Bargain basement fun & games
Discussion
About the middle of last week (coincidentally, the same day that my bus failed to show again), i decided that it was the time to see what delights could be found in the sub £500 bracket in the local car market.
I forgot just how much of an eyeopener the whole experience is. You have Ebay which at this price point is very definitely MOT till next week territory, ditto for Autotrader which seems to be mainly dealers offloading cars even the auctions won't take. Shpock (which people keep telling me about) has very slim pickings, this just leaves Gumtree and Facebook.
Facebook is the 'Mos Eisley' of the second hand car world. Half the adverts are written in various Eastern European dialects or text speak, those that aren't still share the same theme which is mostly "MOT ran out last week, will fly through next one". This begs the question, why not MOT it yourself? A quick look at the MOT history reveals the truth, i.e. they did and the car failed with a failure sheet longer than the till receipt from my weekly shop. The more i looked, the more i wondered just who buys anything off there?
Lastly, we have good old Gumtree. This seems to be the last bastion for ordinary people trying to sell their old, unwanted car and has proven useful in the past.
Locally, although a number of cars are listed i can never seem to get to the 'good' ones quick enough. Desperation had me eyeing up the potential of a City Rover, until this weeks Shed of the Week Panda 100hp distracted me (was again beaten to it) and by the time the City Rover was back on my Radar, it had sold too.
Now for the point of this thread
Friday afternoon i come across another advert. Listed for £225, ladies and gentlemen, i give you Nissan's mostly unloved and definitely forgotten;
The Almera, here's the photo from the ad
Good eh!
Check out those features;
Roof spoiler
Side skirts
Reverse parking aid (aka Towbar)
It also had the benefit of a MOT till next February and a MOT history that suggested that people had been spending money on it at some point. The seller was upfront about some issues with the rear brakes, so i threw caution to the wind and went to have a look.
Few hours later and a deal was struck under the asking price, so i got the daughters fiance to drop me back so i could drive it home.
Wow, he really wasn't wrong about the brakes. It was only 7 miles from his house to mine, but those were some of the scariest behind the wheel that i can recall. The brakes did indeed warrant attention, basically there weren't any - lots of metal on metal (like a lathe) noises but not much else. The car was going nowhere else till i got those looked at.
Rear brakes, the pads were non existent on the nearside
The corresponding disc having suffered somewhat (for context, the 'good' disc off the other side is worn below the minimum)
Although it was only the rears that were supposed to need attention, i had my doubts that the front brakes were any better. At first glance, the brakes appeared okay. A closer look revealed that they were just as bad
The pads had literally welded themselves to the carrier, I had to beat them out with a hammer to remove them. A trip to eurocarparts and a few quid later, things are looking shinier
Any other faults?
The front nearside tyre is bald and appears to have a puncture (a trip to the local used tyre place will see to that)
The starter motor is sticking (so can either remove and clean, or a used one is £15 delivered off ebay)
A few bits of paint are missing, but there's no rust. But it was £200, so who cares
Minging inside, but nothing that a vac, some flash wipes and carpet cleaner won't see to
Other than that everything else seems to work. Remote locking works, no warning lights on dash, even the air conditioning blows cold!
I even treated it to a wash
It actually seems quite well built. Very little oil (obvious lack of maintenance) so topped that up, will change when i can be arsed. Next thing on the list is to spruce up the inside, we'll see how well that old can of Wilcos spray foam i found in the garage works. Hopefully it works on blood!
I forgot just how much of an eyeopener the whole experience is. You have Ebay which at this price point is very definitely MOT till next week territory, ditto for Autotrader which seems to be mainly dealers offloading cars even the auctions won't take. Shpock (which people keep telling me about) has very slim pickings, this just leaves Gumtree and Facebook.
Facebook is the 'Mos Eisley' of the second hand car world. Half the adverts are written in various Eastern European dialects or text speak, those that aren't still share the same theme which is mostly "MOT ran out last week, will fly through next one". This begs the question, why not MOT it yourself? A quick look at the MOT history reveals the truth, i.e. they did and the car failed with a failure sheet longer than the till receipt from my weekly shop. The more i looked, the more i wondered just who buys anything off there?
Lastly, we have good old Gumtree. This seems to be the last bastion for ordinary people trying to sell their old, unwanted car and has proven useful in the past.
Locally, although a number of cars are listed i can never seem to get to the 'good' ones quick enough. Desperation had me eyeing up the potential of a City Rover, until this weeks Shed of the Week Panda 100hp distracted me (was again beaten to it) and by the time the City Rover was back on my Radar, it had sold too.
