1988 Renault 5 Extra Wheelchair Van - Ramp Fixed and Saying Goodbye

[lesapandre]

10 hours ago, vulgalour said:

But then you've got the issue of emissions because what if it needs to be hot to pass those?  It's great going for an MoT, you can convince yourself the car isn't going to pass in all sorts of ways.

Being an 87 the emissions are less stringent? Best of luck with this. 🍀

[vulgalour]

Well yeah, it's on a carb and no cat as standard so you've got to be going some to fail emissions.

@Noel Tidybeard I've left the fan wiring as is, just in case.  I'll reconnect it once it's passed the MoT, that way if it is a duff switch rather than just the rad being cold at least it'll be easier to test and find out, worst thing would be reconnecting the switch properly, presenting for the MoT, and having it overheat because the switch actually is duff.

[vulgalour]

Guess who got an MoT with no advisories today?

Frankly amazed, and so was the tester at how solid the van is underneath since he knows the reputation these have for just dissolving.  Taxed, insured, all that good stuff which is just as well since the Princess is out of action AGAIN thanks to needing some welding that's rather important.

It's off to get the tracking sorted out tomorrow afternoon and that should make it a lot more pleasant to drive.

[RayMK]

1 minute ago, vulgalour said:

Guess who got an MoT with no advisories today?

Frankly amazed, and so was the tester at how solid the van is underneath since he knows the reputation these have for just dissolving.  Taxed, insured, all that good stuff which is just as well since the Princess is out of action AGAIN thanks to needing some welding that's rather important.

It's off to get the tracking sorted out tomorrow afternoon and that should make it a lot more pleasant to drive.

A slightly mixed blessing but the MOT is excellent news.  Pity the Princess now needs some welding.

[2flags]

Great news on the Renault. Shame about the Princess needing another kiss with the sparky stick. Will you be up to doing that yourself?

[vulgalour]

I'll have to be.  It's not a terrible job really and with the Renault active now I can at least take my time sorting the Princess out which I might need to.

[vulgalour]

I had a big drop in my coolant recently, wasn't really sure why because there's nothing obviously amiss.  Today I spotted the van doing a little wee when I came out of the supermarket.  When the van was stone cold, or up to operating temperature, it didn't leak, I just had to catch it at exactly the right temperature.  A couple of turns on the hose clamp screw and the leak stopped, happy days.

The other issue I'm having is the van has the same problem as my old dark blue Ledbury Maestro in that people keeping pulling out on me.  I don't know why it's apparently invisible, perhaps it's because it's small and people think it's further away than it is (very tempted to get a Father Dougal sticker because of this), I'm just grateful the brakes are pretty good.  Today it was a taxi that pulled out of a static lane right in front of me, fortunately I was slowing down already because I was approaching lights so I did have enough time to stop, was still quite alarming.  I might just start driving with the lights on, motorbike fashion, I used to have to do that in the 414 sometimes, another car of mine that was apparently invisible.

[vulgalour]

I forgot to put the latest video in here, oops.  Stick around to the end of it to learn a bit more about who made the van and a little bonus because of where the info came from.

 

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, vulgalour said:

I had a big drop in my coolant recently, wasn't really sure why because there's nothing obviously amiss.  Today I spotted the van doing a little wee when I came out of the supermarket.  When the van was stone cold, or up to operating temperature, it didn't leak, I just had to catch it at exactly the right temperature.  A couple of turns on the hose clamp screw and the leak stopped, happy days.

The other issue I'm having is the van has the same problem as my old dark blue Ledbury Maestro in that people keeping pulling out on me.  I don't know why it's apparently invisible, perhaps it's because it's small and people think it's further away than it is (very tempted to get a Father Dougal sticker because of this), I'm just grateful the brakes are pretty good.  Today it was a taxi that pulled out of a static lane right in front of me, fortunately I was slowing down already because I was approaching lights so I did have enough time to stop, was still quite alarming.  I might just start driving with the lights on, motorbike fashion, I used to have to do that in the 414 sometimes, another car of mine that was apparently invisible.

Same issue I had with the wheelchair adapted Caddy I imagine. 

Everyone thinks you're 90 years old and will only be driving at 15mph everywhere.

If you dare overtake them, especially on the motorway they will then get exceptionally upset about it and make your life misery for the next ten miles.

It was the single worst thing about owning that car I found (cost of insuring it being a close second).

[vulgalour]

I had someone on an e-bike ACCELERATE when I tried to overtake them.  My man, your tits, calm them.  Weirdly, insurance on this is pretty cheap for me, not much more than the Princess for a very similar policy, mind you Classic Line have been pretty good for me in that regard so far.  I haven't braved the motorway yet, not that it's particularly easy to do that in Lincolnshire anyway, it's such a lightweight wobbly thing I can't imagine it's going to be particularly relaxing as an experience!

[Supernaut]

I highly recommend driving with lights on all the time.

