C16 RKC's Project 2003 CL500 (and other stragglers)

[c16rkc]

It has been ages since my last post, mainly as life got a bit busy a few weeks back. Work has been crazy, and I ended up being over in Holland for a week for work too. Then Aston got ill and ended up in Hospital for just under a week.... before we darted off on Holiday!

Land of the Dragon

We took a holiday in Wales for a week. My sister and her husband were visiting from Australia, so we all went together. I let my mother borrow my Audi A6 (to take my sister/brother in law), while we took Lindsey's new Audi A7.

Saw lots of Welsh castles.








But my poor Audi A6 took some battering...

First some woman shunted it in the back when it was parked up. I think she gave it too much revs when she was driving over the bumps in the field, and ended up ramming it!




I decided not to bother claiming on the insurance, or even hers, again. I just don't want the claims on my record after the price increase I got when a man went into the back of my Jaguar back in 2017. My own indiscretion in 2018 (I wrote off my Jag) comes off my record next year, and I am looking forward to having a clean record.

So I now have even more repairs to do on the rear bumper, I think the car is cursed!

Then... to make matters worse... my old mother scraped the front bumper on the wall, when going around the multi-story car pack in Cardiff.

I was feeling pretty sick of cars when I got home.

Being even more of a big girls blouse (than I normally am)

Yes I was in a pathetic stress after the Audi damage... combined with how much fuel is costing at the moment, and the stress of our project in town (converting an old shop into flats), I think I probably overreacted like a pansy.

So in perhaps an irrational panic, I made the decision that I am done with "nice" cars for a while. I think the Audi drives like a go-cart, and I decided I may as well have a real one. After all the Audi does 44mpg, and I can probably get more from a super-mini.

So in a bit of a rash decision I purchased this:



It's a Citroen C3 1.6e-HDi airdream.

It is supposed to be one of the most economical cars on the road, zero road tax, and it managed an indicated 76mpg when I took it home, despite most of it being heavy traffic, or 70+mph motorways. I would struggle to get 40mpg out of the Audi in those conditions. Time will tell exactly what the fuel consumption will be, or how long I can tolerate this car..!

But at the end of the day, my view is I can easily sell it on if I need to.

So my driveway is now back to "heaving" again... as I now have:

Audi A7
Audi A6
Citroen C3
Daimler Super V8
Mercedes CL500 (in bits)

I am fully aware I have a car problem!

But after endless busy weeks and weekends, this weekend will hopefully see me spend some time on the Daimler and the Mercedes.

 

[c16rkc]

First an update on the Citroen... as I know its what everyone wants!

Buying the Citroen

I saw the Citroen advertised for £1500 as one of those "taken as a trade in" adverts that dealers list. I noticed these typically cost £2,000 to £2500 for fair examples, with perfect examples commanding £3000+, so this did not seem too bad.



Bad bits going in:

• 138,000 miles is relatively high.
• Needed a service (was overdue by 700 miles)
• Cracked rear passenger light, and damage to bumper.
• Dirty interior.
• Horrid wheel trims..

The good bits:

• This is the highly economical "e airdream" version.
• VTR+ spec with cruise control, air conditioning etc.
• Good tyres (of questionable brands)

Me being the impulsive idiot I am, I just went for it. I'm no good at haggling really, and the chap did not really seem to want to budge on the price so I just paid it. I assumed the service would be around £200 - £250, and I was very relieved to discover the air conditioning was ice cold. The car appeared to have been owned by a young doctor (from the receipts), and had been getting regular oil changes with paperwork and stamps to prove.

The journey home

As my wife will happily confirm, I am hopeless with manual gearboxes... I ride the clutch all the time, and when I pull away the engine makes that high revving "engine about to explode" noise that is usually reserved for cars being driven by the elderly. Passengers will usually find themselves jerked about like nodding dogs as I incompetently change gear...

It was therefore very unfortunate that I got stuck in traffic twice on the way home...



First of all there was a huge que to get on to the M25, and then another to get from the M25 to the M11. I was frantically changing from 1st to 2nd like a mad man. Each time we stopped I changed out of gear and lifted the clutch, to allow the car to do it's ECO "stop start" thing.

