In order to let people know and avoid engine damage I know Carl has had this issue on track a couple of days before Christmas I started the car in the morning and heard a slosh behind the dash board. From my 106 XSI days I remembered the same noise and knew it was the coolant system, so checked the top up bottle and it was empty topped it up and bled the system after a very hot summer and no temperature issues thought it was just an oversite then Christmas eve I got the car up on the lift to check intermittent ABS light I noticed the yellow coolant drip from the undertray between the timing belt and the oil filter area above. Taking the undertray off and remembering Carls thread I checked the hard pipe that connects to the bottom rad hose.
Carls coolant pipe temp repair
The pipe had surface rust and on squeezing the bottom rad hose coolant was leaking but I did not know how bad it was as the rust obscured how bad it was at this point I had to fill the water bottle to go 5 miles safely from cold, then refill to return Christmas day.
Picture of Carls water leak after a bit of cleanup at the trackday
After the hard pipe was cleaned up on mine
Boxing day I was lucky to have both a lift and a spare engine so I swapped the pipe over else it would be a week and a half for a new one at this time of year bad news is it's a pain in the ass job and when the new one arrives I have to do it all again. Involves battery disconnect as you need to remove the alternator and the positive wire is battery positive, bumper off, undertray off for access headlights out to remove the plastic alternator weather guard left of the radiator unbolt the aircon unit and remove alternator so you can unbolt the backing plate to have good access to the pipe also the AUX belt and tensioner pulley I removed to get at the alternator bolts. The pipe can be pulled from the plastic housing with out all this but only if you have some way of seeing behind the alternator mounting plate and will be a difficult pull and refit but not worth the chance, I think everyone should inspect this part at this age it's £65 genuine from Renault so at least get a non genuine replacement as a spare as it will fail sometime best to be ready for it or change it when doing other jobs. Thanks to Carls thread highlighting it on a track day of his and the Renault type D coolant when thinking back I did smell it after returning after previous journeys Months before but put it down to hot weather it's better to have an external coolant leak like as I had thought there was an internal engine problem for a while.
Carls coolant pipe temp repair
The pipe had surface rust and on squeezing the bottom rad hose coolant was leaking but I did not know how bad it was as the rust obscured how bad it was at this point I had to fill the water bottle to go 5 miles safely from cold, then refill to return Christmas day.
Picture of Carls water leak after a bit of cleanup at the trackday
After the hard pipe was cleaned up on mine
Boxing day I was lucky to have both a lift and a spare engine so I swapped the pipe over else it would be a week and a half for a new one at this time of year bad news is it's a pain in the ass job and when the new one arrives I have to do it all again. Involves battery disconnect as you need to remove the alternator and the positive wire is battery positive, bumper off, undertray off for access headlights out to remove the plastic alternator weather guard left of the radiator unbolt the aircon unit and remove alternator so you can unbolt the backing plate to have good access to the pipe also the AUX belt and tensioner pulley I removed to get at the alternator bolts. The pipe can be pulled from the plastic housing with out all this but only if you have some way of seeing behind the alternator mounting plate and will be a difficult pull and refit but not worth the chance, I think everyone should inspect this part at this age it's £65 genuine from Renault so at least get a non genuine replacement as a spare as it will fail sometime best to be ready for it or change it when doing other jobs. Thanks to Carls thread highlighting it on a track day of his and the Renault type D coolant when thinking back I did smell it after returning after previous journeys Months before but put it down to hot weather it's better to have an external coolant leak like as I had thought there was an internal engine problem for a while.
