Paul's Pearl

[Paul_D]

Up early today with the aim of getting the front wheels off first and then continuing the battle with the brakes. I'm not a fan of jacking clio sports up. I really don't know why they have a front and rear jacking point as they are so stiff either one lifts one side clean off the floor! With an axle stand under one side the 200 is even worse than the 182 as it was blowing in the breeze with 3 wheels in the air! With the front on stands and the rear back on earth my trusty deadblow mallet was recruited for some gentle persuasion.

Yeah that's a bit browner than I expected! Not to worry it'll get sorted later, on with the bleeding:

Oh that nipple doesn't look very friendly does it? After attacking them with a wire brush and spraying with WD40 I started cleaning the disc face with some emery cloth while the WD did its best.

As expected the surface rust cleaned off easily and I ran a tap down to clean out the threads. At some point I'll have to remove the discs and clean all the blue paint off them but for now it's back to those scabby nipples.
No joy. As I don't have a flamethrower to hand I'll pass the job to my trusted mechanic and let him replace the nipples. After hammering off the other wheel that was in the same state.

I cleaned up the hub and face and gave every nut and bolt I could see a good dose of WD, there's a good probability I'll be back to replace more parts here in the not too distant future! Note to self: buy a blow torch.
At this point I considered taking the front bumper off to sort the peeling diamond out but I remembered the handbrake needed sorting so went to put the front wheels back on, but they were still tight as hell. The dremel was spun up with a scotchbrite wheel to shave off the powder coat in the spigot bore which had the desired effect and the wheels then slid on easily. A little coat of nail varnish to protect the ally and while that dried I cleaned up the rusty and blue wheel bolts.
The hand brake took a bit of fiddling around until I got it to a point where it actually locked the wheel. I'm not sure if the cable is the right one as it definitely doesn't have the same length of motion as the passenger side one does, and the cable is pretty rusty too. Its better than it was but mot worthy is another thing!
Back on the ground another job to tick off was replacing the windscreen wipers. I refitted the wiper linkage trim under the scuttle panel and the rubber seal after giving both a clean and copper slipped the splines before refitting the wiper arms. With more luck than judgement the wipers sit in the correct position and work perfectly. The battery clamp was in the door pocket so I re fitted that, I can see why it was left off as its a bit of a pain to get in even after removing the front fuse panel, but it's another job done for the mot.
Engine bay now all back together.


I did notice that the passenger side arch liner is broken, I suppose these are unique to the 200? It's definitely something that needs replacing. And all the mud needs cleaning out too!

Lastly I suspect the rear beam bushes weren't green from factory?

Can anyone shed any light on those for me?
To finish up in drove it 20 metres to park at the in-laws while they are away and didn't die. The brakes worked a lot better than before I bled the rears and when I went past an hour later it wasn't in their kitchen so the handbrake seems to be working too.
Tomorrow is a day on the 182, and then the twingo needs new brakes too. I'm supposed to be on holiday this week

 

[burrellbloke]

I am fairly sure that my rear beam bushes were original and were black.

 

[RSRowe]

My originals were/are green

 

[tcw]

They look original to me.

 

[suj]

My originals are green too.

 

[burrellbloke]

I have just found a photo of my old bushes - they were green.

 

[Paul_D]

Well there you go, renault just decided to throw a bit of colour at the grubby bits then. Who'd have thought they would randomly make 2 bushes on the whole car green?

 

[Paul_D]

Mot booked for May 6th and a show ticket booked for sports cars in the park for May 8th. Optimistic, me?




The 182 is sat in reserve for the 8th . And so are these;

With a standard interior the 182 is horrible to drive and it really shows another big difference between the mk2 and mk3, and even the Twingo RS is better to drive than the 182 now!

 

[Paul_D]

Seems the keycard has given up as I had to unlock the car with the key. I'd not been near it all week but no amount of handle pulling or sensor caressing had any effect on it. Even the boot wouldn't open. It also seems that the buttons on the keycard are unresponsive, although after putting the card in the dash slot to stop the alarm from going off the car did then lock with a press of the boot button. I have a feeling its going to be expensive to get it working as it should.

 

[Paul_D]

Nekkkid

The mk3 RS really does look rubbish without a spoiler imo. In all honesty the cup spoiler wouldn't have been my choice if it wasn't already bolted on but if the car came like that I'd be fitting a sprint spoiler before having it MOT'd . As it is I can't live with the crazy paving paint job on there so I've removed it to have a go at wrapping it gloss black. Of course removing it adds more questions as to wtf a previous owner was playing at!


More blue which is making me wonder if the end caps were painted the same as the wheels? And having had a close look at the end caps can anyone say if these are genuine Renault ones or not?

The porosity and sharp flashing on the inside edges is embarrassing and I'd have been asking for a refund if I'd bought it like that!
For now I've taped over the holes and when the wrap turns up I'll crack on covering it but while I'm waiting I'll bathe the screws in some deox and spray the heads matte black.

