1996 Citroen AX 1.5D (SOLD)

[nomad]

Thought it was about time to put up the new addition to the stable
1500cc of fire-breathing (or not) veggie tinplate inginuity with a definite French feel about it ;D

We haz ...

[nomad]

Bought it from this 'ere budget motoring section a couple of months ago, have just been going around it giving it a general once-over so far as you do.

Some good news, some so-so, and a few "Oh dear" items

Bought it with tax & test but no V5 ("it's in the post" )...
Insured it in my name a few weeks later while I was away from home, rang SHMBO with the good news that the car was now legal to drive ;D
She promptly reversed it out of storage and clipped 2 parked cars behind her
Score is KA with minor bumper & bonnet damage, a Fusion with a scrape on the bumper, and a bumper clip on the AX is bust
6 weeks later, the KA is fixed, the Fusion I'm not sure about, and I have been told the AX will be written off if I make a claim on it
Thank you Peter James for making a crisis out of a drama

Also had a nice letter from our local Police (2 months after buying it) offering somebody points as their driving was so good !
By good luck, the "lost" V5 turned up 2 weeks later in my name, not sure where it's been for the past 2 months but I'm sure there was a good reason for the delay

In other news, was told the car had a quick service before I got it but the promised reciepts never turned up to show what had been done.
For safety have changed the oil (black) & filter (rusty), fuel filter (also rusty), and have just collected 2 new driveshafts to replace the knocking ones
Belts will be changed sometime, they're not new but don't look too bad.
Tyres are very good, exhaust and chassis seem solid, hubcaps are tidy ;D
Connected up the "spare" (ie broken & not connected) linkage on the fuel pump when I was under the bonnet, it seems to be some kind of choke device....
We're still trying to work out what was done in the service before I bought it

Will be leaving the errm... interesting (kick it to close it ) boot catch as it is, it needs new (unbodged) hinges and (unbutchered) tailgate to work properly.
The unusual (sticking & clunky) handbrake and noisy front pads will be checked when I put the driveshafts on next week.
Not much we can do about the badly repaired front-end damage, at least I have got the headlights pointing in the right direction now
Oh the joys of old pov-spec runabouts ;D

Lessons learned?
If somebody tells you something has been done - get receipts or take the info with a pinch of salt
If you notice anything not right, don't be afraid to ask for a discount or walk away if buyer sticks to their price

The good news is put fuel in and it starts, goes, and stops.
No big faults found so far, and all very cheap motoring which was what it was bought for

[nomad]

Lots of good advice if anyone needs to claim for repairs after a crash (repairable salvage, etc)
retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=120124

[nomad]

Can you guess what it is yet ;D
Now fitted - I just need to get some pics

[mt2man]

Tinted rear windows?

[nomad]

Well, spent a day in a mates workshop, main thing was to fit the new driveshafts.
End result is one of the new pair I got fits fine, the other one doesn't and I can't find out why
Maybe a Friday afternoon parts-bin special, or maybe somebody has changed something in the past (maybe fitted a non-standard scrapyard hub one one side only )
Either way, the shaft that should fit is too short, and the only shaft I can find that's the right length has the wrong fittings for the hub.
Ho hum

Also had one of the back brakes apart about 4 times trying to find why the handbrake is better on one side than the other - turns out the teeth on the auto-ajusting linkages are past their best.
Will be stripping it again and replacing or repairing them tomorrow

The final bad news, all tyres have decent tread - Yipee ;D
Front 2 are new and I'm happy ;D
1 back has no tread on the inside (was a front on car with poor tracking before being fitted on this??)
Put the spare on (then noticed it has a tube in a tubeless tyre) - only for it to go 0psi flat overnight
The other back tyre will end up as a spare, it's plenty legal but I've no confidence after the problems with the other 2

Shameless plug
If anyone wants good solid car repair work done at good rates, try my mates place
Just past Benton Hypermarket - Trembles yard, behind the car sales pitch.
www.192.com/atoz/business/newcastle-upon-tyne-ne12/garage/whitley-road-garage/3c6ee8a84e5fb0bef882274e5b90a1ae7cf6d14f/comp/
Whitley Road
Benton
Newcastle Upon Tyne,
NE12 8BP
* Telephone: [phone]

Edit for typo

[Mystery Machine]

Jan 14, 2012 16:33:51 GMT nomad said:

In other news, was told the car had a quick service before I got it but the promised reciepts never turned up to show what had been done.
For safety have changed the oil (black) & filter (rusty), fuel filter (also rusty), and have just collected 2 new driveshafts to replace the knocking ones
Belts will be changed sometime, they're not new but don't look too bad.

