Heya people,

While my car is being fixed a friend lent me her done up/run down 380. It's got a number of problems, one of which I would like to fix before i return it to her as a thanks. But the key one would be the engine light. When i first borrowed the car it was intermittent, but now its on all the time...As far as I can tell the car drives fine and makes no strange noises...only noticeable difference is that it sometimes can take quite a while for it to turn over. I've checked the oil and that is fine. There is some stuff caked around the battery terminals, but i don't see why this would cause the engine light to come on?

Other problems are:
-Rear drivers side window doesnt work and always falls down a few cm by itself (found thread on this - but cant afford to by new window motor atm)
-Car steers to the left, prolly fixed by a wheel alignment, but again dont have the money
-There seems to be water pooling in front drivers side floorwell (well once anyway after heavy rain), but I never left the door or window open so i don't know where it comes from :S
-The side skirts are a bit sad looking
-There is scratch in passenger door which i will try and polish out
-Needs new tyres on the front, looks dodgey rolling on stockies...

Heres a photo of it.
http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/1320/20111005131210.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/585/20111005131210.jpg/)

But yeh, if anyone knows a quick fix or things to look at (keeping in mind im no car expert) to fix the engine light/turn over problem that would be great :D (I assume getting that crap off the battery terminals is a good start?)

Cheers,

Tim

PS - she is selling the car, so let me know if your interested in a cheap 380 (i think she said 7 grand as is).

Would you guys suggest she look at fixing all this stuff and selling for 9-10, or leave as is?

needs a new battery with a min of 660CCA thats why its dropping a CEL

Has it ever been in an accident that could have opened up a crack in a seam somewhere to let water in when it rains?

In terms of the car wandering to the left - put the same sized rims and tyres on all 4 wheels before bothering with the alignment. It may relate to the mismatch in sizing.

i had a light come on due to a dodgy coil. replaced the coil and it fixed the miss but i still had to clear the code using a snapon scanner. best to go somewhere with a scanner and scan it.

As its not my car, dunno if its been in an accident. Don't think it has. Yeh, as most of these problems cost money and it isnt my car, not worth my spending $100+. I guess ill just give it wash and polish scratches out and give it a full tank of petrol. She has good rims for the front, just no RW tyres for them.

i'll tell her the battery prolly needs replacing too!

Go K-mart and buy a new battery, the cheapest k-mart battery cost around $60+, when changing the battery it also reset/clear the check light code.

The $60 Kmart batteries are sort of designed for Hyundai Getz sized cars.

The $60 Kmart batteries are sort of designed for Hyundai Getz sized cars.

Dont joke, they need at least 350 CCA for the 1.6!

But yeah dont just chuck any old battery on as it might not have the guts to turn it over reliably

Dont joke, they need at least 350 CCA for the 1.6!

But yeah dont just chuck any old battery on as it might not have the guts to turn it over reliably

Are you sure it's not able to crank a 380? I'm using the k-mart battery on my Ford Territory for close to 2yr and it's still cranking strong.

min for 380 is 440CCA