Buy French, You Get French...

russ9898 · 11 Jan 2007 at 22:12

woodsup said:
Brilliant, I read this thread, go out to fetch my dad from the trainstation, and my 1.2 clio (53) decides its airbags won't work anymore while i'm sitting in the carpark.

Thanks for that

im pressuming that your airbag and serv light are illuminated now? if so...
check the connections under the passenger seat, push them all togther and then try starting the car again, should clear the problem. Its happened to my clio a few times ...french tat!

woodsup · 11 Jan 2007 at 22:24

russ9898 said:
im pressuming that your airbag and serv light are illuminated now? if so...
check the connections under the passenger seat, push them all togther and then try starting the car again, should clear the problem. Its happened to my clio a few times ...french tat!

yup thats the one, I'll try that in the morning. Are the wires just loose under the seat then?

Thanks for the speedy reply

agw_01 · 11 Jan 2007 at 22:28

russ9898 said:
not sure, hes from up scotland way. i know him from a forum called cliosport, chat 2 him on msn fairly often. not many 02 plate clios can be ex driving school cars on 150k so thought it must be him lol

Yeah, that sounds like him.

He's a cool guy. Met him through a computer hardware forum a few years back.

russ9898 · 11 Jan 2007 at 22:51

woodsup said:
yup thats the one, I'll try that in the morning. Are the wires just loose under the seat then?

Thanks for the speedy reply

yup, theres a connector or 2 under there, just try pushing it back together and that should clear the prob, if the prob doesnt go away check out www.cliosport.net see if anyone on there has any other suggestions

yup, martins a good lad. his mum musta picked a goodn when she got that car...not many clios will hack that mileage in 4 yrs

SgtTupac · 11 Jan 2007 at 22:52

We dont have a single works vehicle (2x Clios, 2x Kangoos 2x Traffics and 2 Masters) which hasnt had wheel bearings :eek:

All arew 53 plate as well. One traffic has had two gearboxes and three clutches. Both Masters have had clutches and the kangoos have had water pumps. Terrible vehicles.

russ9898 · 11 Jan 2007 at 22:53

SgtTupac said:
We dont have a single works vehicle (2x Clios, 2x Kangoos 2x Traffics and 2 Masters) which hasnt had wheel bearings All arew 53 plate as well. One traffic has had two gearboxes and three clutches. Both Masters have had clutches and the kangoos have had water pumps. Terrible vehicles.

think ive been lucky so far, my 51 plate clio is sound. no probs what so ever, i just make sure i keep fresh oil in and had the cambelt, waterpump and tensioners done at 4.5 yrs old and it seems to keep ploddin on.

Jonny ///M · 11 Jan 2007 at 23:05

Wheelbearings are meant to last the life of the vehical apparently. My dads laguna is on 90k and is 9 years old......the rear bearing has just went. £40 fix :rolleyes:

Conscript · 11 Jan 2007 at 23:19

MrLOL said:
just put my picasso through another MOT yesterday. Its a 2001 car, so its 6 years old this year. Went through for a full service at the same time

nothing found, and passed with no advisories.

Only thing's ive done to the Picasso since i bought it in Jan '05. 1 full set of tyres, 1 Exhaust, 1 set of discs and pads and 2 services. All totalling about £5-600 off the top of my head

never had a moments trouble from it

not all french cars are made of cheese.

My dad has a 53 plate Picasso.

Here's a quick list of things that have gone wrong with it since he had it (that I can remember):

Exhaust near enough fell off
Air con switch broke.
Air con switch fixed....then the air con itself broke
Dashboard lights broke....display disappeared while he was driving along (Digital speedo, fuel, temps, etc) :/
Gear stick trim came off in his hand while he was driving
Fuel pump failed.

And to cap it all, tonight, the air flow sensor failed and it wouldn't start.

The car has been nothing but trouble since he got it. Luckily its under warranty, but has probs spent more time at the garage than it has with him. Absolute heap, he says he regrets the decision to not get a Honda Civic instead.

richolmes72 · 11 Jan 2007 at 23:27

Conscript said:
My dad has a 53 plate Picasso.

Here's a quick list of things that have gone wrong with it since he had it (that I can remember):

Exhaust near enough fell off
Air con switch broke.
Air con switch fixed....then the air con itself broke
Dashboard lights broke....display disappeared while he was driving along (Digital speedo, fuel, temps, etc) :/
Gear stick trim came off in his hand while he was driving
Fuel pump failed.

And to cap it all, tonight, the air flow sensor failed and it wouldn't start.

The car has been nothing but trouble since he got it. Luckily its under warranty, but has probs spent more time at the garage than it has with him. Absolute heap, he says he regrets the decision to not get a Honda Civic instead.

In our family we have an 02 Picasso and a 55 Picasso, Both owned from new, one of the electric folding mirrors on the 55 no longer folds, and the 02 needed its remote reprogramming. That's it.

Not a huge fan of the cars (parents love them) but can't fault their reliability myself. Goes to show that for every French Lemon, there's a gem out there. :eek:

Conscript · 11 Jan 2007 at 23:33

Yeah, he really has had an awful time with it. It does get a lot of use (Its his work car, one of the reasons he bought it was lots of space for carting stuff around but still viable as a family car), he gets through a lot of miles in it. Having said that, its no sports car, and my dads in his fifties, it's not like he drives it to it's limits all day every day

If it wasn't such a heap reliability wise, it would be perfect for him....very comfortable and roomy, high driving position, economical, very versatile, easy to drive; just a shame the RAC man sees more of it than my dad does

James_N · 11 Jan 2007 at 23:44

Jonny ///M said:
Wheelbearings are meant to last the life of the vehical apparently. My dads laguna is on 90k and is 9 years old......the rear bearing has just went. £40 fix

Reminds me of a time about 6 months ago driving along in my volvo, i could hear a slight grinding coming from the passenger side wheel.