Now for the point of this thread
Friday afternoon i come across another advert. Listed for £225, ladies and gentlemen, i give you Nissan's mostly unloved and definitely forgotten;
The Almera, here's the photo from the ad
Good eh!
Check out those features;
Roof spoiler
Side skirts
Reverse parking aid (aka Towbar)
It also had the benefit of a MOT till next February and a MOT history that suggested that people had been spending money on it at some point. The seller was upfront about some issues with the rear brakes, so i threw caution to the wind and went to have a look.
Few hours later and a deal was struck under the asking price, so i got the daughters fiance to drop me back so i could drive it home.
Wow, he really wasn't wrong about the brakes. It was only 7 miles from his house to mine, but those were some of the scariest behind the wheel that i can recall. The brakes did indeed warrant attention, basically there weren't any - lots of metal on metal (like a lathe) noises but not much else. The car was going nowhere else till i got those looked at.
Rear brakes, the pads were non existent on the nearside
The corresponding disc having suffered somewhat (for context, the 'good' disc off the other side is worn below the minimum)
Although it was only the rears that were supposed to need attention, i had my doubts that the front brakes were any better. At first glance, the brakes appeared okay. A closer look revealed that they were just as bad
The pads had literally welded themselves to the carrier, I had to beat them out with a hammer to remove them. A trip to eurocarparts and a few quid later, things are looking shinier
Any other faults?
The front nearside tyre is bald and appears to have a puncture (a trip to the local used tyre place will see to that)
The starter motor is sticking (so can either remove and clean, or a used one is £15 delivered off ebay)
A few bits of paint are missing, but there's no rust. But it was £200, so who cares
Minging inside, but nothing that a vac, some flash wipes and carpet cleaner won't see to
Other than that everything else seems to work. Remote locking works, no warning lights on dash, even the air conditioning blows cold!
I even treated it to a wash
It actually seems quite well built. Very little oil (obvious lack of maintenance) so topped that up, will change when i can be arsed. Next thing on the list is to spruce up the inside, we'll see how well that old can of Wilcos spray foam i found in the garage works. Hopefully it works on blood!
What in God's name persuaded you to even consider buying a CityRover ?
I consider myself an ardent Rover fan but even I draw the line at a Tata Indica with an undisclosed Peugeot lump in it. Unless it was £100 with a year's MoT I'm oot.
Almera for £200 - much more like it. This should run and run. I think they have timing chains do they not, which means no cambelt roulette
I consider myself an ardent Rover fan but even I draw the line at a Tata Indica with an undisclosed Peugeot lump in it. Unless it was £100 with a year's MoT I'm oot.
Almera for £200 - much more like it. This should run and run. I think they have timing chains do they not, which means no cambelt roulette
Well done on your purchase, what miles is it on? Being a Nissan it should run and run.
Laughing at your ref to FB market place, it really is the home of the EOLV and the hard of thinking. I'd put places to pick up cars in the following order:
FB
Gumtree
Ebay
Autotrader
Forums
PH
Fb does have it's uses though I'll be writing about my recent parts only £350 RX-8 soon on my thread, the f
kwittery, lies and deceipt are just an expected part of it.
I had to laugh recently at ads for brake calipers, a clutch kit and wheels, none of which had anymore description than that!
Laughing at your ref to FB market place, it really is the home of the EOLV and the hard of thinking. I'd put places to pick up cars in the following order:
FB
Gumtree
Ebay
Autotrader
Forums
PH
Fb does have it's uses though I'll be writing about my recent parts only £350 RX-8 soon on my thread, the f
kwittery, lies and deceipt are just an expected part of it.I had to laugh recently at ads for brake calipers, a clutch kit and wheels, none of which had anymore description than that!
Few more quid invested so far
One set of replacement wiper blades - Bosch ones for £10 delivered thanks to Eurocarparts discount codes
2 replacement front tyres - The ones fitted to the car are well past their best (one illegal, the other with about 4 screws in it). Was able to buy complete wheels with tyres from a Nissan breakers for £40 delivered, both shod with 2 year old Continentals which have 6mm of tread on them.
Only other issue is with rear brakes. The pads are taking their time to bed in and generating a lot of heat. This was partly down to the fronts not really doing anything, so £7 was spent on a litre of brake fluid to bleed the brakes. That has made a massive difference to its stopping ability, the fluid that came out was a mixture of dirt, water and air.