When the traffic was moving, I maximised the speed I could do... and tried to stick to 70mph as much as I could. I was therefore shocked when I got home and noticed it had averaged over 76mpg on the trip computer (yes I was surprised a shopping trolley like this has a trip computer too). It only appeared to have used one bar of fuel on the guage (1/12th), and that is impossible (it would mean less than 12p per mile), so I can only assume the guage will suddenly jump as more fuel is used.

I use Fuelly to do tank to tank mpg calcs, and will look forward to finding out what it does when I start using it in anger.

...but... it is not all blue skies!

On the not so serious side, there is a knock from the suspension on the passenger side. Odd but I never spotted that on the test drive. The ventilation fan seemed to be pathetic in positions 1 to 4, but deafening in position 5. This meant whenever the car got hot I had to carry out a "blast" to cool it down, before turning it back down while the car would warm up again. This was rather annoying.

Normal radio is absolutely awful.... I had forgotten how bad radio reception is on a non-digital system. So annoying having to re-tune to a better/clearer station every 20 or 30 minutes.



But there was a more serious thing too.... About 20 miles from home I took a slow right turn, the type where I ride the clutch around in 2nd gear...... and it conked out!

I know a competent driver would have dropped the clutch and restarted the engine... but remember I have been driving tanks with automatic gear boxes for over 20 years, so I did not instinctively know what to do, and instead coasted the car on to the verge like a clumsy baboon. I chuckled when a group of lads in a Clio roared past laughing and pointing; I can remember doing things like that as a young toad.

I turned the key and the little Citroen fired into life, but my celebrating was short lived because the car messaged "ENGINE FAULT" and the check engine light came on.

I prayed this was nothing serious, and I nursed the car home carefully. The engine seemed to run OK, but the car conked out twice more, always in the same scenario (i.e. in 2nd gear with me riding the clutch like a pensioner as I turn a sharp corner).

I explained it to my wife when I got home; we both suspected the conking out might be due to my pathetic driving skills...

Lindsey took the car out for a run herself, and reported no matter what she did she could not get the car to stall. So we decided it really probably was my driving that was doing it!

I plugged in my Diagnostic tool (Carista) and read the engine codes. The car was complaining a low fuel pressure, and I was concerned I'd be needing a new fuel pump. But only a trip to the garage would reveal the true extend of things.

Citroen Service

So there is me thinking Citroen ownership will always be cheap... the first service certainly caught me out.

The car was overdue it's service by 700 miles, which is part of the reason I got it cheap. But with the check engine light on I did not want to waste any time, so I booked it in and was pleased they could look at it the very next day. I had decided to use M&W autos in Wisbech, as they have a cast iron reputation, and specialise in Citroen and Peugeot cars.

At 8:30am the following morning, I got a call from the garage the an update.

• Fuel filter was old and blocked. This had caused some "low fuel pressure" messages on the diagnostics (which made sense to my code reading).
• The DPF was full... I panicked for a moment before being told this will be a £50 charge to clean.
• The top front suspension bush was worn, but not serious.
• The cabin filters were heavily soiled, and had blown the fan resistors.... this is why settings 1-4 on the fan were not working.

I advised them to carry on and do whatever was needed. He said he'd leave the bush as it was not desperate, and he said the resistor was a plug in module and I might want to do that myself to save some dosh.

I collected the car Tuesday night, and my only shock was the £438 bill!...

I trust the garage, having used them in the past, and I am sure it was all needed, and it itemised the materials and labour to explain. But phew... I was not expecting that on this baby go cart Citroen!

Let's hope it saves me a lot of money in fuel!

 

[MCFastybloke]

Box of frogs is foremost in my mind.

 

[c16rkc]

Oh yes... and poor Lindsey has to live with it!

 

[MCFastybloke]

Inspired by your picture of stone chip repair with nothing more then touch up and 3000 grit i had a go. Managed to make a trip to the body shop out of it by messing up the clearcoat.

