Just bought a low mileage L reg Clio from garage. Took it back straight away as clearly had coolant leak. Garage did pressure test and said "No it didn't". Had to drive a fair distance away and found coolant still being lost. Took it to the nearest Renault garage who diagnosed a "loose bolt just above the water pump; it's tightened and alright now". Drove it a bit; leak no better. Took it back to original garage which sold it and said "It still leaks" They did another pressure test and repeated "No leak." I said "What's that drip then?" You could see it on the wishbone by the driver's front wheel!
They've had it back and have fixed it by "loosening all of the bolts in the head and re-tightening them according to the prescribed sequence". They haven't replaced the gaskets or anything. Does this sound like a proper and likely solution? They said they didn't want me to think they'd only done half a job and so now I'm beginning to think that's exactly what they have done.
Would appreciate any views.
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They\'ve had it back and have fixed it by \"loosening all of the bolts in the head and re-tightening them according to the prescribed sequence\". They haven\'t replaced the gaskets or anything. Does this sound like a proper and likely solution?
Er, quite frankly NO. The head bolts are either tightened down using a torque wrench; each turned through a set degrees, or sometimes both. eg, tighten down to 20lb/ft, then turn each bolt through 90 degrees for instance. Anyway you get the picture. These readings are given for a new head gasket and quite possibly new bolts.
If they\'ve used the same head gasket, they have overtightened the head bolts as the old gasket won\'t compress any further, whereas a new gasket does.
Some heads are held down with what\'s called \"stretch bolts\" Not sure if the Clio uses these or not though. If it does, and they\'ve used the existing bolts, again, they\'ve overtightened the bolts.
As you\'ve only just bought the car, I would threaten them with Trading Standards, as to me it seems they have only bodged the repair.
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This is a recipe for disaster...
Don't all Renaults leak coolant?
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Hired a Clio in Spain (1998 model I think), that lost all coolant. Hire company replaced car but we're obviously used to the problem as he came prepared and tried to explain in Spanish and with much hand waving that a certain batch of Clios had the problem and others were ok. He was pointing at letters on the number plates presumably denoting ages.
Anyway I also owned a 1.2 92J model and this dumped its coolant over the road twice, first was because of corrision around an inlet pipe that goes into the engine block at the front. The second time it blew a core plug out the back of the engine.
On the second time more investigation was done and the cause was deemed to be a slowly leaking head gasket which meant air was getting into the system and was rusting the engine from the inside out. The coolant water had always been brown (from the rust) but the gasket wasn't bad enough to be detected from lack of performance etc. Have since sold the car. Total cost of both leaks was circa £400 including a new headgasket.
All three cases occured when the engine got hot, ie when stuck in traffic. Ironically the Clio is one of the few cars that doesn't have a temp gauge!
I think I've written this on here before? you might want to search back for that thread in case there is more info to help you on there.
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nope
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I've had quite a few Renaults over the years - and never had any problems with the cooling systems. BUT - I've always used the approved Renault coolant at the exact intervals. Basically, you're buying antifreeze mixed with distilled water and paying through the nose for it, but it does work very very well. I don't think I ever had to buy a hose, radiator,thermostat, water pump or anything coolant-related for the Renaults.
Graeme
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C5 - if it was a K-reg Clio that you owned, you would have to know when to change the coolant, because it wasn't part of the servicing schedule, so the dealers didn't do it. The typical consequence of this in my daughter's car was brown gravy circulating (as I have said several times before). This could be why coolant problems are common.
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Just want to agree with that... my Renault's cooling system is the one thing on it that works perfectly. So far.
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Have owned a Renault 12, Renault 11, Renault 18 , Renault 21 and Renault 19 over the years. (OK - for years I thought they were the bee's knees - until I bought a Citroen.....) In every case, I changed the coolant every 2 years, using proper Renault coolant - never a minute's trouble.
In those days I did all my own servicing - very meticulously, supposing I say it myself!
Now that I have the C5, with 3 year warranty, I can't touch it! (Grrr!)
Graeme
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Yep, and all MG/Rovers blow head gaskets!!
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