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Maintaining
a 
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|
There
are a few common problems with the Renault 5 GT
Turbo Blown
Head Gaskets, Knackered Turbos and Knackered Clutches
all of which are pretty expensive to replace and/or
fix. Under each sub heading I will mention how to
maintain a 5 and keep these problems to a minimum.
Blown Head Gaskets
Head Gaskets blow for a reason for
which there are two reasons either the Boost has
been turned up to much or the car has overheated.
If you are going to turn the boost up either using
a bleed valve or adjustable boost control on a standard
head gasket you can really only turn it up a little
bit. The boost can be turned up by winding in the
nut on the wastegate actuator arm remembering the
more you wind it in the more boost you will get
out of the turbocharger, but this puts more strain
on the headgasket, thus causing it to blow. If you
want to turn the boost right up then you are going
to need an uprated head gasket to cope with the
added strain put on it. Also turning up the boost
will make the turbo work harder thus shortening
it's life span unless it's a hybrid turbo manufactured
for running higher boost.
TURBO
BOOST NOTE
If you do turn the boost up above 15psi then
really the fuelling needs to be adjusted to
pump in the correct ratio of fuel into the engine
by maybe using bigger carb jets or a Group A
carb. If you do not increase the fueling to
match the higher boost then you will get "PINKING"
or "DETONATION" as it is called. This
WILL damage pistons which are expensive to replace
as the engine has to come out and the engine
be rebuilt. |
|
Bar
|
PSI |
 |
|
A
|
0.55
|
8.25 |
|
B
|
0.65
|
9.75 |
|
C
|
0.7
|
10.5 |
|
D
|
0.8
|
12.0 |
|
E
|
0.9
|
13.5 |
|
Another
cause of a head gasket to blow is the car overheating
and considering that 5's run hot as it is there
really is no margin for error. So if you're driving
a 5 always keep a watchful eye on the cars temperature
gauge. Driving along a five should read just below
to halfway on the temperature gauge under normal
driving conditions and maybe rise a little on the
motorway and when putting your foot down where the
turbo is being used alot. While sitting in traffic
the Cooling Fan should cut in just before the 2
3rd's line on the gauge. If you notice that the
fan doesn't cut in when the temperature gauge gets
to the 2 3rd's line switch the car off and let the
car cool down. "NEVER LET THE CAR OVERHEAT"
"NEVER LET THE CAR'S TEMPERATURE GAUGE GET
INTO THE DANGER ZONE AND WAIT FOR THE RED LIGHT
TO COME ON AS BY THEN THE DAMAGE IS PROBABLY ALREADY
DONE" You may have a dodgy thermostat or Fan
switch which isn't working properly which may be
the reason the fan isn't cutting in.
FOR THESE REASONS THE CAR'S COOLING SYSTEM ALWAY'S
NEEDS TO BE IN GOOD WORKING ORDER.
Maintaining
the Cooling System
Keeping the cooling system on a 5 turbo
in good working order is a must. An £8 fan
switch not working could cause your headgasket to
blow and/or warp your cylinder head and end up costing
you £400.
Temperature
Gauge Guide
|
Maximum
driving along at a steady speed
|
Maximum
Radiator fan cut in point
|
 |
This
may rise slightly when driving the car hard,
ie using the turbo alot. Idealy the cooler they
run the better so if yours run slightly lower
than this then its a bonus. |
 |
I
would not let a GT Turbo run much over this
point as it is likely to cause damage by warping
the cylinder head. |
On
a regular basis
The cooling system on the 5 gets air
in it from time to time and this can cause the car
to overheat so to overcome this and get the air
out you do the following.
Click
for a bigger image
YOU
REALLY NEED 2 PEOPLE TO DO THIS
1. Unscrew the Coolant Tank cap and unclip the
strap holding it to the side of the inner
wing and lift it up as high as you can get it
with all the pipes attached.
2. On the top hose there is a plastic screw in
the top of it. Get someone to stand by this and
undo this.
3. Now with you standing holding the Coolant tank
over the top of the wing and another person holding
the srcrew from the top hose put your mouth over
the top of the coolant tank making it air tight
blow holding in the pressure and not letting go.
