1996 VSX estate 2.5 diesel

[xmexclusive]

Hi Chris

It may help you to decide if you add in under item 3 engine out to replace the clutch sometime in the next 50k miles.
Clutch kits are £200 +.
In my experience median 2.5 clutch life is close to your current miles.
I know of one that made 275k and a well loved car currently around 330k but also a couple that died around 110k.
Unless you are aware of the long term history and usage of this 2.5 best to factor the clutch in as well.

As far as bits are concerned I suspect the take up will not be worth keeping it blocking the drive.

John

[CJS]

Currently 183k miles,

2x new gear select cables @ 157k
Starter motor replaced (recon?) @ 166k

No mention of clutch so possible limited life noted, thanks John.

Very strange Croydon dealer invoice for non stock parts in 2009, a couple of years before I bought it

C527178 SUSPENSION C £264.65 (strut?)
C527189 SPHERE BRACK £347.48 (strut top, ouch)
C4007T6 HIGH PRESS P £547.21 (new pump)
C527415 CIRCUIT BREA £223.30 (pressure reg)

No discount shown, plus the VAT this was £1590 ! What was this, just random component replacement at the customer's expense?

if this is the total damage for large bills, then it has done well ie no head gasket or similarly large job. At least not with the supplied paperwork.

Chris

[CJS]

Not wanting to be defeated without knowing the full extent, I have now dropped the subframe. What a mess anti-sink pipework is, I thought dropping the subframe would be less confusing not more. It is a case of find the non rusty pipe, as if this pipework at the back is substandard. Leak is one of those in the top 'comb' forward (on car) of rightmost of two nearside splitters. I'm calling beyond economic repair at this mileage, and annoyed I fitted the towbar and rads.

Take it away in one piece, or I will strip some stuff. Anything in particular, not too hard, let me know via PM with an offer (if that is allowed?). This car has not returned what I paid for it so I'm not giving stuff away. The SED was more about saving a car, this is about covering my costs. Not a good buy. Unless you want to buy the whole car in which case I can highly recommend it.

Chris

[kingp]

Hi Chris,
Is the front rad pack genuine or OE?
Would you sell the interior blower motor and control panel?
Does it have the cruise control stalk and button?
Also how old/rotten is the exhaust as 2.5's are known to eat trough them as much as radiators

[CJS]

Is there such a thing as genuine rads, I'm guessing that would be Valeo but I've not been impressed by their "cost down" quality in recent years, have even spoken with one of their top tech guys. I deliberately chose new Nissens for both the 2.5 rads, they shipped from Denmark, I bought them end of last year or earlier this year but only fitted them in the summer and they've only done a few hundred miles. I don't like the top of the main Nissens rad, just fins with no frame but not a problem once the rad is in. No cruise. HVAC control panel is the basic dials, no AC version. I see no need for keeping the blower, I'm hoping my V6 one is okay. I patched the first box of the last three, it is the transverse box that is showing age though with seams expanding

Reinsured in June, car has been off the road three months pending MOT. My lack of time rather than big issues with the car. Kept taxed as I never like the trap of no tax required driving to a test where MOT out of date, but if a pass then you need tax on the way back - didn't think it would take so long to look at the car. Going to cancel the insurance tonight I think but after £50 fee there won't be much coming back. I've worked out the 10k miles I have done in this 2.5, I could have done in the V6 more cheaply. Fool. Keep thinking I could repipe then remember I don't have time to mess about like this and still have four insured cars without this one.

I decided not to break before Christmas, would have done too quick a job. Currently parked where my, sorry, Ray's SED was parked but will have to go Jan/Feb. Will post a picture in the next couple of days. Would be good if someone could take whole and save it, suspension would be on low but I did once have the SED taken away on low, on a standard truck.

However assuming breaking, are all but new Nissens rads interesting? The secondary rad didn't seem to be leaking but I gave in and bought that too once I realised what a faff it was to get in there. I did however keep that older secondary rad too as a spare.

