Paul's Pearl

[burrellbloke]

Rang the garage when I got up at 4, nice to sleep in and not be late for work . They say it has a broken spring and needs a new ball joint type thing that's part of the hub, swivel bearing? I didn't have time to go get it so it will be tomorrow afternoon before I find out the true horror that awaits.
Mot cancelled. Trip to Newby on Sunday probably off too as I can't do that distance in the twingo!

If you take your car to a garage that is a Renault specialist they can replace the ball joint without paying for a new Renault ball joint and carrier - that is provided your ball joint has not worn the carrier so it does not sit in it securely.

 

[Paul_D]

The report form the garage is in, and it's not all that bad really. Drivers side swivel hub needs new ball joints. Only problem is they want a spare hub because if something breaks or it's worn then they are stuck with the car on a lift they can't move. What's a swivel hub cost these days? It's also got a front and rear broken spring, oh dear it looks like I'll have to lower it now, and the cat has broken up and is rattling. My mot man is good at emissions though so I'm not worried about that. Brake discs are rusty and the handbrake cable is sticky. So all in its not too bad, I just need to find a drivers side hub and some decent ball joints for it, oh and charge the battery.

 

[Chocice]

Have you got your eye on any coilovers?

 

[Paul_D]

Have you got your eye on any coilovers?

Well the plan was to leave this car standard so I'm not looking at coilovers until its boosted, er I mean until its all got a clean bill of health.
I've just ordered eibach Pro kit for it . I guess then I'll need spacers too!

 

[Jakkehoop]

Nice work so far dude [emoji1362]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Paul_D]

Fetched it back from the garage today as they don't have room to keep it there at the moment. I'm now contemplating pulling it apart and doing the hubs and springs myself. After filling a swimming pool sized swear jar replacing the 182's gearbox I said I wasn't going to do any more clio repairs myself! Before that it needs a wash though.

Seems they have some sick birds near by.

 

[Paul_D]

Anyone remember The Krypton Factor on TV? That would have been a piece of piss!

No way was that going to wrap around and be flat. I should have got some of that cutting tape stuff and done a sheet on top and bottom and cut them together. But I didn't, I farted aroud with it for ages then cut the wonkyest line ever and then pulled it all off and threw it in the bin . The spoiler is now back on the car with crazy paint for all to see because I was fed up of it being in the way. Dare I strip it and rattle can it gloss black?

Besides that the keycard has been working perfectly after the car battery was recharged the other day. I wonder if that was causing it to be unresponsive? It still thinks the key l battery is low though.

 

[Paul_D]

I've not touched the pearl for a week, or the 182. That doesn't mean I've been free of renaultsport pain though as the twingo has been in the garage for the abs fault sorting. The clios haven't been totally ignored though. I picked up some 182 alloys and sold the turini's, ordered some eibach Pro springs for the pearl and have sourced a pair of front hubs for it too, I'll have to order some ball joints now and then I'll get the fitter at work to switch them for me. I should probably get nre handbrake cables for it too, I assume renault still supply them for the mk3? How easy / difficult are the hubs and springs to swap over? I could do with not having the garage fit them now the wife's car has decided it needs a service!

I really can't fit parts that look like that though so it'll need a good clean up.

 

[Paul_D]

Turned out I just couldn't find time to do the car myself so booked it into the garage for the springs, hub and handbrake cables fitting and a service. The twingo was also in for new brake pipes fitting so I've kept them busy for a day this week! I collected the Clio first thing Wednesday morning after work and in my sleepy state I forgot to make sure the old hub had been returned to me or if they'd found anything else that looked due for replacement while it was apart. I checked the receipt in the afternoon and they haven't done the service, just fitted the new parts. I guess I'll do that myself then.
Anyway it drove home fine but comparisons to the old springs aren't possible as I'd only done 4 miles in the car upto then and the road has just been resurfaced and is the smoothest road I've driven on in Britain .

