Venting some steam..

ian103

Had 3 french cars - all great in their own way but thank god they were company cars. Citreon BX suspension used to do its own thing like displacing fluid over the drive (usually when we were going out), warning lights that came on at random and no logic, total failure of instrument lights (took workshop 3 days to replace); Peugeot 405, superb apart from head gaskets, 110k miles 2 head gaskets; Citeon Xantia - plastic brackets that snap at will - clutch master cyclinder bracket broke on Xmas eve. I wouldn't buy one with my money, but I'd drive one again if someone was giving them away.

steve-L

My old PUG lived in Norway for 2 Winters .... this didn't do any favours to the plastic bits!
At -25C they just snap!!!

TrickyWicky

worried_jim wrote: »

I remember having to take a gearbox off a Renault 4 just to replace the oil filter.

Lol I've heard of some of their gearboxes where you tip them over very slightly and the whole gear assembly falls apart :eek:

Imagine how many people that has frustrated

Limey

Why would anyone with half a brain design a fuel system that used plastic parts.:eek:

Oh I forgot, it's French. :rotfl:

I'd be tempted to do what Gilbert and Sullivan suggested and replace the fuel lines with something more resiliant.

I think I'll stick with my old Toyotas. :cool:

albionrovers

Take a friend when viewing a 2nd hand French car. You'll need a shove back to base during the test drive.

TrickyWicky

albionrovers wrote: »

Take a friend when viewing a 2nd hand French car. You'll need a shove back to base during the test drive.

LOL

We've had 4 french motors. First one was a pita.. great car, loved it to bits but the head gasket and engine mounts were a nightmare.

The next 3 were much better for reliability but when something does go wrong they're a PITA to work on. Stupidly designed parts that break and can't be replaced because they're part of a larger unit etc. Most annoying and irritating bunch of designers on the planet. You can clearly see that some parts are designed to be frail and fail at the earliest convenience :mad:

mattyprice4004

Limey wrote: »

Why would anyone with half a brain design a fuel system that used plastic parts.:eek:

Oh I forgot, it's French. :rotfl:

I'd be tempted to do what Gilbert and Sullivan suggested and replace the fuel lines with something more resiliant.

I think I'll stick with my old Toyotas. :cool:

Some part somewhere in your fuel system will be plastic.

colino

On the R4 thing, when I was a boy, a neighbour had one and asked me to give it a quick service. Try as I might I couldn't find the oil filter and the Renault partsman had a good chuckle at me. Some of the Renault 4s from the '70s had an optional external filter! He told me then where to fix the kit and told me of the guys who had the engines out to rebuild them, put them in and at the next service cursed their saving of about 50p by fitting the same thread, longer body Ford spin on filter than the proper Renault flat one. They couldn't get the thing off without dropping the engine!
Rubbish cars, but they would fly over ploughed fields as fast as they could go down a normal road.

GolfBravo

colino wrote: »

Rubbish cars, but they would fly over ploughed fields as fast as they could go down a normal road.

3.8 million sold. Not bad.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

R5 turbo what a car when they work, never touch one that needs a clutch though so many hours to strip it down on ones own on the DIY drive way you need a decent ramp (they are so low to the ground), and a consistant resupply of bolts and clips from the renault parts department when they can source some old stock.

i have a 2004 megane never ever touch the plastic inlet manifold unless you know what your doing, go down to renault parts department and ask for a set of retaining hex bolts for the plastic inlet manifold, and if one is seized in you mayaswell snap it and drill it out later, do not even think of using a wrench on them to do them up use a driver with a socket attachment so you can feel the twisting alu threads to the point of no return, if you got a leaking rocker cover on one of these 2003-2008 meganes, dont bother fixing it, the cams are held down by the rocker cover itself so if you start undoing the rockercover your undoing the rataining bolts for the cams aswell and if you havent got a timing kit to lock the cams up and take off the belt first you in for an expensive fix! oh and uh you have to drop the subframe down by about 1-2 inches to change a wishbone, make sure you have 2 keycards upoon buying one, and make sure the electronic steering lock works perfectly because a small little electronic box costs the earth £363!!! and the bolt holding it in is a lock bolt you go CLOCKWISE to undo it! and anti clockwise to do it back up go the wrong way and you face taking out the whole column to drill the bolt out when it locks up on you PS its a brass bolt so youll need a really good metal drill bit to penetrate it. changing a cat converter on one can be a knight mare especially if a bolt rounds off, there is no room to get a wrench in there between cat and bulkhead and firewall and subframe.

french are quirky cars.