Keep the pressure on until you see out of the
screw hole pure coolant flowing out with no air
in it. While the coolant is flowing out air free
get the person to screw in the plastic screw back
in all the time you are holding in the pressure.
Once the screw is back in you can remove your
mouth from the coolant tank.
4. Now you need to follow the same procedure for
the screw on the top of the the pipe coming from
the top of the water pump and remove any air from
this side of the cooling system.
Once you have done the same for the water pump
pipe screw you can put the coolant tank back in
place and screw on the cap. Hopefully your Cooling
system should be free from any air locks.
Also on a regular basis leave the car running
and wait for the Cooling Fan to cut in while watching
the temperature gauge and make sure that it cuts
in where it normally does. If it starts to go
above the 2 3rd's line then switch the car off
and investigate what the cause is before driving
the car. Likely causes are air in the cooling
system, blocked radiator or cracked radiator,
faulty water pump, faulty thermostat, a hole in
one of the water pipes, faulty fan switch or incorect
coolant mixture.
GOLDEN
RULE
NEVER let the car overheat or let it get into
the danger zone where the little red light on
the temperature gauge comes on. If your in traffic
and the car goes above the normal temperature
where the fan cuts in pull over and switch the
engine off. Call someone out and have the car
towed home or to a garage and investigate the
problem before driving it again.
Knackered
Turbos (see parts page)
Because
the Turbocharger on a Renault 5 Turbo is a small
T2 Garrett it spins up quickly,
partly
the reason 5 turbo's are so quick, but this also
means that they really are on the go all the time
that is why the life expectantcy of the turbo
is roughly about a year. But there are a few things
that you can do to prolong your turbo's life.
1. Change the oil regularly (Maximum every 6000
miles/Recommended every 3000 miles). Because your
engine oil is what lubricates the bearings inside
your turbocharger and if the quality of your oil
is poor this is going to have an effect on these
bearings, thus causing them to seize up (New Turbo
Time NOT CHEAP £250 Recon + Fitting). So
the rule is change your oil as often as possible
and use a high quality Engine Oil Semi-Synthetic
minimum.
2. Also you can prolong the life of your turbocharger
by getting in the habit of every time you finish
your journey and want to switch off your engine,
let the engine idle for about 2 minutes then switch
off the engine. This allows the turbo to stop
spinning before the oil supply to the turbocharger
is cut off by you switching off the engine.
Another Factor that will make your turbo's life
shorter is by turning up the boost (Meaning the
turbo spins at a higher RPM that normal thus wearing
it out quicker).
A Dump valve may improve the life expectantcy
of your turbo though this may only be true of
hybrid turbo's running higher boost im not sure.
Any way the dump valve releases the pressure left
in the the inlet pipe when you release the throttle,
otherwise this pressure causes the turbo to stall
and when you apply the throttle again it has to
spin up from start again causing turbo lag. Where
as if you release the pressure via a Dump Valve
the Turbo keeps spinning and picks up speed again
when you apply the throttle after gear change.
It doesn't neccessarily make the car quicker or
make the cars BHP figure any greater but maybe
give the turbo a bit of extra life.
>>> How to fit a Dump
Valve
Knackered
Clutches
Knackered Clutches are a big problem
for the 5, because they're a common problem and
they are certainly not cheap to replace. The reason
being because these cars accelerate so quickly
it puts alot of stress on the clutch. So having
an uprated clutch will be a better bet than the
standard renault clutch especially if you are
running higher boost. To have the job done properly
you are looking at around £450. That is
with the engine being removed. You can do the
job the same way as with other cars by just removing
the gearbox but because of the limited space chances
are that it will not be alligned properly so it
probably won't last very long. So to make your
clutch last there are some golden rules :
1. Do not ride the clutch as this will cause it
to wear.
2. Try not to rest your foot on the clutch pedal
as this will either wear your clutch cable of
wear your clutch.
3. Sudden accelaration from a standing start all
the time will wear your clutch so if your game
is traffic light grand prix's then your probably
best off having an uprated clutch.
Last
GOLDEN RULE with 5 Turbo's
This is where having a deep pocket
comes into it. If something goes wrong with a
5 Turbo try to fix it as soon as possible because
before you know it you'll have another problem
then you'll find it hard to get back on top of
them. Bottom line is treat them like a baby as
they are very temperamental cars indeed !!!!
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