is it dead?

[lil kel]

hi all, i will start with the problems then the tried solutions then the further problems and hopefully i can find out if my wifes beloved pug has died or not.

her car is a 51 plate 1.6 206cc and it has mileage just over 170k. upon purchase (about a week ago, for her birthday ) it had the following problems. speedo didnt work, it had a high running temp, windows not working, roof not working, heaters not working,one tyre profile 10mm higher tan others on nsf and no stereo.

i checked coolant and found cap was leaking boiling water, turned car off, tightened cap and allowed to cool. topped up with water and the temperature remained at a constant 80 ish for next few days. seems fixed.

checked the fuses. found some missing and some with foil wrapped around. changed them and windows worked, heating worked and roof now beeped when the switch was engaged. i unhooked the roof, tried the switch it beeped but nothing happened. i moved the little white clips on the roof stow hinge and pulled across the boot liner/cover thing and it tried again. it worked.

next for the radio. the wires had been cut leaving a white and a blue and a green and yellow still in the clip and the speaker wiring still on a different clip. i tried connecting the wires to the stereo and got nothing. couldnt find out how to get power to it. the wife likes her roof/windows down and music louder than most so it was vital she had a stereo before her birthday came over. i decided on running a new set of wires from the battery would be a good idea and set about it. taking the battery terminals of the acr in the process. straight off, no pre check things, im now reading i should of done. the stereo worked but i became worried she would leave it on and kill the battery so i handed the car over and said the music would work for now but need proper attention asap. she was overjoyed as this was her dream car from the second she had a provisional license. she jumped in and went to drop the roof.... nothing but beeps.

ive checked everything the forum and manual says except manually dropping it as i didnt want to risk getting it stuck down and having kids to pick up and 1 car between us the time i have to play with is restrictive by necassity.

i had a friend wire the stereo yesterday . he wired blue car wire to my red stereo wire, grey/white ish car wire to my yellow stereo wire and they green and yellow car wire to my black and it all worked ok but wasnt holding memory. i wasnt too bothered about that so left as it was.

the wife took her car out last night for a 30 mile, mainly motorway drive with light and heating on. no apparent problems. then as she pulled up her lights seemed to dim. her oil temp looked like it was right to the top. water temp was high too. i told her turn everything off, let it cool, then lifted the bonnet. no obvious leaks of any kind although i did notice that the fan hadnt been on before she turned the car off.

checked the levels this morning everything was fine. start the car, it started fine. the wife went out to the supermarket. 2 mile round trip. on her return journey the car started "pulling back, losing power, then died" i thought maybe the alternator had packed in and battery was dead so went to borrow a mates car and jump leads with the intention of getting enough charge into it to finish the 500 metre or so journey home. it wouldnt start.

i towed it home and came here and found info about removing/reinstalling battery correctly so i went out and did as i was informed. no better. considered i was saving bad settings by letting it shut down properly before removing the battery so just whipped it off again as i 1st did and used proper procedure to put it back on but still it wont start. it hasnt lost any fuids nor over heated on this journey. the water was actually only just warm.

it is currently sat outside and the wife is in tears. the car was very cheap and i did have full intention of getting a recon/salvage lower mileage engine fitted as this is literally the car of her dreams and i wanted it to last.

any help would be grately appreciated, thanks for reading.

[gazza82]

First question ... where are you located?

[shep1001]

Oh dear seems like you have purchased a car that has seen a lot of action and its high milage has slowly killed it! Can't offer advice about the engine problem, but no memory on the stereo sounds like the switched (off the ignition) and permanent (off the battery) 12 volt supplies are either the wrong way round or you have somehow managed to pick up 2 switched feeds when it was re-wired in. It needs a permanent 12v supply to the stereo to hold its memory

Andrew

[Capncol]

I'm sorry, but it sounds like you have bought a whole world of hurt with that car. For anyone else looking to buy a 206cc, I have written a buyers guide to help avoid problems like this. It's a bit late for you so I will try and do the best I can

hi all, i will start with the problems then the tried solutions then the further problems and hopefully i can find out if my wifes beloved pug has died or not.

her car is a 51 plate 1.6 206cc and it has mileage just over 170k. upon purchase (about a week ago, for her birthday ) it had the following problems. speedo didnt work
Check the connector at the rear of the gearbox above the o/s driveshahft. It sometimes gets corroded
it had a high running temp, windows not working, roof not working, heaters not working,one tyre profile 10mm higher tan others on nsf and no stereo.

i checked coolant and found cap was leaking boiling water, turned car off, tightened cap and allowed to cool. topped up with water and the temperature remained at a constant 80 ish for next few days. seems fixed.
What colour was coolant? At that mileage, it's overdue it's second cambelt (if not already done)If the coolant is murky, maybe the cambelt & waterpump hasn't been changed

checked the fuses. found some missing and some with foil wrapped around. changed them and windows worked, heating worked and roof now beeped when the switch was engaged. i unhooked the roof, tried the switch it beeped but nothing happened. i moved the little white clips on the roof stow hinge and pulled across the boot liner/cover thing and it tried again. it worked.

