New (to me) 180 questions

[splinter]

Thats not 180 questions i hasten to add!!

Been meaning to post for a while but unfortunately after a long fight my mother passed away last week, so things got put on the backburner for a while. Now trying to get back to some kind of normality so a few questions/answers/advise would be gratefully received.

Finally managed to get the cash together to buy myself a 180 :beer2: Its a 2004 mk11 saloon in black. A few niggles but think I got it cheap enough to start with.
1..It'd been standing a little while so rear brake binding a little. More noticeable when reversing. I read these cars seem prone to rear seizure but is this on the brake or handbrake system? Worth changing both rear calipers?

2..The steering seems a tad heavier than my 120. Would 17's with lower profile tyre cause this feeling or is it supposed to be this way?

3..The dreaded manifold rattle....I can hear a faint rattle in this area but unsure if its VIS or something else (plenum? does this rattle? Not really mechanical on these things, carbs etc i'm ok) Tried reading the relevant threads and i'm afraid its beyond me!
(if anyone local to me can supply bacon butty and beer tokens to have a look?)

Other than a bit of wear on the leather and the skirts molding themselves to the clips, i'm well chuffed.

posted in General as questions are general sorry if i've got it wrong

[daytona365]

Hi as usual plenty of people on here can answer the questions. I found my brakes stuck on if left, so when I leave him for some time, I park in reverse and leave brakes off. Mind you it is in a garage.......
The rattle could be the manifold, depends on how loud. MIne rattled for ages when I first bought him, with no drop off of power, just a noise when lifting bonnet...

Not sure about the steering, any one else on here for that one?????????

[petet16]

Sorry to hear about your mother.

The rattle you can hear may well be the purge valve, it's a black cylinder on top of the plenum, just after the throttle body.

The rear calipers are renowned for the handbrake mechanism sticking.

[grimmy]

Sorry to hear about your mother firstly.
As for the car the caliper sliding pins are notorious for sticking as the rubber dust seals fail and rubbish gets in there causing the sticky brakes.worth a look before swapping calipers.power steering not noticed it being much different from when I had my 120 I would have a look at the fluid might need refreshing or just topped up.faint ticking is most probably the purge valve.that ticking noise will come from the canister
Pete was talking about if it's coming from anywhere else then yeah possibly the plenum failing but that's an easy swap if you get a replacement.

[Dan1971]

My condolences about your mum.

[stamford]

Sorry for your loss. I know how hard it is and a car to play with can be a welcome distraction at times.

[andys1981]

sorry to here about your mum mate,as other have said could just be the purge valve,is there anyway you could upload a video,and some pics of course

[peterzs]

Sorry for your loss, always a sad time, but as long as you remember her and talk about her, she will be with you forever.

I didnt use my derv much before I took it into the MOT station, Failed it on sticking O/S calipers. I had some new front disks and pads so put those on and changed the rears. They wernt badly worn, just rusty looking. The garage said the calipers and sliders were all OK, so I had it retested and it was OK.

I'm sure the tester just looked at the rusty disks and assumed the calipers wernt working. I normally give it a 50 odd mile run around to polish the disks up.

Teach me to let the MOT lapse, so I couldnt this time.

With the clips, my front one got bent back, I undid the screw things on the bottom of the skirts, that screw into the floor. I then pulled the top away and you can get at the clips. My one had more than half detached. Got some silicone sealer, cleaned the clips up reattached them and siliconed it all back. Held it in place with some G clamps. lazy method, but the thought of tacking it all off was beyond me.

Glad the car is OK apart from these small niggles.

[hansligg]

I had a slight loss of power this morning. turned car on, put foot down to pull away and first initial 2 seconds it didnt respond.

normal due to sitting overnight or initial stages of an issue?

sorry for your loss also!

[MG ZS STE]

My 110 power steering felt lighter, but the tires were 175 wide so less tire on the road. Also the turning circle was better. SFYL

[petet16]

I had a slight loss of power this morning. turned car on, put foot down to pull away and first initial 2 seconds it didnt respond.

normal due to sitting overnight or initial stages of an issue?

sorry for your loss also!

You might get a better response if you start a separate thread

[splinter]

Thanks for your kind thoughts guys.

Will have a look/listen over the weekend and see what comes to light. If ticking/rattle is from purge, is this normal or knackered?
Thanks
Si

[petet16]

Normal, even brand new ones rattle.

[splinter]

Ok maybe I was wrong and this will be 180 questions!

I'm not exactly sure wham makes this beeping noise but assuming it has something to do with the alarm/immobiliser. Anyway whatever it is, when I start the car it does 2 "cycles" of beeping. When my 120 did this it turned out to be the battery in the fob running low. Found this out when central locking stopped and car wouldn't fire.
Question....is this beeping normal on the 180 and if it's the battery in fob, is it just pop the back and change battery?

Secondly, there is a fair bit of play in throttle cable. Easily adjusted, but does anything need resetting and is there a set amount of free play in the cable?

Thanks


Oh had a look for the rattle and it's definitely coming from the inlet manifold area. Will have to get that looked at sometime :(

[petet16]

The beeping isn't normal, but is more common with the mk2, it's caused by the fob and transponder ring on the ignition barrel not being able to communicate, you can make it beep by concealing the fob in your hand, so the solution is to fit a new battery in the fob, and make sure the fob and transponder ring can communicate.

[splinter]

Cheers pete

[talkingcars]

Secondly, there is a fair bit of play in throttle cable. Easily adjusted, but does anything need resetting and is there a set amount of free play in the cable?


No, the 180 doesn't have a TPS reset.

[splinter]

Thanks matey. Will get tools out later......maybe!!!

[mattyprice4004]

Get rid of as much free play as you can - I set mine so there's a tiny bit (just enough to be able to 'deflect' the cable when pressed without moving anything) of play, but nothing more.
Nice throttle response, and makes sure you're using 100% throttle with your foot down.
May wind it back if I get skint... :D

[big_wasa]

First thing I do when buying one of these is refurb all the brakes. On the two mk2's I had it was worth a couple of mpg.

I did the cables on one.