 

[c16rkc]

Inspired by your picture of stone chip repair with nothing more then touch up and 3000 grit i had a go. Managed to make a trip to the body shop out of it by messing up the clearcoat.

Oh dear.... will your next post be "inspired by your purchase of a tiny Citroen I had a go. Now I own a Smart car".

Wet sanding is not for the faint hearted!

I've never gone through the clearcoat myself mind, did you use lots of water with the wet and dry?

 

[MCFastybloke]

Yes plenty of water, started real gentle, soak,sand,buff examiner,repeat. Had it 95% of the way to invisible but felt just one more would be perfect.

 

[c16rkc]

That's a shame. Was that on Rubarb?

Hope it was not on the bonnet - that will cost a bit to respray....

I cleaned the Daimler at the weekend, amoung other works, that could do with a bonnet respray but I don't look forward to the cost!

 

[MCFastybloke]

Yes Rhubarb, i was working in the engine bay and scratched the wing by the headlight with my belt buckle, this is the mark after i fixed it



Size of a 50p.

Rich the old cynic was chuckling about your bad luck with the Audi, consensus was you should have been with us instead All in good part of course.

 

[c16rkc]

Oh dear...

I can see the issue then; a stone chip can be filled/sanded, but generally any scratch that you can feel with your nail can't. So if you ever have a deep scratch you are better to either leave it alone, or it will need paint.

I'll bear in mind Rich's amusement with my future lack of luck.

 

[c16rkc]

A couple of minor updates...

Those Barry boy racer wheel trims are lovely

In my humble opinion, the black wheel trims on my Citroen look hideous...



I'm not really one for black wheels anyway, but these look so bad, I really cannot understand how anyone could have thought they were an improvement to whatever was removed.

So I removed them... and they are going in the bin! I would rather look at the rusty steels!







Then one day I also decided to tackle the non-working heating/cooling fans. This requires the replacement of a resistor module. I looked up the correct one for my car, ordered it from Amazon, and the next day i was ready to fit it.



But the problem is... when I opened up the car, the part looked totally different!







So I had to return the Amazon one, and re-order a different (and it turns out rare) version from Ebay.

Still a few days later I was basking in nice cool air from the fans. Lovely.

That Dirty Daimler

The Daimler had been moved into the garage some time ago, but I'd never had the chance to give it a good wash since. One weekend I took the chance of an overcast morning and wheeled it out for a clean.



It was filthy!



It got the full works, snow foam, washed twice! and then polished up with some detailing spray.



I'll be doing a video on this one when I get the chance, because it was mostly video that I took on the day.

Was it worth it?...

Ever since I purchased the Citroen, I had been wondering if it had all been worth it. Was I going to save anything in fuel?

The early indications from my trip home showed an economy of 75mpg on the trip computer, but I have learnt to be incredibly distrustful of those things. I really was struggling to believe that economy was possible.

Honest John show a real figure of 65mpg on their website, and the car is only supposed to do 75mpg mixed with it's official figures, so I struggled to think that was genuine.

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/citroen/c3-2010/16-e-hdi-airdream-110

Then I reset the trip computer Monday morning, I drove it to work, and this happened...



Over the course of my journey, the trip computer went all the way up to 94mpg!!... it even reached 97mpg at one point...

Even stranger, the tank (which I think holds 50 litres) was showing a range of 944 miles, and I had already travelled 224 miles, so that made the range of a full tank a dizzy 1,168 miles!! I struggle to get 750 miles out of the Audi A6 and it's 70 litre tank.





Surely none of this was genuine...

The moment of truth came on Friday the 15th July. I had covered a heady 513 miles in the Citroen, and I was not waiting any longer to see how good the economy was. My indicated MPG was 94mpg, but I had previously reset it showing about 65MPG after driving it home and letting Lindsey have a thrash about the village in it. So I had no idea what it might be. I filled up, and entered my 2nd tank of fuel, and the Citroen's mileage into Fuelly, then I clicked save to see what it had done.

75.67MPG.

I was astonished.

