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Renault 25, the bank's behind me, Mrs Doblo's behind me, John can sod off!


Dobloseven

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Around 1988 a friend's dad had a new black 25 auto.  Gorgeous comfortable car with grey leather, they had a funeral directors business and all their cars were immaculate.  My m8 aged about 19 had only recently passed his driving test and was used to driving manuals.  Was chatting to another friend with a scooter in a car park.  M8 left the car park at 'rapid acceleration' with the scooter in hot pursuit right behind, m8 then 'pressed the clutch pedal to change into 2nd gear'.  Auto Renner stood on it's nose and screeched to a halt and there was a loud crunch as accelerating-flat-out scooter met Renner back bumper.

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21 minutes ago, JeeExEll said:

Around 1988 a friend's dad had a new black 25 auto.  Gorgeous comfortable car with grey leather, they had a funeral directors business and all their cars were immaculate.  My m8 aged about 19 had only recently passed his driving test and was used to driving manuals.  Was chatting to another friend with a scooter in a car park.  M8 left the car park at 'rapid acceleration' with the scooter in hot pursuit right behind, m8 then 'pressed the clutch pedal to change into 2nd gear'.  Auto Renner stood on it's nose and screeched to a halt and there was a loud crunch as accelerating-flat-out scooter met Renner back bumper.

Did that lead to additional funeral business?

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On 7/25/2021 at 12:18 PM, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Did that lead to additional funeral business?

Bloke was lying on the road in pain but ok.  Scooter was fked.  Nearly new Renner into the bodyshop for repair.  All settled up, still mates today.

But at the time it was a bit like a scene out of a Roadrunner cartoon.

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56 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Even more confusing was the Citroen C-Matic gearbox as on the GS. It was clutch-less - with a push down on the gear knob but you still changed gear as usual.

Now that did take some getting used to with the clutch foot hitting the brake..  

Wasn't there also the Cotal gearbox whereby simply touching the gearknob activated the clutch - fitted to the Facel Vega I think?

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Another quick fix! Central locking worked with key on the drivers door.Remote fob didn't light up or work. Malcolm, the owner told me it hadn't for ages. 2 new batteries from Halfords and job's a good un. Thought I'd got a problem this morning. Went for some petrol and auto gearbox warning symbol stayed on. Handbook said on that particular box, it indicated an electrical or electronic fault, and guess where to take it....However it drove normally so I went where I was going, about 7 miles away and when we started it again, it went out after 3 seconds as it should and has stayed off. The box is lovely and smooth the rev counter is the only indication of changing ratios.. It's one of the main reasons I fell for it. Been doing a bit of research and found out it did 60k miles in its first 3 years, and only about 40k in the next 29.Planning to change all fluids and filters ASAP as a matter of course. Other than that, I'm really enjoying it, it's about as close as you can get to driving a 3 piece suite!Be nice to have aircon, but realistically after 32 years, it'd probably need a bit more than a "regas, m9". 

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I used to work with a bloke who had one of these. His was the V6 auto Monaco version. I only went in it the once, on a long, long motorway trip. It was silent and effortless. I had a soft spot for them for many, many years, but then I won a Vel Satis.

Well bort.

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Well, gave it a good vacuuming out, cleaned the drivers seat which had a brownish tinge. The rest seemed fine so left them alone. Then did a bit of de gifferisation. Malcolm in his wisdom had drilled a hole, about 5mm, in the centre of the front wheel trims and bolted them with stainless steel cap head screws to brass fittings screwed into the ends of the driveshafts. I've got rid of them as the trims fit fine anyway and he hadn't bothered with the rears. He'd also put parcel tape over the ventilation holes in the wheels to stop brake dust, presumably. He'd aso painted some greasy stuff round the door frames. Got the hosepipe out and a bucket of shampooey water and gave it a good wash. Followed by some polish, spray on the tyres and trim etc. Got a bit carried away. IMG_20210725_212834.thumb.jpg.644fa7b56a4a14d605775fdd8081dc65.jpgIMG_20210725_204756.thumb.jpg.8fad3fc479755cc65729c2d8255ee525.jpg

However, I have found a rust! The bottom of the front nearside wing is quite fragile and has pulled away from the sill. There's a bit of filler sticking it on and filling the gap. . Will do a welded repair, hopefully keeping the new metal below the sill line to avoid breaking the paint. The sills are black and there's a stainless steel trim strip with a rubber covering that I need to carefully remove to re use along with the wheel arch liner. Kind of looking forward to doing it in a perverted sort of way. Did something similar a few years ago on a  mk 3 Golf that had rotted behind Gti style arches and sill covers. 

