Bizarre design - some observations

[ashmicro]

Hi all

I'm not a Renault owner, but have just today completed the 4 year service on my sister & brother in law's car, a Scenic II 1.4.

1. The square-hole-in-the-middle sump bung. What is wrong with a bolt? Also, why no hole in the (ridiculously thin) undertray for the sump?

2. Air filter element housing BEHIND the cylinder head. Confusingly, the resonator-like thing is the same shape as the air filter element, but it doesn't come apart, yet is easy to get at.

3. Nigh-on impossible to get at master cylinder/reservoir.

4. Almost equally infuriating location of oil fill hole, which precludes the use of a large funnel.

5. Fiddly as hell spark plug location between those long inlet tracts. Incidentally, if said tracts were intended to create more torque, they fail. I thought the handbrake was stuck on for a while, it's so gutless. Also, weird red sticky stuff on old plugs.

6. Top of dipstick jammed half under engine lifting lug.

7. Weird, curved jacking points.

To any of you good folk on here who do your own servicing: I salute you!

I'm now going to take several valium and lie in a darkened room.

[m.bedforth]

No wonder the dealers charge so much for services if they are fiddling around in such weirdly designed engine layouts.

[trev]

Also, weird red sticky stuff on old plugs.

Sure i read somewhere that this is to prevent early failure of stick coils?? Hope you put some on the new plugs??

[europa]

I gather you don't normally service french cars

Really it's not that hard!

[AlexB]

Undertray? It needs to be removed anyway, as the oil leaks when removing the filter. Too thin? There is no point in making it thicker unless it becomes really thick. Ask LGC about how strong the sump guard should be in a rally car...

Guttless? It's 1.4 in a bus. What do you expect? I doubt that Scenics were ever designed for 1.4-1.5-1.6 engines.

"Also, weird red sticky stuff on old plugs."
This stuff is intended to prevent coil failures. It is mentioned in the service manual and/or in one of technical notes. I am curious, how many coils were damaged by removing this "stuff"?

I don't know about the other mentioned points because my car is different.

[ashmicro]

Alex,

I was just maing a few observations as per the thread title, but since you ask:

I'm well aware of how thick competition sump guards are, having banged my head on quite a few.

So far, we've zero damaged coils, but it doesn't matter anyway as a full set of new ones was supplied with the car (wary previous owner).

Really, I didn't mean to upset anyone...

[AlexB]

Upset? No! I was just typing fast, possibly in a grumpy voice... Sorry if I upset you!

The sticky stuff is the grease part number 82 00 168 855 applied according to the technical note 3789A. As I understand the coils must not be removed unless one is prepared to renew the grease coating.

The Green Note 4242A is about the coil types. It says that if a SAGEM coil fails and its production date is before "330-3", then all four coils must be replaced by DENSO. It is emphasized that the dates must be checked without removing the coils. If a single DENSO coil fails, then just one coil is replaced.

[Woody Woo]

Some things on Renaults can be tricky to do but you get used to it and learn the tricks. With familiarity they are quite reasonable to work on.




Renault 4 Ever

[ashmicro]

Alex

Thanks for the part numbers - I have a feeling these might be useful in the future! Our local Renault dealer is merde

Cheers all!