Chris

[kingp]

Yeah the rads would deffo interest me as well as the blower and non ac heater control panel

Exhaust i'll just leave as i've decided if anymore sections go i'll do what im doing for the back box now and use a long section of flexi instead with a jubi clip and gun gum as its never going to be anything more than a work horse for me and the noise at the rear from dropping a box or two i can live with by turning the radio up

[CJS]

Okay, back to this 2.5 VSX estate. A forum member was possibly interested in the car as a whole, it took me a while to document the car for them, that exchange isn't happening. Over the weekend I opened the door for the first time in several weeks and realise it is bonkers to scrap this car but I am no closer to ever having time to sort the rear pipework. When I suggest breaking, please bear in mind I did everything in my power to keep the 'oldest SED' away from the scrap man, that is now with Ray. This car would be great for me, diesel and estate, but I have to thin out the fleet.

I am going to copy my recent notes about the car. I have too much financially invested in this car, either bits that are immediately useful for the lovely V6 estate which appears to be staying my daily driver (petrol costs having fallen), or bits that I should be able to sell. I know very well you can't value a whole, old car by the value of its parts but in this case only a few parts make a few hundred which I imagine you will tell me is more than the car is worth. Anybody interested in recent parts, eg the 2x very recent rads that cost me over £200 should be aware they are not going to leave me for a pittance, I would rather store in the loft. I'm not being awkward about funds but this car needs to give me something back, either in bits or leaving for repair.

So replies initially please if anyone wants a whole car. I am 'net less for a few days after posting this.

Chris

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Pics including some deliberate showing bad bits

http://s1379.photobucket.com/user/MoreM ... l%20Estate

Something needs to happen with this car soon as not only do I need the driveway space, but in the summer I fitted two new rads but only refilled with water as I wanted to check for leaks and then intended to change thermostats as I think it should warm up more quickly. Winter is coming (not quite cold enough yet in London to be a problem 21/01/16) and I don't really want to put new coolant in before it goes, I do also appreciate the corrosion protection offered by coolant.

As a reminder, there is a leak on one of the pipes over the back axle, other than a wiper blade I was going to change this car was ready to go for a booked MOT the next day after the pipe failed. I have dropped the subframe but still can't isolate which pipe, I think it may be the post height corrector feed back to the doseur because driven out of the garage on low the leak was only passing a limited amount of fluid. Albeit enough to leave a continuous line on the ground. The issue is that now I have seen all the pipework on the back axle, I would want to replace all of it and I simply do not have the time.

I can't give you space to repair the car indoors, if you think you can repair it in the drive within a day so you can drive it to an MOT nearer home then you're welcome to try but I think it really needs recovery / trailer. My SED was recovered with a normal truck once with collapsed suspension but I think some recovery trucks are too steep?

I bought this car (P470HYD if you want to look up the MOT history on the .gov website) in October 2011. I've only done about 10k miles in it, that's what happens when you have six cars. At the time I wasn't expecting to be a parent or for us to then have a C4 Grand Picasso that does most of our French trips these days.

As someone who's never owned a car with less than 100k miles on the clock, I know old cars can't simply be valued as the sum of the parts even if money has been spent recently. However, the intention was to keep this car and so I have been spending money on the assumption I would get the benefit. If scrapping I would hope some of these new parts (2x rads, heater matrix too but not worth removing) can be resold for a reasonable sum and others (2x new maybe 500 miles on the rear so not worn at all Michelin Energysaver and 2x same on front only 2mm worn) are not just useful for my V6 estate but actually needed now. I am also sitting on a full set of Lizarte spheres, only the fronts were fitted and my V6 urgently needs new spheres. Battery was new Varta in October 2014 and that would suit my French registered 928 which was due a new battery this year for the first time in a decade.

Ignoring any value in the rest of the car, I'm assuming the following scrap values to others,
- towbar £50
- rads £100 both

and to me,
- tyres £150 new ones, can change onto V6 alloys cheaply in France
- tyres £75 old ones
- spheres £120 set
- battery £60
- 2x almost new parking brake cables £20

So I reckon there's £600 of easily removable parts, not counting any value for the rest of the car including strut tops which I would happily keep as spares for the V6. That's my view, you may well disagree. Now if you don't want the spheres and I refit the old fronts, if I fit an old battery I've got and we jump start it, if I get the wheels/tyres back at some point because you have others then that would keep the price down. Again I haven't factored anything for the car and I can see it might be better to buy some random MOT failure XM off ebay for £100 or a runner for a few hundred but I can't afford to let this car go silly cheap with those parts. Never mind it has never repaid what I paid for it in 2011, mostly my fault for having too many cars.

