1987 Renault GTA :: Gone to a new home

[uk_senator]

I`ve just spent 5 hours on and off reading this thread, totally epic.

 

Four things spring to mind..

 

1. Your devotion to making this suicidal garlic-muncher run properly is almost scary.

2. I can see why theres so few of these bastards left now.

3. If I do buy that local 27,000 mile Renner 18 auto, it`ll be cleaned, serviced and sold on immediately, before it can implode on me.

and 4. I think I`ll stick to old Fiats and Jags.

 

Carry on.

[PhilA]

 

It was a nice day yesterday so I went out for a drive, that's at Pointe Aux Chenes, big old oak tree on the bayouside.

 

Figured that was better than complaining about the car. It needed a bit of a run, seems to have done it good. I think the last tank of fuel disagreed with it somewhat.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Well, had the first FTP in a while yesterday. Driving along, I stopped to pick up the photographs I had developed. Had taken one of the car.. the camera has a small light leak so the pictures came out very 1985:

 

Got going again, was accelerating quite hard out onto the highway. Got to about 50 and all of a sudden there's a large cloud behind me- first worry was that it was smoke. Slowed down, there's the whiff of glycol through the vents and clouds start appearing from the sides of the hood.

 

 

Let it all clear, it was apparent the leak was at the back of the engine- right by the exhaust manifold so hence the large volume of steam.

 

One of the ER doctors my wife works with stopped to ask if I needed anything, declined because at that point I hadn't gotten to exactly what the problem was. I wasn't going to abandon the vehicle on the side of the road.

 

Identified the problem, the bypass hose from the inlet manifold to the thermostat housing had split open.

 

 

Started to walk, the auto parts store only a couple miles down the street and it was a nice day. Someone I know recognised the car, turned around and kindly gave me a ride there AND back. Fitted the hose, clamped it down tight on one end and stretched it over the other (stupid design where one end is bigger than the other), filled it up with antifreeze and got going.

 

It got me home, was repaired by the roadside and was only broken for the time it took for the engine to cool down. I'm glad the hose failed where it did, and quite abruptly because it generated the big cloud of steam as a warning and I was able to stop and switch off before the engine even got hot. It lost about a gallon of coolant in total, which isn't bad really. No concern of the usual F series cracked head from an overheat. Win.

 

The pipe bodge will probably last but I'm going to go to a different store and try find a suitable replacement that has a different size end on each end of the pipe to fit a little better.

 

Phil

[Asimo]

My last ftp, (about 25 years ago!) was a hose burst. It was a Renault of course.

[PhilA]

So far all the failures on this vehicle have been rubber components (apart from the electrical ones, because Renault).

 

Phil

[tooSavvy]

Could you use a copper joint (different dia each shoulder), for stepping heating pipes... +2 hoses ??

 

TS

[vulgalour]

Rubber components are getting worse, I swear.  Still, at least it was an easy fix on a nice day and that's a great picture of it under that ancient old tree.

[PhilA]

Thankfully it was pleasant yes. I did get rather grubby but I managed to fix it with the freebie tool kit I keep tucked in the back.

 

The original rubber stuff is very pliable, thirty years on. New rubber seems to be much less so, the boots I fitted in February having split is annoying in the extreme, given that the car has done maybe 1500 miles in that time.

 

Found a spare boot but I'm not sure if it's an inner or an otter boot, going to go search the auto parts store to see if there's a more suitable boot that's not stretched to its' limits on full lock.

[PhilA]

Could you use a copper joint (different dia each shoulder), for stepping heating pipes... +2 hoses ??TS

Did think about that but the current fix appears to be watertight.

 

My concern is 5 years down the line that the pipe splits because it's been massaged gently over the larger of the two metal spigots.

 

Phil

[Pillock]

otter boot

 

 

Love hearing about this car, so happy you're got a damn sight more determination than I would.

Can't offer anything constructive so I'll merely mock your spelling mistake, in good humour.

[PhilA]

Hurrah autocorrect.

 

I decided to scrape back some of the old paint on the hood to see how bad it is. It's not nice. It needs to be bare metalled and redone from scratch.

 

However, a rapid blow-over shows just how badly Krylon goes on...

 

Unimpressed. Going to stick with Dupli-color, I think. On the bright side, it does have a bit of a shine to it. Better than can be said for the rest of it...

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Oh, and a question for the Renault-botherers that read this- do the the front lower wishbones have the same bushes at the fwd R5? The mechanical bits and general structure seems to be shared between the SuperCinq and the R9/11. I was looking at Superflex bushes and they list the 5 but not the 9.

 

Thanks

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Pulled the intermittent wipe module out yesterday and examined it.

 

 

Replaced a bad capacitor. Now my wipers wipe intermittently and also continue to wipe a few times after squirting screenwash.

 

Luxury!

 

Phil

[Felly Magic]

You could turn this into a 'Harlequin' special, rattle can every panel a different colour

[PhilA]

 

Stopped outside an abandoned gas station not far from here. Have fitted a new silencer to the back. Much more pleasant to drive now, despite creaks, squeaks and rattles now being much more audible.

 

Just adding miles to it right now.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

After fitting the silencer, many noises made themselves audible. Suspension creaks, various other clunks and bumps. One of the ones that concerned me was the oscillating whine coming from the engine bay at about 1700 RPM.

