mrbig
Part of things
Semi-professional Procrastinator
Posts: 461
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Feb 23, 2023 14:03:11 GMT
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I just as an experiment went out and checked both Halfords stores, Motorserv and Top Gear - Not a single one stock fuel hose that's anything above R6. Which I think shows how well catered for we really are. Have to laugh...Apparently Pearl are now a "decent brand"...is that really the level the bar has dropped to? Do you have a reliable supplier you use for the Gates hose? That's been one of the biggest headaches I've had with buying things online, it's never knowing for certain if what turns up is going to be the real deal or not. Not to say that's not an issue in person too, but at least you can see what you're buying there. I won't comment on Pearl if you don't mind... Anyway, I believe that Motor Parts Direct are Gates stockists, but I have a friend who works for Gates so have emailed him to ask if there is anyone local to MK that would stock it.
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1969 German Look Beetle - in progress
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Feb 23, 2023 14:06:09 GMT
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I had some pearl stuff listed as fuel injection hose on the range rover (all the local motor factors had), it looked like crazy paving after 6 months, I buy Cohline stuff now, still looks and feels like new 3 years down the line.
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mrbig
Part of things
Semi-professional Procrastinator
Posts: 461
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Feb 23, 2023 14:19:02 GMT
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Apparently Bedford Battery, Motor Parts Direct and Motorserv all have access to the product and therefore should be able to order it for you, even if it's not on the shelf.
If you get really stuck send me a PM.
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1969 German Look Beetle - in progress
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Feb 23, 2023 14:37:59 GMT
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Funny, I happen to have Gates hoses on my 11. I replaced all the rubber fuel lines about 10 years ago and I've never even considered changing them again since. Looks completely fine. Granted, it's all low pressure but none of it's cracked. Talking again about the instrument cluster, the PCB traces on any 80s Renault I've seen have all been copper. A very gentle scrub with something like 600 grit sand paper followed by a dab of flux and I've never had a wire come off. Thinking back, the biggest problems have been that the twist in bulbs cut straight through the PCB paper over time and that's not as easy to repair. You have to get creative. That and the horrid connectors used. I spent hours dismantling them, cleaning the contacts and bending them gently to make better connections. If I were you, I'd just swap the connector style like you planned. Last year, I hard wired in the loom to the car's main relay/fuse board as I got sick of the indicators randomly dying. Notice the fun PCB paper And these are the awful connectors. Yes, I've already extended one as it was impossible to take on and off with so little space
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Last Edit: Feb 23, 2023 14:38:27 GMT by brendanr
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Feb 23, 2023 15:29:07 GMT
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Apparently Bedford Battery, Motor Parts Direct and Motorserv all have access to the product and therefore should be able to order it for you, even if it's not on the shelf. If you get really stuck send me a PM. Cheers for that. Motorserv just don't seem to be in the slightest interested in being anything resembling helpful these days, so I'm not even going to bother going back there - especially as they just told me last time that what they had was already on display. I really get the impression that they're angling to close the retail counter entirely at some point and just go trade only. It's the only shop in living memory that I've ended up just leaving my goods on the counter and walking out of - in plain sight of a dozen employees - after waiting 15 minutes plus to be served (nobody queued in front of me - I was literally standing at the counter). They used to be my go to for most things for a good few years, but about 18 months ago just seemed to go into a complete death spiral seemingly overnight. Will give Motor Parts Direct a try, haven't used them before as I was under the impression they were trade only. Failing that, I must have had a dozen people recommend Bedford Battery to me - so it might just be worth taking the time to run over there. Given the headaches I've been having locally trying to find a decent factors (fuel hose is just *a* thing I've been having trouble with, but is by no means the only one), it'll probably wind up saving me time in the long run.
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Last Edit: Feb 23, 2023 15:30:34 GMT by Zelandeth
Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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Feb 23, 2023 18:06:09 GMT
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This where I’ve been buying most of my Cohline hose. 3 cars worth now www.glencoeltd.co.uk/cohline-fuel-vacuum-hose/I’ve also bought over the counter from Merlin Motorsport, but they do mail order too. My local motor factors are generally very good but clueless about this matter. A certain stockist in Kent (AFS) seems to be responsible for a lot of the prominently R9 marked hose that falls apart in about 9 months, partly via direct sales and partly via eBay. Avoid.
