Clementine's Garage
Clementine the Cat
 
Image of flower
Yellow R4
 
Réparateur d'automobiles

And hello from Brian and his new owner...

r4ft

New Member
Messages
2
...in the lush, green (for lush green read grey, wet) Scottish Borders. I have been a Renault 4 owner for about 10 weeks, rather than 10 years, so I may still be a honeymooner. So far, so much fun.

Allow me to present Brian, a 1986 turquoise R4, whose name was inspired in part thanks to this site owner's Magic cars, but also because my previous vehicle was a snail, and also had French connections: 'Cargo' - short for escargot - my trusty little Yamaha DT125 trail bike and only mode of transportation was half-inched early this year, and so Brian came into my life.

He may be snail-like, but so far he has helped me move flat and jolted me all round the Borders, come rain or shine. I have already become accustomed to him.

I look forward to meeting you all - see you around!
 
Hi r4ft,

Welcome to the forum. I clicked to see your website but got the error message
"error 403: Forbidden! The server understood the request, but is refusing to fulfill it. Authorization will not help and the request SHOULD NOT be repeated."
I should be thankful the error message wasn't in German - 1&1 normally does that. (If you get stuck then Clementine's Amazing Web Hosting might be able to help).

Back to the point - I'm intrigued - is that a Renault 4 website you're putting up?

It's cool you've gone for Brian for your R4 name. Magic Roundabout character names always bring good luck. Apart from Florence of course - who broke down in Cologne... And Margo (French version of Florence) whose head gasket blew and who fell in half and was converted into a wheel barrow.... And Ernimtrude (who was written off 3 days after a full restoration). Or Rosalie who overheated recently.

Still, pleased your honeymoon is going well and you are being jolted along satisfactorily.

:D
 
Brian trundles on...

...as does other work, preventing that website (and yes, it will feature the further adventures of Brian in glorious technicolor) from materialising just yet.

The car has been great so far, with the only recurring issue being one of starting promptly in damp weather - sadly, the mechanic who attempted to dismantle the starter motor to clean it broke the casing in the process :( , so Brian now sports a brand new starter (and wow does the engine sound better).

Dampness (did I mention the dampness of the Scottish Borders? no?) continues to plague him though, and I'm not sure how well he's going to cope with a garageless winter in the condensation-inducing, Roman-repelling wet of my corner of paradise.

If anyone can help identify the cause of the current problem, I'd be very grateful - namely, that the car starts and then immediately dies in a sort of fuel-starved way - new plugs, new HT leads, new starter, and yet... is there any weakness from which he might be suffering?

Despite these niggles - and my main one actually involves the inside locks on the rear doors snagging on clothing and thus relocking themselves at inopportune moments - I have had great fun, and so far cheated death, whizzing about in Brian. If I can solve these starting issues I can see this being a long and fruitful partnership.
 
Sounds like Brian has been getting a lot of attention. Have you tried a new fuel pump for your engine problem? Worn pumps start leaking internally letting fuel drop back to the tank after the car has been sitting for a while. The car starts on the fuel in the float chamber then dies as there is no immediate follow up fuel until the tired old pump manages to push some back up as far as the carburettor.

Sometimes spraying WD40 on the outside of the distributor cap and leads will help with dampness.

I like the avatar. I'm planning to spend New Year in Perthshire (family up there) Looking forward to darkness at 3:00 in the afternoon. Guess that's why they invented whisky. Glad to hear you have so far cheated death in your Renault. They say if you survive the first 3 months then you should be OK... :D
 
Back
Top