 

 

Popped the hood open and started up, using screwdriver-to-ear method to isolate the location of the noise. Unhappily, it came from a non easily replaceable item, the cylinder head. (Why couldn't it be an ancillary part?)

 

 

Cracked off the nuts that hold the cam cover on and cleaned them up thoroughly. It would appear they used to be chromed.

 

 

Fought with the bloody lid for five minutes because it didn't want to come off around the things attached over it.

 

 

Was pleasantly surprised at how much cleaner the inside of the engine was, you can see where the active motion of oil flung from the camshaft has cleaned up the innards. Diesel oil ftw.

 

 

Everything inside looks ok, no bad wear on the shaft, but this is the one that broke a valve and the shaft doesn't belong to the head. It's got 120k in a different engine as I had to replace the head (which didn't come with a camshaft) so there was always a possibility of it being a bit grumbly. Well, it is.

 

Decided to change the oil, as it had picked up all that dirt.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

 

The only 20w/50 oil the shop had. $30. Daylight robbery! The 0w/15 fully synthetic stuff was cheaper. Oh well, had a $15 rebate card so that went to good use.

 

 

Old filter out, new one about to go in. This one was better value at $3 in a very dusty box.

 

 

Gave it a quick wipe over underneath. Looks ok still.

 

 

One observation made, why do sump plugs have more threads when the oil is hot and burning your fingers? Also why do they manage to hang on at a wonky angle at the last thread, not pull out and spray oil off to the side?

 

 

Yup, that needed changing. Thankfully though, no twinkles visible. Just dirt.

 

 

New stuff going in. Much better color. Pulled the king lead off and cranked it over until it built up pressure, then checked the level, topping up a little.

 

 

Satisfactory. Good for another 3-4000 miles now.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

 

Gone all high tech here, got a video. Exhaust now is better, even, but you can hear the warraghwarraghwarragh of the cam. Bleh.

 

Phil

[tooSavvy]

Now my wipers wipe intermittently and also continue to wipe a few times after squirting screenwash.

 

Luxury!

 

Phil

 

Hiyya M8.

 

I 'discovered' something recently about the ToMM©.... I had posted that the 'wash' was on the end of the stick for wiper control.

 

You pull the wipers, for a wipe, but get no wash... you need to press the button at the same time... Ahh  [lightbulb moment!].

 

 

.... however, as you do, I was absentmindedly sending fountains of wash fluid up the screen - bored or what - and after about 3secs of 'whoosh' >> damn..the wipers go 'Sweep'.

 

I never, ever knew that [/dunce hat]

 

Keep up the Good Work out there..... 

 

 

TS

[PhilA]

I just fixed the radio, the cage was wrong and the thing fell through into the dash. I think Kenwood still seem the correct trim bezel for it.

 

 

I can now turn the radio up and pretend the bad noises have gone away.

 

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Bloody thing. Yeah, the camshaft bearings are on the way out.

 

I guess I'm on the look out for a cylinder head with a camshaft that belongs to the head.

 

Fun times. Part of me wants to get either a turbo or a 16v head for it... But that's a lot of work.

 

Phil

[Snipes]

Well it's been so trouble free so far it would be a shame to have to take it apart wouldn't it? 😂

[cort1977]

Any leads for a new head Phil?

There is a US owners club... http://www.renaultclub.us/ Might be worth asking on their FB page?

You deserve an Autoshite medal for persevering with this thing.

[PhilA]

Right now buying a house is higher on the list, so the Renault is just parked up. I might pull the bearing caps off to inspect at the weekend.

 

C'est la vie

 

Phil

[Madman Of The People]

Forget the house, you can live in the Renault, instead!

 

Don't give up the good fight.  You are doing the imaginary lord's work!

 

Here's some further inspiration for you, MotorWeek's review of the Renault Alliance GTA, back when John Davis still had hair!

 

 

[PhilA]

 

I'll start with a picture today. This is #5 camshaft bearing. It is only moderately badger's arse and does like to piss oil a little more than it should (thankfully into the right places).

 

 

This is the load side, the rough edge being the lash; most of that wear was on the bearings when I got them.

 

 

The camshaft is not showing (too) many signs of unhappiness so that's all good.

 

 

 

 

The rest are okay. Having finished inspecting the things, they got throughly cleaned and put back on. (Mental note they need torquing correctly).

 

Noise was hunted with screwdriver to ear. Turns out it's not the top end. Loosened off the auxillary belt and started it up, to be greeted by the most noisy thing being the fuel injector.

 

So, overall, either the water pump, alternator, power steering pump, tensioner idler or aircon compressor bearings are shot.

 

This makes me more happy than I was because those guys unbolt and one is even under warranty.

 

Phil

[DeeJay]

I'd put money on it not being the part under warranty.

[Supernaut]

I'd put money on it not being the part under warranty.

It'll be the part that ran out of warranty last week!

[Liggle]

If its any help my water pump on my MR2 sounded exactly like your video before it seized! 

[PhilA]

Yeah, the water pump is moderately awkward to get to work the engine running. Makes sense though that the noise was being translated up through the block.

 

Sad thing is, if it's the water pump, that was replaced 5000 miles ago when I rebuilt the engine.

 

Phil