Hi guys, I'm going to look at an N reg Citroen ZX 1.4 tomorrow morning and am wondering if I could get any tips on what to look out for? An idiots guide if possible since I'm not the most mechanically minded. I just know the basics as in having a good look round for rust and I read that I should also look for rust under the radiator with the ZX. This car has done 100,000 miles.
Any other things. Suspension? Brakes? Things I could look out for when I test drive it that crop up in the Citroen ZX??
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Check the WHOLE radiator...mine had the world's biggest crack...
Electrics are usually worn out by now - particularly a crazed remote-locking system and electric windows on their last legs.
I found the front suspension (nearside) was making a "knocking" sound. I believe it is quite common among the 205/306/ZX family, and is relatively cheap to put right.
An interesting thing to check is the heating system - a smell has been known to come out of the system, and I never quite found out why...
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My advice is avoid Citroen or anything else French for that matter. They're not exactly very robust, won't stand even the slightest amount of overheating before the head gasket goes pop, gear linkages fall apart for fun, most jobs on them are awkward to say the least and it'll spend more time in a garage have these niggly little minor annoyances repaired.
If you want reliability buy Japanese.
Vauxhalls are generally fairly hard wearing.
BMWs and Mercs are good quality but expensive of course.
Same for Saab.
Fords are much better than they used to be.
This is based on 25 years of both workshop and roadside experience ....
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Thanks for the replies guys. I didn't get your replies before the morning I went to see the car so had to make do with general advice off the web. Anyway, it was not well looked after and suspiciously the guy who was selling it had only had it a year.
Anyway, I had a check list and checked the suspension which was fine, the brake pedal had to be right down near the floor before it would work. I found the cluth to be a bit jumpy as in the biting point came very suddenly and made the car jerk away. There was a fair bit of gunk when I took off the oil cap, I didn't like the sound of the exhaust and I don't know if this is an issue, but the water inside the radiator looked very greasy, almost like someone had poured chip pan fat into it then stirred it round. It wasn't quite mayonnaise, but didn't look right.
Anyway it was a good experience for me to see all this as I'm not mechanically minded. I still don't fancy myself as an AA vehicle inspector, but the advice off the net helped.
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will get moved to Discussion later today..
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