Our silver 2001 Roadster

[norwichred]

Got our first MR2 late last year (for £200).  we are well chuffed with it!  Don't know too much about these cars but just fell in love with it as soon as we saw the photos and knew we had to have it.  Knew we had to do some work on it, but surprised at how little.  Hope it's ok to have a thread to keep a record of what we have done to it.

Some pics :

Here are some pics :

[norwichred]

List of known work needed from looking at it :

roof needs work (unsure whether new roof needed)
front headlights fogged
Rust spot on back
Precats checked

Took car to bodywork specialist here in Norwich who added :

Whole body polish

Took car to have oil and filter change and they added :

Back brake callipers need replacing.

Tomorrow (14 January 2015) we have car booked in for brakes to be done and the precast checked, and then we're really excited to have a holiday booked week of January 20th and we're having a new roof fitted down in Swansea!  Going for a red roof which we hope will look really nice!  s:) s:)   Pics to follow!

we also need to do something about getting a new key programmed as we don't have a key fob so the alarm is going off and we can't stop it.  Have disconnected the siren temporarily.

[1979scotte]

Red roof on Silver looks great.
New rear calipers nothing out of the ordinary but setting up the handbrake correctly seems to be an issue for some mechanics.
Double check this on a steep hill.

[Jock]

Think you missed your garage appointment   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  

Is it ok to ask if you repositioned the siren to the passenger seat   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[norwichred]

Oops!  Damned date mess up  s:D s:D

I didn't reposition the siren to the passenger seat but the mechanic has now repositioned the whole alarm system to the passenger seat  s:D s:D

Work done today :

New brake pads
Calipers eased
Alarm system removed
Handbrake cable replaced
New battery - old one was incorrect and had loose terminals

Extra work discovered :

Two new front tyres (but we were going to replace all four anyway).

A little more than we hoped to spend, but still not a rip off and considering what we paid for the car, we're still pretty happy.

Off to Swansea a week tomorrow!  Can't wait for that  s:D s:D

[Lee H]

I was having the roof done on my S2000 when you turned up yesterday. Thought you might be on here.

Not sure if you are aware but your ecu light is also on but has been taped over. Only noticed as I had to move your car forward to get mine out.

[norwichred]

Hello!

No, I wasn't aware.  That sounds concerning!  Could that be because the alarm has been removed or does it mean something else?  Where should I be looking for that and what action should I take?

Would appreciate your advice!

How's your new roof?  Did it go well?

Lovely car you had.

[1979scotte]

Time to plug an obd2 reader in and find out what is wrong.
Download Torque app.
If you have an android phone buy a blutooth dongle.
If you are apple get a wifi version.
If you are something else then i cant help.

[Topdownman]

First thing to do is to get a code reader on the OBD port under the steering wheel. Lots of members have them (there is a thread about this). This should give you the error code to hopefully identify the problem. A very common problem is one of the 3 02 sensors going which doesnt affect the drive but probably uses more fuel.

[Lee H]

Hello!

No, I wasn't aware.  That sounds concerning!  Could that be because the alarm has been removed or does it mean something else?  Where should I be looking for that and what action should I take?

Would appreciate your advice!

How's your new roof?  Did it go well?

Lovely car you had.

The ecu light should come on with ignition and go out when it starts. Noticed yours wasn't and then when you look really close you can see a tiny bit of the orange shining round the edge of the tape. It's a trick dealers do to save fixing the fault.

Alarm would have no effect. I'm guessing O2 sensors.

Roof is good, heavy rain in Manchester last night and no wet seats this morning. Result.

S2000 has a fantastic engine and chassis but still prefer the looks of my Roadster.

[norwichred]

Had car checked this morning.

It was, indeed, one of the O2 sensors.  Mechanic didn't seem overly worried and reset it so the light went out.  Told me to take it back in if the light went on again.

Thanks for the tip!

Came on here to post some pics of the new roof and headlights but photo bucket is down.  Will try again later.

Whilst it's still light gonna see if I can do something with the headlights.

[andyroo104]

Light will probably come back on again,best to find the fault code in order to repair or replace the part causing the problem.

[norwichred]

The fault code was given to me.  Even named exactly which O2 sensor was playing up.

But they didn't seem too concerned.

Tried polishing the headlights and got the outsides done, but the insides need doing too.

Guess I'm going to have to have a go at getting them off!

[norwichred]

And photo bucket is up!

Our new roof :







and our poorly headlights look like this :



so I'm going to try and fix the headlights themselves by taking them off and polishing inside (have polished outside already and they look better than the pic) to see if I can improve them myself.  Not impressed that getting the cover off is so ridiculously complicated but will give it a go.

Next professional job will be the rust spot at the back and I will try and get that down professionally next month.

[1979scotte]

Red roofs look awesome on silver.
Possibly the worst mr2 lights ever?
Good luck.

[norwichred]

Thanks.  Methinks I'm going to need it!  s:) s:)

Will probably need new ones, in which case I'll need to start a thread about it.  But that is before the MOT so a little down the list.

I'm going to try taking them off at the weekend and see if I can do anything.

[s2k_adz]

Was it Jack Smith in Swansea who did your roof? He did my old MX5 and 350Z Roadster! Looks nice in red!

[norwichred]

It was, indeed, him and we couldn't be happier!  Stunning job and price.

In other news, I got dismissed from my job yesterday and with a baby due in eight weeks all work on the car will have to stop.

I'm not negative though.  We've done a lot in a short time and sure it won't be long before we're able to start improvements again!

[Jock]

That's a conversation stopper   s:? :? s:?  
Get a bit of cure-rust on the rust and that'll stop spreading.  Hammerite is good value and works. It won't need touch-up.
Good luck   s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:

[norwichred]

Hehe.  It may sound like a conversation stopper but to be honest, without banging on, I'd had enough of the place and we've had ten months to prepare for it.

Not despondent.  Confident of getting sorted soon.  Time out to concentrate on my partner and new baby and then hopefully employed and back on the MR2 by May / June is the plan.

We got more done than we anticipated getting done in a short time.  So we're pretty happy with where we are.  And we LOVE the car so much........

[norwichred]

And I'm back in work, to my original career as a teacher  s:) s:)

Work starts again - booking it in for the rust spot and headlights this morning  s:D s:D

[VidarH]

Good to hear!
Looking forward to seeing the progress  s:) s:)

[carolineasb]

Great news!

[1979scotte]

Brave man best of luck.

[Joesson]

Glad the " details" worked out and you can get down to the important stuff  s:wink: :wink: s:wink: