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Marea Marea Weekend Saint Moritz JTD 110

Introduction

After having been watching this car for over 4 months, i finally called the garage and made a deal, then the very next day my previous Marea threw a tantrum during a climb up a local hill at full pelt. she's not worth repairing and is now parked in the garden waiting to be stripped for useful parts.
The new car is lovely, very tidy and has leather seats, but as with any car over 10 years old, she has quite a few things to do, but i have no money for this to be a project car, in terms of upgrades, she will remain vanilla as far as possible for the foreseeable future.

im amazed as to how much more open the JTD 110 engine bay is compared to the TD100, i have ABS and a whole load more other gubbins in there, but i have LOADS more room around the back of the engine, they did a great job of tidying it all up between 1999 and 2002. getting rid of the front air intake above the radiator was a good idea too
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currently at 107,000km (66,000 miles) dash shows 87,000km due to a dashboard change at 19,000km
things on my to-do list:

  • change front tyres, they're at the limit and have been run under inflated for quite a while, they're heavily scrubbed on the sides indicating **** poor parking skills by the previous owner. i would like to install some bigger tyres so i can to get some extra fuel economy, and to remove the discrepancy in the speedo, if i'm doing 90kmh, i want to see 90, not 86. ium thinking 195/60/15, maybe 65, maybe some R16 alloys, but i'll have to do some more research on this, suggestions welcome.
  • move across (or put in storage) all the new parts recently purchased for the old marea, steering tie rod ends, suspension drop links, wishbone bushes (i'll just move the whole wishbone over), rear flexible brake lines, and i'll take off the new starter motor i fitted and and keep it on a shelf.
  • see if i can repair the broken metal *spring* parts poking out the back of the drivers seat just above the lumbar support.
  • see if the non audible *clunk* when dipping and releasing the accelerator is related to the engine mounts, or some other suspension parts.
  • sun visor clip snapped off.
  • radio doesn't work, fuses checked and are ok, 12v at fuse contacts.
  • pull out the dent in the right hand wing, and repair the damaged paintwork which has pulled off the galvanised coat and is already starting to rust a little.
  • front passenger door stay kingpin missing
  • outside temperature sensor intermittent, sometimes showing erroneous temperatures, sometimes telling me "ERROR CLI" there is a rip in the rubber boot which shields the wiring between the door and the body.
  • figure out why i cant connect to the ECU
  • i'd quite like to try putting a coupe anti roll bar on there after reading Steve20VT's thread, i like the medium soft ride on the marea, but i always felt the cornering sway needed stiffening up a little, especially with a diesel lump up front.
there are lots more things to discover, and i have no doubt the to do list will grow and evolve, but i shall endeavour to keep this thread as up to date as possible, with lots more photo's to come in the near future.
ABS light came on a few days ago, when i started up it would stay off foir a mile or so, and then throw a tantrum and the light would come back on again, now it's on permanently, and so i connected MES and had a look, showed me front left sensor error. Took the wheel off and i find this;
The CV boot has rubbed clean through the sensor cable, damn it.
while i was at it, and had a spare afternoon to myself, i went about changing the rear wheel bearing that had been doing my nut in for the last year, it's getting louder all the time and was mostly bearable at 60, but i took the car on the motorway for the first time in ages, and at 80 the noise was deafening.
sounds perfect now, i'm a happy lad. Grease looked a bit crusty. Also one job always leads to another with cars this age, rear drum pads need changing, i've only a couple of mm until i hit metal.
i didn't take any more photo's as my hands were filthy and i didn't want to touch my phone.
 

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ABS light came on a few days ago, when i started up it would stay off foir a mile or so, and then throw a tantrum and the light would come back on again, now it's on permanently, and so i connected MES and had a look, showed me front left sensor error. Took the wheel off and i find this;
The CV boot has rubbed clean through the sensor cable, damn it.
while i was at it, and had a spare afternoon to myself, i went about changing the rear wheel bearing that had been doing my nut in for the last year, it's getting louder all the time and was mostly bearable at 60, but i took the car on the motorway for the first time in ages, and at 80 the noise was deafening.
sounds perfect now, i'm a happy lad. Grease looked a bit crusty. Also one job always leads to another with cars this age, rear drum pads need changing, i've only a couple of mm until i hit metal.
i didn't take any more photo's as my hands were filthy and i didn't want to touch my phone.


All good now..

