Clio Bonnet Recall - Incident happened

pulliptears

misssarahleigh wrote: »

It's not. But then again as far as I'm aware it's done on the service (how often would i require to smear grease on it).

However, the issue you would get into is although to you the bonnet catch is rather important, there are a lot of other checks that could be taken place. Breaks, steering fluid, etc etc. Even if I were to carry out 20 mins worth of pre start checks on a car before setting off it doesn't mean something isn't going to fail.

I don't think I suggested examining the catch before you went on every journey, merely that its sensible, especially with Clios, to make it a part of your weekly routine. Oil, water, tyres, bonnet.

As for how often you need to smear grease on it, that becomes obvious when you look at the catch. If its looking sparse top it up.

Incidentally, OH was always taught to examine the bonnet catch as well as part of routine maintenance. It's really not unusual.

ILW

pulliptears wrote: »

I don't think I suggested examining the catch before you went on every journey, merely that its sensible, especially with Clios, to make it a part of your weekly routine. Oil, water, tyres, bonnet.

As for how often you need to smear grease on it, that becomes obvious when you look at the catch. If its looking sparse top it up.

Incidentally, OH was always taught to examine the bonnet catch as well as part of routine maintenance. It's really not unusual.

It can be a real pain if they stick shut.

pulliptears

ILW wrote: »

It can be a real pain if they stick shut.

Had that on a Morris Minor once, spent a pig of an afternoon trying to hook the bonnet cable through a gap in the bodywork :mad:

Probably why I'm so fussy about checking bonnet mechanisms.

misssarahleigh

pulliptears wrote: »

I don't think I suggested examining the catch before you went on every journey, merely that its sensible, especially with Clios, to make it a part of your weekly routine. Oil, water, tyres, bonnet.

As for how often you need to smear grease on it, that becomes obvious when you look at the catch. If its looking sparse top it up.

Incidentally, OH was always taught to examine the bonnet catch as well as part of routine maintenance. It's really not unusual.

Fair enough. Nobody taught me anything about cars

pulliptears

misssarahleigh wrote: »

Fair enough. Nobody taught me anything about cars

Another thing to add to your checks with a clio is the sunroof. Older Clio's with them fitted have this great little quirk where water tracks down into the passenger footwell and into the multi timer/relay. This little box controls all of the cars electrics and when it gets wet it fails after a period of time taking with it your lights, indicators, wipers or any combination of the above.
Its also a £350 part so very worth just having a feel around the passenger footwell for any damp and avoid the problem before it appears.

misssarahleigh

pulliptears wrote: »

Another thing to add to your checks with a clio is the sunroof. Older Clio's with them fitted have this great little quirk where water tracks down into the passenger footwell and into the multi timer/relay. This little box controls all of the cars electrics and when it gets wet it fails after a period of time taking with it your lights, indicators, wipers or any combination of the above.
Its also a £350 part so very worth just having a feel around the passenger footwell for any damp and avoid the problem before it appears.

We know of a leak. It used to make the roof slightly damp in the corners at the top where the windscreen meets the roof. This was apparent when the car was first bought and it was taken back to the dealer (evan halshaw) who in turn sent it to renault as they couldnt' work out the problem.

Funny enough, after my chats with renault they were able to tell me the car had not been back. Evan Halshaw was clearly telling a few porkies as it was never corrected. Although, since the windscreen has been replaced the leak hasn't been there.

Richard53

pulliptears wrote: »

I drive old cars, have for many years and the bonnet catch is part of routine checks, I used to sit and watch my Dad do his weekly car checks in the 70's and 80's and again bonnet catches were as important as oil and water.

I'm from the same era. I watched my Dad do the 'Sunday morning checks' from a very young age. Petrol, oil, water, battery, tyres! (I think it was from his army days, when it was 'power', the last two being electrics and rubber.) He never checked the bonnet catch, and I have never done so as a weekly thing. To me, it is like the handbrake cable - check and lubricate every x,000 miles and ignore in between. If it's properly designed and made from suitable materials, this should be more than enough.

pulliptears wrote: »

It's not mentioned much these days because people don't seem to like taking responsibility for checking their own vehicles anymore. I can count on one hand how many of my friends check their oil and water levels, they seem to think that 12 months between services is just fine and that is something a garage should do.