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1967 Triumph Vitesse convertible (old friend) 1996 Audi A6 2.5 TDI Avant (still durability testing) 1972 GT6 Mk3 (Restored after loong rest & getting the hang of being a car again)
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Feb 23, 2023 18:36:44 GMT
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There is a place near me that stocks the Gates Barricade fuel pipe that mrbig speaks of. Its at Motor Parts Direct, (Uxbridge) 1 Uxbridge 96 Oxford Road Oxford Road Denham Uxbridge, UB9 4DW
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Last Edit: Feb 23, 2023 18:37:10 GMT by bobdisk
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Feb 23, 2023 18:45:35 GMT
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Apparently Bedford Battery, Motor Parts Direct and Motorserv all have access to the product and therefore should be able to order it for you, even if it's not on the shelf. If you get really stuck send me a PM. Thanks for that. MPD do stock Gates hose, but only have the low pressure stuff on the shelf, and I very much got the vibe that they weren't particularly interested in having me going and asking for stuff to be ordered. The impression was one very much of "Yes we do *have* a retail counter, but really would rather you went home and left us to the trade customers." Will give Bedford Battery a try - given the number of folks who keep pointing me at them it seems a worthy experiment anyway. Funny, I happen to have Gates hoses on my 11. I replaced all the rubber fuel lines about 10 years ago and I've never even considered changing them again since. Looks completely fine. Granted, it's all low pressure but none of it's cracked. Talking again about the instrument cluster, the PCB traces on any 80s Renault I've seen have all been copper. A very gentle scrub with something like 600 grit sand paper followed by a dab of flux and I've never had a wire come off. Thinking back, the biggest problems have been that the twist in bulbs cut straight through the PCB paper over time and that's not as easy to repair. You have to get creative. That and the horrid connectors used. I spent hours dismantling them, cleaning the contacts and bending them gently to make better connections. If I were you, I'd just swap the connector style like you planned. Last year, I hard wired in the loom to the car's main relay/fuse board as I got sick of the indicators randomly dying. Notice the fun PCB paper And these are the awful connectors. Yes, I've already extended one as it was impossible to take on and off with so little space Useful to have seen the sort of things to expect. I'm 90% certain that the issue with the warning light lottery is down to the edge connectors rather than lamp holder contacts - as missing lights also affects the Service/Stop lights when they're missing. Today we only seem to be missing the ignition and coolant temperature lights, but it seems to be completely random which ones work on any given day! Edge connectors are a complete menace in the world of old computers as well...something I'm sadly quite familiar with the trials and tribulations of dealing with. The speedometer I'm expecting to be something actually onboard with the cluster, but given that the fault comes and goes - usually after hitting a bump - I'm expecting it to be a contact related problem. The signal in from the gearbox at least I reckon is good as it only appears to affect the speedometer reading, the trip counter and odometer aren't affected and still track mileage accurately even when the car thinks it's doing 38mph at 70. This where I’ve been buying most of my Cohline hose. 3 cars worth now www.glencoeltd.co.uk/cohline-fuel-vacuum-hose/I’ve also bought over the counter from Merlin Motorsport, but they do mail order too. My local motor factors are generally very good but clueless about this matter. A certain stockist in Kent (AFS) seems to be responsible for a lot of the prominently R9 marked hose that falls apart in about 9 months, partly via direct sales and partly via eBay. Avoid. Useful info there, thanks! Cheaper than I expected too.
