Kiltox's 1997 Rover 216 Cabriolet (30/05 - Fixery)

[Kiltox]

New addition to the fleet since my Kangoo has departed

 

 

1.9dCi with.... wait for it...... 203,000 miles

 

Hazard switch doesn't work and it has an oil leak that might need attention but I've driven about 100 miles today and it's largely behaving itself

 

Needs a damn good clean inside and out though

[Supernaut]

Only 203k?

 

Barely broken in then!

[Kiltox]

Yeah the 3rd gearbox, 2nd engine and 4th turbo are barely broken in

[Kiltox]

IKEA trip today - fucking hell the load space is vast compared with my old Kangoo - swallowed up a 3 seat sofa and some other bits like it was nothing

[SiC]

Smart move. I guess a sofa is a nicer place to sit when sat on a hard shoulder waiting for a recovery truck.

[Kiltox]

Another 90 or so miles under its belt today with no drama

[leakingstrut]

I think I've got a spare Vivaro/Traffic hazard switch kicking about. It will be missing the top cover (my switch is fine but my red cover is cracked). Drop me a PM with your address if you want it - I'm not after anything for it.

[SiC]

That's has the same part as the (infamous) Laguna II hazard switch !

[Kiltox]

PM sent - the plastic bit of mine is good, the switch itself has Renaulted

[nacho man]

All three of our vivaros at work have needed hazard switches, but believe it or not, they have never broke down.

[Kiltox]

Renault bullshit of the day

 

Van instrument lights and sidelights turn themselves off when I indicate left with dipped beam on. Think the indicator stalk is bolloxed because jiggling it puts them back on

[leakingstrut]

Mine had a similar problem, albeit just the dash lights not the beams. Strangely it went away after a while. Very disconcerting when it started happening driving through an unfamiliar city at night the day I picked it up - I had no idea if it was just the dash lights or if the headlight were going too.

 

Ps. I've not forgotten about the hazard switch, just can't find it right now!

[Kiltox]

It's just the sidelights - the headlights stay on

I've ordered a new stalk which should sort it out

 

No rush on the hazard switch although if you can't put your hazard lights on are you even a van driver?

[Kiltox]

203k versus new indicator stalk

 

 

Dead easy to change - people saying the steering wheel needs to be removed are wrong

 

Getting the column trim back on is not so easy!

[Kiltox]

If you don't need to take the bumper off to do anything is it even a Renault?

 

 

New* horn and air con pressure switch incoming

[r.welfare]

Good work. I found I had to take the headlight unit out of my Espace to change the sidelight bulb, but I suppose that is not exclusive to Renault these days.

[Kiltox]

Wow.

 

[Kiltox]

Horn is sorted so that's one likely MOT failure item sorted!

 

Still no air con - there's no power to the compressor

[r.welfare]

Snap!

[Kiltox]

I've checked the fuse and replaced the pressure switch and there's loads of gas in the system - wiring?

 

I'm seeing reports online of the system locking itself out and needing CAN CLIP to reset if the gas gets too low or the pressure sensor dies - my Delphi diagnostics don't return any fault codes for the climate system but I don't know if CLIP will find stuff it can't

[r.welfare]

Yeah I'd have a look at wiring. I think I've spotted a corroded wire in my loom which I will look into tomorrow. The aircon man had an Autel system that seemed to show the Renault codes (DFxxx).

[SiC]

With the new pressure sensor is it giving a reading?

 

I'm pretty sure these petrols aren't affected with engine error codes like the diesels were. The diesels had a bug in the ecu firmware that Renault never fixed. Basically putting the fan speed on 4 in these an accelerating hard from a stand still caused a error code to be stored and aircon not work.

[Kiltox]

Those are things I do quite often - it doesn't get driven gently.... ever

 

I haven't had the chance to plug it in yet, laptop charger has gone missing

[SiC]

To be fair, driven gently in it would mean that your being overtaken by dog walkers and children on scooters, given its acceleration.

[SiC]

It seems like you've really fallen for the old thing!

 

I guess up for sale once the MOT done and sorted? Might make it for the pre summer holiday, family car sale rush!

[Kiltox]

It's got a surprising turn of speed once it's moving but getting there takes an age!

 

Auto doesn't help mind, I swear it forgets it's a gearbox sometimes

[Kiltox]

It seems like you've really fallen for the old thing!

I guess up for sale once the MOT done and sorted? Might make it for the pre summer holiday, family car sale rush!

I've been strongly advised by domestic management that a Trafic is not suitable daily transport so it might stick around longer than you think!

 

Going to chuck it in for a test now that the horn doesn't just let out a weak fart

[SiC]

A bit like my grandads Laguna 2 again! The auto box in there (same as yours) is throwing a fit and back in failsafe (3rd gear only) again. 1.8l with power sapped from an autobox and stuck in 3rd is a very slow, slow thing.

[Kiltox]

None of that here just the odd harsh change and sometimes staying in a gear for what I think is too long but I'm not exactly sympathetic to the old thing which probably just wants putting out of its misery - 154k miles has to be getting on for record breaking given I see 40k mile examples go to the bridge

[SiC]

Probably in dire need of a box fluid change! I seem to remember in the paperwork it had a brief mention of the box having something done on it in its life. Don't think it was as extreme as a new box but may have even been!