Daily dci

[Brigsy]

jeez @Brigsy, all I did was turn around for a minute and wtf next thing I see the head is off ??
Please keep reporting on the ghetto rehone jobbo, I'm interested.

Needs must the oil consumption and blue smoke was getting too bad All back together and running good have done 70 miles in it up to now, no smoke from cold so id say its been a success. £180 in parts and 2 days work so not the worst. Id have rather just changed engine for good used, but finding a good one with reasonable mileage is not that easy and i was worried id be fitting another smoker.

Reading this has made me want a MK2 dci.... are there any on the market for a few quid....is there f###

I seen an 08 campus on ebay with aircon recently, 64k but quite dear at 2k. Looked quite decent but not mint. Rest ive seen have been shite non runners or barely running.

 

[gez 172]

Mk2’s are becoming quite a rare sight these days

If you do see one, it’s usually a 1.2

 

[Big Toe]

Mk2’s are becoming quite a rare sight these days

If you do see one, it’s usually a 1.2

They were easily the most common engines when nee so that’s understandable. Plus they’re relatively simple compared to a dci. They lack economy and speed but for a run about people want reliability.

 

[VenomUK]

Yeah the MK2 derv with AC is going to be a rare find now. May just keep an eye on the MK3 as they seem to get just as good MPG just the hassle of those swivel bearings

 

[Djw John]

It's only the 197/200 that have the fancy hubs @VenomUK

 

[Brigsy]

Orange dci went straight through its mot Wed morning. Its wanted for nothing apart from servicing this year, not done loads of miles though around 3k from memory.

Give them both a clean up and headlamps a little tickle with the d/a as going a bit yellow.

Tallying up the spends on the blue one this year. I reckon its had about £350 spent on it including this freshen up. With it making about £300 in mileage at work every month its been epic cheap motoring.

 

[Brigsy]

Updates

Blue dci has been running well and its not using a drop of oil, not had to lay a spanner on the engine since refresh. I bedded the rings in on mineral oil for 2000 miles in the end, as it was still smoking a little on full throttle around the 1000 mile mark, which cleared up around 1500miles. Just needed more time to bed in i guess. Ive got decent shell 5/40 semi synthetic in now, will change over to fully synthetic next oil change.

Ive also replaced the front shockers and bump stop on the drivers side as the shock was sqeaking/bump stop had fallen apart? Handling was a bit odd but all sorted.

Handle broke on drivers side the other day when opening, spring snapped so was like a floppy c**k. 2nd hand one sourced and fitted.

Giving it a once over and noticed the cv boot clip had fell off on the drivers side, but boot had not popped off. Previous owner had fitted a jubliee clip which had rotted through.

Did not have any cv boot clips so its got another jubilee clip on it

Give it a good clean up as it really needed it after all the bad weather recently.

Orange dci got the same treatment.

Quite glad ive kept both of these with the current fuel prices as the mrs has been using the orange clio for commuting again. The only other option would be the Megane or Kangoo both at 20mpg. Not moaning about 20mpg but i prefer using them both for pleasure not just sat in traffic drinking the juice day to day! 60-70mpg on the diesels all day long for daily use.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Louis]

Updates

Blue dci has been running well and its not using a drop of oil, not had to lay a spanner on the engine since refresh. I bedded the rings in on mineral oil for 2000 miles in the end, as it was still smoking a little on full throttle around the 1000 mile mark, which cleared up around 1500miles. Just needed more time to bed in i guess. Ive got decent shell 5/40 semi synthetic in now, will change over to fully synthetic next oil change.

Ive also replaced the front shockers and bump stop on the drivers side as the shock was sqeaking/bump stop had fallen apart? Handling was a bit odd but all sorted.

