Gooner II V6 - Reliable motoring at its finest*

[Guest Hooli]

It's crusty pistons in the front brakes that makes my goona shake under braking. I could fix them, but that would involve spending money on something french - which is never worth doing.

[SiC]

Dangerous territory putting down in writing how reliable a car has been, particularly a Gooner.

 

Ballsy move. GLWTMOT.

It seems to have been. Phone call from the wife this morning when she was on her way to work, to tell me that the interior fan no longer works on any speed setting.

[beko1987]

It must be the french in them, the interior fan on the Xantia made a weird noise this morning, it stopped after a few minutes though

[Kiltox]

ALL GOONERZ R SHIT

scrap it m8

[SiC]

Not sure yet, not got my hands on it again yet. Apparently the heated windscreen was very effective in stopping it steaming up!

[SiC]

It's got all the trimmings mate.

 

Admittedly not all the heating bars work!

 

I've just been informed that she's left work, got in, started up and it's now working just fine. It's fixed itself. Or in other words it's had a French moment...

[SiC]

Just remembered and a quick Google confirms my memory. A quirk on the Laguna climate control fan is that if the battery voltage is low, it won't allow the fan to run.

 

I started it up last night and moved it off the drive to let me get the Saab out. I suspect this drained the battery a bit and overnight drain pulled it a bit lower. Then this morning it was below this magic voltage and the fan was disabled. Stopping and then restarting it tonight let the fan work as the voltage must have increased on startup.

 

I think a new battery maybe on the cards very soon. Also possibly double checking the alternator is doing the right thing too.

[Noel Tidybeard]

also its possible if the climate is on auto setting the fan wont run at any significant speed untill there is any warmth to move therein

 

nissan primeval was like this

[Guest Hooli]

I'm pretty sure the climate control goonas have an electrical heater for when the engine isn't warm. Although being french, that could just mean an electrical fire.

[SiC]

Yeah I think your right. But I seem to remember it might be only on the diesels? I know the Clio diesels have heaters in the coolant lines.

 

The big block of metal that is an engine holds the heat well in the v6s and the extra fuel consumption+inefficiencies of a slush auto means it warms up reasonably quickly too.

[Guest Hooli]

I'm not sure on diesel/pez tbh. If I made the effort to walk out to the car I could check the HBOL, but this sarnie is too nice.

[SiC]

Drove the Laguna in this morning, as wife took the Civic and left the Laguna in the way of the Saab. Started fine and got me in ok.

 

Started her up on the way home and literally just managed to get running. Fan cut out too until restart. Arse biscuits.

What I don't understand and worries me a bit, is how it started fine from being left all night but after a good 25minute run in the morning it struggled in the evening. I have also noticed the dash lights being a bit flickery at times too.

 

Maybe it's not (just) the battery but the alternator struggling too. I'm going to have to give it a probe with a multimeter and see if it's chucking out enough volts with everything loaded up.

[Guest Hooli]

I'd be checking for water in the UCH too, but I'm sure you've already thought of that.

 

Dodgy earth strap?

[Kiltox]

It's colder at the moment so I reckon it needs a battery - you have form for neglecting batteries after all

[SiC]

It's colder at the moment so I reckon it needs a battery - you have form for neglecting batteries after all

Nah I just get my monies worth out of them! Also I tend not to use them daily which really doesn't help.

[Kiltox]

Lion 3 year bollocks from ECP with WEEKEND30 are your friend - warranty replace them if they die before the 3 years are up

[bub2006]

It must be the french in them, the interior fan on the Xantia made a weird noise this morning, it stopped after a few minutes though

If it was a sort of high pitched noise its the little sensor next to the clock for the auto function.

[Sir Snipes]

An old neighbour of mine was a mini-cabber and he ran a facelift Laguna 2! That was about 3 years ago so no warranties or anything to save the day.

[beko1987]

If it was a sort of high pitched noise its the little sensor next to the clock for the auto function.

That would make sense, it's only been on auto for the past month after I broke the speed knob.

 

Ill be having a tin of contact cleaner on the handbrake switch this weekend, I'll have a blast on the climate sensor too whilst I have the tools out

[SiC]

Starting is getting more and more treacherous at the moment with the cold weather.

 

Battery voltage after being left a couple of hours:

Not great, but not critically low tbh.

 

Started up and this is the minimum voltage during starting:

Errrr, that's really rather low.

 

Voltage at idle:

Acceptable.

 

Giving a few beans:

About right.

 

Interior fan max, heated windscreen/mirror/rear screen/heated seats all on at idle:

A bit low again! I should have checked it when giving a bit of revs, but got told off by wife for making too much noise late at night. It's probably about right though with a semi-discharged battery and a heavy load on the alternator though.

 

I'm hoping its just the battery is a bit cack, not the alternator.

 

Another observation is that its a bit "gravelly" around 2.2k rpm. Hopefully its just because its cold out and the engine is cold.

Also wondering if the spark plugs are in need of a dire change. Not sure when the back bank were done last, but that requires the intake manifold to come off. Not a huge job, but not a fun job in low temps. Especially as its made of brittle plastic!

[bub2006]

See look what happems when chompy fixes his goona

[SiC]

I know! It's creating a disturbance in the force!

[bub2006]

i dont know. Just unfair!

[dollywobbler]

12.4v is about right for a standing battery isn't it? Amps is the key one though in terms of starting. Volts will always drop with cranking.

[SiC]

1.45v per cell minimum when it was cranking. That's pretty low tbh. A weak battery (or dirty contacts) drops down more under load. I'd expect it to drop to around 9.5v but not too much lower. It is a big-ish engine that is cold though, so will require a fair amount of current to get things turning.

[PhillipM]

1.45v per cell minimum when it was cranking. That's pretty low tbh. A weak battery (or dirty contacts) drops down more under load. I'd expect it to drop to around 9.5v but not too much lower. It is a big-ish engine that is cold though, so will require a fair amount of current to get things turning.

For comparision, the same engine in mine with an undersized battery compared to spec (previous owner must have been a tight bastard), drops to 10.8v ish on cranking, floats at about 12.6-12.7v in this cold weather.

[SiC]

Decided to buy a ECP special.

 

Unfortantly during it fitting it, I managed to break the stupid little fuses that Renault put on the battery clamps.

 

This fuse is for the starter+alternator, so effectively dead making the Laguna driveway ornament currently.

 

I went into Renault Dealer to obtain a new one. They only supply the complete battery clamp & fuse holder assembly - £12 for all in. Not bad I guess. As you might expect they don't have it in stock and the soonest they can get in stock is Tuesday. So off to the scrapyard tomorrow!

[Kiltox]

Had no idea that was a thing - could you just solder a standard fuse holder between the terminals as a quick fix?

[SiC]

It's similar to what the Megane/Scenic has, just a single fuse instead of 2. Google doesn't find picture of Laguna, but here is the Megane...

 

Essentially just the black middle one on the Laguna and a wire that is directly connected to the battery to the main fusebox.

 

I could connect the feed directly into the battery, but a bit dodgy running it unfused (on a French car).

[SiC]

Yeah afaik they do. I think mine was just cracked and damaged from age. The shock of removing the battery clamp off just finally cracked it internally.

 

My negative clamp is also busted. They're a fiver to replace with official Renault parts. Quite reasonable prices imo.