess its the difference between smooth petrol engine and dirty diesel !

 

[Brigsy]

Cleaned the dci yesterday as it was looking a bit unloved and the wheels were black with brake dust. Needs a polish/coat of wax as not much beading going on now but need some new microfibre cloths first.
Side repeater lense cover fell off when washing which revealed a load of mould and moss making the clear cover look green. Popped off the passenger side cover off to clean and superglued back on to the base. Looks much better than they did prior to cleaning.

Also picked up a new gearknob from U pull it..the one fitted had broke and was spinning on the shaft which was highly annoying. Found this minty condition gearknob in a low mileage megane1. Nothing else to report 62mpg on the trip at all times

 

[andybond]

Motoring for pennies really !

Its a great colour though !

 

[Brigsy]

Trouble free motoring for the dci no issues just clocked over 133k so approx 15k miles in 20 months. Long overdue clean today - wheels were black with brake dust and pebbledashed with birdpoo over the last couple of weeks. Wash - Srp & Collinite 476s, some tyre gel to finish comes up great

 

[Brigsy]

Looked great in the sun tonight however after a shopping run there is a squeaking from the shocker/top mount area on the passenger side..the top mount is on its way out but i think the shocker has given up. More investigation needed - might be time to upgrade to 182cup shocks on the front - should fit with minor fettling. Notices the driveshafts are at 30deg angle up over when the car is on the deck due to lows not great for handling

 

[andybond]

Still looks like a great car for the $$$

 

[Brigsy]

Small update. Last week i went shopping in the clio after taking the above pics. On the way back heard a squeaking over bumps from the passenger side. Sounded like a dead shocker however i could see that the top mount on passenger side gap had increased by a few mm.

Stripped it down to check shocker - seemed ok good resistance and no leaks...replaced top mount with a good used 172 top mount in stock. Whilst there i thought i would change the weeping inner cv bearing/boot on passenger side to kill 2 birds with one stone. Dropped gear oil out was black and looked totally shot cant have been changed for a long time. Used brute force to smash the old bearing and cv boot sleeve off. Went to fit the new genuine renault boot and the fecker slips on the shaft like a baggy fanny when its supposed to be interference fit so might have had a non genuine shaft in before ??

Looked at the rest of the shaft and the outer joint had lots of play so deemed false economy buying another boot. Started looking for a new shaft - about £75 from gsf & £50 from euro for the cheapo shafts with the price inflated weekend sale rate. At this point i found JandR driveshafts on ebay. £26 for a full new shaft delivered which is crazy cheap. Turned up and looks good quality - easily as good as the other cheap/recon shafts - fits ok which worried me as many differerent lengths/spline/abs ring combos for the clios (mine is 21spline outer & 44 tooth abs ring)
Fitted straight in no issues. Boots do feel a bit soft but just the same as usual aftermarket cv boots are. Filled up with Total Gear8 75/80 which seems to be great stuff and cheap. The box always had the notchy 1st/2nd gear high mileage jb/jc gearbox trait which seems to be drastically reduced and less bearing noise. So overall not a bad fix

Also changed the rear dogbone mount a few eekes ago for genuine renault as the pu sealed rear mount was rattling the dash to bits with the harmonics of the dirty diesel - worked too well

Last total £1379
Dogbone £30
Shaft £25
3ltrs Total gear8 £20 (ish - cant remember exact amount maybe less)

£1454 - to be continued - insurance renewal next week

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

I'd be a very happy teenager to own that as a first car, Looks great @Brigsy!! :ay:

 

[Sheryl_O]

I'd be a very happy teenager to own that as a first car, Looks great @Brigsy!! :ay:

Good job your well over the hill then :ap:

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Good job your well over the hill then :ap:

I'm on the way down the other side now...

 

[Brigsy]

Insurance time

Done the usual check the comparison sites and seeing quotes of £300+ (having my eyes out !?) with 9 years NCB no points on licence, no crashes etc infact no change of anything apart from accrued another years ncb. Some places would not even quote a price not sure what is going on there !