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Last Edit: Feb 23, 2023 18:47:22 GMT by Zelandeth
Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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Feb 23, 2023 18:57:05 GMT
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Edge connectors. Thank you for reminding me of the name I tried to forget! Yes, I deal with them too repairing old electronics and yes they have been about 90% of the electrical problems I've had with my Renault. The taillights, fuse board and instrument cluster all seem to use them on 80s Renaults and each and every edge connector has given me problems. Best to replace or hard wire/solder (when swapping out on the fly isn't a concern). You're also reminding me that the cut through bulb connector has only happened to me a couple of times and it was mostly down to me not figuring out that it was in fact the edge connector so I was fiddling with the bulbs way too much
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Feb 23, 2023 19:12:21 GMT
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Edge connectors. Thank you for reminding me of the name I tried to forget! Yes, I deal with them too repairing old electronics and yes they have been about 90% of the electrical problems I've had with my Renault. The taillights, fuse board and instrument cluster all seem to use them on 80s Renaults and each and every edge connector has given me problems. Best to replace or hard wire/solder (when swapping out on the fly isn't a concern). You're also reminding me that the cut through bulb connector has only happened to me a couple of times and it was mostly down to me not figuring out that it was in fact the edge connector so I was fiddling with the bulbs way too much You want something even worse than edge connectors in French cars? Edge connectors in Russian ones! They used them as the sole interface between the main loom and the tail lights in the Lada Samara, which regularly used to drive me around the bend by causing all manner of electrical strangeness. Such joys as indicators which only worked if you were braking, indicators which only worked if you were not braking, brake lights making the stereo switch on, indicators which made the windscreen wipers come on if you also had the rear windscreen demister turned on...Those are the ones I can remember, but I'm sure there were others. The ground connection was used as a star point for a bunch of circuits so issues in there could cause all manner of nonsense. After about six months I just had a serious rage quit moment with them and wound up soldering everything onto the printed circuit boards. Which is the point at which I discovered that the traces were aluminium and couldn't be soldered to, so I wound up having to drill holes in the board and solder directly to the brass contacts in the lamp holders - without melting the lamp holders. Fun!
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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Feb 24, 2023 13:35:19 GMT
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Ha! I had the exact same rage quit moment on the 11 with the taillights. The morning of the last NCT (Irish MOT), the reverse lights just straight up decided they'd done enough. I'm there panicking with a multimeter assuming it's the switch or connector on the gear box (oil had leaked on it before and really ruined it) but no, it was the edge connector on the taillight assembly. I just cut the whole thing off in a panic and soldered the individual wires on. Mercifully, the traces were copper so I was done quickly and made it to the test. Never took a photo because it was such a rush job I'd be embarrassed to show it. Never had to touch it since though.
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Feb 24, 2023 22:09:35 GMT
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Ha! I had the exact same rage quit moment on the 11 with the taillights. The morning of the last NCT (Irish MOT), the reverse lights just straight up decided they'd done enough. I'm there panicking with a multimeter assuming it's the switch or connector on the gear box (oil had leaked on it before and really ruined it) but no, it was the edge connector on the taillight assembly. I just cut the whole thing off in a panic and soldered the individual wires on. Mercifully, the traces were copper so I was done quickly and made it to the test. Never took a photo because it was such a rush job I'd be embarrassed to show it. Never had to touch it since though. Speaking of 11s and edge connectors...the one on mine that caused me significant amounts of head scratching was a dead fog light. Eventually traced to a dodgy contact on the back of the fuse box. The fact that the light on the dash still worked lulled me into a false sense of security that it wasn't a power issue initially!
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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Not been the best of weeks. Have had my behind getting thoroughly kicked by a chronic fatigue flare up that started last weekend, so car things by and large had to take a bit of a back seat. Plus I've just not had the mental energy to write things up. The fuel hose saga turned into a right old farce. I wound up visiting over a dozen factors in the end, and not a single one of them was able to offer me anything better than basic R6 rated hose. A few actually Gates branded, but most was either Pearl or totally unnamed. I was pointed at three stores which were official Gates distributors, so I thought trying those were worthwhile to try to find Gates Barricade line, which is what I was after. Motorserv: No, though they would sell me standard Gates (low pressure) fuel line. For £12 a metre. Motor Parts Direct: As above, though for £8 a metre. Bedford Battery: Bedford branch - Not something they had ever heard of, just the same low pressure R6 line as the last two. Now...the Milton Keynes branch (which I didn't know existed until a few days ago, despite being less than a mile from my house)...their response was a little special. They absolutely flat out denied that *any* ethanol safe flexible fuel line existed anywhere on the market, anywhere in the world. Anyone with an older car is simply out of luck. First...these guys are supposed to be a Gates stockist. Apparently they don't know their own product line. I have seriously had to resist the urge to print out the datasheet for the Barricade line and go leave it on their counter. Secondly...while it's a relatively new issue in the UK, ethanol absolutely isn't a new thing to have to deal with in the motoring