The backs are still getting warmer than i'd like but it looks like part of the pads are still making contact with the discs (cheap pads). Hopefully as they wear down a bit things will sort themselves out, every time i use it they're getting cooler.
One set of replacement wiper blades - Bosch ones for £10 delivered thanks to Eurocarparts discount codes
2 replacement front tyres - The ones fitted to the car are well past their best (one illegal, the other with about 4 screws in it). Was able to buy complete wheels with tyres from a Nissan breakers for £40 delivered, both shod with 2 year old Continentals which have 6mm of tread on them.
Only other issue is with rear brakes. The pads are taking their time to bed in and generating a lot of heat. This was partly down to the fronts not really doing anything, so £7 was spent on a litre of brake fluid to bleed the brakes. That has made a massive difference to its stopping ability, the fluid that came out was a mixture of dirt, water and air.
The backs are still getting warmer than i'd like but it looks like part of the pads are still making contact with the discs (cheap pads). Hopefully as they wear down a bit things will sort themselves out, every time i use it they're getting cooler.
mike13 said:
clayts450 said:
70k is barely run-in for a Nissan engine - it'll likely outlive us all.
Dunno whether these suffer similar rot to the Micra K11s (front crossmember, sills if there's a sunroof), but maybe worth checking the structure.
They do suffer the rot!Dunno whether these suffer similar rot to the Micra K11s (front crossmember, sills if there's a sunroof), but maybe worth checking the structure.
Its surprisingly rust free, but who knows what horrors lurk under that body kit - i'll be leaving that well alone!
Engine seems sweet, treated it to £10 work of Sparkplugs today which were well overdue. Oddly the air filter is brand new, probably to cure a bit of hesitation it had that was cured with the new plugs.
Engine seems sweet, treated it to £10 work of Sparkplugs today which were well overdue. Oddly the air filter is brand new, probably to cure a bit of hesitation it had that was cured with the new plugs.
Did you check the Handbrake Pivot Arms on the Rear Calipers?
Had a similar aged Primera (some Parts shared with the Almera) and they were prone to sticking and making the Disks/Wheels hot.
ATE or Lucas I think.
And do check the Rad Support Panel.
https://www.almeraownersclub.com/threads/front-cro...
I replaced one on the Mrs Micra K11 some Years ago.
The last version of the Primera suffer from it as well.
Had a similar aged Primera (some Parts shared with the Almera) and they were prone to sticking and making the Disks/Wheels hot.
ATE or Lucas I think.
And do check the Rad Support Panel.
https://www.almeraownersclub.com/threads/front-cro...
I replaced one on the Mrs Micra K11 some Years ago.
The last version of the Primera suffer from it as well.
imck said:
Did you check the Handbrake Pivot Arms on the Rear Calipers?
Had a similar aged Primera (some Parts shared with the Almera) and they were prone to sticking and making the Disks/Wheels hot.
ATE or Lucas I think.
And do check the Rad Support Panel.
https://www.almeraownersclub.com/threads/front-cro...
I replaced one on the Mrs Micra K11 some Years ago.
The last version of the Primera suffer from it as well.
Thanks for the suggestion, both arms move freely and the calipers extend and retract on the handbrake as you'd expect.Had a similar aged Primera (some Parts shared with the Almera) and they were prone to sticking and making the Disks/Wheels hot.
ATE or Lucas I think.
And do check the Rad Support Panel.
https://www.almeraownersclub.com/threads/front-cro...
I replaced one on the Mrs Micra K11 some Years ago.
The last version of the Primera suffer from it as well.
It's cheap pads i reckon, when you look at them the bottom side of the pad is clear of the disk. It's just the top where contact is being made.
I'd bet money that genuine ones wouldn't be like that. One way or another, they'll eventually wear level !
Keep an eye on the oil consumption.
My brother had a 1.8 petrol engines one and it started drinking oil at 80k. Worn rings if I remember correctly. Loads of threads online about it.
He was using litres of oil per month.
Strangely it didn't smoke much but hey ho.
He was only the second the owner too. The first being his wife's dad who bought it new and drove it sensibly.
My brother had a 1.8 petrol engines one and it started drinking oil at 80k. Worn rings if I remember correctly. Loads of threads online about it.
He was using litres of oil per month.
Strangely it didn't smoke much but hey ho.
He was only the second the owner too. The first being his wife's dad who bought it new and drove it sensibly.
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