Terrific service from Liam

[Scruffle]

Just a word of appreciation for Liam4R4SPARES. A while ago I posted on this forum a cry for help seeking a replacement drive shaft for my GTL and Liam picked it up and sent me a second hand shaft in excellent condition pretty much immediately, and at an unbeatable price. Thank you Liam, and anyone else out there in a fix, get in touch with Liam who Im sure will be able to help you out.

Only trouble is, like an idiot I misdiagnosed my problem!!! Yes, the driveshaft was knackered and very much on its last legs, but that was not what was causing the symptoms. Extensive fiddling over the weekend has now identified the trouble as a broken gearbox mounting, right on the front of the car. Any ideas how I deal with this? The rubber has completely detached causing the gearox and engine to drop down by about 1cm onto a metal flange thingy. Could this have done permanent damage elsewhere? Can I replace the mounting without removing the gearbox? Where can I get a replacement? Liam? Help!!!!

Scruffle

 

[malcolm]

It's good that you found the worn driveshaft - that puts you one step ahead of potential mechanical failures and you can breath easily for a while.

For the gearbox mount (or any other mount) you might be better off buying a new one. The rubber tends to detach from the metal after 20 years or so. Mind you, a lot have already been replaced for this reason so maybe Liam has a newish one from a scrap car. Otherwise Whitehouse Renault should be able to sell one. I paid £35 for a Renault 5 gearbox mount, but someone else reported a much lower cost for a Renault 4 part.

The mount failure shouldn't have damaged anything else - the metal flange is there to cach the gearbox and prevent damage.

You don't have to take the gearbox out to replace the mount - just support the gearbox on a jack, unbolt the old mount and fit the new one. It's probably easier if you remove the bonnet first. There are a couple of nuts tucked inside the front chassis member. Unscrew those and then remove the bonnet check wires and the bonnet should lift off.