Back In

Oh if they can do work on their behalf then win win

Ill give danny a call at 519 as i know he has a 197 so will be very familiar with how they drive.

I dont wanna sell up :'(
 
shame not closer to me - only takes 45mins to disconnect the rack from the hubs - that way you could see if the rack was smooth and the swivel joints were ok...
 
Would certainly be nice for someone that actually knows what he is talking about to have a look.

Ill look into dropping the arms off and seeing for myself.
 
Well it all kind of fizzled out again but i really want to get to the bottom of this as i LOVE the 200 too much to cut my losses and sell. Ive got another year on my warranty so thought another push would be worthwhile.

So i went to Danny at 519 Automotive yesterday. Only for a diagnosis as i was fully aware he isnt VAT registered as of yet so couldnt provide warranty work if he was to find the fault. The guy comes highly spoken of and sees Renaultsport models daily so if anyone should feel what im on about...he should. Luckily he did feel that the 200 isnt right and proceeded to tell me his Cat C 197 he bought with no service history actually drives better than mine...winner lol

Danny found upon driving the car that the steering feels under assisted compared to other 200s/197s that he drives regularly. He also believes that the steering is heavier turning left at low speed than turning right. With the car off, he inserted the key card and held the start button until all the dash lights lit up and the steering lock was released without the power steering activating. With the power steering not active, so the wheels are providing resistance to the turning, upon wiggling the steering wheel left to right it feels almost as if the steering wheel is slipping on the column, almost as if the steering wheel isn’t attached! This backs up my statement of the car feeling vague when cornering, feeling that the wheels straighten slightly upon heavy cornering with no feedback through the steering wheel. Danny believes that the steering column/power steering assembly needs replacing, which at a cost of £1200 for the parts alone, it'll need to be done at a dealership under warranty.

I also complained that the car felt skittish on the road. I asked Track Club in Kimbolton to check the geometry of the car on their laser system and they found the front nearside wheel to be running nearly a full degree more of negative camber than the right. How can a car on 25,000 miles have such a difference in the front setup when its not even adjustable? The only thing I can think of is that when it was all disturbed at the gearbox change at 13,000 miles it hasn’t settled back in its original position causing strange driving characteristics. A degree in terms of camber is quite a large amount.

Danny deals with Smiths of Peterborough daily in regards to refering customers to them for warranty work and using their parts department so hopefully they will respect his findings and allow him to assist them to finally rectify the issue.

Now the hard bit is convincing the dealers. Emails have been sent with a print out of Dannys findings and the Geo readings from Track Club.

Fingers crossed!
 
Id scan the print out in if i was at home but work wont let me upload. This is the jist of it though.

....................Left Front.......Right front
Camber...........-1°21'............ -0°39'
Caster..............5°25'............. 5°48'
Toe ................ 0°05' ............-0°02'

Total Toe 0°03'
Steer Ahead 0°03'



................Left Rear..........Right Rear
Camber ..... -1°38'..............-1°34'
Toe .............0°09' .............-0°06'

Total Toe 0°16'
Thrust Angle 0°01'

Now i am worried about the degree of camber difference on a strut setup that isnt adjustable.
 
Really really hope this all gets sorted finally mate! Its been a shame its gone on so long but nice to see you still love the car :smile:
 
How can i not....just look at the thing. Stands out so much and i love the attention. I just want it sorting :worried:

Ive got a pile of goodies waiting to go on and its killing me not being able to convince people something is wrong.

Who knows what the setup on the front is supposed to be? Even though there's a degree difference between left and right, it recons both are within tolerance.
 
if nothings bent is the subframe bolted up too much to one side?

has the steering geometry been checked on toe-out on turns etc?

are the track rod ends on the steering rack on the same amount?
 
Danny doesnt believe the subframe can be fitted incorrectly as it locates on pins.

Ill have to pass on the other two questions. But he didnt say anything looked untoward on the underneath. All bearings bushes etc were fine with no movement.
 
Best do something.

Ive never had someone show me how to disarm the steering lock without starting the car so now i can show them how there is play in the column. It feels right up by the wheel.

He spoke to the parts department and they arent aware of many racks being sold but columns are being ordered often.

Foxspeed, of course, but as to proving that i dont know. Renault dont have this fancy kit and i cant see them changing the top mounts to start investigating. I recon itll all lay on me to wort out :worried:
 
marshall said:
Best do something.

Ive never had someone show me how to disarm the steering lock without starting the car so now i can show them how there is play in the column. It feels right up by the wheel.

He spoke to the parts department and they arent aware of many racks being sold but columns are being ordered often.

Foxspeed, of course, but as to proving that i dont know. Renault dont have this fancy kit and i cant see them changing the top mounts to start investigating. I recon itll all lay on me to wort out :worried:
Click to expand...

you need to keep a tally of cost and a list of everything you have done - this you can use for future compensation claim if its found to be a warranty issue

a good friend of mine had issues with his megane and took it to a dealers that has a good reputation and they diagnosed the driveshaft - this he got changed - but it didnt sort his issue - so i said i will give it a look over for him if he wanted - we jacked it up on to stands and i dropped off the steering rack ends to isolate it from the swivel hubs - and found the o/s lower swivel bearing seized and this was on the same side that the new shaft was fitted!!!
it took me about 15mins to actually get that far and find the fault....
he was lucky i was able to actually unsieze the item and its still fine to this day over 2yrs now!

steering racks will still make a knock/clonk even when not faulty - but as i say its easy to drop the steering arms off from the hubs and then feel the rack without it being masked by the suspension swivels - this way it will eliminate the swivel hubs etc from the possible faults...

if you were in leeds i would have done it for you just to put your mind at ease over part of the problem!

hope it gets sorted
 
Marshall, keeping a keen eye on this thread. All your issues sound identical to what I have (obviously impossible to diagnose over a forum though). As I'm out of warranty I hope it's an easier fix than £1200 worth of parts... Although my car has been into Renault 5 times during warranty to fix this issue...
 
If you're out of warranty and finally manage to get it diagnosed after complaining so many times I'd say you have a strong case to get Renault to help contribute towards the costs
 
Had a similar problem with your knocking noise had three trained techs and me a tech and we couldn't find a fault even with the track rods disconected.but a loud knocking on steering intermittently persisted we cured mine by loosening the uj by the pedals(it was tight before).By lifting the clamp on the uj up by 1 or 2 mm and retightning and by magic It cured the fault I suspect a lot of these undiagnosed knocks are caused by this and a lot of people changing racks when there not needed.The clamp is like a sleeve that fits over a pinion so it's solid on three sides but on the fourth side there's just a bolt.the bolt slightly indented the pinion on mine allowing it to slap about horizontally. The indent was tiny but the noise it made was not
 
Last edited:
Cheers Cooper. Ill have a mooch down in the footwell and see if i can move the clamp.

Doesnt explain the heavy steering though or even the massively odd camber
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom