Technical Purchase dilemmas

[scoobyfm]

Hi All,

You may have seen my hello thread in the newbies section.

I'm currently looking at a second hand 2003 Multipla and went out to the private sellers house yesterday to look at it. It's a fair vehicle with normal wear and tear , very good underbody no signs of rust but there are two or three things that I have issues with.

The first is one that the seller pointed out, the airbag warning light on the display stays on which is not good, am I right in saying that is an MOT failure now? Anyway he says a mechanic friend told him that it is a sensor in the roof lining above the door just where the grab handle would sit but that the whole head lining would have to come out to repair or replace it?

The second issue is that it seemed juddery on the clutch when maneuvering uphill slowly next to some parked cars when I was driving it. The concern here is dual mass flywheels and clutches.

The third issue is a squeal coming from what appears to be the auxiliary belt area, it disappears when the engine is under load but appears back again on overrun, not sure at all on this.

To sum up it's a 2003 Multipla 115 JTD ELX, done 76K ish miles, with the above issues, he had advertised it doe £1200 but came down to under £1000 when pushed.

Any advice / help / horror stories etc????

Any of the above would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

Martin

P.S. Also should this model have the Fiat RED KEY for re-programming keys? We did ask and he didn't seem to think he had one or had ever had one.

 

[boilermansab]

Very good price in my opinion for a 2003 car

Unless the clutch is slipping or pedal really stiff, i wouldnt worry about the judder...otherwise u are looking at £500 job for clutch and flywheel

If the cambelt hasnt been done either...u will have to budget another £300 getting someone else to do the job...or half that roughly if u are good with spanners...water pump and aux belts and tensioners...

Mine has a red code card...i think...

1k ks cheap as chips!

Where is the car located

 

[scoobyfm]

The car is in Cumbria which is where I am.

He tells me the dealer told him this sensor is in the roof above the door, would this be right??? I can't find anything on the web relating to a sensor above the door.

After speaking to friends and looking on here I am edging towards buying the vehicle.

Watch this space I guess ;-)

 

[nuddmann]

The car is in Cumbria which is where I am.

He tells me the dealer told him this sensor is in the roof above the door, would this be right??? I can't find anything on the web relating to a sensor above the door.

After speaking to friends and looking on here I am edging towards buying the vehicle.

Watch this space I guess ;-)

My airbag warning light came on a few years ago when I put something under the drivers seat. If you look there are some connector blocks/plugs and wiring under the seat, I pushed these all together and it went out. This was on the advice of my garage. If you look around the forum then this has cropped up a few times.

You can get a decent timing belt kit for around 95 quid, water pump for about 20. I just replaced these and the auxilliary belt, crankshaft pulley and tensioners for around 230 quid and it cost me about 200 labour at the local garage. Mine's got 138k on it and to be honest these are service items. You probably won't need a new crankshaft pulley, I didn't bother with mine at the first cam belt change. Crankshaft pulley was 75 so you could deduct this from the costs.

My clutch was a bit like that even from new, if it doesn't smell or make any bizarre noises then I'd relax! My wife's got a 10 plate and it does the same sometimes.

Hope that helps.

 

[scoobyfm]

Well it's looking like it's on so I'll update you in the next couple of days, thanks to those who replied

Probably going to be around a bit ;-)

 

[Devious]

Echoing the above really.
The JTD is a relatively bomb proof lump. Good maintenance and a little tlc and theyre good workhorses.
I personally love my multi and think theyre great.
Ta

 

[Spudh]

Hi All,

I'm currently looking at a second hand 2003 Multipla and went out to the private sellers house yesterday to look at it.

To sum up it's a 2003 Multipla 115 JTD ELX, done 76K ish miles, with the above issues, he had advertised it doe £1200 but came down to under £1000 when pushed.


