For the last couple of years I've had a tank of Mondeo as the family runabout and daily commute. However, the Covid pandemic saw an end to my 80mile round trips to work and the mondeo was no longer required, especially as my kids have grown a little and I no longer needed the huge boot for their prams etc.
A few friends have had 172's and 182's now and in the past, and I was getting an itch to get one and get back to the days of having a car that was fast, fun and a bit of a project.
Late 2022/early 2023 saw the cost of these cars starting to increase so I was keen to get one sooner rather than later. There was a real mix of what was available on the market but none that seemed to be anywhere local to me.
After a few months, a pretty standard one turned up down south for a decent price. It had a yozza sport exhaust, decat and some apex lowering springs. 12x,xxx miles ('ve forgotten now), part service history and I was assured there was no rust. It needed a service and a cambelt but it was up for a reasonable price. I got on a 4hr train ride the next weekend (1st April 2023) to go and view/collect it.
I was slightly disappointed when I viewed the car, rust was starting to rubble on the arch lips and there were plenty of little dings here and there. The headliner was also sagging and the exhaust was horrendously loud, although it sounded awesome on full throttle. I took it for a good test drive and I was sold, however on the way back from the test drive, the EML light came on and there was a misfile. Back at the owners house he put a code reader on which suggested an injector issue, so nothing major I thought. I also noticed that it wasn't starting first time when he was trying. I was going to leave it as it wasn't in the best of conditions and with the EML light on I was put off, however I had travelled a long way so I gave him a low ball offer as it was a risk for me to travel back with it half way across the country, and surprisingly he accepted.
I Jumped in the car and set off for home but not before getting some documents for the car including the original service book which came with a thorough service history up until the last few years. The owner said he wasn't bothered about keeping records for the car but he showed me some messages showing that it had been serviced and had a stage 1 remap, something I was later able to confirm by phone call to the garage a few months later. About half way back I stopped at the services for fuel and a break. However, when I got back to the car, it would turn over but not start. A good friend travelled quite some distance with more tools and knowledge than I have, and he ruled out a lot of things. But even after fitting a new crankshaft sensor there was no starting it, so I called a local recovery firm. Not a great start!
By now I was massively regretting my gamble, but the the recovery driver was a Renault fan and suggested that the drains in the bulkhead might be blocked and might have caused water ingress to the UCH plugs and they might just need a clean, so I was starting to feel optimistic. The next morning the car still wouldn't start but sure enough the passenger front foot well was saturated. However, the plugs in the UCH were fine. About an hour of unplugging sensors and moving cables around, it suddenly roared into life.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to narrow down what had caused this, but it must have been a lose plug or wire. After nearly a year of ownership now, I've never had a starting issue!
I got the car booked in with Mick at Diamond Motors for a new cambelt and dephaser. As it was well over due these and Mick wasn't able to get me in for a couple a months, I left the car on the drive to sort out a few problems in the mean time.
A few friends have had 172's and 182's now and in the past, and I was getting an itch to get one and get back to the days of having a car that was fast, fun and a bit of a project.
Late 2022/early 2023 saw the cost of these cars starting to increase so I was keen to get one sooner rather than later. There was a real mix of what was available on the market but none that seemed to be anywhere local to me.
After a few months, a pretty standard one turned up down south for a decent price. It had a yozza sport exhaust, decat and some apex lowering springs. 12x,xxx miles ('ve forgotten now), part service history and I was assured there was no rust. It needed a service and a cambelt but it was up for a reasonable price. I got on a 4hr train ride the next weekend (1st April 2023) to go and view/collect it.
I was slightly disappointed when I viewed the car, rust was starting to rubble on the arch lips and there were plenty of little dings here and there. The headliner was also sagging and the exhaust was horrendously loud, although it sounded awesome on full throttle. I took it for a good test drive and I was sold, however on the way back from the test drive, the EML light came on and there was a misfile. Back at the owners house he put a code reader on which suggested an injector issue, so nothing major I thought. I also noticed that it wasn't starting first time when he was trying. I was going to leave it as it wasn't in the best of conditions and with the EML light on I was put off, however I had travelled a long way so I gave him a low ball offer as it was a risk for me to travel back with it half way across the country, and surprisingly he accepted.
I Jumped in the car and set off for home but not before getting some documents for the car including the original service book which came with a thorough service history up until the last few years. The owner said he wasn't bothered about keeping records for the car but he showed me some messages showing that it had been serviced and had a stage 1 remap, something I was later able to confirm by phone call to the garage a few months later. About half way back I stopped at the services for fuel and a break. However, when I got back to the car, it would turn over but not start. A good friend travelled quite some distance with more tools and knowledge than I have, and he ruled out a lot of things. But even after fitting a new crankshaft sensor there was no starting it, so I called a local recovery firm. Not a great start!
By now I was massively regretting my gamble, but the the recovery driver was a Renault fan and suggested that the drains in the bulkhead might be blocked and might have caused water ingress to the UCH plugs and they might just need a clean, so I was starting to feel optimistic. The next morning the car still wouldn't start but sure enough the passenger front foot well was saturated. However, the plugs in the UCH were fine. About an hour of unplugging sensors and moving cables around, it suddenly roared into life.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to narrow down what had caused this, but it must have been a lose plug or wire. After nearly a year of ownership now, I've never had a starting issue!
I got the car booked in with Mick at Diamond Motors for a new cambelt and dephaser. As it was well over due these and Mick wasn't able to get me in for a couple a months, I left the car on the drive to sort out a few problems in the mean time.