next for the radio. the wires had been cut leaving a white and a blue and a green and yellow still in the clip and the speaker wiring still on a different clip. i tried connecting the wires to the stereo and got nothing. couldnt find out how to get power to it. the wife likes her roof/windows down and music louder than most so it was vital she had a stereo before her birthday came over. i decided on running a new set of wires from the battery would be a good idea and set about it. taking the battery terminals of the acr in the process. straight off, no pre check things, im now reading i should of done. the stereo worked but i became worried she would leave it on and kill the battery so i handed the car over and said the music would work for now but need proper attention asap. she was overjoyed as this was her dream car from the second she had a provisional license. she jumped in and went to drop the roof.... nothing but beeps.

ive checked everything the forum and manual says except manually dropping it as i didnt want to risk getting it stuck down and having kids to pick up and 1 car between us the time i have to play with is restrictive by necassity.

i had a friend wire the stereo yesterday . he wired blue car wire to my red stereo wire, grey/white ish car wire to my yellow stereo wire and they green and yellow car wire to my black and it all worked ok but wasnt holding memory. i wasnt too bothered about that so left as it was.

the wife took her car out last night for a 30 mile, mainly motorway drive with light and heating on. no apparent problems. then as she pulled up her lights seemed to dim. her oil temp looked like it was right to the top. water temp was high too. i told her turn everything off, let it cool, then lifted the bonnet. no obvious leaks of any kind although i did notice that the fan hadnt been on before she turned the car off. Do you know how to check alternator with a meter? How old is the battery, and is it the correct taller one for the 'CC?

checked the levels this morning everything was fine. start the car, it started fine. the wife went out to the supermarket. 2 mile round trip. on her return journey the car started "pulling back, losing power, then died" i thought maybe the alternator had packed in and battery was dead so went to borrow a mates car and jump leads with the intention of getting enough charge into it to finish the 500 metre or so journey home. it wouldnt start.
See above battery questions

i towed it home and came here and found info about removing/reinstalling battery correctly so i went out and did as i was informed. no better. considered i was saving bad settings by letting it shut down properly before removing the battery so just whipped it off again as i 1st did and used proper procedure to put it back on but still it wont start. it hasnt lost any fuids nor over heated on this journey. the water was actually only just warm.
Is it cranking over or completely dead?

it is currently sat outside and the wife is in tears. the car was very cheap and i did have full intention of getting a recon/salvage lower mileage engine fitted as this is literally the car of her dreams and i wanted it to last.

any help would be grately appreciated, thanks for reading.

[lil kel]

hi all.thanks for the replies. im located in middlesbrough. will have a go at switching the wires over if and when i ever manage to get it running again. ive got a mate bringing his diagnostics machine round tommorow and ill update with the findings.

the battery im not sure of, wouldnt surprise me if it was wrong. a new one wouldnt hurt i suppose.

the coolant was a little brown but mainly clear and far from the worst ive seen and it didnt appear to have any oily residue floating on top.

the car is actually trying to start..... normal sounds but not actually firing up

i do not know how to check the alternator either.

as for the speedo. when im back at the car tomorrow ill give it a look over. it is simply a case of swapping the connector with a new one?

once again, many thanks.

[Capncol]

hi all.thanks for the replies. im located in middlesbrough. will have a go at switching the wires over if and when i ever manage to get it running again. ive got a mate bringing his diagnostics machine round tommorow and ill update with the findings.

the battery im not sure of, wouldnt surprise me if it was wrong. a new one wouldnt hurt i suppose.
If you change it, make sure it is the 195mm tall one for a 'cc as other models are shorter and will give problems

the coolant was a little brown but mainly clear and far from the worst ive seen and it didnt appear to have any oily residue floating on top.

the car is actually trying to start..... normal sounds but not actually firing up

i do not know how to check the alternator either.
If you have access to a meter, put it across the battery set to volts DC, and with engine running you should see about 14.4V. If it's below about 12.5V it's not charging

as for the speedo. when im back at the car tomorrow ill give it a look over. it is simply a case of swapping the connector with a new one?No just clean up the plug and socket terminations
If you get a diagnostic machine on it, carefully note the codes and post them here.
once again, many thanks.

[lil kel]

hello. good news at last. after trying the diagnostics and it not connecting, a mobile mechanic came and had a look. he diagnosed the problem in seconds. a fuse under the bonnet had been bodged up with wire and had come loose. swapped that and checked and replaced any other bodged ones in that fuse box and now everythin works as it should .

the roof still beeped, after looking over the contacts for the sensors for about the 5th time i noticed the boot lock lever thing wasnt straight. i bent it back with a screwdriver just a bit and tried again. it worked proper once again.

i did encounter a few new problems while driving it tho.

1st was the car cut out and stunk of fuel.
a big puddle of petrol under the car. not leaking while car wasnt switched on and seemily over flowing from the top of the tank below the back seats. had it towed to a garage and they said the fuel pipe had sheared off from under the seats due to movement and he replaced that charging me £40 including whatever i owed him for diagnosing my fuse fault which seemed reasonable.

now it appears to be over heating while stationary and ticking over. the fan isnt working. i had a look and there are 2 loose wires coiled up tucked away running from the fan but not connected to anything. i made contact with the battery and the fan started whizzing round. the keys were not in the car. so its clear the fan its self works but is there anywhere near i can connect it to so that it doesnt constantly stay on and just works when the ignition is on?