I reckon people subconsciously expect a moving vehicle to have DRLs now. Thus the cutting up / pulling out. Some people are just thick cunts, mind.

However I have noticed a positive difference when driving with at least sidelights on.

[loserone]

32 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

I highly recommend driving with lights on all the time.

I reckon people subconsciously expect a moving vehicle to have DRLs now. Thus the cutting up / pulling out. Some people are just thick cunts, mind.

However I have noticed a positive difference when driving with at least sidelights on.

Lights on. All. The. Time.

[stuboy]

On 05/03/2025 at 15:30, Zelandeth said:

If you dare overtake them, especially on the motorway they will then get exceptionally upset about it

i get the same issue with the daddy wagon

[vulgalour]

On 05/03/2025 at 16:44, loserone said:

Lights on. All. The. Time.

It might just be coincidence, it might be that this actually works.  Not once has anyone pulled out on me since having the lights on all the time.  A couple of people have thought about it and then stopped when they obviously saw me.

Today I also learned the radiator fan switch does actually work, coming on and off to regulate the temperature I assume correctly.  I don't actually know since there's no temperature gauge.

[vulgalour]

Drove the Renault in the dark tonight for the first time.  The headlights are USELESS.  I don't just say that because I'm used to the LEDs in the Princess, even my passenger passed comment and wondered if I hadn't turned them on properly.  I've driven cars with sealed beams that were brighter than the halogens in this van.

[loserone]

You should try them in LHD spec with beam deflectors fitted.

[vulgalour]

No thank you!

[vulgalour]

It wasn't my brakes being weird, it was in fact the tyres the van came to me on.  They did go through the MoT and didn't look too bad, plenty of tread etc, with the exception of one tyre that was showing its age in the sidewall.  Today I came out to a nearly-flat front tyre (10psi) and gave everything a check over.  Bear in mind I've been bombing about locally in the van, tip runs, all that good stuff and have only put a couple of hundred miles on since the MoT.  All of the sidewalls on all of the tyres, and the tread on some of them, were cracking and splitting badly.

Brand new tyres aren't in the budget so I wobbled over to the part-worn place and got four reasonable tyres for £100 fitted.  My brakes no longer feel weird and the van rides a lot nicer than it was, hopefully it inspires a little more confidence in the wet too.

With the house move happening in a few weeks, I really didn't want to chance it on the old tyres, especially fully loaded.  The replacements aren't a matched set, I wouldn't expect it at the price paid, though the rears are a decent pair of Kumhos and the fronts are only a couple of years old so they'll do perfectly fine for the next couple of months and lend me some peace of mind.  I've also gone from a 60 profile to a 70 profile since that's what they had in stock and I have to say it's a visual improvement, and an improvement to the ride and noise without having any clearance issues.

[Heidel_Kakao]

Nothing wrong with part worns especially if they are better than the tyres they are replacing.

[vulgalour]

Every new tyre is a part worn once you've driven on them.

[plasticvandan]

Speedo may under read a bit now,might be worth checking 

[vulgalour]

When my speedo says 30mph, the local speed check sign and my sat nav reckon I'm doing in the region of 28-32mph, so there's not really a noticeable change.  The only really noticeable thing is it's a little bit less revvy at 40mph+ and needs just a smidge more throttle setting off from a stop than it did on the old tyres.

[loserone]

OEM size is 80 profile.  This is what's on mine:

[captain_70s]

I don't think this is on the original steelies, maybe 14" alloys?

[Bmwdumptruck]

On 10/03/2025 at 20:48, vulgalour said:

Drove the Renault in the dark tonight for the first time.  The headlights are USELESS.  I don't just say that because I'm used to the LEDs in the Princess, even my passenger passed comment and wondered if I hadn't turned them on properly.  I've driven cars with sealed beams that were brighter than the halogens in this van.

I ran my Extra van on 100w bulbs back in the day. 

[vulgalour]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

I don't think this is on the original steelies, maybe 14" alloys?

Correct, 14" Mk1 Laguna alloys.

https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/?wheel1=155-80-13X6.5ET45&wheel2=165-70-14X6ET40&fcl=50mm&wcl=30mm&scl=50mm&sr=0mm

There's not that much in it really.  I'm on 165/70/14 versus @loserone's van on 155/80/13, suggesting my speedo is going to under-read by 0.9km/h if I've got that correct.

[vulgalour]

Hmmph.

The van is dead.

I've already updated the handful of people on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/c/NoExpenseSpent so they already know what's happened, and I've a video diary thingy going live there this afternoon that'll be public in a week's time.
 

It's going to be a little bit confusing because I've still got some videos on the project to upload from before it dying and I intend to post those.  There's the exhaust video going out public today which is rather more positive and a reminder of how fun this little van has been to bomb about in, and I've a few others showing things like installing locks and window regulators which are still going to be useful for folks working on these cars and vans.

What happened then?