But it got even better, because the second week I reset the trip computer at the pump, and the week's indicated MPG on the trip computer was again 94.1MPG. But this time when I entered all the figures into Fuelly...

83.37MPG!!

So the trip computer is a lying toad, and exaggerates by over 10MPG, but it is still rather good!

- Yes I do have to drive around in a car in a girly colour, that resembles a bean...

- Yes I do scare small animals and children with my lack of clutch control...

But the result, is my fuel bill will come down from £400 a week to £220 a week. Along with the reduction in insurance and road tax, that works out as a saving of £204 per month over the Audi, plus I don't care if it gets scratched, and the car only owes me £1,500 (plus the £500 service it just had).

This is how things stand after the two tanks of fuel:

https://www.fuelly.com/car/citroen/c3/2011/c16rkc/1155386

So I have my answer; yes it has been worth it. I'll be keeping this at least until the fuel prices come back down; if they ever do!

 

[c16rkc]

Storage for all my crap

The big garage has gone from a giant empty space, to being full of the three cars and loads of our "stuff" from both the shed, house, cars, and garden. I needed to sort out the storage cupboards properly, so I could clear up and put some stuff away.

Last weekend I finally got to spend a day on it.

I ordered four sheets of 18mm thick marine ply board, and some timber. I had noticed that the 38mmx38mm timbers I had put in at high level to support the wall cabinets had twisted, and the cabinets had started to sag. I therefore had to take them all off and replace the timbers with some 100mm x 50mm pieces that could be secured better. These helped immensly.



Aston helped out as usual, by looking after the cabinets I removed from the wall.



I set up my 10 year old Hi-Fi that had been lurking in the loft. This will come in handy for some "garage" music (Pun intended).



Then I setup some buckets to rest the large 1200mm x 2400mm sheets of plywood on, which I sawed them into pieces for the cupboards.



I then fitted kickboards, and center supports to hold the doors. I am going for an "industrial" look for the garage; which co-incidentally is much cheaper than all those posh kitchen cupboard doors you can buy.

OK, you got me, the cheapness is actually why I'm doing it like this... but I like it.





So that's it and up to date as of last weekend. I ran out of time, and had to down tools, but I also had no hinges or handles for the doors. More for me to do next week!

 

[MCFastybloke]

Great update, the tax and insurance savings only happen if you sell something

 

[c16rkc]

The Daimler finally gets some love and attention

Nothing particularly exciting, but I finally got a few minutes to spend on the Daimler last weekend. I replaced the top front shock mounts, which are prone to going without much indication, and I am hoping are the source of my subtle "knocking" over bumpy roads.

It was so much easier than I expected, and I had both sides done in not much more than 30 minutes.

Before drivers side (no visible damage):



Before passenger side (damage visible, and this is the side that knocks):



I purchased two replacements online from a USA company, because these CATS models seem very rare, and I could find no stockists in the UK, or at least not at sensible prices.



Steps to replace.... Jack the car up so that the wheel is just touching the floor:



Remove top "tall" nut:



Remove the 5 hex bolts that hold the assembly in place:



The lift it away, the position of the strut poking through can be adjusted with the jack.



Fit the new assembly, making sure the strut top is poking through (again adjust with jack if necessary):



Tighten the tall nut back on. A pair of mole grips can hold the strut in place under the wheel arch:



Then I also purchased a used strut top cover a few months back, and popped it into place. This will keep the CATS (Computer Active Technology Suspension) cable safe.



All done!

I so want to drive my Mercedes...

With that done, I turned to my poor sickly looking Mercedes CL500. It has been on axel stands since May, and I have not done anything to it for over 3 months.

On the last occasion, I managed (with the help of Lindsey's brother Adrian; my brother in law) to replace the rear return accumulator, and refurbish the rear ABC block. But the front block was ceased to the front hose assembly, as well as one of the valves, so I had ordered both a replacement hose, and a replacement block.

Sadly, because I am an idiot... things did not pan out well...

First of all, the hose went in perfectly.... phew. So that's £71.66 spent well.

