So, time to update as life has changed both for me and for the little car that propels my ass from A to B, the diesel clio also known as Padre Clio, which is a funny sounding profanity that you won’t understand unless you’re Italian. Ironic way to start after becoming a British citizen two weeks ago [emoji38]
Anyhoo, wassup here ?
We left the action last time with an update that included regular maintenance and a skiing trip to the Italian alps; other than that, business as usual here: not a lot of miles and the odd sip of oil.
Boy have things changed [emoji13]
On the 8th of April I decided there and then to leave my position at Joe Macari’s after 8 years of surviv.. service !!
That decision was bound to bring a lot of change in this life.
What do I do, where do I go.
I pondered on it for a solid three weeks, in the middle of which the Easter bank holiday fell, and so-> off to north wales.
At 32 I am getting on a bit, so although the Clio cruised around some of the best driving roads in the country, the only two pictures I’ve taken that have the car in them are these two, which portray Padre Clio behind a pub in Caernafron, as well as in front of a Volvo dealership that has the impossible name of the village on it, there you go.
In typical Clio fashion the trip went very smoothly. In fact, and this might just about sound a little daft, I’ve finally discovered that this car just sips thru fuel IF you’re not in a hurry.
I used to complain a lot about excessive fuel consumption while out in Europe trying to keep up with traffic at 80+mph.
63 on the cruise control and a very light foot when up in Anglesey returned more than 720miles with still a bar of fuel to go, and 68mpg.
I’m a loser but that felt good !
Specially considering that leaving Joes meant that all that fancy workshop equipment is now NOT at my disposal anymore, therefore the car is still on 11 year old dry AS winter continentals that are bald on the edges but strangely show 5mm tread right in the middle with correct inflating temperatures.. what’s that about !? They anyway do absolutely nothing other that protecting the rims from the asphalt on the road, utterly useless at anything else. God knows when the PS3s will go on.
After returning from the Easter break I made a decision and accepted an offer from a Porsche restoration workshop in Essex. This means my whole life is moving 70miles north, not the end of the world, but there’s a catch:
I cocked up the timing on all this, big time: I left work thinking my flat contract would be up in a couple of weeks and that if I wanted a change this was the time.
Decided to go for it, left job, accepted new offer thinking I’d commute for a few days then move into a new house close to work, which I viewed and agreed to rent.
Then, only then, read the small print on my contract and realised it won’t be up until AUGUST.
Commuting from my place in SW London up to Essex and back every day is just shy of 230miles. Even in an extremely frugal car like the Clio this was going to be dumb.
And dumb it was, and I did it for a month. 5k miles just went, up and down the M25, 4.5 hours each day, not the smartest thing.
Eventually, a temporary solution materialised, which will allow me to wait until my new house is vacated (the actual problem) without having to commute all this way.
What has all this to do with the dCi Clio ?
Well, while extremely expensive and stupid, this past month has seen this soldier absolutely smash through miles while sipping fuel at a rate I never thought possible. After getting 720miles up in Wales with room to improve, I started getting mid to high 700s from 50/52 litres of diesel, until 800s became a reality, all the way to a one time high of 880miles from a 55L fill up. That’s 72 real mpg, an absurd range figure, and a very happy me.
I say happy. Not really, maybe less unhappy?
Commuting all this way a whole month has been stupid, and while it has highlighted just how economical these old cars still are, some faults have started to become more and more evident and some of them just cannot be ignored anymore:
Oil consumption is now a reality. This is something I would only realise in the past after long trips to Europe. 5k miles in a month has required regular topups, the official rate is somewhere around the 3/3.5L for 5k, so not quite 1L per thousand, but still, can’t be ignored.
The car does not smoke black anymore. Like nothing, it’s impossibile to see black smoke. However, the only color I can see out the exhaust pipe is blue.
My theory is that the turbo is going, and that whatever soot is produced it just sticks to the exhaust pipe.. however this doesn’t really make sense at it has to somehow come out at some point.
Anyway, the car now has an indicated 140k which is close to the figure at which the old Red car stopped, indicating I’ve done almost 30k since the reshell, and true mileage is close to 170k and change.
It would make sense for the original turbo to be a little tired.
The aircon is very weak, infact I’m not even sure it’s doing anything. However, there is gas in the system and the compressor kicks in. It’s either worn or there isn’t sufficient charge to actually make the evaporator work.. will have to hook some gauges up as it’s hot now !!
At some point one of the rear wheel bearings started roaring.. wtf, again !? I’ve put new rear bearings in just last year, pretty sure they were Febi or something equivalent. Not the end of the world. Pinched two spare discs with SNR bearings in and put those to work. 19, 17 and 30mm sockets, bosh, 3mins a side and worked rear pistons in and out a few times to keep them happy. Plenty of rear pads still to go.

Got a new Bosch battery for it, yet to be fitted.
And yes, still on those useless winters which probably will go on until they’re totally illegal at which point the Michelins will finally be mounted.
Life will be very different now! I’m used to just use a fully equipped workshop for whatever I needed and often just for fun.
I enjoy stuff like tyre work and doing little useless things like servicing brakes and changing the oil every 5k with free Helix, aligning the car regularly, keep on top of suspension work and having free AC gas.. this is no more now !
The new place is a much slower paced reality, where primarily race cars are built and only two ramps are in operation. Zero tolerance on private work and absolutely no working on own vehicles !
Also no tyre machines, no alignment ramps, and no freebies! Im the new guy now, head down and work.
So, will see how all this pans out. For the last month my OCD has suffered massively with the 5k oil change pushed to over 10k and no place to do it [emoji34]
The car is also absolutely filthy, has not been washed in almost 3 months and 8k miles, not proud at all.
A quick snap of the last time it was cleaned