Handle broke on drivers side the other day when opening, spring snapped so was like a floppy c**k. 2nd hand one sourced and fitted.View attachment 1583800

Giving it a once over and noticed the cv boot clip had fell off on the drivers side, but boot had not popped off. Previous owner had fitted a jubliee clip which had rotted through.View attachment 1583801
Did not have any cv boot clips so its got another jubilee clip on itView attachment 1583802
Give it a good clean up as it really needed it after all the bad weather recently.View attachment 1583805
Orange dci got the same treatment.View attachment 1583804View attachment 1583803
Quite glad ive kept both of these with the current fuel prices as the mrs has been using the orange clio for commuting again. The only other option would be the Megane or Kangoo both at 20mpg. Not moaning about 20mpg but i prefer using them both for pleasure not just sat in traffic drinking the juice day to day! 60-70mpg on the diesels all day long for daily use.

Thanks for reading!

Stainless jubilees are so much better than cv clips. Had mine on 4 years and still work perfectly!

 

[Brigsy]

Stainless jubilees are so much better than cv clips. Had mine on 4 years and still work perfectly!

Totally agree, loads of clearance from cv to hub on these so never going to cause issues. Nothing worse than them cheapo cv clips that never go on tight.

 

[Mazz]

Ive had my fair share of dramas with jubilee clips on CV boots. Personally I prefer the proper clips. Don’t like the idea of the worm bit spinning at vtec rpm!!

 

[Brigsy]

First almost breakdown/recovery in the blue dci on Tuesday, must have cursed it with saying about the reliability. Sat in traffic on a main road and the clutch cable snapped at the pedal end. Its been clicking for a while but assumed it was wear on the pedal ratchet

Anyway started it up in gear and rev matched it ten miles to get it home. I detest using pattern parts especially clutch cables but need thr car back on the road so rang up the local motorfactors and they had a cable in stock, which will do until i get a genuine cable. Removed old one and it looks to be identical to the pattern cable.

Que an hr of swearing as access is tight as with the cat in place.

Job done and back on the road again.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Mazz]

Ive had the pedal link ball joint jobbo fail on me,, and I’d rather take a steering rack out tbf.
and I fear having to do the clutch cable at some point t so I did it while reshelling the car.
How you did it with everything in place is beyond me, as from memory it sits behind the sound deadening on the bulkhead ?

 

[Brigsy]

It was as awful to replace as you can imagine. Can carefully pull sound deading out of the way from underneath but does not give the access required to feed the cable in. After much swearing i took the airbox off and unclipped the sound deadening at the top, which lets you get your hand in if you lose some skin. Steering rack swap was actually easier than this

 

[Brigsy]

Small update

Front tyres were starting to get right down, cant moan as they had done 25k at least. Stuck a set of Yokohama blueearth on as the michelin energy savers have gone up to around a ton a corner which is too much.

Fitted

Tracking must have went out a bit as drivers was run off on the inside slightly so getting that set tomorrow.

Was spotted the other day whilst at work too. Never get seen in the other cars

Thanks for reading!!

 

[Martin_172]

You know your a car guy, or a Renault car guy, when you remove your own wheels to take to the tyre garage as you don't trust anyone not to bend the jacking points..........

 

[Brigsy]

Bank hol updates

I had noticed an unusual noise developing from the engine bay a few days ago on the blue dci, sounded a little bit more noisy than usual diesel. Went out in it on monday and got a mile down the road and the stop/batt light were flickering on then on permanently.

Straight home, popped bonnet and noise was clearly coming from the alternator bearings and not charging when tested with testmeter.

I had a spare alternator off a breaker, untested but spinned freely.

Fitted in half hour, tight to get out with ac pipe but doable.

Fired it up and still not charging, stop light and batt light on. Wiring checks out fine, whip the alternator off and stripped the end cover off to reveal a melted regulator and loads of burnt plastic.

Bin for both alternators and ordered a new one. So currently using the trusty orange dci for daily duties until new alt turns up.

Thanks for reading!!

 

[HaveaCuppa]

The orange DCI on the Williams wheels just looks so right.

Fingers crossed the Blue one gets up and running soon. At least you caught the alternator before it inevitably blew up.

 

[Brigsy]

Remanufactured alt turned up today. Went with this as probably as good as the shite aftermarket alternators that are kicking about. Fitted in half an hour.