But when it came to the block, I quickly realised I had made a mistake. I foolishly assumed the W216 blocks were backwards compatible, and I purchased one at a steal for £108.10. I now realise the reason it was cheap is because these hardly ever fail, and are not suitable for fitment to the W215... Doh!

So I have ordered another ABC block, this time a W220/W215 version. This time I hope it goes without a hitch... shame it cost me £205!!



The only other things I managed to do were to replace the front main accumulator, and while I fed in the new front ABC pipe (that was a pain!), Adrian spend a couple of wasted hours trying to get at the rear main accumulator before realising he had to remove the exhaust. I removed the exhaust myself, but by that time we ran out of time; but it still did not seem to want to budge!

So anyway, not much progress on my W215 ABC issues... and the new list looks like this:

Replace rusty front ABC valve block (The W216 block I bought £108.10 is no good. Replacement A2203201258 ordered £205 Ebay).

• Replace main front hose (A2159971382 used parts on order which cost £71.66 hose)
• Refurbish the rear ABC valve block (DONE WITH KIT FROM X8R)
• Replace front main accumulator (Part A2203270115)
• Replace rear main accumulator (Part A2203270115 I purchased a pair brand new for £257.32).
• Replace the third (smaller) return accumulator (Part A2203270415 bought for £154.17 and fitted).
• Replace the pulsation dampner (Part A2203270215 I purchased one brand new for £114).
• Tope up the fluid after the above, to test (I purchased 1ltr of Pentosin CHF 11S for £15)
• Inspect/clean OR replace the ride height sensors (Part 0105427717 at between £20-50 each - not purchased yet)
• Change the ABC fluid and filter (may get a Mercedes specialist to do this...)

I'll spend a bit more time on it this coming weekend. Hoping to get the rear main accumulator changed, and the pulsation dampner too.

I am still hopeful this car will run in 2022!

 

[c16rkc]

Serious Daimler time

The Daimler went for it's MOT on Thursday.



It was not really a surprise something was going to fail, but I was not expecting excessive corrosion requiring welding.

This was the score:



The advisory on tyres was no surprise, as I did the rears a couple of years ago and knew the fronts needed doing next. Brake pipes is just off of those things. But the welding it needs did catch me off guard.

Turns out it's pretty serious, as when the paint and loose rust was broken away this is the state of things! (Same both sides)



...and this is it from inside the arch:



It needs this section cut out, and fresh metal shaped and welded in. Luckily I found a good panel beater and body shop who know each other and work together!

I decided if I am getting this done, may as well get the couple of other bits it needs at the same time. So will also get this spot of rust on drivers side arch done:



Then I am also going to have a respray to the front bumper, and bonnet, as well as the seat belt anchor points from the MOT advisory sorted. She should be near perfect after that... finally!

She went into the bodyshop on Friday and they say it will be 2 weeks... we'll see....

 

[BigEyd]

Great work

 

[c16rkc]

Finally... some progress!

Another update today, as I have had a relatively productive couple of weeks.

First of all, on Saturday the 18th Aston woke me early to play racetrack... this led on to a full car themed day!



The Daimler was dropped off at the bodyshop, and we were left with a nice empty garage space in the middle. The eagle eyed will also notice my lower cupboards at the back now have doors. I did this a few months back, but I still need to sort out the high level cupboards.

Also notice the orange buckets... Aston has been using them as steps so he can tinker with all my stuff!



But what I forgot to mention before, was that I also took the Audi to the bodyshop to have it repaired too... this now looks wonderful!

They have done an amazing job, and the car looks near perfect now. It runs out of MOT in November, so my plan is to put another 12 months on it and then move it on (sell it!). Sadly I have become quite fond of Jellybean now (the Citroen), and the Audi is therefore surplus to requirements.



I did some more work to the Mercedes CL for the rest of the day (as a few posts above), So then on the Sunday 19th September, we went over some friends to let the two pests run around and burn off some energy.



These are people possibly even more mad than me, as there are cars everywhere... but I confess the son runs a garage from home, so I guess he has a better excuse than me.



So fast forward to Saturday 24th September, and more work on the Mercedes CL happens!

