Car help needed, please, asap!

[Ian]

Hey,

my brother's looking at an 03 plate Flame Red 1.2 16v Dynamique on 53,000 miles. He would be buying it from a friend and they're asking for £1700.

I've just been to have a look at it and noticed the following things:

- NSF passenger wing has crack at top roughly 5cm long.. will probably need replacing.
- OSR wing has a dint in it next to the boot.
- Sunroof doesn't work as there is a piece of glass stuck in the mechanism, apparently from a smashed window.
- The front upper grille is loose and cracked.
- The oil cap is milky.
- The heating doesn't work.

So it's not in the best condition, but does the price reflect this fairly? What does the broken heating suggest? My brother needs a car really.

Thanks,
Ian

 

[daydotz]

i was concerened about milky oil cap from my search here it seemed perfectly normal
http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?t=397209&highlight=milky+oil+cap

 

[Ian]

Was just wondering about the heater system not working if there was something more sinister up with it. I'm guessing that it's just the resistor pack-type thing that needs replacing? Seem to also remember it being a sympton of head gasket failure though? Apparently it's not been driven for a while if that makes any difference.

They've lowered the price to £1400.

 

[The Boosh!]

thats a bargain mate... im putting my dynamique up for sale in april for 2k ono with nothing up with it on 67k miles! theyre going for that all day long on ebay!

 

[joe81]

Milky oilcap might just be condensation.

Leave the car running, and make sure the engine fans kick in, look at the cooler bottle, is there oil residue init.

The price might reflect the condition, but does it reflect the amount of money needed to put it right,

needs spraying, servicing, and probably belts doing, pictures paint a thousand words, get some up if you have any

Interior heaters not working sounds like trouble unless the fuse has simply gone, this needs checking further

 

[Brett]

I've just checked my oil cap for you now Ian, mines milky too, caused by short journey's, which is all i've done lately.

As I said to you before, he heating would be a major issue to me, it could be head gasket which would be expensive, heater matrix which would be expensive.

Are the blowers working and there is just no heat? or is nothing working.

Bodywork wise its not a huge issue, plenty of parts nocking around.

If you can find the source of the heater problem i'd bite his hand off at £1400

 

[joe81]

Was just wondering about the heater system not working if there was something more sinister up with it. I'm guessing that it's just the resistor pack-type thing that needs replacing? Seem to also remember it being a sympton of head gasket failure though? Apparently it's not been driven for a while if that makes any difference.

They've lowered the price to £1400.

Sounds desperate, any MOT on it, why has it not been used....

if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is:approve:

 

[Kerryclio]

2 years older than mine! Mine had done 40,000 miles when i bought it in Dec for £3400

 

[Cupster]

Jog it on imo!

 

[Ian]

I've just checked my oil cap for you now Ian, mines milky too, caused by short journey's, which is all i've done lately.

As I said to you before, he heating would be a major issue to me, it could be head gasket which would be expensive, heater matrix which would be expensive.

Are the blowers working and there is just no heat? or is nothing working.

Bodywork wise its not a huge issue, plenty of parts nocking around.

If you can find the source of the heater problem i'd bite his hand off at £1400

That's good news then. The heating is blowing, but it's only coming out cold. Not too bothered about the bodywork like you say.. it needs a good detailing anyway. They seem keen to let it go, which is both a good and bad thing. I don't mind doing the work on it for him if it gets me out my car, but I don't want him to have bought a heap either lol.

 

[Brett]

The lack fo heat thing sounds expensive though Ian, because it rules out the fuse option.

Also Ian, as Joe says the belts will cost a couple of hundred quid if not done.

£1400 sounds good but it could need a fair few £100 spent on it.

 

[The Boosh!]

That's good news then. The heating is blowing, but it's only coming out cold. Not too bothered about the bodywork like you say.. it needs a good detailing anyway. They seem keen to let it go, which is both a good and bad thing. I don't mind doing the work on it for him if it gets me out my car, but I don't want him to have bought a heap either lol.

Hi.

 

[Ian]

2 years older than mine! Mine had done 40,000 miles when i bought it in Dec for £3400

I know the price sounds ridiculous, but they just seem to want some quick money. I'm going to get the HPI check on it to see that it's kosher.

Jog it on imo!

Lol as in sell it on, or leave it? If I knew nothing about Clios I probably would, but because I do it's tempting.

thats a bargain mate... im putting my dynamique up for sale in april for 2k ono with nothing up with it on 67k miles! theyre going for that all day long on ebay!

Yeah they're going for at least that from what I've seen. Usually around £2,400 in fact.

Milky oilcap might just be condensation.

Leave the car running, and make sure the engine fans kick in, look at the cooler bottle, is there oil residue init.

