I guess this goes to show that, no matter how well you maintain an older car, something will eventually go wrong with it. I changed my cam belt at 5 years and 43k, I do 6 monthly/6k oil changes, my car is serviced, anything that goes wrong with it is fixed, and
Driving home on the M4 today, I got through the roadworks near Junction 6 and tried to accelerate out in my 1989 Renault 19 1.7. I say tried because, as I did so, the accelerator cable lost all tenstion and the pedal hit the floor. Pedal to the metal, maybe, but zero performance.
Thankfully I still had a week left on my RAC membership and the patrol was there within about 40 minutes. Unfortunately it turns out that the accelerator cable, instead of respectfully snapping, had worked itself loose because the spool that holds it in place past the carburettor had lost a clip. The spool may or may not be available separately (although most Renault bits are thankfully pretty detachable, intentional or otherwise) but at the moment, my car is in Slough, I am in London and there's no chance of it being repaired before Tuesday, when I have a very full day and no way of actually meeting the mechanic who is going to do the work.
If I could get finance on a newer car, I so would!
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Sympathy is duly extended to you David. As someone who has posted so much useful and sensible advice for others, it is a tad unfair that you should have been smitten so inconveniently yourself. Your mention of the RAC membership seemed to infer that in a weeks time it would have expired and you wouldn't have had cover??? If, perchance, that was/is the case, don't forget my recent mention of the AutoAid cover which would get you out of trouble with Breakdown or Recovery for £28PA. It would certainly have got you back to wherever you were going/coming from and at that price has to be worth having. Only Alf showed any interest in my mention so I gather from that it's not going to gain new subscibers from the Backroom in their hordes however, having had previous good expereience of it, I'm happy enough to use it and pocket the difference.
Good luck with the Renault.
Regards,
KB.
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Luck was not on my side it seems.
Repair costs are £300 or so for a new carb and although the car is basically sound, I'm really unsure as to whether to give up on this one altogether.
I've got to decide this afternoon whether or not to scrap the car. It's only done 88k, has no rust, drives well, is pleasantly quiet and well equipped and generally is a nice car. Advice please?
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Breakers and diy?
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Secondhand parts are difficult to source around here although I could go mail order. My DIY's not up to much and the car's currently in Slough - but I'm not. I think I'll leave it, recover the car by whatever means I can. If I can somehow get finance on a new one, I'll do that, otherwise I guess it'll have to be driving it back to London in the dead of night.
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Sounds like a proper nightmare situation!
I may have missed something in your post, but is there no chance of finding a second-hand part (clip or whatever it is)? As a longer shot, perhaps a carb specialist like Webcon might be able to source a part?
Good luck
Andy
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The garage where I left it doesn't really want to play ball... they want it gone by tomorrow. I guess there is a possibility of a second hand clip or whatever it needs but more likely it'll be me, a Haynes, my flatmate and a good excuse to get that socket set.
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FWIW my advice is keep it. You like the car, know it and look after it. I'ts suffered all the depreciation it's going to and £300 is not a huge amount compared with the cost a financing a replacement you know nothing about.
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They are taking the michael....
Any half competent mechanic should be able to fashion something to make it work again in about an hour. If not (and I find this VERY unlikely!) there is a place called the Carburettor Hospital (try a google search) that stock spares for 000's of carbs and should be able to turn some parts up. Failing that there are lots of specialist breakers who will probably have one of these on the shelf (although you would probably want to swap the bits over to your carb as the off the shelf one will probably be all blocked up).
This is repair by replacement gone mad!!
Richard
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Yesterday, in 75 degree + heat and rush hour, I nursed the car back the 25 or so miles from Slough. With an idle speed of 3200 it goes up to 40-50 mph and runs okay at speed but I left the heater on so I didn't fry the head gasket...
Carburettor Hospital actually quoted more than the garage or a local independent specialist want for what I think is a new part but CH said wasn't. There is a specialist yard in East London that is reasonably convenient for me to get to, so I will give them a go.
So I'm going to be phoning breakers and maybe also my usual London mechanic - although I don't especially like him, he is a Renault specialist and reasonably cheap, he might do the work fairly quickly and/or bodget it.
Can anyone also recommend a spares service (online?) where I could source the carb from and compare prices?
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David this may be worth a try !
A5 Breaker who only break French cars, located about 2 miles outside of Dustable toward Milton Keynes Tele 01525 211411.
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Dave,
Do a google search on andyspares, they're a (Renault,Peugeot & Citroen) car parts based in Reading, but they do mail order & their prices are pretty good.
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Now owned by German Swedish and French and they have a branch less than ten minutes from me. Sadly they don't have any carburettors though.
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David
Sympathy to you as well.
I had just finished writing an article on the importance of cambelt changes and avoiding premature failure for a major manufacturer and the following week the cambelt snapped prematurely on my Vauxhall Ecotec. £1k bill to put right.
Ironic or what!
Charles
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Okay, nursed the car back to London from Slough a week ago. Top speed was about 40 mph and 0-20 took at least 10 seconds.
I went to see my usual London mechanic (although I prefer to get work done when I'm at my parents' in Wales, where it's barely half the price) and he did manage to fix the cable in place. So far it's running okay, although I haven't really driven it properly yet - just from Clapham to Putney.
Anyway, thanks to Roy at Frank Suarez in Clapham, total cost was £85 including an hour and a half's labour and a new accelerator cable. Even so, I've kind of lost the desire to drive now...
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David,
Keep an eye on the classified page of the Maestro and Montego Owners site and with patience you'll pick up a bargain for £500.
Then you're desire to drive will surely return...........
....Or not, as the case may be.....but for £450 my 14,000 mile one owner 1.6 Mayfair suited me. Am keeping an eye open for a late diesel. Those bods at BL certainly knew how to put cars together. It's just a pity that, whilst they knew how to put cars together, they didn't actually manage to do it.
KB.
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"It's just a pity that, whilst they knew how to put cars together, they didn't actually manage to do it."
Liked that!
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