My mate had a listen and we came to the conclusion it was a wheel bearing, so off to the local big-ish parts store we went.

Bloke said "You sure its a wheel bearing" So i said "not exactly sure but it sounds like it"
He said "in all my years of working here, ive never had to order a wheel bearing for a volvo so we dont stock them, ive never known them to go, so make sure its the bearing first before buying"

Back to mates house, had the wheel off, cleaned a bit of crap off, put it back on, and it was as good as new. Think it was just some stones or crap got in somehow.

still, it makes me smile that my £100 17 year old volvo can still fly through MOT's with no problem after 147k miles

roll on June!

Jonny ///M · 11 Jan 2007 at 23:51

James_N said:
Reminds me of a time about 6 months ago driving along in my volvo, i could hear a slight grinding coming from the passenger side wheel.

My mate had a listen and we came to the conclusion it was a wheel bearing, so off to the local big-ish parts store we went.

Bloke said "You sure its a wheel bearing" So i said "not exactly sure but it sounds like it"
He said "in all my years of working here, ive never had to order a wheel bearing for a volvo so we dont stock them, ive never known them to go, so make sure its the bearing first before buying"

Back to mates house, had the wheel off, cleaned a bit of crap off, put it back on, and it was as good as new. Think it was just some stones or crap got in somehow.

still, it makes me smile that my £100 17 year old volvo can still fly through MOT's with no problem after 147k miles roll on June!

Nice one,my dads started off quiet.....left it for ages now....its like having a huge exhaust while your in the car.

Volvos eh,i would LOVE to drive an 850r around but thats another thread. My mate got a £1000 volvo estate......month or two later a think the headgasket went which meant a full engine rebuild under warranty,he has since moved but i heard through sources the volvo is out of action again

It was a good car,taking it to redline on B roads with 3 downhill bikes on the back and stadium arcadium playing all the way to edinburgh.

Forgot to ask,was it a disk or drum and what did you take off and clean?

James_N · 11 Jan 2007 at 23:54

Pretty sure its discs at the front.

My mate just took the wheel off, when i returned from making a brew, he had put it back on again and was off out on a drive. It was fine after!

850's ive got mixed feelings about, but then again, my dad was sold a lemon i think. MUCH less to go wrong on the older 2/7/9 series cars. can be fixed with a bit of string

Firestar_3x · 11 Jan 2007 at 23:59

The three volvos we've had, all from new, 2 / 3 series all did over 120k and apart from servicing and tyres nothing ever went wrong, fantastic cars imho!

Jonny ///M · 12 Jan 2007 at 00:01

James_N said:
Pretty sure its discs at the front.

My mate just took the wheel off, when i returned from making a brew, he had put it back on again and was off out on a drive. It was fine after!

850's ive got mixed feelings about, but then again, my dad was sold a lemon i think. MUCH less to go wrong on the older 2/7/9 series cars. can be fixed with a bit of string

I think the mate of mine was a 7, "big red volvo" what a ledgend.

I love the I5 or V5 thats in them?

Hmm arent disk brake hubs hard to fix bearings on? The rear with drums was pretty easy(wheel off,hub cover off,hub nut off,pull hub off,pop the circlip,pop the bearing out)

agw_01 · 12 Jan 2007 at 00:06

Jonny ///M said:
Forgot to ask,was it a disk or drum and what did you take off and clean?

James_N said:
Pretty sure its discs at the front.

My mate just took the wheel off, when i returned from making a brew, he had put it back on again and was off out on a drive. It was fine after!

I know this is kinda irrelevant, but I thought it good to post it anyway...

The day I got the 220 back from its MOT, I was driving home and after a few miles it started making a horrible scraping noise. It was very very loud and very very embarrasing.

I was pretty upset by it, having just put it through its MOT so when I got home whipped the front passenger wheel off and had a look. There was a stone jammed in between the back of the disc and heatshield... god knows how it got jammed there!

I had to bend the heatshield back to remove the stone, which in the end just fell out. The back of the disc is scored, but the noise disappeared. Just something to think about if you get any weird noises from the wheels. Remove the wheel and have a good look.

Firestar_3x · 12 Jan 2007 at 00:09

agw_01 said:
I know this is kinda irrelevant, but I thought it good to post it anyway...

Funny you should say that, mate at work shouted me out the the carpark, his XKR was making a funny noise from the front disk and he was about to call jag to come and get him, pulled heatshield back, removed stone, he changed the disks after that, i hate to think how much that cost him.

Jonny ///M · 12 Jan 2007 at 00:12

Hmm im pretty sure this is the bearing,its not a scraping sound its a humming sound really. Unlikely for a stone to get caught in a drum brake i guess aswell.

agw_01 · 12 Jan 2007 at 00:13

Drums are usually sealed, so doubt a stone could get in there.

Is it like a wooo-woooo-woooo sound? Does it get louder around corners?

Jonny ///M · 12 Jan 2007 at 00:39

agw_01 said:
Drums are usually sealed, so doubt a stone could get in there.

Is it like a wooo-woooo-woooo sound? Does it get louder around corners?

It goes quiet when he turns right so im sure its the drivers rear bearing. It changes in sound while cornering but its like a woo wo wo oo i would say. Cant remember lol.