I'm not entirely sure, because the failure really did seem to come out of nowhere.  I'd driven to Hull from Scunthorpe to visit my friend Danni so we could sort out the wiring for the lift (which we did, it was a great day, more on that in a future update).  This was also a test of my abilities and the van's abilities.  As you know, I'm still recovering from what I now know was an incredibly bad ME crash last year and I wasn't sure if I was up to doing about 60 miles and a full day of socialising yet.  I've been doing a lot better, happily, but the drive to the new place is about 250 miles and that's quite a lot for me.  I also wanted to give the van the opportunity to prove itself for a longer sustained speed drive since most of what I do has been short and local trips.  On the run out the van was good as gold and didn't give a single hint of trouble, happy to sit at 50mph chugging along with traffic.  Got do Danni's spent a lovely day chatting and fettling, and then set off home before it got dark.

Still no hints of trouble, I was feeling really good if a little tired, the van had acquitted itself well and we made good progress through Hull towards the bridge.  Unfortunately something was amiss the nearer to the bridge I got, a clicking noise that went from intermittent to constant and was getting louder.  I could not find it, I'd pulled over to check but there was nothing to see and revving the van at the side of the road didn't generate the noise, only when it was driving under load.

My gut was telling me to stop but since I couldn't find the issue I had to press on until it got bad enough to be apparent, which happened just after the toll booth on the Humber Bridge as that clicking became a rattling and got louder and I was losing power.  Oil and coolant lights flickered on, drop a gear and ease off until the van lost power again.  Kept that routine up hoping I could get at least off the bridge, by the time I was in 2nd and doing no more than 20mph I knew I was in trouble so knocked it into neutral and coasted with the hazards on.  Made it as far as the SOS phone... which wasn't working.

There was a LOT of oil smoke from under the bonnet.  However, the Humber Bridge is not the place to pop the bonnet and have a look... then, as I was sorting out recovery, an ME crash began and I was incredibly grateful for everyone being supportive.  I got to the point I was struggling to move or talk, I'd done too much and the stress of the breakdown on the bridge had tipped me over into the danger zone.  Thank goodness I actually had the diagnosis and understood what was happening, before then I don't know how I would have reacted since I wouldn't really understand what was going on.  Now I know, it was easier to manage and that's probably why I can type this up now.

 

After getting it home the recovery truck driver said the van stank of fuel, which is odd because it never does.  The mechanical fuel pump was absolutely soaked and when I opened the bonnet the following day the stench of fuel hit me much stronger than it's ever been.  The oil looks thinner than it should (it's still got the relevant amount of oil in it) and the coolant appears to have gained volume somehow.  No mixing of oil or water, no overheating like it was before, the head gasket appears totally fine.  However, when you crank it now it goes whirrwhirrwhirr with no compression but also tries to pop the oil filler cap off.  The top of the rocker cover is covered in oil, which it wasn't when I set off.

The suspicion is the mechanical fuel pump failed internally and dumped a load of fuel in the oil, thinned it, and basically washed all the surfaces clean that need oil which then meant the engine tried to seize.  I reckon it's cooked the bearings and probably ruined the pistons and bores.  From the first warning clicks to the break down was maybe five miles.

 

So that's it.  The van is dead.

 

I move house in two weeks.  I can't sort this out.  A friend of Danni's is interested in it and came to have a look, was impressed at how solid it is and immediately started looking at engine replacement options so it might get adopted.  I'll keep you posted.  I haven't enough time to sell it, so I shall be giving it away to the first person that can take it away.  If it isn't adopted by the 11th of May then it will be off to the scrapyard because I can't leave it at this house.  I also just don't have the money spare to get it transported to the new place and, honestly, I don't have it in me to do an engine rebuild/swap.  The plan was to fix what needed fixing (only had the windscreen surround and windscreen to do) and then sell it after I'd moved house so somebody else could enjoy it.  It's a surprisingly solid little van and has only just ticked over 77k, there's loads of life still in it if you're the sort of person happy to plonk a new engine in it.

For me, it's the end of the road with this one.  It's been a superb little van while I've had it and I don't regret buying it one bit, I've had my money's worth out of it and for the most part really enjoyed it.  Now, my attention will be focused on the Princess after the move and I'm not interested in acquiring more vehicles until I've got through the jobs on that one.  My health is such that I need less projects in my life and I need to finish the ones I do have so that I can get better and continue to enjoy the hobby.

[lesapandre]

Very sorry to hear all this. I'd also pop it into the for 'sale thread' on here - so nobody misses it's availability. Rare little van even in France these days - so I hope someone will have it and maybe pass you a few £.

A few I have papped over the past 10 years - tho very few about.

This is worth fixing folks - little car derived vans are so useful.

[comfortablynumb]

Look after yourself @vulgalour, everything else is an also-ran.

Hope things improve for you 👍

[Rocket88]

If you’re after a van, there’s usually a couple at Broughton garage…