MOT on the car when purchased was to expire January 2012, when I was preparing for this MOT I found rot underneath in the same place as I had with the SED - the pressed out front-back channel that stops roughly in line with the B post, close to the sill. This wasn't the simplest welding job, but my problem was a real lack of time in 2012 - minimum 100 hours' work every week. The car sat indoors in my garage throughout this time January 2012-March 2013, I was clear this 2.5 was going to take over from the V6. After welding, the car failed on parking brake. This was when I first shimmed the central parking cable and scraped a pass. Then 2013 I had the same work overload problem, so no MOT March-September simply because of no time rather than any problem. Scraped MOT on parking brake again. New left/right cables did not help, although I didn't think they would. Front discs are at their limit, my next step if it was a problem this (aborted) time was to be new discs. In fact I was going to fit new discs anyway. For this recent MOT prep I lubricated the calipers.

I fitted a brand new towbar and electrics with buzzer in boot (buzzer legality vs lamp always debated). I never used the towbar, if scrapping would pull this off to sell (or keep for any future estate). I might take the ball in the short term for the V6.

Neither LCD works, right one did when I got the car. When I got the car, rear heated screen had more damaged elements than working, now not working at all. Cable rubber boot between body and tailgate missing/ripped and was taped up. I found at least one broken wire inside the tape, simple fix just requiring time. Radio is original, illumination does not work but it can at least be set up because LCD can still be seen when looking close.

The previous owners had dogs. the smell has gone but seats and carpets are far from clean and it looks like there was a leak or (see pics of carpet) I know the previous owner used it for tip runs so this might be the explanation. I have dismantled and cleaned the immobiliser keypad and was amazed how much gunk there was in there. My V6 is showroom condition in comparison.

Both front door straps are broken, they work but are noisy. He replaced the engine fusebox but didn't mount it (battery box broken IIRC) and picture shows I have it turned sideways because one of the spade females is loose. HVAC I think it was.

PO has previously bumped it gently up the front so minor misalignment nose cone to wings with cracking on the nose. Lacquer gone on the roof, small area of lacquer lifting recently on the nose cone and there was a bit lifting on the wing which I sprayed to stop it spreading but never followed up with lacquer.

I've been happy with the engine with no oil use, pulls well, and gearbox/clutch good plus the previous owner had new gearbox cables where one snapped.

I have the wheel trims, not fitted in the pictures but could do with a respray. There is a spare wheel, when I bought the car it was in the boot because the spare carrier bolt through the floor was seized. I think they must have freed the spare by removing the carrier side bolt to lower the carrier enough to unhook the bolt. When I realised the bolt through the floor was so seized that they had twisted the J hook, my solution was more brutal and I pulled the bolt through the boot floor. The carrier went into my garden, it is rotten and the welded bar with plastic "roller" has come off.

Tailgate has to be slammed to latch, sits a touch low on the right hinge so perhaps removed/refitted at some point.

Other than the welding in 2013 and recent sill patch for the (aborted) MOT, the worst corrosion on this car was found when I fitted the towbar. Perhaps from tip runs, I don't know, a load of silt had got trapped under the plastic left/right trim rearmost on the boot floor. I think this then got damp because a couple of holes have been drilled in the tailgate next to the lock, acting as additional drains right into the silt. I wire brushed this whole area and painted with red oxide along with some mild surface marks on the boot floor.

Central locking works, not the boot which may well be the damaged loom. Key does not work driver's door but okay boot, passenger, ignition, glovebox. Only one RF remote, key is on a ring from this ie not flip out. Sunroof does not work, motor does not move.

Roof bars will go back onto the V6.

[CJS]

Looks like I'm pulling it apart then. Still insured, still looking back at me, making me feel guilty. Before I start I'll ask if anyone wants anything off it.

Chris