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Foolishly trying to drive 300 miles after car has been largely unused for a year !

charlesa

charlesa

Enthusiast
Messages
67
Location
Cumbria
Good afternoon all,
my 1985 Renault 4GTL has been largely unused for a year as I have been moving house from Hampshire to Cumbria but have had to stay in various cottages round the country whilst waiting to complete the new purchase.
Anyway, yesterday was the day to get my GTL up from south to North (300 miles).
I am no mechanic but had checked the quality and levels of all fluids as well as (I thought) checking the tensions of the 2 belts.
Apologies for lack of correct terminology but the lower of the 2 has a habit of making a screeching sound.
Anyway, I set off and drove nearly 200 miles without incident apart from intermittent squealing. I stopped to refuel and as there was an AA van at the Services and I have been a member since 1986, I asked for him to take a look. He thought that the lower belt should be a bit tighter so he tightened it.
On I drove and about 10 miles further on there was a noise from the engine way. This was 2 miles south of Knutsford Services, which is a "Smart" stretch of motorway with no hard shoulder. I carried on to the next emergency lay-by (about a mile) and stopped. The lower of the 2 belts had snapped.
I called the AA who finally arrived after 2 1/2 hours. The AA man fitted a new belt which I provided. We then tested everything but know the overheating light came on as soon as the engine was started.
Anyway, at this point I had been in a small lay-by at the side of the M6 in 30 degree heat for more than 4 hours. The AA man said that it was too dangerous to stay there and that he would follow me if I drove the 2 miles to Knutsford Services and under no circumstances was I to stop !
I reached the Service Station with the red overheating light flickering the whole time. He did more tests to see if the spark had any water ingress (they didn't), he checked the cooling system had water and was retaining it and he ensured there was no air in the system. However he said that it was no longer safe to drive and booked a recovery truck to take me home.
He said that he thought that the cylinder head gasket might have failed.
I had to start the car to get it into my garage and it immediately got very hot.
I am going to get a local mechanic to take a look but I would appreciate any pointers as to how to ascertain the degree of damage.
Sorry for the long post and many thanks for any advice.
Charles

PHOTO-2022-07-11-14-56-57.jpg
 
It seems odd that the cooling light would come on immediately after the car had been resting for 2.5 hours. There is a wire that goes to a sensor bolted to the rear of the cylinder head above the exhaust. Well worth checking the wire hasn't shorted against anything or burned against the exhaust.

It is important to make sure there is no air in the system. I normally unclip the expansion tank and raise it above the engine and remove the cap. Then remove the cap from the radiator and put it back on then the radiator is completely full. Then unscrew the bleed cap from the little pipe that sticks out of the middle of the bulkhead and let maybe 250ml of water out to make sure there are no air pockets. Then squeeze and release the top radiator hose repeatedly. That will push air into the radiator. Repeat all that until you can feel that the top hose is full of water.

Hopefully there won't be damage to the cylinder head gasket - sounds like you caught it quickly. Once the bleeding is checked you can check for damage by removing the expansion bottle cap before starting the car. Replace it, run the car until it gets to temperature, then leave overnight. Remove the cap again before starting the car. If you hear a hiss that's a good clue of head gasket trouble.
 
Many thanks for that Malcolm. I have never known the cooling light come on before yesterday.
 
I wonder whether the original screech and broken belt were caused by a sticking or seized belt tensioner - arrowed in your photo (apologies for copying it). I'm not sure if the bright mark on the tensioner pulley is its edge or a mark made by the belt; if the latter, it's likely that the pulley isn't moving as freely as it should. It's certainly worth checking!
InkedPHOTO-2022-07-11-14-56-57.jpg
 
Thank you Andy, that is a good point. A previous belt also snapped a couple of years ago so maybe it is the tensioner. This one snapped very shortly after the AA man had tightened it too.
 
Thanks Adam, will do. I'm in Cumbria so just trying to find someone who knows Renault 4s mechanically as I am pretty useless unfortunately !!
 
The pump and tensioner should turn smoothly with no grittiness to feel - and no uneven-ness in feel. Tightening up the belt would have made the grip better (hence no squealing) and put lots more strain on the belt if either pump or tensioner were trying to stop it moving all the time!
 
Well, a quick update for all you helpful forum members.
A local mechanic (I'm in the wilds of Cumbria) has tested everything and he said that he didn't want to go to (my) the expense of replacing the head gasket unnecessarily.
I haven't actually driven the car since the breakdown but the engine has run for a steady half hour and it sounds fine and it doesn't overheat. The fan comes on, cools things down and goes off again. The plugs all look fine as does the oil.
So, what he has done is part drain the radiator and fill with a combination of Steel Seal and anti-freeze .
I'm going to take it for a drive later to test it.
On Wednesday it is going for its MOT which, apparently, is being done by a mechanic who has re-built a couple of Renault 4s so I'll see what he says.
Hope I haven't made a cock up using the Steel Seal method but we'll see !
 
Well I got up with a degree of trepidation this morning to drive the car 3 miles for its MOT in Appleby-in-Westmorland.
It didn't want to start at first (most unusual) but eventually it fired up and I arrived safely at the garage although I have to say that it didn't enjoy going up hill and kept losing power.
Bear in mind that I hadn't driven it since the AA mechanic had trailered it back from Cheshire and told me that the head gasket had probably gone.
Anyway it passed the MOT with flying colours and zero advisories.
Driving back was better, almost back to normal so we shall see.......
 
Sorry about delay in updating this topic but it has taken months to find someone local to look at the car. Anyway, he says that the Head gasket has gone . He has taken the Head away to get it skimmed and has asked me to source the Head Gasket and a Manifold gasket. Could someone please advise me where to source these ?
The car is a 1985 GTL, registration C897 GWG.
The engine plate reads:
1128
600
G004973.

Many thanks as always,
Charles
 
Try local uk shop.

I know of webshop where you can try to find what you need.

Here is link to webshop for your car

But maybe someone from UK (i am from Croatia) can give you better webshop

Headgasket
Could be vise to ask how tick headgasked nees to be becase it is skimmed.

Exhaust/intake manifold
 
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