That Lovejoy Safrane

[andyberg]

No, it's black. The ex Petrolblog Safrane.

[James M]

43 minutes ago, andyberg said:

No, it's black. The ex Petrolblog Safrane.

Ah, nice. I’ve been told by a coworker that there’s a silver Safrane going about. I certainly need to see it for myself

[Arthur-walker]

4 hours ago, James M said:

A recent discovery. Could this be a potential reason as to why the seat is buggered?

Hard to say, what was it connected to?

 

[James M]

1 minute ago, Arthur-walker said:

Hard to say, what was it connected to?

 

That goes into the ECU

[Arthur-walker]

3 minutes ago, James M said:

That goes into the ECU

Then i'd say theres a very high chance it could be the culprit!  are there any auto electricians in your area?  Someone like that could probably very quickly diagnose the issue as this is what they sepcialise in and they'll normally come to you.

[James M]

8 minutes ago, Arthur-walker said:

Then i'd say theres a very high chance it could be the culprit!  are there any auto electricians in your area?  Someone like that could probably very quickly diagnose the issue as this is what they sepcialise in and they'll normally come to you.

I’ve asked at the garage I work at. No one seems to know anybody 

[beko1987]

How bad is the connector on the ecu side? Is it beyond a can of contact cleaner and small wire brush? You'd possibly be best to try and probe the wires from the connections too but that will be hard... 

Does the lid of the ecu thing come off in an easy looking way? Might be able to remove the pcb and clean it up and see if it's not too fried

[James M]

19 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

How bad is the connector on the ecu side? Is it beyond a can of contact cleaner and small wire brush? You'd possibly be best to try and probe the wires from the connections too but that will be hard... 

Does the lid of the ecu thing come off in an easy looking way? Might be able to remove the pcb and clean it up and see if it's not too fried

The connectors on the ECU side are fine. I think the best way of going about it is potentially sourcing another connector and soldering the wires in

[stuboy]

33 minutes ago, James M said:

The connectors on the ECU side are fine. I think the best way of going about it is potentially sourcing another connector and soldering the wires in

fingers crossed

[James M]

Hmm. More discoveries. 
I cleaned the connector and stuck it back in to (unsurprisingly) no success. I do still think it needs a connector, although I did discover that the ECU’s themselves don’t appear to be the same. The one I bought for it was manufactured in November 1996, meaning that I could have bought the wrong ECU as it may be from a facelift?

[Arthur-walker]

6 hours ago, James M said:

Hmm. More discoveries. 
I cleaned the connector and stuck it back in to (unsurprisingly) no success. I do still think it needs a connector, although I did discover that the ECU’s themselves don’t appear to be the same. The one I bought for it was manufactured in November 1996, meaning that I could have bought the wrong ECU as it may be from a facelift?

the original ecu looks fried.  you will want to make sure the parts numbers match up and buy one from the same year ideally.

[James M]

Ok, certainly a long shot. If anyone does happen to dive into the depths of French salvage yards and does find a ph1 Safrane seat ECU, I would pay a £100 finders fee as well as the cost of the component itself if you could bring it back and post it to me. The connectors would have to be cut off as well as the current ones on mine are heavily corroded.

[mcmolloy1]

Found this on Flickr. Very similar reg.

[Hertz]

@25v6turbo Had a PH1 Safrane plus spares from memory who may be able to assist?

[James M]

I’ve bought yet another ECU for it using the correct part number. It’s estimated to arrive next week seeing as it’s coming from Lithuania. A connector might still be needed, but I’ll see how things go first.

[James M]

Thought it was about time for an update.

The correct ECU had arrived, and to no one’s surprise it fixed bugger all. It has to be the connector, surely. Aside from that I’ve not really done anything with it having funded a Rust 2 Rome trip and been away from it for a while. No ambition has been lost with it thankfully. I honestly would’ve loved to have taken it to the FOTU, but that’s highly unlikely.

[andyberg]

7 hours ago, James M said:

Thought it was about time for an update.

The correct ECU had arrived, and to no one’s surprise it fixed bugger all. It has to be the connector, surely. Aside from that I’ve not really done anything with it having funded a Rust 2 Rome trip and been away from it for a while. No ambition has been lost with it thankfully. I honestly would’ve loved to have taken it to the FOTU, but that’s highly unlikely.

No matter the issues she's got to be worth sorting. I love my Safrane and really wouldn't want anything else now.

[Arthur-walker]

can you not just replace the seat with a manually operated one?  Or take the current seat apart, resposition so that is comfortable and reassemble, job done?  And yes the connecters from your photo, they looked melted so probably useless in that state. 