Success

Very slight rumbling from the aux belt at idle speeds as reused the old 3k mile aux belt and tensioner is getting on a bit now as its done around 40k. Have ordered a new gen renault aux kit to replace it as dont want anymore fails.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Mazz]

What’s your pulley situation ? Did the old one have a freewheeling one? I’m guessing the new one didn’t come with one at all..

On mine I had belt chirp no matter how new the belt and how good the tensioner. Ended up being the pulley, even though I couldn’t find anything wrong with it.

I would have put a regulator in your old alternator. Clean commutator and armature and it’s virtually new !

 

[Brigsy]

Plot twist, i have took the shitty reman alternator off and returned it as was not happy with it. When removed it did indeed have a solid pulley which was making the aux belt noisy and random clicking when loaded up, and also was a 6pk pulley when it said 5pk on the advert..main issue seemed to be that the belt/grooves were not perfectly in line with the correct oem pulley when compared with the old alternator and straight edge.

Bearings were scrap in my original alternator and the spare one i had had the melted regulator. Ive bought a used one, so hopefully 3rd time lucky!

Been using orange dci all week. Have replaced the boot struts for a new set as the originals were totally shot. It dropped into limp mode earlier relating to the accelerator pedal, quick wiggle of the pedal/wiring and fine again, but need to change it really as done it a couple of times recently. Still cant moan at 157k i guess.

 

[Clio_fool]

It's not easy keeping a fleet of Renaults going, good job you can do 99% of jobs yourself. The orange dci looks great too.

 

[Martin_172]

have you stuck the alternator part no into eBay? the one failed on my DCI80 and when I googled the number I found out it was still used on some modern Renaults and got a date stamped 2014 genuine one that was identical from a breakers.

 

[Brigsy]

First thing i did was to ebay the part number, the same alt is shared on some mk3 clio and dacia, but a bit thin on the ground for one with identical pulley.

Ive offered up the old alternator off my Kangoo compact, mounting points are identical, freewheel pulley is different as 6pk, but the outer grooves on it line up fine with the original alternator 5pk pulley. Only other difference is the plug for the batt light, i was tempted to fit it but the bearings are a bit noisy.

If all else fails ill pick any used oem 1.5dci alternator with same amp rating and chop wiring to suit.

 

[Brigsy]

Next alternator turns up. Slight damage to the casing, pulley slight damage/wobble. Fit it regardless and the f**king thing does not charge. Fml how much effort is required to get a half decent alternator?

Ive fitted the alternator off the old Kangoo compact engine to tie me over until i get a new one. Bolted straight on and 150amp, but not without issues. Had to change the plug for the exciter wiring and the batt light does not work even though the wiring checks out fine. So the charge lingers around 12.5v until rpm is picked up to around 1500, then its up to 13.9v which is a bit borderline however it does not fluctuate when loaded up. It will tie me over until a new one is ordered. Sounds fine on the plus side, no bullshit clicking like the first reman alternator.

What a carry on. 15mins alternator swap now its been on and off that many times!!

Thanks for reading!!

 

[Mazz]

I’m not one to be trusted on electrical repairs but if it only charges once past 1500 for the first time the exciter wire is likely to not work properly.
I have a new regulator kicking about as I could not fit it to mine because of the different exciter plug, I can take a picture next time I’m in the shed.
As for the unit itself, the one in my car was of a late model megane [emoji38] it said “17 plate Meg” on it with yellow sharpie, which is always a good thing.
Sorry this has turned into a saga, will take notes for mine, very likely to give the same issues in the future as it’s now nearing 170k !

 

[Brigsy]

Exciter wiring is right by the looks of it as measures 12v with ignition on, just no batt light so assume regulator issues. I snipped the plug off the old Kangoo loom and can see evidence of the exciter wiring having been probed before as damaged. Got to be a duff regulator, if you get chance to dig the reg out might be interested if its the same. Right carry on but cant moan as original alternator had done 147k before failing.

 

[Brigsy]

Alternator saga is over (for now)

Went to local french breakers and they had about 30 110amp dci alternators on the shelf, mine had 125amp on but sick of pissing on took a punt as all the meganes run 110amp so picked the cleanest with correct pulley which was reman, daft £20.