Fortunately the new house is very nice and has so much space to work it’s ridiculous.
Whenever I move in, then semi-normal service will resume.
Until then, ta daa!
Anyhoo, wassup here ?
We left the action last time with an update that included regular maintenance and a skiing trip to the Italian alps; other than that, business as usual here: not a lot of miles and the odd sip of oil.
Boy have things changed [emoji13]
On the 8th of April I decided there and then to leave my position at Joe Macari’s after 8 years of surviv.. service !!
That decision was bound to bring a lot of change in this life.
What do I do, where do I go.
I pondered on it for a solid three weeks, in the middle of which the Easter bank holiday fell, and so-> off to north wales.
At 32 I am getting on a bit, so although the Clio cruised around some of the best driving roads in the country, the only two pictures I’ve taken that have the car in them are these two, which portray Padre Clio behind a pub in Caernafron, as well as in front of a Volvo dealership that has the impossible name of the village on it, there you go.
In typical Clio fashion the trip went very smoothly. In fact, and this might just about sound a little daft, I’ve finally discovered that this car just sips thru fuel IF you’re not in a hurry.
I used to complain a lot about excessive fuel consumption while out in Europe trying to keep up with traffic at 80+mph.
63 on the cruise control and a very light foot when up in Anglesey returned more than 720miles with still a bar of fuel to go, and 68mpg.
I’m a loser but that felt good !
Specially considering that leaving Joes meant that all that fancy workshop equipment is now NOT at my disposal anymore, therefore the car is still on 11 year old dry AS winter continentals that are bald on the edges but strangely show 5mm tread right in the middle with correct inflating temperatures.. what’s that about !? They anyway do absolutely nothing other that protecting the rims from the asphalt on the road, utterly useless at anything else. God knows when the PS3s will go on.
After returning from the Easter break I made a decision and accepted an offer from a Porsche restoration workshop in Essex. This means my whole life is moving 70miles north, not the end of the world, but there’s a catch:
I cocked up the timing on all this, big time: I left work thinking my flat contract would be up in a couple of weeks and that if I wanted a change this was the time.
Decided to go for it, left job, accepted new offer thinking I’d commute for a few days then move into a new house close to work, which I viewed and agreed to rent.
Then, only then, read the small print on my contract and realised it won’t be up until AUGUST.
Commuting from my place in SW London up to Essex and back every day is just shy of 230miles. Even in an extremely frugal car like the Clio this was going to be dumb.
And dumb it was, and I did it for a month. 5k miles just went, up and down the M25, 4.5 hours each day, not the smartest thing.
Eventually, a temporary solution materialised, which will allow me to wait until my new house is vacated (the actual problem) without having to commute all this way.
What has all this to do with the dCi Clio ?
Well, while extremely expensive and stupid, this past month has seen this soldier absolutely smash through miles while sipping fuel at a rate I never thought possible. After getting 720miles up in Wales with room to improve, I started getting mid to high 700s from 50/52 litres of diesel, until 800s became a reality, all the way to a one time high of 880miles from a 55L fill up. That’s 72 real mpg, an absurd range figure, and a very happy me.
I say happy. Not really, maybe less unhappy?
Commuting all this way a whole month has been stupid, and while it has highlighted just how economical these old cars still are, some faults have started to become more and more evident and some of them just cannot be ignored anymore:
Oil consumption is now a reality. This is something I would only realise in the past after long trips to Europe. 5k miles in a month has required regular topups, the official rate is somewhere around the 3/3.5L for 5k, so not quite 1L per thousand, but still, can’t be ignored.
The car does not smoke black anymore. Like nothing, it’s impossibile to see black smoke. However, the only color I can see out the exhaust pipe is blue.
My theory is that the turbo is going, and that whatever soot is produced it just sticks to the exhaust pipe.. however this doesn’t really make sense at it has to somehow come out at some point.
Anyway, the car now has an indicated 140k which is close to the figure at which the old Red car stopped, indicating I’ve done almost 30k since the reshell, and true mileage is close to 170k and change.
It would make sense for the original turbo to be a little tired.
The aircon is very weak, infact I’m not even sure it’s doing anything. However, there is gas in the system and the compressor kicks in. It’s either worn or there isn’t sufficient charge to actually make the evaporator work.. will have to hook some gauges up as it’s hot now !!
At some point one of the rear wheel bearings started roaring.. wtf, again !? I’ve put new rear bearings in just last year, pretty sure they were Febi or something equivalent. Not the end of the world. Pinched two spare discs with SNR bearings in and put those to work. 19, 17 and 30mm sockets, bosh, 3mins a side and worked rear pistons in and out a few times to keep them happy. Plenty of rear pads still to go.

Got a new Bosch battery for it, yet to be fitted.
And yes, still on those useless winters which probably will go on until they’re totally illegal at which point the Michelins will finally be mounted.
Life will be very different now! I’m used to just use a fully equipped workshop for whatever I needed and often just for fun.
I enjoy stuff like tyre work and doing little useless things like servicing brakes and changing the oil every 5k with free Helix, aligning the car regularly, keep on top of suspension work and having free AC gas.. this is no more now !
The new place is a much slower paced reality, where primarily race cars are built and only two ramps are in operation. Zero tolerance on private work and absolutely no working on own vehicles !
Also no tyre machines, no alignment ramps, and no freebies! Im the new guy now, head down and work.
So, will see how all this pans out. For the last month my OCD has suffered massively with the 5k oil change pushed to over 10k and no place to do it [emoji34]
The car is also absolutely filthy, has not been washed in almost 3 months and 8k miles, not proud at all.
A quick snap of the last time it was cleaned

Fortunately the new house is very nice and has so much space to work it’s ridiculous.
Whenever I move in, then semi-normal service will resume.
Until then, ta daa!
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