Jan 14, 2012 16:33:51 GMT nomad said:

Will be leaving the errm... interesting (kick it to close it ) boot catch as it is, it needs new (unbodged) hinges and (unbutchered) tailgate to work properly.
The unusual (sticking & clunky) handbrake and noisy front pads will be checked when I put the driveshafts on next week.
Not much we can do about the badly repaired front-end damage, at least I have got the headlights pointing in the right direction now

It's a shame, but I've heard a few stories like this, and it comes as no surprise with this car to be honest. The current one the seller has for sale has been the subject of much debate as to the true condition compared to how it is portrayed in the advert. So far I think it's been advertised about four seperate times. The same can be said for at least one other car that was 'dramatically' different to the picture painted in the for sale advert (what was was described as 'just a simple fix needed' turned out to be a completely dead engine!). That car was also listed at least four different times with varying discrepencies within each successive advert.

I'm glad to hear you're gradually gettting on top of it all now - I'd give Ruffgeezer a PM about the driveshaft issues. He certainly knows his way round an AX and has quite a comprehensive stock of parts. He's also a thoroughly decent chap to deal with.

Best of luck with it and I hope it does turn out to be the fuel saving, money saving mile muncher you had hoped for?

[Autofive]

bookmarked

[VND]

Well done for cracking on with it dude.

I bought a Fiesta from good old PS once.
Was a lovely car. No faults.

Mind you, it turned out eventually that he didnt own it. It was the propperty of a lady up the road. Or rather her daughter. Who was on holiday. And no V5. At all.

But it was cheap, and a good car, and even delivered to my door! so you wont hear any complaints from me.

You live and learn.

Bookmarked too.

[qwerty]

Sept 30, 2011 21:52:00 GMT PandaSelecta said:

I have checked everything out on it, and fixed anything thats broken with genuine Citroen parts only (receipts included).

[scaryoldcortina]

Panda, when are you changing your username to Loctite Blue 242?

[chevazon]

Some postings missing ?

[welshpug]

which side is wrong and can you stick pics upo of the wrongness?

had one of these as a first car 8 years ago

[Rob]

sounds like a 1.4 shaft, people think the 1.4 and 1.5 use the same bits but they don't. i managed 96mpg from my 106 with the same engine. and they like veggie oil. just add a wee bit of petrol for cold mornings.

[Tim]

Not all of them annoyingly - I had two which were both non-veggy as they were Lucas pumps

[Brian Damaged]

Jan 20, 2012 13:59:42 GMT Tim said:

Not all of them annoyingly - I had two which were both non-veggy as they were Lucas pumps

That's why he sold it, then...... ;D

[VND]

^ Lol.

[nomad]

Right, I'm back after a few days away from home (fixing driveshafts : hence have been stuck using dial-up for PC access, in real terms it means no PC while I'm away from home All PM's now replied to and we're good to go!
Just spent a while catching up on what's happened since I left - amazing how much things change in a couple of days
Anyways, on with the show

Edit for typo

[nomad]

In the best Tweet sound-bite tradition...
Today my mood is ;D ;D

Pics from Tow Law windfarm ( or MMBU / Here-be-dragons for Terry Patchett fans)

Just back from the workshop (Newcastle'ish), 70 odd miles on a nice clear spring morning, good roads, little traffic, and a car that WORKS !
No more clunky driveshafts, brakes are good, handbrake now works properly on both sides, new tyres on the back fill the arches nicely and it corners like it's on rails ;D
Plenty of niggles left but is daft things like a speaker cutting in and out, not stuff that might make the car unroadworthy.

Jan 15, 2012 19:55:18 GMT mt2man said:

Tinted rear windows?

mt2man wins last weeks quiz, pics above show the end result ;D

[nomad]

Jan 14, 2012 16:33:51 GMT nomad said:

In other news, was told the car had a quick service before I got it but the promised receipts never turned up to show what had been done.

Confession time from me.
There's a bit of confusion here, I thought Chris had done some servicing but it might be he told me the previous owner said he had done some servicing on the car just before it was sold to Chris.
Either way, I thought some jobs had been done but I can see any new bits.
Apologies if I picked up the story wrong when I bought the car

In other news - I washed the car yesterday (folk who know me will appreciate this is a date to mark on the calendar )
Pic below as evidence, scary to compare to todays pics above that look like it's not been washed for 6 months


Removed the tube that kept going flat, cleaned the rim and fitted new valve when I was putting the tyre on.
Not only is the tube punctured, it's not even the right size for the tyres on the car