Who wants my car? Anyone? Its cheap.

First bit of news, it needs a bit of attention. Like, it doesnt start.

Second bit of news, its in Leamington Spa, unlike me.

Story:

On the way up the M40 on Saturday it stopped, lost power totally. Opened the bonnet, drive belt looked like it had ripped/sheared a bit (normal wear etc, its oldish), but it was by no means the cause of the power failure. No raise in engine temp beforehand. I turned it off, it didnt cut out.

RAC say that theres no engine compression, got towed to nearest garage. Starter motor turns over, but nothing else.

Garage say that theres no engine compression, and: (I quote, as this makes no sense to me):

"The cam belt may have jumped a tooth or two, and some teeth and/or rockers are missing. You can see this through the oil filler cap with a torch. To fix it we need to remove the head gasket, fit a new one, fix the teeth/rockers and probably fit a new set of 16 valves. Its a pretty big strip down"

Cost so far is £23 for the investigation. To get it back on the road they want £1200. I reckon thats more than its worth, and I dont want it back.

So, is this of use to you, or anyone you know?

2000 (X)
Renault Megane Sport Alize
16v
1.4l
5 door
80000 miles (approx)
Alloy wheels, sports seats/dash
2 x new front tyres one week ago @ £130 (typical, isnt it?)
1 x new rear shock 1 week ago @ £75
Taxed until January 09
MOT'd until October 08

I've been offered £200 scrap for it, so thats my easiest option at the moment, and I'll be taking that offer pretty quickly because the garage are about to start billing me £25 a day to keep it under their roof.

So - any mechanics fancy a punt with a new engine? I asked the garage and they wanted about £750 in labour to fit it, and I had to find myself an engine. Something I aint skilled in.


PM me if you're interested and can take it ASAP, I'll be scrapping it in Leamington Thursday (17th July) in the afternoon.

If you want it it needs towing/lifting away.

Here it is in its full glory when I bought it with 8000 miles from Reg Vardy in Darlington 5 years ago:

[Viney]

If i had a way of getting it home, id snap your hand off.

Originally Posted by Viney

If i had a way of getting it home, id snap your hand off.

Depending on where "home" is I might (no promises) be able to help.

My neighbour used to work for a local 24hr recovery service, I think he still has contacts, pretty sure anyway.

Depending on where its going to will change the tow-price, but again, it depends on your budget.

As above, let me know if you're still interested, with a delivery postcode. I'll try to get a quote.

[Viney]

Mate, its too far. Over 150 miles to my door. So this time round i will pass.

Not that bigger job though. About ?300 in parts maximum and about 3-4 hours to strip and build. Id probably get a secondhand head which would be even cheaper.

The reason its in Leamington and not Guildford is because we only had RAC Roadside rather than Recovery. That meant we could only get a tow for about 10 miles, rather than the 100 home.

Lesson learned.

Grr

[timwilky]

Originally Posted by Viney

Mate, its too far. Over 150 miles to my door. So this time round i will pass.

Not that bigger job though. About ?300 in parts maximum and about 3-4 hours to strip and build. Id probably get a secondhand head which would be even cheaper.

Careful there I have experienced the valve piston interface, rebuilt it to then get a piston crown collapse 10 miles after the head rebuild. probably safer to just drop in a second hand engine complete

Being honest as I am, I'll tell you this:

I'd go with what Tim says above (if you're reading this and fancy taking the car off my hands)

I've had a few troubles over 5 years with the coils in the engine failing over time, and have (I believe) replaced the full set of 4, twice. Its a common problem with some* Renault Meganes. Mainly this one.

So, a new engine needs to be found (IMO) and you need the tools and hoist and grubby fingers etc to put it in.

C'mon Org.......who's up for a challenge? I'll even meet you in Leamington to hand it over with the V5 and receipts for the last 5 years.

(And its got my sunglasses in and 2 litres of ASDA Extra Special Juicy Lemonade - I'll let you keep that if you want)

Right, well as I'm fairly free this afternoon, I'll update you all in my journey to new 4 wheeled happiness.

Firstly, here's what a bike looks like with the contents of a car strapped to it, including the bluetooth hands free car kit, radio head unit, 10 disc CD autochanger, glovebox, 5 screwdrivers, 3 thermos flasks, seat covers, a picnic blanket, one dog bowl, 2 leaders, a ground stake, one towel, 3 UK road atlases and god knows what else:




Sadly, I had to leave the lemonade, but I did have half of it while I was unscrewing and dismantling, as a little treat for my hard work.

And here goes the car to its new home, "the yard of many smaller pieces" thanks to Kev the pickup man:





Bye car.

(I never liked you anyway you useless unreliable piece of let-me-down ****)

So that's that. A jolly jaunt up the M40 and back, and then a nippy session through the jams on the M25 made me much happier than I was when I set off, when I made it back in record time.


So, I has a new old car instead. Let's see how that goes.


Anyone want to buy a Haynes manual a Megane/Scenic 1999-2002?

[Skip]

Does seem a shame to scrap it - totally understand why you did though...

The 16v Renault engines from that era are no where near as reliable as the 8v ones they replaced (according to a mechanic friend of mine - we have an 8v Clio one year older than yours)

[MiniMac]

Nice bike