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Will she start after 5 years ?

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galaxian

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Hi,

I am new to this forum, and I am the happy owner of a 4L Safari 1978 since yesterday !
The car belonged to my mothers french friend and french teatcher. For health reasons she stoped driving it 5 years ago. the car is almost rust free and exterior and interior is very acceptable.

My main concern is the engine. Do you think that after fitting a new battery, new spark plugs, adding watter and oil, shall I give it a try to see if it starts or I risk to make more damage if some of the pistons or valve is stuck?
The reason I would like to start it is to bring it to a Renault garage and have them perform a full service. I do not have a platform and i think it is to dangerous to toe it.
What about the fuel that is in the tank? will it be evaporated, shall I add fresh fuel or not?

Thank you in advance for the advice

Galaxian
 
Hi Galaxian

I recently bought a Renault 5 Gordini that had stood outside since 1991. I put fresh petrol in it and a good battery and towed a friend down the road in it. Could hardly believe it when it started !! Ran sweet too !! However the seals in the water pump had obviously perished because it soon started leaking but apart from that it ran ok. Now I know that with a new water pump and a good service it should be fine.........for my Renault 4 at least!

So fresh petrol and a new inline fuel filter, good battery and make sure you have a good spark at the plugs and try it. I wouldn't run it for long without changing the oil and filter but should be ok just to fire her up. You could turn the engine over on the starter motor for a few 20 second bursts without the spark plugs in just to free everything up first. A small amount of oil mixed with parafin down the plug holes may help to free things up if its a bit tight.

Good luck

Alpineman
 
I'd agree with Alpineman. Especially if the car has been dry garaged.

Take the spark plugs out, squirt oil through the spark plug holes into the cylinders and turn the engine over (with the spark plugs still out) in maybe 10 bursts of about 30 seconds duration to get the oil circulating in the bearings. Check that the oil pressure light goes out when you do this. The light going out means you have oil pressure and the oil is lubricating the dry bearings.

Start the car and hold the revs at about 2000rpm until the smoke has cleared. Then stop the engine and check the cylinder compressions. If they are all the same then the engine should be good. If one cylinder is more than 40psi lower than the rest then squirt some oil into the cylinder and check the compression again. If squirting the oil in makes it higher than the rest then you may have a seized piston ring - and driving the car like that may scratch the bore.

Probably you'd be OK with a car sitting in a nice warm place like Greece, for 5 years - shouldn't be long enough to cause any real problems.
 
Thanks for your valuable advice !
I'll try to make her start this morning an I'll let you know how it went...
Thanks
 
Hi, it's me again....
Unfortunately, due to weather conditions (rain) I was not able to give it a try, because i didn't want to work with the rain falling allover.

Nevertheless, I fitted the new battery, and cleaned the bocal which is connected to the radiator (paraflu bocal anticoolant). The bocal was completely dry and a brownish depot of like mud was covering the interior of the bocal. Is this a bad sign?

Now, another thing that is worrying me is that when i turned on the contact (not the starter i didn't try it yet) the battery and oil lamp don't lit. all other electrical stuff works : lamps, head lamps, horn, wind screen wippers, even the dashboard backround lamp (very weak). What could be the cause that battery lamp and oil lamp don't lit?

Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain I will try to start the engine following the advices of Clementine and Alpineman...whish me good luck !

Regards
 
Galaxian sou exw steilei private message me to thl mou an 8eleis otidhpote!Menw A8hna exn ena '75 R4 Export, ena '75 R4 Export k ena '81 GTL Jogging.
 
Galaxian

I forgot to remaind you of at least one very important thing which I also forgot myself to my cost recently. If your car does start, make sure that the thermostat opens by feeling the top radiator hose (bocal?) to see that it gets warm. This should happen in at least 5 minutes of the engine starting. If it doesn't SWITCH THE ENGINE OFF or the engine will overheat. These engines will warp (bend) the cylinder heads very easily if overheated. In fact as you have already removed the top hose, if you haven't already done so, check the thermostat by dropping it in boiling water and checking to see if it opens.

In answer to your last question I would investigate the cause for the 2 warning lights not working and try and get them to work, especially the oil warning light. Like Clementine said, this should go out very quickly when the engine is turning over just using the starter motor.

Your English is pretty good, I suggest you buy a Haynes manual off Ebay (follow the link on this site) People here will help you with awkward translations.

Alpineman (Lee)
 
Bad news....
It would have been too easy...just when I thought that I would do some minor repairs and drive my 4L, now I realize that I will have to go into big expenses, which i don't want...
I put water into the radiator before trying the first start, because it seamed empty, and after the 3rd bottle water was flowing all around from the side of the head gasket I thing ((from a back plate that is located at the back of the engine windscreen side)).
Just by curiosity I tried to start the engine with fresh fuel but no chance...
from the exhaust pipe a black residue of black thing mixed with rusted small pieces of metal was coming out. Furhter more the fuel pump was getting wet all over its gasket.
I am disapointed.!! at least the starter wors fine!!
What now ? new engine or repair ??
Any suggestions?

Regards
Galaxian
 
Don't worry too much. The plate on the rear of the cylinder head is a blanking plate for the water pump (some cars with that engine had the water pump at the other end from the Renault 4). Hopefully you will be able to replace the gasket under the blanking plate.

Rust falling from the exhaust is not unusual. The inside of the exhaust pipe will have rusted. It is fine to use it until holes appear.

Probably you will need to buy a new fuel pump.

Have you checked whether fuel is getting to the carburettor and whether there is a spark at the spark plugs? That is the first step. Next clean the spark plugs. Finally it may help to use a can of engine starting spray (we have EasyStart in the UK) it comes in an aerosol can that you spray into the carburettor and it burns better than petrol so the engine starts more easily.
 
Ok thanks,

I hope it is the blanking plate as you suspect. I would be lucky if it's not the cylinder head gasket...
Fortunately thanks to your fantastic forum, I was contacted by angel who also lives in Athens Greece, and seams to be a very good conaiseur of 4L engines.
We will meet this week end to work it out together.
I'll let you know the outcome

Regards
Galaxian
 
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