It looks a bit better on the eibach springs but definitely needs spacers now. With that done it was ready enough for the MOT and my usual tester had a slot available first thing this morning.

And its a clean pass! It's done 1817 miles in 4 years and 3 months but I'm sure I can improve on that this year. The tester mentioned that it looked like the car has had a new steeing rack fitted recently and the exhaust flexis have been welded too so hopefully I'll not have to worry about those for a while. Two things I do need to look at are the seat belt clip as it intermittently doesn't register the seat belt is clipped in and starts with the warning beeps and there's a horrible creaking sound that I think is coming from the rear which wasn't there before the springs were swapped. It sounds like a dry bush though so not sure how that's suddenly started up. I'm sure now that I can put some miles on it other things will start to break.
Oh and having done a few more miles today the ride does feel a bit more compliant with the eibach springs even though it corners very flat with less roll than my 182 on bilsteins. I'm looking forward to getting out in it now.

 

[joehodges154]

Turned out I just couldn't find time to do the car myself so booked it into the garage for the springs, hub and handbrake cables fitting and a service. The twingo was also in for new brake pipes fitting so I've kept them busy for a day this week! I collected the Clio first thing Wednesday morning after work and in my sleepy state I forgot to make sure the old hub had been returned to me or if they'd found anything else that looked due for replacement while it was apart. I checked the receipt in the afternoon and they haven't done the service, just fitted the new parts. I guess I'll do that myself then.
Anyway it drove home fine but comparisons to the old springs aren't possible as I'd only done 4 miles in the car upto then and the road has just been resurfaced and is the smoothest road I've driven on in Britain .
View attachment 150695
It looks a bit better on the eibach springs but definitely needs spacers now. With that done it was ready enough for the MOT and my usual tester had a slot available first thing this morning.
View attachment 150696
And its a clean pass! It's done 1817 miles in 4 years and 3 months but I'm sure I can improve on that this year. The tester mentioned that it looked like the car has had a new steeing rack fitted recently and the exhaust flexis have been welded too so hopefully I'll not have to worry about those for a while. Two things I do need to look at are the seat belt clip as it intermittently doesn't register the seat belt is clipped in and starts with the warning beeps and there's a horrible creaking sound that I think is coming from the rear which wasn't there before the springs were swapped. It sounds like a dry bush though so not sure how that's suddenly started up. I'm sure now that I can put some miles on it other things will start to break.
Oh and having done a few more miles today the ride does feel a bit more compliant with the eibach springs even though it corners very flat with less roll than my 182 on bilsteins. I'm looking forward to getting out in it now.

Happy days! Got mine on the 23rd, fingers crossed for the same result.

 

[Paul_D]

Happy days! Got mine on the 23rd, fingers crossed for the same result.

Good luck. Unfortunately the twingo failed this afternoon. 2 mot's in one day is well stressful

 

[Paul_D]

Yep they are renault springs for sure. I had to pick my daughter up from work yesterday so did my longest journey in the 200 so far. The ride is perfectly comfortable and my god does it corner well, it feels so much better planted than the 182 although you can feel the extra weight and I'm yet to find out how that affects the handling on a bumpy b road. That will probably wait until I've found out what's squeaking as it's really really annoying and I'm struggling to tell where it's coming from. Yesterday's trip gave me the chance to test the brakes properly too thanks to an utter bellend in a 3 series who didn't even look as he drove straight onto the roundabout I was halfway across. I honestly thought I was going to hit the pillok and if he'd slowed at all I probay would have. I think I'd still be kicking him in the bolloks now if we'd have crashed! The seat belt buckle needs looking at too as it randomly decides the seat belt isn't plugged in and starts with the warning beep. A slight wiggle shuts it up for a few mins and having had a look it seems to be full of muck. I'm not sure how I can get it clean so I'll probably sack it off when I fit the recaro's.
I put half a tank of momentum in this morning and reset the trip and 60 miles later its reading 32.9 mpg, I'm sure that will drop when I take it over 2000 rpm though . The 182 was doing about 35 mpg on my 8 mile commute so it'll be interesting to see how this compares.
It's due a wash but the weather is rubbish today but there were a couple of little jobs I got done.
Finally glued the RS badge back on the front so now I just need new plates and to decide what I want to do with the peeling diamond.