You say you don't have the knowledge to check? Buy a Haynes manual and learn, but how difficult is it to smear grease on a bonnet catch?

This is a pet peeve of mine too. As a motorcyclist, I have noticed that more and more cars have a headlight out, or perhaps misaligned, during the winter months. I've asked a few younger colleagues about this, and the general attitude seems to be that cars get serviced every year, and anything that happens in between services is nothing to do with the owner. "Hey, you've got a headlight bulb missing!" "No worries, it is going in for service in October!"

The more cars become sealed units with 'no user-serviceable parts', the more drivers are becoming de-skilled in the basics of owning and operating a vehicle. To be fair, with some cars today changing a headlight bulb is a major operation involving removal of bodywork. Whoever thought that was a good idea?

I thoroughly recommend a Haynes manual too, even for a 'non-technical' owner. There's a lot of sensible and useful stuff in there. It's always my first purchase if I get a new-to-me vehicle.

pulliptears

misssarahleigh wrote: »

We know of a leak. It used to make the roof slightly damp in the corners at the top where the windscreen meets the roof. This was apparent when the car was first bought and it was taken back to the dealer (evan halshaw) who in turn sent it to renault as they couldnt' work out the problem.

Funny enough, after my chats with renault they were able to tell me the car had not been back. Evan Halshaw was clearly telling a few porkies as it was never corrected. Although, since the windscreen has been replaced the leak hasn't been there.

Windscreen leaks are a new one on me, the sunroof is incredibly common though. I'm assuming mine is much much older than yours though as mine is a 99.

Richard53 wrote: »

I'm from the same era. I watched my Dad do the 'Sunday morning checks' from a very young age. Petrol, oil, water, battery, tyres! (I think it was from his army days, when it was 'power', the last two being electrics and rubber.) He never checked the bonnet catch, and I have never done so as a weekly thing. To me, it is like the handbrake cable - check and lubricate every x,000 miles and ignore in between. If it's properly designed and made from suitable materials, this should be more than enough.

My Dad worked as a test driver for a well known tyre company and drove all across the UK and USA as part of his job, his weekly checks were probably a lot more 'thorough' than the average driver then.
As I said though OH was taught the same thing, though his Dad was a classic enthusiast so it could be why.

Richard53

pulliptears wrote: »

My Dad worked as a test driver for a well known tyre company and drove all across the UK and USA as part of his job, his weekly checks were probably a lot more 'thorough' than the average driver then.

Heh, my Dad learned his in the Army. Perhaps they reckoned that five items with a nice manly mnemonic (POWER!!!) was as much as the average squaddy was capable of remembering.

TBH, I tend to leave the car servicing to a garage and just do the usual checks as and when. But I look after my bikes myself, and I am extremely fastidious about that. Everything that moves gets lubed, and everything that shouldn't move gets checked for security, weekly, no exceptions.

pulliptears

Richard53 wrote: »

Heh, my Dad learned his in the Army. Perhaps they reckoned that five items with a nice manly mnemonic (POWER!!!) was as much as the average squaddy was capable of remembering.

TBH, I tend to leave the car servicing to a garage and just do the usual checks as and when. But I look after my bikes myself, and I am extremely fastidious about that. Everything that moves gets lubed, and everything that shouldn't move gets checked for security, weekly, no exceptions.

lol, I tend to be quite fastidious about my cars, mostly because of their age. As I said earlier the Clio is 14 now and still only has 33k on the clock. It's in my interest to keep it tip top at this point because its served me so well and I really don't want to have to replace it.

My other car is an 1984 TR7 so again it's much loved and greased. It's not run over the winter months so the salt isnt as much of an issue with it but before that I had an old Mog which I used as my daily driver so getting under it of a weekend to grease it etc for protection was routine for me.