First of all, we manage to get the old Pulsation dampner off, and replace it with a crispy brand new one!





Then I received my replacement ABC block for the front, and was able to install the refurbishment kit to it, and then fit it.









All fitted with accumulator!



We also managed to remove the rear main accumulator too, and replace with new.

Due to access this was a real pain, and I had to bend over the mounting legs to rotate it and get it out, as the hose fittings has seized completely. I had to spend ages freeing them up before the new one could go in.





Then I decided all the undertrays needed a jolly good clean with Meguiars super degreaser and a hose!





Lastly for the Mercedes... I used tar removed, Autosol, Mequiars ultimate compound, and Meguiars chrome cleaner, to shine up the tail pipe trim from the exhaust we had to remove to get to the rear main accumulator.



So my updated list for the Mercedes CL ABC works:

- Replace rusty front ABC valve block (Replacement A2203201258 ordered £205 Ebay - Fitted and DONE).
- Replace main front hose (A2159971382 used parts on order which cost £71.66 hose - Fitted and DONE)
- Refurbish the rear ABC valve block (DONE WITH KIT FROM X8R)
- Replace front main accumulator (Part A2203270115)
- Replace rear main accumulator (Part A2203270115 I purchased a pair brand new for £257.32 Fitted and DONE!).
- Replace the third (smaller) return accumulator (Part A2203270415 bought for £154.17 and fitted).
- Replace the pulsation dampner (Part A2203270215 I purchased one brand new for £114 - Fitted and DONE).
- Top up the fluid after the above, to test (I purchased 1ltr of Pentosin CHF 11S for £15)
- Inspect/clean OR replace the ride height sensors (Part 0105427717 at between £20-50 each - not purchased yet)
- Change the ABC fluid and filter (may get a Mercedes specialist to do this...)

My next step will be to either top up the Pentosin (and get a garage to flush it), or completely flush out and replace it with new filters myself. I am not sure which I will do yet.

I am going to leave the ride sensors for the minute as they look OK, and see what happens when it is back on the road.

You may also have noticed the Mercedes is missing it's front bumper, grille, and lights. The grill/lights are having a thorough clean, and then the front bumper, bonnet, and front wings are all having a respray to get rid of the chips and lacquer peel. I'll get this done by the bodyshop when I have the car back on the road.

 

[c16rkc]

Some images may offend!

I know, I know, this is hardly the place to post pictures of villainous Audis... but on Sunday we gave the Audi the clean of it's life and I was so impressed I just had to post some pictures....

The bumpers off respray looks incredible, and they have also blended in the paint at the back all the way up to the pillars to it matches in nicely. I am really impressed with the work the bodyshop have done.

I put some brand new Goodyears on the front Friday afternoon, so it just needs a fresh MOT now and it is going up for sale!!!

 

[SmartAmg]

Very nice! Chris.

 

[c16rkc]

Little things...

After cleaning up the Audi on Sunday, I did not have much time to spend on the Mercedes.

I re-fitted the drivers side exhaust section (which had to be removed to get to the Rear main accumulator), and it looked fantastic with a cleaned up exhaust tip.

So I decided to do the passenger one too!





They were cleaned with Autoglym tar remover, polished with Autosol, polished again with Meguiars ultimate compound, then a final finish with Meguiars metal polish to shine them up.

It's a real testament to the quality of this Mercedes. The whole exhaust is no doubt original, but is in near perfect condition. The exhaust tips are polished stainless steel, and they polish up beautifully, with little effort.

In preparation I have now ordered 10 litres of CHF 11S, and the necessary hosing to do the fluid change. It looks quite straightforward from the videos I have seen.

But I also decided to lay down some fresh cardboard under the Mercedes last weekend, to get a fresh perspective on the leaks. To my surprise there are no longer leaks from 2 places, but now just one. So that makes things easier. The leak appears to be under the gearbox, and I will let a garage take care of that. So now that I have cleaned the undertrays, hopefully the front ones under the engine will now stay clean!

I am going to clean up all the underside of the engine, gearbox, and anything else covered in oil. I can then see what re-appears.