Fitted, had to wire the delphi plug back in, alternator light working and 14.4volt charge, loaded up fully still shows 14v. Success at last, wish id went to the breakers in the first place.

To recap thats 5 different alternators in a week, 5x resetting the f**king stereo after batt off, 2x refunds for shite off ebay. Thank f**k thats over!!

Thanks for reading!!

 

[Brigsy]

Small update.

Blue dci has been delivering the goods in the heatwave with ice cold aircon even on the mega hot 40degree day we had, Absolute trooper.

Not used the orange dci much due to lack of aircon but give it a run out last week and still good as gold. It was flagging up a track 1 accelerator pedal fault occasionally which it first done about 30'000 miles ago, so changed pedal and thats gone.

Popped to local dealers for some type d before csf and had premium parking available on the forecourt so bailed the van there, much to the discust of the sales people as i think id nicked their spot

Thanks for reading!!

 

[Brigsy]

Messing about with mpps reading the ecu file on the blue dci yesterday. Been offered a cheap flash map and tempted to give it a shot. Is it wise or will it end up in tears!?

 

[Mcaff]

As if you’re not gonna do it 😂

 

[Brigsy]

Its happening. Just wondering how the 150k fuel system will like it ive got a dci100 intercooler and pipework stashed in the garage might fit that too

 

[plees]

Any of them due an aux belt. Your the only man who used genuine bits on them anymore and I’ve got a Renault aux belt kit I can’t get shut of 😂

as for the mapping I’m intrigued to see how it goes!

 

[Daniel]

I had a remapped dci 65 and used it for a 20 mile round trip 6 times a week for about a year. I used to put £40 in it every 4 weeks (payday) and the fuel gauge over time would go up because I never used all of the £40 before fill up time. It was insanely cheap to run. Think I worked it out at the time to be an average of 68mpg?! It was something silly.
They’re unbelievable little things.

 

[Brigsy]

Any of them due an aux belt. Your the only man who used genuine bits on them anymore and I’ve got a Renault aux belt kit I can’t get shut of 😂

as for the mapping I’m intrigued to see how it goes!

Ive just put a new one on this but may be interested. Will need to wait until payday as ive rinsed loads of money this month.

Trade spec stage 1 map/ bin file is ready to flash tomorrow with my ching spec mpps v18 clone. Its going to be fast as f**k

They are great cars for a daily runner @Daniel . I had to go to preston to see the hq in my new job which was 280mile round trip. Cost approx £40 diesel and made £126 back on mileage. Same as last job doing 65-68 mpg all the time it constantly made money every month. £280 purchase price was covered in first month of service when diesel was cheap. £30 tax too which is a mega bonus.

 

[plees]

Ive just put a new one on this but may be interested. Will need to wait until payday as ive rinsed loads of money this month.

Trade spec stage 1 map/ bin file is ready to flash tomorrow with my ching spec mpps v18 clone. Its going to be fast as f**k

They are great cars for a daily runner @Daniel . I had to go to preston to see the hq in my new job which was 280mile round trip. Cost approx £40 diesel and made £126 back on mileage. Same as last job doing 65-68 mpg all the time it constantly made money every month. £280 purchase price was covered in first month of service when diesel was cheap. £30 tax too which is a mega bonus.

I’ll drop you a message!

 

[Martin_172]

my mapped dci80 had done from memory over 150k and was spot on! I piled hard miles on it for 3 years

 

[Brigsy]

my mapped dci80 had done from memory over 150k and was spot on! I piled hard miles on it for 3 years

Any difference in mpg?

 

[Martin_172]

Any difference in mpg?

to be honest I cant really remember! it certainly wasn't any worse, something tells me it got a little better when you drove it normal

 

[Brigsy]

Stage 1 map done. Driveway flash on mpps

Picks up a bit better, less diesel knock and a little more black smoke once rpm is up. Not bad for £25, goes as well as the orange dci which makes me think thats been flashed before as it was always a lot better.

Hopefully next post wont be injector change

 

[Martin_172]

Hopefully next post wont be injector change

DCI 100 injector time............