Martin

I just paid £2,600 for 2004 115 JTD ELX with 71,000 miles on it so you seem to be getting a great deal if you're getting it for under £1,000

 

[momoe]

Rust isn't normally an issue on Multipla's, body and chassis.
Search the forum for hints on what to look out for when buying a Multi, but basically clutch should feel normal and not at the extreme of pedal travel. (If it's at the extreme, this can mean master/slave cylinder problems or clutch/release bearing on the way out).
Gear selection should be easy, it's cable so it's not as slick as a Merc or a BM but it should be positive.
Make sure dash warning lights go on and off (ABS, oil pressure, etc) naughty people have been known to remove bulbs.
Timing belt is a must if you haven't got any history, as Devious said, JTD's are bombproof but they can't take a cambelt failure.
Check all seatbelts for extension/retraction.
Check front discs for excessive wear, not too expensive to replace but it's a bargaining point.
Check for clunks/knocks on the test drive, front will be either droplinks (these connect the ARB to the McPherson strut, ARB bushes or McPherson strut bushes at the top. Rear will probably be sub-frame bushes.
Front suspension A-frames bushes wear and cause tyre wear on the inside edge.
Rear trailing arms have a crap roller bearing which rusts and allows arms to depart the vertical, check these by looking at the car from behind, if there's a noticeable tilt on the wheels, then these need doing.

Having said that, all these bits are relatively cheap. It's the labour that's expensive so if you're handy with the spanners it helps!

£1K for a 2003 with 71k is cheap, if the mileage is genuine I'd bite their hand off!

 

[scoobyfm]

Well big thanks guys, picked the car up last night. Fiat Multipla 115 ELX JTD, 53 plate, 76,000 miles in Silver, with fridge instead of middle front seat ?!?!
Ended up paying less than £1K for it. Seller also gave me a full size spare alloy wheel with fresh rubber on it which he used in the boot for long journeys as he didn't like the spare wheel.
On previous test drive I thought the clutch was "iffy" but the test drive was short and that was compared to my V plate Citroen Xantia so I think it's just different so we'll wait and see.
Cambelt was done at about 50K.
A couple of things left that concern me, but not too much because of the price I paid:-
1. Main red airbag light not going out, that said I've not tried the cables under the seat trick, my current Citroen Xantia suffers the same problem and pushing or moving the cables about underneath the seat seems to sort it so I'll try that.
2. There is a squeal coming somewhere in the vicinity of the auxiliary belt, it seems to disappear when the engine is under load or acceleration, and then returns on overrun. It also seems to fade as the engine warms up on a run but was just noticeable when I got the car home last night.

Anyway more good news is my Dad is very handy with a spanner to the point of repairing his own Marea JTD130 a couple of years ago after the fuel pump cried enough he's also more then capable of changing a timing belt when it needs it and he's going to have a look at the squeal today.

Looks like I'm going to be around here a bit so looking forward to getting to know you all and last but not least big thanks to the folks who have already posted on this thread.

Cheers

 

[boilermansab]

Sounds like a bargain!
Fridge is a very rare option...
Do you have the seat aswell?

 

[Snoo]

Ended up paying less than £1K for it. Seller also gave me a full size spare alloy wheel with fresh rubber on it

Blimey! Did he offer you a go on his wife as well? SOunds like you got a bargain.
You expect some niggles with a 2nd hand car. Those things don't sound too drastic. The airbag light may be a pain too find, but probably the worst of it.

 

[dave]

if cambelt was done 50k ago id do it again now

 

[boilermansab]

I'd say it depends on how long ago the 50k miles was...
And whether the water pump and tensioners were changed then aswell..

 

[momoe]

I like the idea of a fridge but having the fridge as an alternative to a front seat isn't good.

Much better to have the fridge replace the rear middle seat, 5 minute swap as opposed to a couple of hours.

Boilermansab
Spot on about the length of time, 50k in the first 4 years is entirely feasible.

Scoobyfm, do you know when the cambelt was changed?

 

[MrMultipla]

My airbag light was on for nearly two years. Had to fix it for MOT. Turned out to be a poor connection under the passenger dashboard airbag cover. Prise up the cover with a screwdriver (it's just a cover, not directly connected to any airbag/explosive) and the connectors are near the front. I didn't have to disconnect anything, just a wiggle about fixed it.

 

[momoe]

I didn't get an airbag fault until the front N/S door was left open for 5 minutes in a downpour, tried re-seating the infamous orange connector, but the fault became intermittent.
Since soldering the the wires, the fault has gone.

Push seat fully back, look under the front of seat, against the outer rail and you should see an orange connector.