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Friends came round yesterday and regaled us with the tale of their friend who had a penchant for big, comfy motors. He had a 25 when they were regular used cars. On holiday in France, the sunroof stuck open. Took it to a garage and after much stripping down, they found some corrugated material used to prevent the roof drumming had come adrift, jamming the mechanism. 

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10 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

Friends came round yesterday and regaled us with the tale of their friend who had a penchant for big, comfy motors. He had a 25 when they were regular used cars. On holiday in France, the sunroof stuck open. Took it to a garage and after much stripping down, they found some corrugated material used to prevent the roof drumming had come adrift, jamming the mechanism. 

I heard the sunroof motors can become unreliable over time, same with the electric window ones.

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Pretty well everything seems to work on this one,touch wood. The remote locking had me fooled for a while. It seems to be infrared with the sensor inside the car, just above the interior mirror,facing backwards, and needs the key pointing at it. With it being a low car, and me being tall, it was a bit hit and miss till I realised what the funny looking thing inside was. Handbook didn't seem to mention it either. 

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Savvy had r/f 'plipp' locking... The penny battery went flat quickly and would send the synch (to other key) loopy :(

I had a key blank cut [for opening the car] and bought 2x small duracell 1.5V batteries. >> wired them direct into the fob [3V] and taped them tight to the metal key part.

Lasted over a year... mebbies 2... + remote locking worked at around 30foot  :)

Winnah!

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4 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

Now this has only one remote, which is on the ignition key. The doors are unlocked with a different, round key. The other ignition key is just a key. Nice to have it all working  properly though. 

Those round keys were shared with VW/Audi as well. Not sure which ones though.

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Another couple of fixes, one simple, drivers side interior light not working, no bulb, fit bulb, sorted. Other problem potentially serious. I'd noticed the engine would warm up quickly on the gauge, good. However, the temperature would fluctuate a lot, rising almost to the red if idling for long, but would drop quickly once on the move. Electric fan is a poor little thing, covering less than half the radiator, but it definitely wasn't cutting in. Found the thermo switch, pulled the connector off, joined the wires together, fan worked fine. Cleaned and tightened the terminals and now it all works a treat. Don't suppose Malcolm noticed. Unless stuck in traffic on a hot day, one would probably just about get away with it. Though he had tied a big bottle of water to the inner wing so perhaps he had concerns. Wouldn't thing it'd do the transmission any favours either, instead of the oil cooler taking heat out of the ATF, it could be putting it in to it. Can't seem get the tickover right.It's quite lumpy, made worse when it's in Drive being held on the foot brake.It was also varying according to the engine temperature which was fluctuating depending on the temperature and lack of fan. The HBOL tells us to adjust the revs with the volume screw and then to tweak the mixture screw, which still has a blanking cover on it which needs removing. At least nobody's been fiddling with it in the past. Also the transmission warning symbol came on again tonight and hasn't gone off again yet. As said previously, apparently it's an elecrical or electronic issue. 

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14 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

The remote locking had me fooled for a while. It seems to be infrared with the sensor inside the car, just above the interior mirror, it was a bit hit and miss till I realised what the funny looking thing inside was. Handbook didn't seem to mention it either. 

Tell me cars weren’t a big thing in your life in the late ‘80s without telling me your age…

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46 minutes ago, RichardK said:

Tell me cars weren’t a big thing in your life in the late ‘80s without telling me your age…

At around the time the Renault in question entered the world in August 1989.we ran a 1978 Chrysler Alpine and a 1979 Peugeot 504 family estate. Things like remote locking and electric windows weren't for the likes of us. 

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11 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

Must add that I'm quite enjoying fiddling with the old thing. Wife reckons I've had my moneys worth already. It's great to look under the big bonnet which rises majestically on gas struts, and be able to see around the engine. And even recognise a good many of the components! 

..... this +1 ;)

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