world, plenty of areas have been dealing with up to E85 for years...and somehow they make it work. Of course aside from the Gates Barricade line, plenty of other manufacturers offer options - the biggest headache generally in this field seems to be simply that quality is so, so variable rather than necessarily the approval numbers. Which is why I see Barricade as a good option, as it's a known quantity from a known manufacturer. Assuming what you get is genuine - which is why I really wanted to buy it from a physical outlet rather than some random internet supplier. However apparently this isn't that simple, at least around here. So in the end I wound up ordering some Cohline hose from these guys.A package has landed for the Renault which hopefully will get fitted at some point over the next couple of weeks. The one on the car has only done ~1500 miles at this point, but is from 2017 at the latest, and I've been getting the vibe that the parts used in recommissioning weren't all of the best quality available. So I'd rather have a new timing belt of a known quantity fitted for peace of mind. A little project I'd like to get done will be to get my Bluetooth to FM transmitter properly installed. The stereo in this car puts in a very good performance, but currently requires an ugly thing sticking out of the cigarette lighter. Which is high on the list of "things which bug my OCD no end." So my plan is to hard wire it in here like so...see it? No? How about now? I think that will be a nice neat solution. That little tray would contain the speaker if this car was fitted with the voice synthesis module. This unit has pause/skip/previous buttons on it so having it accessible in an ergonomic position is worthwhile. There isn't any shortage of oddment storage in this car so I'm not too bothered about losing a bit of storage. I figured I'd have a nose around behind there to see if there was a convenient accessory feed I could tap into. Uuh... What's going on with those two big red wires taped together? On closer inspection, I'm guessing that's what used to be the switched and supply lines to the remains of this relay socket... Not happy with that...the coil feeds are still present at the socket, so I think I may well need to reinstate that relay off-board. Not quite sure what it actually switches, given the size of the wires it must be something pretty major. I'd rather have it switch off with the ignition properly as the designers intended. Annoyingly nothing in the vicinity is switched on the accessory position. Plenty of permanently live and ignition switched, but I'd really like to be able to use the stereo (which works with the ignition in the accessory position) without needing the ignition on to power the FM transmitter. Even the fuse box immediately below doesn't offer anything helpful, the only accessory switched circuit being the one for the stereo itself. So I reckon splicing into the line coming from the ignition switch itself will probably be the easiest option (likely less hassle to get to than the line to the back of the fuse box) as it's right next to the area in question. That's basically all that's been done this week, hopefully next week we'll see a bit more going on as I'm hopeful that I'll be more of a functioning human being.
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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I was going to recommend Cochline. Guy Davenport at A1 hydraulics will post it out to you if you ever need more.
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Zelandeth , From your link, I find Glencoe are literally just around the corner from me! Didnt know they existed!! My BMW and Daf only have short lengths of flexible pipes, the rest are metal, so they are not much problem to watch. I use E5 in both.
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Last Edit: Mar 4, 2023 9:29:13 GMT by bobdisk
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Saturday we had the family dentist appointment, so all four of us needed to run up to Leicester.
Renault was the obvious choice for this trip as it's about an hour and it's the one car I can carry four adults in in comfort. Well, in comfort and relative safety. Van is comfortable enough, but there is only one seat in the back with a belt, and it's a lap belt on a side facing seat. Caddy rear seats are only really suitable for short runs as they're very cramped.
Longest single trip I've done in the car yet, so felt like a good milestone to have covered without incident. Plus first time I've had it on the motorway. As predicted, very much feels at home there and like a car in which you could cross continents with ease.
Definitely still feels a bit lumpy on light throttle though, most noticeable sitting at a steady 60mph as that's virtually no throttle on the level. Once under some load it's fine, but a little lumpy on very light loads. Definitely one to keep on the "requires further investigation" list. Not panicking about it though. To be fair I've not even done a really thorough check of the vacuum lines and such yet!
Was really nice to get out for a longer drive in the car. Discovering I need to go back to get no less than seven fillings done was less nice! Guess I'll have to see which car I feel like taking on those days...
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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Definitely doing better than I was over the last week, but did struggle a bit at the weekend so I've been trying to take things pretty easy. Today's only "garage work" was to nip the rocker cover up just a touch more as it was weeping oil from the back corner. Seems to have stopped now. I gave the engine bay a bit of a general wipe down while I was there and I think it's starting to get vaguely towards being presentable again. At least it doesn't scream "neglected old car" under there any more. Glimpse on the inner wings and slam panel there of the actual colour as it should be, quite a bit more coppery than it currently appears externally - and seeing that definitely does make me think more about the car potentially getting a full respray one day. I had a decent hunt around for any vacuum leaks, however all the lines (and the caps on a couple of unused ports) seem to be in good shape and I didn't get any response spraying around the carb clean. So I think we're okay there. Evaluated my fuel usage over the last week or so, including the run up to Leicester and back - 36.8MPG - I'll take that any day of the week for a car this size, especially carrying four passengers and including a few days of running around MK on the same tank.
