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Hello Everybody

Max

Max

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8
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Japan
Hello! I am an American that is quite fond of many types of European delights that most others in the states do not understand. Recently I had to move to Japan for a couple of years and found a nice Renault 4 GTL on a small lot near me. I came here to find some advice on finding parts, as it looks like the lot hooked me into buying the car! The only problem I am having, as the lot is also having, is finding parts for it.

From what I could understand (as my Japanese is very poor indeed) is that the car has been sitting for some time. Someone drove the car there to have them sell the car for him as he could no longer keep it on the road. Upon my inspections the car overall looks fairly clean, just a bit of dust from sitting. The engine looks great, almost as if it was rebuilt at one time. Under the rocker box cover, it is pure clean, which led me to believe some work has been done in the past. It has had a tune up, and they gave me a list of parts that has been changed. Once again, it is hard to read the receipt as my Japanese is rusty. I will have it translated soon.

The lot allowed me to do some work on it to see if I could get it to run. She did not want to start at first, but I did get her to run. She idled great, no hesitation or miss fires. The biggest problem I saw was that she tried to overheat on me. I assume this is a thermostat issue, the fans did not want to kick on, even when I tried to run the Air Con. I did jumper the wires and got them to run, but she still got hot.

Rust wise, I see a little, but not too much. My main concern is trying to get it to pass a JCI (equivalent to an MOT). I am not sure what all I need to do to get this car up to street use again. The biggest problem I am having is trying to find parts. This is why the lot wants to sell her as is, and I am sure why the individual who drove her before dropped it off at the lot. I made a quick decision to pay for half of it now and then the other half on the weekend coming up. The price was really good, but I don't know if this is something I should have done without doing a bit more homework.

What I would like to ask for help with is where can I find parts that I can have shipped to Japan? I do not want to see this car fade away, and would like to take it home with me when my tour here in Japan is over. After all, the car will be shipped home for free!
 
Hello Max

Welcome to the forum. Well it seems your little Renault is a long way from home...but has had the good fortune of finding you I don't know for certain but I assume the main suppliers such as Der Franzose and Melun Retro Passion would ship to Japan...a quick Google should find them. Would be great to see a few photos to weave a little story... I'm sure many on here better qualified than me can give you some pointers. Good luck with all ☺️
 
R4 from far east.....with AC.......something unbelievably rare....

Can you give us some pictures......i am very interested to see her.....(AC part especially)

As JonathanT already said franzose.de and melun retro passion.fr is the best place for online shopping for R4
Ebay can be useful but you must be careful and precisely know what you are looking.

I can give you few more webshops for R4 but do not know how they doing with shipping to Japan
all4renault.com - they have parts for many renualt models, also found some small details that could not find anywhere else.
r-quatre.nl - dutch webshop for R4

good luck to keep R4 in Japan alive.

I believe that there is renault 4 owners club
 
I will get more pictures up when I go back to the lot on the weekend. I still have to pay the other half as I guess that is how the lot works.
 
Excellent location Max,
doesn't matter how many times I watch "The King I", can't wait to see it again !!

dave
 
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Hello Max, here is a link to the thermostats at Der Franzose. Looking at the opening temperatures, they vary between 75 and 86 degrees.
The thermostat itself is situated in the top radiator hose near the water pump. Its fairly easy to remove, although if you decide to remove it you'll probably lose coolant/water and have to bleed the system again to remove any air that would have been drawn in.

Once you remove the thermostat, you can dip it into hot water to ensure that it operates correctly at the required temperature.

Good luck and looking forward to photos when you visit the lot again

https://www.franzose.de/en/Renault/R4/Motorkuehlung/Page-3/#82058
 
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"Cornish4, post: 46794, member: 2227"]My dear chap, do you mean the The King and I? Think that was set in Siam, present day Tailand I believe. :laughing:[/QUOTE]

Thanks Brian,
Silly me,
Regards,
Dave
 
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Max said:
The lot allowed me to do some work on it to see if I could get it to run. She did not want to start at first, but I did get her to run. She idled great, no hesitation or miss fires. The biggest problem I saw was that she tried to overheat on me. I assume this is a thermostat issue, the fans did not want to kick on, even when I tried to run the Air Con. I did jumper the wires and got them to run, but she still got hot.
Click to expand...
Three possibilities, all may be true at once:
1. The fan switch could be broken so it never comes on. Your frig should fix that temporarily and keep the radiator nice and cold.
2. The thermostatic valve could be jammed shut so the hot coolant never goes to the radiator. Putting on the heating (not air con!) will help to keep the engine cool by dumping heat into the cabin instead. Or you can remove the thermostat for a temporary fix.
3. The coolant system could be blocked up from standing a long time. If so, it will need flushing out using a hosepipe though the various drain plugs.
 
iMacThere4iAm said:
Three possibilities, all may be true at once:
1. The fan switch could be broken so it never comes on. Your frig should fix that temporarily and keep the radiator nice and cold.
2. The thermostatic valve could be jammed shut so the hot coolant never goes to the radiator. Putting on the heating (not air con!) will help to keep the engine cool by dumping heat into the cabin instead. Or you can remove the thermostat for a temporary fix.
3. The coolant system could be blocked up from standing a long time. If so, it will need flushing out using a hosepipe though the various drain plugs.
Click to expand...

I am thinking that the fan switch is broken, using a paper clip got them to come on, but it still tried to overheat which tells me that either both the thermostatic valve and coolant passages must be stopped up.


Turning on the air con was an attempt to see 1) if the ac still worked and 2) to see if I can get the radiator fans to come on without jumpering the switch. It also gave me insight to problems with the air con for later fixes.

For an attempt now, as a temporary fix I will try to either remove the thermostatic valve to get the car to run and drive as I have limited time. The lot has been very good about letting me fix the car their instead of towing it somewhere else.

The main issue comes down to the fact that I am only allotted one car. Seeing that I currently have one, and working on the renault before I have it registered means that soon I will have to sell the other making the renault my one and only. The biggest hurdle right now is the JCI which can be rough for older cars here. It is nice seeing older model cars on the road here knowing that they had to pass the JCI making them much more desirable, but the downside is getting them to pass that JCI.

Thank you everyone for all the help, I will have pictures up very soon as the weekend is one day away!
 
Hi Max
Having worked in Yokohama for a couple of years I am interested where you are based.
I always seemed to see regular run of the mill vehicles plus exotic "souped up" versions. The bigger the tail pipe diameter the better.
Be very interested to see pictures when you can add them.
Regards
Tom
 
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The Air Con is panasonic from Japan. All older European cars get fitted with them after they get here to Japan. There was a Fiat Panda with the same Air Con.
 
aaaaaaaaaaaaa.........this is fabulous.........A/C details in R4.......what i was looking for some time now........aaaaaaaa......

Now i can try to locate and fit one A/C to mine R4.

Thank you so much....would by you a bear (at least) if we are closer.

I can see that alternator has changed his original position.
On regular R4 it is located where compressor is at yours.
 
I have noticed the change in the position of the altinator, not sure if it is good or bad. This Air Con runs R12 which I guess is easy to get here. I can not say how it drives at the moment as it does not work currently and I have no temp number plates for the car. If you need any other details about it I can find some here in Japan about the Air Con (at least the best I can for what little Japanese I speak.)
 
In case you aren't sure, the thermostat lives in the top radiator hose next to the water pump, (where the two jubilee clips are) and is easily removed, much more simply than the usual rusted up thermostat housings that a lot of cars have.

I see that the jubilee clips have been replaced with non standard ones which is a little ominous.
 
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