 

[suj]

Seems the keycard has given up as I had to unlock the car with the key. I'd not been near it all week but no amount of handle pulling or sensor caressing had any effect on it. Even the boot wouldn't open. It also seems that the buttons on the keycard are unresponsive, although after putting the card in the dash slot to stop the alarm from going off the car did then lock with a press of the boot button. I have a feeling its going to be expensive to get it working as it should.

Bit of a silly one, but have you changed the battery in it? As I've read about a few keycards having the wrong sized penny battery in (too thin, so not making proper contact) it was CR2025 vs CR2032 (not near my keycard as I'm out, but I think it was the 32 you need, someone can correct me if it's wrong way round).
Try checking it's the correct battery, then replacing it, there is also a way to re-sync the keycard on here somewhere, so worth trying them all before going to buy a new card.

 

[DS197]

Bit of a silly one, but have you changed the battery in it? As I've read about a few keycards having the wrong sized penny battery in (too thin, so not making proper contact) it was CR2025 vs CR2032 (not near my keycard as I'm out, but I think it was the 32 you need, someone can correct me if it's wrong way round).
Try checking it's the correct battery, then replacing it, there is also a way to re-sync the keycard on here somewhere, so worth trying them all before going to buy a new card.

^^This. Mine also gave up the ghost yesterday funnily enough and it was due to a dead battery.

Those spoiler end caps are also genuine and their quality does seem to vary on the spoilers I’ve seen.

 

[Paul_D]

Bit of a silly one, but have you changed the battery in it? As I've read about a few keycards having the wrong sized penny battery in (too thin, so not making proper contact) it was CR2025 vs CR2032 (not near my keycard as I'm out, but I think it was the 32 you need, someone can correct me if it's wrong way round).
Try checking it's the correct battery, then replacing it, there is also a way to re-sync the keycard on here somewhere, so worth trying them all before going to buy a new card.

Yeah when the car arrived it flashed up "replace keycard battery" so I did, with a new 32 like the one that was in it. That's the wrong size as its too thick and stretches the card so I swapped it for a 25. It still says to replace the battery! I'll have a search for the info on resetting it though and hopefully that will help a bit. It's going to be embarrassing setting the alarm off every time.

 

[Paul_D]

Gave the interior a quick wipe with some disinfectant as some parts of the dash were definitely alive. It needed doing before the car goes to my mechanic because the twingo is getting booked in too so if I poison him I'll have to fix that myself . Dashboards are horrible things to clean, that stupid faux leather look clings onto muck and it's a right stretch to reach the bottom of the windscreen. That reminds me I need to clean the windows too!

It looks a bit better after. All the edges were full of muck and god knows what and there was a whole ecosystem opened up when I dropped the steeing column down. No before pics as I had my marigolds on and didn't want to infect my phone .

Needs some interior trim restorer wiping over now but it's definitely getting there. After that I juts had enough time to strip all the sticky pads off the number plates and velcro them on. It's insured from tomorrow and I'll be going to out some petrol in it. The half a mile there will be the furthest I've driven it so far!

 

[Big Ben]

Was this a barn find! Why do people neglect their cars so bad

 

[Paul_D]

Was this a barn find! Why do people neglect their cars so bad

The guy is a car dealer and picked it up at auction to do track days but then didn't and just left it. A wash and mot would have nearly doubled its value so yeah it was a curious state to leave it in. I'm nervous and excited for this week but I'm on the pessimistic side to be honest .

 

[Paul_D]

Not a good start. I've booked the car in for a service and pre mot check over but first it needed some petrol as the needle didn't even register. No worries the BP is only half a mile away. Except I got home from work at 7.20 and the bypass is closed so there's a queue of traffic as far as can possibly be! Great.
Quick cuppa and a wee and off I go to brave the traffic jam. But no. Today the car has decided not to start. And after it unlocked the very first time for the first time since I've had it . Judging by the fit the dash lights had I diagnosed a flat battery. Not having any jump leads I stole the battery from the 182 and swapped them over. Omg how did they design battery terminals with nuts that are so bloody difficult to get at? I'm tired and I want my bed, if it had petrol in it might have been on fire by now!
It starts and off I go to play petrol light chicken. Bugger me BP is expensive, and they were out of ultimate! £25 later and I've managed to fight through the traffic again and reach the garage. I didn't clean the windscreen and it's filthy, and it's raining and the wipers are knackered. Mechanic isn't here yet. That cuppa wants out now. There better not be much wrong with it. I've got to walk home yet ffs.

 

[burrellbloke]

Good luck

 

[Paul_D]

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!

 

[Chocice]

Just catching up with your thread, well done on tackling this neglected car, why do people let them get this bad why not just buy a big standard Clio if your skint and don’t want to look after it! anyhow I had numerous issues with the keycard and ended up cutting it open and re-soldering the sensor (looks like a black disc with three metal tabs) as it was loose and running the battery down in days rather than years. You can get a cheap replacement case from eBay it’s honestly worth doing. I also bought a brand new spare in case I dropped it as it seems fragile that was £200 so not cheap at all. Would have preferred a normal key but there is something cool about how it works.