The stickers are gone! I'm sure I'll get used to it but it looks like a huge blank space now that's perfect for some graphics.
Lastly I sprayed some wd40 on the rear suspension bushes in the hope it would cure the squeaking. While I was there I noticed something I'd not realised before.

Someone decided some extra outlets in the backbox would be a good idea. That could explain why it sounds different to the other 200's I test drove. So that's a new exhaust for the next mod then.

 

[Paul_D]

I put a few miles on the pearl last week using it for work and a taxi as the twingo wasn't fixed until Friday. I was expecting it to break at some point but its been fine! The suspension is more supple than the 182 thankfully but the mpg has dipped a bit to just over 30, not that it really matters. The air con doesn't work which was ironic last week as I'd had the twingo's regassed before it failed the mot . I thought I'd fixed the seat belt alarm but it made a come back after a couple of days so I unplugged the connector in the seat. Ah peace! Oh now the creaking is annoying me more. It turns out the creaking is coming from the front drivers side as it does it when pushing on the wing. I've also noticed the rear seems to be higher on the passenger side so there's some work to be done still then. As it hasn't broken down I've ordered the service parts and plan to service it and pull the suspension apart this weekend and see if I can quieten it down a bit. I suspect it will need a full overhaul sooner rather than later. After being stood a few weeks it was in need of another wash and as I'm using it now I decided to have another go at covering up the spoiler. This time I decided to just wrap then top of it so bought some knifeless tape and with a shaky hand laid down a wobbly cut line and stuck the wrap on. It still looks terrible but passes the 10m test so I can ignore it for now.

I ended up washing all 4 cars.
I'd previously removed the frame from the recaro's and had a look to see if they could be adapted to fit. Turns out the mk3 runners are 4mm wider than the mk2 and the frame can be modified to accommodate this, all I need is some 60mm spacers.

As you can see that will lower the seats significantly from the 3rd floor apartment renault thought we'd like to drive our clio's from. Ideally I'd like to get this done before the upcoming cliosport festival so I can have someone there sort the airbag light properly with clip. I knew I should have hung onto the oe recaro bases!

 

[Paul_D]

First service for the pearl in my ownership. RPD delivering the goods with their stellar service as usual.

Air filter and cabin filter nice and easy to swap over, neither looked that bad but then the cars barely moved in 3 years so they wouldn't would they!


The oil filter had other ideas though. The filter pliers just squashed it so I opted for the screwdriver straight through method.

It was very tight . So I paid a visit to halfords.

That didn't last long, although I did give it plenty of torques. And still the oil filter stayed put. After a few choice words I located a my 2 foot crowbar and enlarged the hole in the filter for it to fit snugly. It still required far too much pulling for a flipping oil filter but it finally came free.

I can't fathom why anyone would put an oil filter on so tight, I had the same fight last year on my daughters clio! After 3 hours I finally had the new one on and even remembered to put the oil in.
While the car was lifted I whipped the wheels off to see if I could find what's creaking. I'd already narrowed it down to the front nearside and it turned out to be the arb bushes making all the noise. Changing them doesn't look like a job I want to participate in so I hit them with some WD40 and said a little prayer. I'll have to see how it goes next week. Spark plugs to change tomorrow as long as the rain has passed and then I'll feel a little bit happier driving around in it.

 

[Paul_D]

With CSF in a week the car needs lots of prep, so it's hotter than Satan's armpit making doing anything bloody hard work nevermind trying to wash and polish a car. There were a couple of jobs I really did need to do though.

The peeling black paint on the front diamond really let the car down. I've got some new badges on the way but there no time to swap them this week so I got to scraping the paint off hoping that the plastic chrome wouldn't suffer too much.