Must admit the drums want removing on mine..but wont come off easily..so it'll wait (hopefully)until better/warmer weather
 
aye, I set to it as soon as the new pads came, and got both sides done in an evening, but the handbrake was WAAAAAY off, even after giving myself cramp with hammering the lever up and down. So, i went back to it the next day, took the hubs off, ground off the huge lip with a grinder and adjusted the brakes before i put them back on, this time it only took little while for the self adjusters to take up the slack.
so, new brake drums on the list of future purchases. Frustrating that there is no access trap on the back of the drum plate to stick a screwdriver in and turn the self adjuster manually.

Also on the to do list is to change the pistons for the rear brakes, time was short on both times i had them off and i had no time for messing with hydraulics, also i have 4 new brake hoses waiting to be put on, I'll get round to it all one day.

Also got a few intake hose clips to tighten after the turbo up to the intake manifold, there seems to be a fair amount of oil leakage, ergo air leakage, which might also explain the flat spot then slight kick at 3000rpms, and the smoke above that.

changed back to my summer tyres this weekend, made a huge difference to the sloppy handling, car still wallows around corners, but is vastly improved compared to the 14" 185 winter tyres i was running with.
 
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been waiting for the french MOT (Control Technique) and it went through a few weeks ago, a fail on a blown headlight, due to a fuse which blew the same day, sods law eh, and a bad suspension arm ball joint.
I ordered a few hundred euros of parts, and they arrived yesterday, i set about getting the garage in order this afternoon as it looks like rain this weekend, the heat wave is going to break and get noisy and wet!
On the menu is a new drive sharft, 2 new triangle suspension arms and 2 (nearly) new steering arm links. should be easy enough, what could go wrong?
First up, a common problem, the 36mm socket is too fat, so off to the grinder for a diet. After that, all went well, i'm back to doing things i know how to do, take off the suspension parts and drink beer. :slayer:

more to follow tomorrow.
 

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Gentlement, welcome back to the shop....erm garage.

All done, mostly easy, 90% of trouble was rusty, dirty bolts, most had slightly damaged threads too, they ended up spin-a-ma-thingin old worn out ball joints, the other 10% was the right hand suspension arm having the bolts 1mm out of place, forcing me to modify the subframe ever so slightly so as to not put the bolt in sideways, crossing the threads.
i've even had a do at getting the tracking right, just by lowering the wheels onto an old oven tray what for slipperying the rubber, then eyeballing down the front to back wheels, I'll take it out tomorrow and see how it feels.

oooh shiny!
 

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Phase one of the new wheel project complete:
Bravo rims and Michelin energy saver + tyres.

phase two, matching rear rims and tyres. (hopefully before the summer holidays, paycheck permitting)
phase three, new winter tyres on the weekend alloys.
 

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Many thanks to Franglais for his regular updates,both interesting & informative I have enjoyed reading the posts.Having some empathy with many a similar predicament.I'm a newbie to the Marea having just acquired a 99 Weekend JTD 2.4TD.

I suspect a clutch change on the 5 pot is just as challenging.No doubt invoking many an expletive!
 
Car has been feeling sloppy around corners for about a year, changing tyres didn't help much, front end turn in is slow and only bites once the car has rolled outwards from the corner, and the suspension has taken all the slack. The rear end feels like i have a distracted toddler following me around if i wobble left to right on a straight road. Country lane unevenness sent heavy judders through the car, where when i pass in the brand new company Kangoo, it glides over them effortlessly, so i convinced myself that the shocks were dead.
spoiler alert, they weren't :(
So the car feels better, there has definitely been some improvement, but i still have all of the problems discribed at the start, and i'm running out of ideas as to what could be the cause. It feels like the tyre side walls are made out of jelly on corners, and made out of concrete over bumpy surfaces, but i'm running brand new Michelin energy saver+ on all 4 corners.
With regards to the sloppyness, when jacked up the back axle feels stiff laterally, but im a 10 stone bonobo, i need an 18 stone gorilla to try and make it move.
the reason i suspect the rear end, is that i had the tracking done a while back, and it was fine for a short drive, but slipped off to the right, and so it now drives straight, but with the steering wheel off to the right.
i bought monroe shocks front and back, and taking off the old ones, i was already suspicious as to the worn out status i had assigned the old struts, but hey, i had new ones waiting, so i wasn't about to put them back on.
things learnt:

loosen the front strut top nut slightly before taking the suspension mount off. If they're on tight, you will need the extra purchase given by the weight of the car pushing down on the spring, this might be negated by having a set of pipe spanners, (i don't, yet) although even if you do, the allen key might round the hole with the force required.

don't take the mounting cap off, unless it is completely free if spring tension, even a tiny bit of pressure makes it super difficult to get the nut onto the new strut, i had to enlist the help of a ratchet strap, super sketchy if done wrong.

Fear the spring compressors, they will kill you if you let them, dont be a chump and use a pneumatic gun on them like some youtubers i have seen.

rear shocks, dead easy, jack up rear until both wheels are off the ground, put onto axle stands and undo bolts, top bolt is accessed through the chassis using a socket extention. Take off old shocks, for putting on new ones, do top bolt first, and jack up the wheel until bottom bolt aligns and you can slide it through easily.

While i had the tools out, i went for the 160,000km oil and filter change, and stuck in a couple of new fog lights, old ones had chipped and broken glass.

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looking MIST-erious (y)

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Half the trouble with sloppy suspension is, that it is so hard to quantify any differences once changes have been made, it's all about "feel".
I decided to have another look underneath the front end this weekend, and gave the subframe bolts a re-torque, i figured that seeing as i dropped the subframe a year ago for the clutch change, they might be due another looking at, and it "feels" a bit better.
Quite worrying though, I have lost the big 18mm head bolt, that is only accessible through the wishbone hole :eek: part number 18787124, I am ashamed that I didn't tighten it enough in the first place, and that it took me so long to spot the error, especially seeing as i have done work on the front end of car since then.
It might explain a little, trip to the breakers yard imminent, as nothing is coming up as available online.
 
I've heard of a broken/missing bolt in that location causing vague handling on Tipo platform cars before, we're talking about the big one at the front of the subframe, yes?

I have a spare, but might be a bit far (Correze), think it should still be available from Fiat.
 
I presume that you had a good look at all the rubbers around the various suspension components... ARB droplinks etc ? The car is getting old now so many will be tired or perished, and since the design and materials are non-german they should be realistically treated as "consumables".

Also check the rear subframe as their mounting bushes inevitably deteriorate / disintegrate... you can find them on Ebay from Firstline / Borg & Beck, listed variouskly for Brava / Marea / Multipla / Tipo. It's a biggish job but has been described on some threads in the Brava / Bravo / Marea forums.

I don't know if the springs themselves can deteriorate on a heavyish estate car.. you seem to have a combination of harshness and sloppiness! When I had a budget suspension refresh on my Brava 1.2 I had cheapish Suplex springs fitted with Gabriel shocks and teh car now feels great (still needs the rear subframe doing).

Also the rear trailing arm bearings can go and there are rebuild kits available. (I think Puntos are worse for this though).
 
I presume that you had a good look at all the rubbers around the various suspension components... ARB droplinks etc ? The car is getting old now so many will be tired or perished, and since the design and materials are non-german they should be realistically treated as "consumables".

yes, i have some new drop links for the ARB on the way, order validated, awaiting expedition. They have been on knocking for a short while, and are getting worse. On the country roads round here, i seem to be changing suspension drop links, wishbone triangles and steering ball joints, every two years! definitely consumables.
Engine mounts are a little cracked, but no where near failed IMHO. i have been wrong before though....

Also check the rear subframe as their mounting bushes inevitably deteriorate / disintegrate... you can find them on Ebay from Firstline / Borg & Beck, listed variouskly for Brava / Marea / Multipla / Tipo. It's a biggish job but has been described on some threads in the Brava / Bravo / Marea forums.
i would love to get a whole rear axle from a HGT, disk brakes included, and also the front disk and caliper upgrade while im at it, and that would certainly make the removal of the axle worthwhile, but that's another story. The rear bushes seem to be in reasonable condition, visually at least, but you know, visual access is tricky.

I don't know if the springs themselves can deteriorate on a heavyish estate car.. you seem to have a combination of harshness and sloppiness! When I had a budget suspension refresh on my Brava 1.2 I had cheapish Suplex springs fitted with Gabriel shocks and teh car now feels great (still needs the rear subframe doing).
Springs DO deteriorate, and mine are in a condition that can be expected for a 15 year old car, I have umm'ed and ah'ed as to whether i should change them, but a cheap new set would be 150Euros for the monroes, and 200 for the KYBs. That is putting me off a little, but mosly from the reading i have done, only the ride height is affected with worn out springs, the ride is all down to the shocks, and other components

Also the rear trailing arm bearings can go and there are rebuild kits available. (I think Puntos are worse for this though).
yes, this has crossed my mind, but i'm reluctant to dive in, without having aforementioned HGT rear (i have an automatic search set up on LeBonCoin (French fleabay/craigspisst)

Thanks for the suggestions,
 
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