The Safrane.Info Forum!

New wheel bearing and cat now fitted. Feels like a new car. The cat has completely changed the sound of the car and it sounds like the famous 5 pot again.
I think the old cat was the only part of the exhaust that hadn't been changed and had deteriorated over the years (as you would expect).

Heater Blower Motor gave up yesterday leaving me driving along in a cabin of smoke. Luckily, SafraneRXE (Dave) sent me one a while back when I had a strange noise coming from it which turned out to be a piece of plastic so I didn't change it at that point. Popped it in today and works a treat so back to air conditioned luxury again. 96,000 miles now but driving one of the Esprit's quite a bit at the moment so not doing quite so much mileage in the Safrane. Passenger side electric window works intermittently too. Not sure whether it's just a poor connection somewhere?

Used the aircon in anger for the first time today..... was as cold as a penguins balls. I also used the sport button in anger too for the first time bye bye stupid VW driver who sat on my bumper and then tried to take me on the dual carrigeway..... whoosh..... he did look a little surprised as i left him a long way behind me and all this with the aircon going full blast :) apart from that nothing to report as it starts stops and goes just like a normal car just so much more comfortably.

Good to hear the heater motor worked fine,i had it working on a car before i removed it just to see.
Also Doobie is becoming a Safrane boy racer,good on you!
The Safranes do go well when you boot them and often take people by surprise,i did the same in my K reg,some bloke on my bumper,i dropped into sports mode and nailed it ,bye bye.........

I've not been using the Safrane a huge amount but it has recently clicked over 100k miles. Had a faulty passenger electric window switch on the drivers side panel so changed that for another one and also had a slightly iffy windscreen wiper stalk so managed to get that changed too. Little things but they irritate me.

Thought I should post my update on my Safrane. I've done quite a bit of work of late to get it through its mot. Perhaps as a result of age, mileage or where I live, many of the rubber bushes and gaiters have begun to perish. As such I had to replace the steering rack gaiters and suspension strut bump stops. In addition I fitted another new rear exhaust silencer in my continuing quest to eradicate noise and fumes inside the car. This seems to have been successful, so far.
Although I thought I had thoroughly checked the Safrane pre-mot, it still failed on front indicator bulbs not emitting enough light, headlight aim incorrect and a buckled alloy wheel. Got car through re-test by swapping steel spare for buckled alloy, but I am now desperately search for a replacement alloy.

Safrane is now at 119,000 miles and apart from a little surface rust on one wheel arch is still in fine condition and is used regularly.

well I appear to have an ECU failure lol. The cooling fans are dead and according to a page i found online, bosch motronix ECUs get screwed up whenever there is an ignition coil failure. I had this.. the engine runs fine so the ECU ignition is ok however the ECU cooling function isn't working so I need to either come up with a hack (arduino based) or shell out some serious wonga to get it repaired!

I'm pretty sure I've got the drivers footwell leak sorted now, I had to have thw wiring loom out of the footwell that runs through the bulkhead into the drivers front wheel arch for the side indicator and windscreen wash. The plastic fitting there has the wires moulded into rubber - which had perished and was full of water. I've cut out the bad rubber and filled it up with gutter sealant, refitted the plastic fitting and then smothered the wheel arch side with more sealant to keep it water proof. So far, no water has got back in!!! The downside is that I stripped most of the cabin to get it done (carpet had to come out etc).

So now I just need to have it back up on the axle stands to for the final test (this was when the most water seemed to get in - running down the wiring loom to the wiper arm motor - directly to the fitting). If that goes well and survives a few more weeks of rain then I can refit the carpet, consoles, chairs etc. Once thats done I can start concentrating on other bits and *might* have it roadworthy for xmas with a bit of luck!

Great reading and interesting to see what people have done to there Safranes to keep them roadworthy.
My list started with my yearly service in May and also the replacement of the centre/rear exhaust sections,with new mounting rubbers/clamps,i used a genuine Renault setup and the fit was perfect.
A few months ago i replaced the aux belt tensioner,this is a plastic wheel and had play in it,easy enough job,not to bad.
Then last week i decided to treat it to a new battery,the last one was 6 years old and showing signs of failure,but all is fine now.

106,000 miles. Car still running well but a few service issues starting to show up and also had a knackered n/s driveshaft. Ordered the driveshaft from Renault getting a decent trade discount.



Replaced centre and rear parts of the exhaust after they had been on for over 5 years. Also had a strange 'springy' noise on full lock. Cleaned up the springs and oiled and white greased the springs at the top and bottom and the noise has now gone. The steering now feels much smoother.



Next job is the brakes which get a hammering and have done over 50k since last changed. Phoned one of my suppliers (one of the biggest brake suppliers in the UK) and he said they had just one pair of fronts discs and one pair of Brembo rears left and wouldn't be ordering any more as there is no demand. I could have the 4 discs for £40. Happy days.



The car is going for a gas service next week as well.

You sometimes worry about spending a lot on an old car but it is such a great car to drive and still in lovely condition really. Most parts are relatively cheap so hopefully I will continue to drive my Safrane for a good few years yet.

Great update 610,interesting pics and great update,keep up the good work,looks great.