Ooh nice and shiny. Not perfect but still much better than it was. I might do the rear one if I can bare the heat again.
The other job I wanted to do was to fit an alpine HU I have sitting around. I've had more than enough of the radio now, modern music is painful to my old ears . So I dug out my radio removal tools and pulled then scabby renault unit out. And then it all went pear shaped. There's 3 plugs on the back and only 2 on the alpine. So I guess I need some sort of adaptor harness? Anyone able to link me what I need?

And what's with this ariel connector that I've never seen before? Seems no one on YouTube has either and I can't get the thing off!

And being a renault there's not enough room for the cables behind the radio, so:
If I can get the right harness this week I'll rip the dash apart and fit the alpine. If I can't I'll be driving to Blyton with earphones in .
The heat was good for one job today though.

Soaked in a bucket of vanish and then given a little scrub they are now several shades lighter. Still got some muck spots on and the edges will never be clean but better and now they aren't like cardboard they actually retract easier too. Silver seat belts ffs renault!

 

[Paul_D]

I had the aircon regassed this morning. The guy told me it had no gas in at all but the machine didn't register any leaks and it was holding and blowing ice cold after. 6 hours later its blowing nothing but hot at me and the pump has started making a funny noise. at least I can get the pump swapped when the belts are done. Silver lining and all that, even if it is a sweaty one in a heatwave!

 

[Paul_D]

After doing lots of research I bought a rats nest to fit the Alpine head unit.

As far as I could ascertain a Connects2 CTSRN007.2 would connect the hu to the car and retain the steering stalk control. I finally managed to prize the aerial connector off without having to resort to snips so quickly connected the Apline up to see if it worked.

Looking good and my days of pop music are coming to an end. I then had to disconnect it to fit the dash trim and the cage which for once I managed to not cut myself on! Having already removed the glovebox I reconnected the plugs and stated to drag miles and miles of wires through the tiny hole.

Not having any zip ties to hand was a fail so the rats nest will have to stay like that until tomorrow. Another quick check with the radio secured and after a quick Google my phone was paired and Spotify playing was successful . And then I discovered that the steering controls don't work. I think I'll email connects2 and see if they can shed any light on why not but still I'm happy that I can listen to my own tunes now. Just need a Mk4 shark aerial so I can have dab too.

 

[DS197]

Perhaps the controls aren’t working due incorrect dip switches settings?

 

[Paul_D]

I was going to refit the glovebox this afternoon before going back to work but as I was tucking then wires away I noticed this:

That'll be the reason then . I'll have to pull the hu out to plug that back in. I did notice it wasn't a tight fit and must have tugged on the wire a bit too much and pulled it out.

 

[Paul_D]

I managed to sort the head unit out and stalk controls work as they should with the connector plugged in . Somehow I found time to put the interior back together and figure out how to operate the Alpine again before setting off to CSF for the weekend.
CSF was a great weekend and the car did an indicated 38 mpg on the way there! I was far too busy enjoying myself to take any pics and it seems everyone else was too as I've not seen a single pic of the pearl. Since then daily duties have resumed and a knock/rattle has developed from the front offside. Maybe I should have done both swivel hubs before the mot? More recently though I've been trying to get the car booked in for the belts doing which is proving much more difficult than it should be. I'm supposed to be going on a jaunt around Scotland with some mates in September but I really don't think it's a good idea to push the pearl so hard just yet, it's a loooong way home on a recovery truck.
Pre CSF wax is holding up well and the car looks good with a bit of rain on.

I've never really been one to spend time with polish and waxes and all that sizzle but I really do like how the pearl catches the light so I'll be doing some more cleaning and protecting before winter hits. I do seem to find more blemishes every time I clean it though which is annoying. Hopefully I can get the belts done soon and gather some suspension parts for an overhaul there too. I have been testing the handling a little bit more which has probably helped uncover some more worn out parts.