The price might reflect the condition, but does it reflect the amount of money needed to put it right,

needs spraying, servicing, and probably belts doing, pictures paint a thousand words, get some up if you have any

Interior heaters not working sounds like trouble unless the fuse has simply gone, this needs checking further

Is the fuse near top left on the panel? I checked it and it was alright. There is no tax and MOT on it, but if they will let it go for £1,300 then it's not tooo bad. I only have photo of the rear for the reg plate.. I'll get it up in a bit. Will also try and check the other things if I can. Completely forgot to ask about belts, will check.

 

[Ian]

Tbh the sport badge suggests he'd be getting a bit of a bargain hot hatch.

 

[Ian]

Hi.

Pah, you'd be doing mine before his lol! Double car discount ftw?

Would anyone mind looking over it with me at some point, or is there a cheap way to get it checked over professionally?

 

[Kerryclio]

Defo get the HPI done as i nearly bought a Cat C without knowing it

 

[joe81]

Defo get the HPI done as i nearly bought a Cat C without knowing it

my car check.com

cheap and easy.

Cold air from the blowers sounds like a matrix problem, and by god is it a ball ache to fix.

But if yer good with the tools then go for it, just hope the MOT does not bite you on the arse

forgot to mention, outstanding finance!!!!!!! check it its rife at the moment, so get a decent hpi done

 

[Ian]

Defo get the HPI done as i nearly bought a Cat C without knowing it

Good job you did the check then! So hard to tell most of the time though.

my car check.com

cheap and easy.

Cold air from the blowers sounds like a matrix problem, and by god is it a ball ache to fix.

But if yer good with the tools then go for it, just hope the MOT does not bite you on the arse

forgot to mention, outstanding finance!!!!!!! check it its rife at the moment, so get a decent hpi done

Think I'm going to do one of those checks for him as I doubt he'll bother. I might even get the platinum one so someone can check it over. The HPI check should highlight outstanding finance would it not?

I know how much of a pain it is to get under the scuttle panel, but if he has to go without heat for a while it doesn't bother me!

 

[Kerryclio]

Just about to handover the cash as well i wonder if anyone bought it! The guy was quite convincing even made up a storey as to why it was registered to a different address to! The thing that made us check was that his daughter had another clio on their drive that was much older and in worse condition but he said she didnt want it :S lol

 

[James.f]

^ my heaters dont work as some how theyve stopped, first thing to check is in the fuse box under the bonnet, check the relays or try and source another blower from a scrappy, & just incase your wonderin MOT wont fail due to blower

 

[Ian]

Just about to handover the cash as well i wonder if anyone bought it! The guy was quite convincing even made up a storey as to why it was registered to a different address to! The thing that made us check was that his daughter had another clio on their drive that was much older and in worse condition but he said she didnt want it :S lol

Well this guy seems a bit dodgy, but it's not really for me to say. As long as my brother gets all the checks done then I don't mind. It is the little things that give it away though!

^ my heaters dont work as some how theyve stopped, first thing to check is in the fuse box under the bonnet, check the relays or try and source another blower from a scrappy, & just incase your wonderin MOT wont fail due to blower

Ah so it's one under the bonnet is it? How do you check those? Also, good news about the MOT, cheers Jay.

 

[karlktm]

i had a bmw not long back..and the thermostat went..causing it to overheat.it also stopped the heater blowing hot air..cuz there was air in the system. the thermostat only overheated the car twice..and that caused the head gasket to go.

i wouldnt be suprised if that aint what has gone wrong here bud.

walk away!

 

[rexe]

Ian, Im going to say the same mate. It sounds like a shitter to be honest, the price is low for a reason and you will end up spending on it to get it perfect again.

Unless he will sell it for 1k walk matey... even at 1k could you should be able to make that back by breaking it.

Look at worse case, it needs a new heater matrix and the heads gone so thats about £900's worth of garage work if your not handy with the spanners.

 

[Ian]

Aye cheers both.. if I were buying it for myself I would've walked away, especially with the experiences I've had with my own Clio.

However, I know he's pretty set on getting it and he's not a guy that always listens to reason. Hopefully I can tell him everything that has been said here and it'll make him think about it seriously.

The guy selling it told my bro's mate to rev it to the limiter and I quote, "It's fine, I do it all the time mate."

I admit if the heating worked and he hadn't have said that then I would probably have said go for it, bodywork and sunroof issues wouldn't bother me too much.

 

[wilco_clio]

if it is a straight car and you know what your doing it would be a bargain but if not you may aswell spend bit extra and get one thats had all the belts and everything works plus its a lot lot easier that way!

 

[rexe]

tell your brother w17gle *chris* will dry bum him if he buys it

 

[Brett]

tell your brother w17gle *chris* will dry bum him if he buys it

Lol why's that? is chris after it himself or something?