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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Mar 23, 2023 12:44:40 GMT
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Spent a little bit of time on the Renault yesterday ticking off a very tiny and hard to photograph job. Start of the intake hose reattached to the little plastic duct that's supposed to channel cool air into the intake, the hose was previously dangling loose pulling air from the engine bay. It actually took a surprisingly long time to sort that as the hose was a really snug fit on the ductwork. Got there in the end though. Probably will make hardly if any difference, but I could see it every time I opened the bonnet and it was bugging me. There is an intake temperature sensor between the air filter and throttle though so it may help our efficiency. Guess time will tell. Something I utterly *failed* to find this afternoon though was the horn. I want to replace it, as currently it has an absolutely pathetic little "meep" which sounds like it's been taken off a budget end 80s moped. According to the manual this would have had a twin air horn set up from the factory. I've got a suitable replacement sitting in the garage, and figured I'd chuck that on today. Except I can't find the horn! Nearside front is the best I've got. I need to borrow someone to push the stalk while I stick my head under the front of the car. Currently guessing that it's hidden in the void behind the bumper underneath one of the headlights (you can't see into these areas easily). I have noticed that the bumper is loose on the nearside, so need to investigate that anyway. May just be the one mounting bolt being a little loose, was out of time before I could look into that though. I've still not managed to track down a set of drop links. So I'm going to have a go at re-bushing the original ones. I did decide to actually try the dealer as I had nothing to lose really. Hats off to the Milton Keynes Westcroft Renault parts desk, while they couldn't actually track anything useful down (unsurprisingly) they absolutely couldn't have been more helpful and pleasant to deal with. They also printed off the 70 or so pages of parts listed they did have on the system, which while by no means a full listing does mean that I have part numbers on hand for quite a lot of things now. This drawing may also be handy when I come to do battle with the sunroof. Really grateful to them for that. Even though they knew I wasn't likely to be spending any money there they still went out their way to be helpful. Fair contrast to VW, who treated me like something they'd want to scrape off the bottom of their shoe when I had the audacity to ask about parts rather than spend £40K on their shiny modern torture devices.
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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I'm not a fan of bodging things, but occasionally needs must. You may recall a while ago something disintegrated in the Renault's sunroof leading to the rear edge not raising to the fully closed position. Thanks to the drain pan being reasonably deep this didn't cause any leakage issues - what it did cause however was a god awful rattle and a whistle above 40mph. A sunroof that doesn't open I can live with if need be, one which makes a racket right in my left ear, not so much. Something has gone seriously awry in the mech, a lot of bits of broken black plastic have fallen out and the sled is no longer properly attached to the panel. It will all need to come out to be investigated at some point, however for now we've gone for a simple solution. Foam board to the rescue. Good enough for now. I need to go after the trim panel with the fabric adhesive as it's separated from the board a bit. Will wait to deal with that until the roof itself is sorted though so it won't hopefully need to be manhandled again after being repaired. Is it fixed? Absolutely not. Is it in a condition where I can worry about it a bit further down the line now? Yes. I'll call that a win.
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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generallee
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,008
Member is Online
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I did decide to actually try the dealer as I had nothing to lose really. Hats off to the Milton Keynes Westcroft Renault parts desk, while they couldn't actually track anything useful down (unsurprisingly) they absolutely couldn't have been more helpful and pleasant to deal with. They also printed off the 70 or so pages of parts listed they did have on the system, which while by no means a full listing does mean that I have part numbers on hand for quite a lot of things now. Really grateful to them for that. Even though they knew I wasn't likely to be spending any money there they still went out their way to be helpful. Having parts numbers can be invaluable for ebay searches and such, or cross referencing. I think often dealer parts departments are as helpful as the staff on at the time, how experienced they are, how busy (or not) they are etc. My local Peugeot dealer is happy to give me part numbers for obscure items, "We can't get it, it's not as if it's going to do us any harm!"
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