Another newbie to join the ranks!

[Land-Barge]

Hi all, my names Graham and im from Kent last night i picked up my first ever Carlton, a 3 litre manual CDX estate

Heres the story......

ive been lurking round this site for ages, originally lusted after a 24v GSi (as we all do ) and came so close to buying one earlier this year, an absolute beauty that was sold the night before i went to look at it

Anyways a few months on and i was looking for something a bit more practical with a bit of grunt under the bonnet, and spotted this 3.0 CDX on fleabay with 3 months Tax and Test



Im sure this was posted on here before, if not maybe somewhere else but i couldnt find anything wrong with its history after checking and after contacting the seller i thought i'd take a gamble and won it for £250! without even viewing it!

Now came the hard bit, the car was in Leeds, and i live in Kent, only 200 odd miles away!

So yesterday i took a map and some cash, caught a train to London, took the tube to Kings Cross, and got on the 13:10 GNER service to Leeds.  Once there a short train ride to Headingley and a long walk and i was knocking on the owners door at around 4:30pm

After giving the old girl a good looking over and quick test drive later (very quick ) the deal was done and i set off home around 6:00pm and arrived home around 10:00pm mission complete!   Over 200 miles down the A1 cruising (and teaching various boy racers a lesson ) and she never missed a beat! just had to change a couple of blown bulbs to keep the old bill off my back

In total the journey cost me about £400 including buying the car, train journey, petrol and redbull

And she's not a bad motor either, mechanicals are A1, arches are rusty and need replacing (got new arch panels in the deal) electric windows only work with the door open and the rev counter doesnt work, she's also crying out for a good valet

well thats the story so far, over the next couple of weeks ill be going over her with a fine tooth comb and ironing out the probs (hope you lot can help me on that one ) and i'll put up a thread about all my troubles to share with you all

Right thats the speech over, im off to bed!

[Scatmancraig]

Welcome to Total Carlton!!

Good choice of car, the 12v manual estate is a rare machine, not many built in the first place & even less of them around now.  Carlton-Mad has one, i forget where he lives  now but it's somewhere near London i think??

You shouldn't have any trouble with the engine on a 12v, they're pretty much bombproof unless you do something really stupid!  Not quite as powerful or economical as the 24v but no head gasket or timing chain worries.  I reckon the 12v sounds nicer anyway!!

What wheels are on the car in the picture?  They look like steels but i can't quite tell?  Don't forget that the Carlton CDX Estate should have the Senator style cross-spoke alloys, i.e. the ones with the removeable centre caps (rather than the normal CDX alloys without the centrecaps).

I'm sure you will get plenty of useful advice on here!

[Tetleysmooth]

Welcome to the forum matey.
Carlton-mad (Chris), lives in Dartford and is one of the most helpful blokes going. He's also an MOT tester 
Those wheels look like black painted CDx to me Craig.
Like Craig says, a rare beast you've got there, hope it turns out to be a real bargain for you.
Get some pics up in 'show off' when you get the chance.

[Pedro]

Hi and welcome to TC, Mr. Barge!

Noice motah!

[king nero]

electric windows only work with the door open

PMSL

I know the vauxhall electrics can be a bit dodgy at times, but never heard of anything like this !   

welcome! and that can't be that hard to sort out...

[Scatmancraig]

Those wheels look like black painted CDx to me Craig.

If they are then they're the wrong wheels - like i said, 3.0 estates should have the Senator type cross spokes!  (shamelessly using information i've absaorbed from another forum!!!  )

[Murph]

Welcome on board mate - nice car you've acquired there!

[bstardchild]

electric windows only work with the door open

PMSL

I know the vauxhall electrics can be a bit dodgy at times, but never heard of anything like this !   

welcome! and that can't be that hard to sort out...

it isn't - it's all down to the doorswitches 

[Diplo-Matt]

Same problem on my estate. Just a case of swapping the switches, the connectors/plugs for which sit under the console storage box. Still cant get my passenger one wokring though! Great cars the estate. Really practical, god fun to drive and comfy. Hang onto to it its a rare one! welcome to the forum.

[flash911]

Same problem on my estate. Just a case of swapping the switches, the connectors/plugs for which sit under the console storage box. Still cant get my passenger one wokring though! Great cars the estate. Really practical, god fun to drive and comfy. Hang onto to it its a rare one! welcome to the forum.

you got power to the window swith in the door?

[Land-Barge]

Cheers for the the replies chaps, the wheels are the X spoke ones without centre caps, they look nice in black though i think what do the proper ones look like

I'll get some pics up in a couple of days, she's being pressed into service straight away carrying all my old tat around, great on the motorway

By the way is the sunroof supposed to be a tilt and slide one? mine tilts but dosent slide, the back drops down when you press the button though

[flash911]

give it a tap with butten held down, mine does it now and then think it sticks a little

[carltonman]

Mine did that for a while when i ran one (sunroof stuck). What i did was get a good quality screwdriver into the manual winder located under the control panel removable slider panel, and wind it back by hand. Stopped any pressure being placed on to the motor is self. Then cleaned and oiled the runners.

could also be wear on the motor ring that control the sunroof depending if previous owners liked to have it fully back rather than tilted. Just a guess on this part one though.

[flash911]

mine got stuck once , bent the sunroof itself, so fornt right sits proud slightly , not probs but doesnt look to clever 

[carltonman]

But there glass..........

[flash911]

yeah weird i know , but it bent somehow , will take pic tom and post , then u can tell me how pmsl

[carltonman]

WOW, I tired to remove one once and lost the pot and chucked a hammer through it. Shatters like hell!!!! Be warned.....

[flash911]

thinking about it , im sure it was a cable that snapped well thats what i was told, but wht evr it was it bend something, or they didnt fit it properly ,not going to play with it cos it works 99.9% of the time sticks now and then 

[carltonman]

Yup probably cable. Just keep it well oiled. Wind deflector can jam it too. Have to ho;d it down to shut or the whole unit jams and lifts sunroof up............
Bet we get a slapped wrist for talking on the wrong thread again Flash911

[flash911]

i know but there are some helpfull titbits in the conversation !! like holding wind deflector, oiling, and gentle tapping pmsl , so who could slap tut tut

[carltonman]

You can remove the deflector but a lot of work. you can also put a spot weld either side of the deflector where it touches he sunroof when raised while you are shutting it. Will stop you having to hold it to close the roof, Give it a good paint after though!

[flash911]

i dont have a prob closing , was just saying tap usualy unwraps it terry's orange, just bit bent lol front right

[carltonman]

bent on the backwards drag when opening?

[flash911]

honestly not sure , but i think so

[carltonman]

Sounds like cable i would keep well oiled. 2 in 1 would do the trick..