I've said before but a good auto electrician would be your best bet here, they will be able to help diagnose and fix the issue, theres quite a few in the central belt of Scotland if you do a quick Google, some of them are even mobile and will come to you.  You might need to set aside a bit of cash though as they aren't cheap but surely worth it to get it fixed.

 A seat that won't adjust is such a minor issue to stop this car from being used! 

[Split_Pin]

A seat that won't adjust (and where it is designed to) is an MOT failure. 

I agree though, a manually operated seat will make it usable!

Cracking car this, I love the mid 1990s era of Renault.

[wesacosa]

I wonder if a seat from a Laguna or other Renault of that era would fit as temporary measure to get it through the MOT

[DSdriver]

A bit random but have you tried asking for help on Aussiefrogs forum, there are a lot of guys who are used to sorting old French cars.

[beko1987]

Assuming any old connection would work, could you find someone who could/attempt to open the seat side and cirectlynwire a shit ton of wires directly to the pcb, then wire that into a couple of suitable connectors to have the right amount of pins (radio iso connectors?) then take the car loom side and chop and wire that correctly into the other side of the connectors and essentially bypass all the melted stuff? 

Even a.n.other matched pair of some automotive connector of anything else as long as there's enough pins, the door loom on my Xsara has about 27 wires going to it and is a nice twist lock connector if you robbed the door and a pillar side

[beko1987]

On 24/03/2024 at 16:19, James M said:

Hmm. More discoveries. 
I cleaned the connector and stuck it back in to (unsurprisingly) no success. I do still think it needs a connector, although I did discover that the ECU’s themselves don’t appear to be the same. The one I bought for it was manufactured in November 1996, meaning that I could have bought the wrong ECU as it may be from a facelift?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/315348392269?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=bbycy3b-svy&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=QOvj0cTJQtq&var=613828961477&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Something like this? Just wire the female end up to the pcb (removing the melted blue plug as you go) then pin by pin wire up the male side on the car. 

This random spec sheet for a random db25 connector I found suggests it should take whatever 12v from the car should throw at it although I'm not an expert there, I'd have crimped the lot together with random appliance wiring before now to test it all 😂

https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Prototyping/DB25-Connector.pdf

[James M]

4 hours ago, beko1987 said:

Assuming any old connection would work, could you find someone who could/attempt to open the seat side and cirectlynwire a shit ton of wires directly to the pcb, then wire that into a couple of suitable connectors to have the right amount of pins (radio iso connectors?) then take the car loom side and chop and wire that correctly into the other side of the connectors and essentially bypass all the melted stuff? 

Even a.n.other matched pair of some automotive connector of anything else as long as there's enough pins, the door loom on my Xsara has about 27 wires going to it and is a nice twist lock connector if you robbed the door and a pillar side

Unfortunately I am completely clueless when it comes to electrics. Thankfully I did befriend someone who is admittedly rather reluctant, yet willing to have a look at it.

[MantaGTE85]

On 30/03/2024 at 22:58, mcmolloy1 said:

 

Found this on Flickr. Very similar reg.

It's a great shame that it's since disappeared from DVLA. It was a 2.0 8-valve RN too. I bet it was still very quiet and comfortable inside.

[beko1987]

3 minutes ago, James M said:

Unfortunately I am completely clueless when it comes to electrics. Thankfully I did befriend someone who is admittedly rather reluctant, yet willing to have a look at it.

Awesome, good luck! I'm mk expert but I would offer to do the ecu side, but that's still useless when the car side needs doing too 😂

But connect the dots the right way and maybe stick a really low amp fuse in the holder just incase and it should be testable

[James M]

Unfortunately the Safrane has developed a case of, “I don’t want to start anymore.” No ignition lights when you turn the key, yet it initially starts then dies almost immediately. I can hear the fuel pump turning on, yet I can’t see it being anything other than the immobiliser

[James M]

1 minute ago, James M said:

Unfortunately the Safrane has developed a case of, “I don’t want to start anymore.” No ignition lights when you turn the key, yet it initially starts then dies almost immediately. I can hear the fuel pump turning on, yet I can’t see it being anything other than the immobiliser

Won’t let me upload the video unfortunately.

[AnnoyingPentium]

10 minutes ago, James M said:

Won’t let me upload the video unfortunately.

You'll have to host it via an external site and link it here.

[Rust Collector]

I’m not clued up on Safranes, but if there’s no dash lights at all then I’d be checking fuses, battery cables, earthing points, etc. first based on my recent French car adventures - especially on something that has been sitting for a long time.