Current insurers Elephant saved the day - did not get a renewal price through - rang them today & £203 fully comp, protected ncb, mods declared etc

Anyway have a beadage pic

 

[Brigsy]

So the trusty clio has been off the radar for a bit recently

Had a couple of non start issues when engine was warm recently - fearing injectors or pump wear so not been used much. Had to use it for a trip to Birmingham & Gloucester yesterday though so winged it as the problem was intermittent

Washed before going as looking a bit unloved - comes up great
Fitted 172 sill cover plates that i got for free a while back - double sided tape as per oem

Filled up beforehand check out the range - mega

Made it there and back no dramas - 62mpg no issues. Noted when idling outside the house last night a bit diesel fumey. Fired it up this morning and number 2 injector seal chuffing like fuck ! sounded like a tractor lol. Luckily i had a couple left from when i replaced one 18 month or so ago so cracked on and changed it

Fired it up after refitting new seal - engine was quieter but misfired initially which chucked the EML on - turned engine off - removed injector plug - contact cleaner and fired up again EML off and running nice - think injector seal was on its way for a while. Turned engine off and non start - So diagnostics time - @Mart kindly lent me his clip so i could scan it as my old one broke.

DF 116 camshaft sensor fault present - initially said coherence but after removing plug and refitting no signal. Checked rail pressure when cranking making 250bar so seems ok so HP pump must be ok.


Quick shoot down to Euro for a new bougicord one - 15 mins to fit, jack engine up new sensor fitted - erased fault & no faults present - fires up great job jobbed. A nice cheap fix as pump/injectors would have been dear..

Also reconfigured the UCH so i could use my variable speed intermittent wiper stalk properly - whoever said N1 UCH can not be configured for it is full of shit - ten mins job done and working great
Last cost £1454

Cam sensor £20

New total £1474...To be continued

 

[Ricardo]

Good ol Bougicord

 

[Brigsy]

Good ol Bougicord

Reliable gear i could have got the cheapo one for less but sod it only the best for the dci still love this little car flies along good mpg

 

[Brigsy]

Still plodding on

A good clean up was required before winter as had been a bit neglected. First give the headlamps a proper wet sand and polish with the DA that @Chris Smith kindly donated the headlamps were starting to look rather yellow and vision is much improved after polish.
Quick wash to get it clean Note a bit of brake dust deposits on the williams wheels after using them on the Kangoo at Cadwell. Need to get some fallout remover and a clay bar on them

Give the interior a once over with the wet vac too came up nice

Full service before winter kicked in. I had noticed that mpg was dropping and more black smoke with boot down recently but still in the low 60 mpg range. Oil and filter have been changed religiously every 6k however had not changed the air filter or diesel filter since buying the car with 119k on - now up to 135k. Check out the air filter think i got my moneys worth out of that ! Changed and cleaned egr which was hardly mucky to be fair due to proper driving mid to high 60 mpg's ! Used the usual Shell Helix 5/40 and purflux filters as oem. This week the snow came - and the fecking mot

So typically i had a few jobs to do before mot - wishbone bushes - passenger side ball joint - rear brake pipe. So lets pick one of the coldest days t start the work -4deg


Fire soon warmed things up
Used the vice to pop the bushes in as the arms don't fit too well in the press. Ten min a side easy

Fitted and repeat for other side. A bit of a fucker to torque up the arm to subframe bots on the floor to be fair due to lows but got the job done. A few people called me tight for not changing the full arms however a pair of arms were minimum £50 and the cheapo arms are always of dubious quality. Its the same amount of work to remove/refit the arms and quality febi bilstein bushes are only £13 so its a no brainer

Rear brake pipe a bit crusty Done
So its been a pretty busy week preparing for tomorrow's mot however on test drive it feels solid with new bushes in so well worth doing

Last total £1474

Service kit £45 (combo of euro/gsf discount parts) quality Purflux filters and Shell Helix 5/40
Bushes £13 from misterauto (Febi bilstein)
Balljoint £7
Brake pipe and brake fluid & a couple of bits grease etc £10

£1549 - That's 2 years motoring and 16k fairly uneventful miles. Love it

 

[andybond]

Buttons really for doing its job. What is the car "worth" if you sold it ?

 

[Brigsy]

Buttons really for doing its job. What is the car "worth" if you sold it ?

No idea on what its worth but at a guess the williams wheels are worth more than the car

Under £800 a year for reliable motoring its great, I reckon i could double the yearly mileage and still not have to outlay loads of cash. Its used about once a week to go shopping in these days and the odd 2 mile run to the gym so not really needed but as it owes me nothing and refuse to sell it to see somebody wreck it as 'cheap banger' so will keep it. Still very tempted to do a cheap Nurburging trip in it in 2018 just book up and go

 

[Brigsy]

Straight through Mot this morning. Testers comments were everything is brand new on the suspension noticeable improvement with new bushes front end feels nice and tight

 

[Brigsy]

Local tip charge £45 for a permit to take a private van in up to 6x a year, sod paying that so loaded the clio up with old fence gear. Makes a good little van