Hi,

Would some kind soul please help me with my annoying car? It's the
original model Clio - 1993 - and has a few problems, but just the major
two for now would be great to get right...

Steering has always been stiff. Changed upper strut bearings but no
difference. Low speeds are worse and three-point turns are giving me
arms like Popeye. Steering wheel does not centralise itself properly.
Don't know if this helps, but if I jack the entire front of the car up
so wheels off the ground, the steering wheel will fly from lock to lock
using my little finger, so does that rule out seized UJ at end of
steering column, and pinion or balljoint trouble? Tyres are at correct
pressure and new ones, but car was same with old tyres.

The gears have slowly been getting worse and now 1st and 2nd are
becoming very difficult to engage, I have to keep smacking the stick
forward trying to get them in. 2nd is worst and wouldn't go in at all
the other day so had to go back to 1st and try again. No grinding or
crunching noise when having this trouble, it's silent but simply like
you're pushing the gearstick into a brick wall repeatedly.

Well, there you have it. I'll happily supply additional info as
requested. Just please help me find the cause of these problems,
especially the steering as I am out of ideas!

Many thanks indeed,
James

lower ball joints.
clutch going or needs adj.

--
--
Kind Regards
Neil B
Orange CS - +447837614753
Live Life in the Fast Lane - www.blueyonder.co.uk
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/lucy_pargeter
"HandyMan"  wrote in message
news:1121172645.665129.152200@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> Hi,
>
> Would some kind soul please help me with my annoying car? It's the
> original model Clio - 1993 - and has a few problems, but just the major
> two for now would be great to get right...
>
> Steering has always been stiff. Changed upper strut bearings but no
> difference. Low speeds are worse and three-point turns are giving me
> arms like Popeye. Steering wheel does not centralise itself properly.
> Don't know if this helps, but if I jack the entire front of the car up
> so wheels off the ground, the steering wheel will fly from lock to lock
> using my little finger, so does that rule out seized UJ at end of
> steering column, and pinion or balljoint trouble? Tyres are at correct
> pressure and new ones, but car was same with old tyres.
>
> The gears have slowly been getting worse and now 1st and 2nd are
> becoming very difficult to engage, I have to keep smacking the stick
> forward trying to get them in. 2nd is worst and wouldn't go in at all
> the other day so had to go back to 1st and try again. No grinding or
> crunching noise when having this trouble, it's silent but simply like
> you're pushing the gearstick into a brick wall repeatedly.
>
> Well, there you have it. I'll happily supply additional info as
> requested. Just please help me find the cause of these problems,
> especially the steering as I am out of ideas!
>
> Many thanks indeed,
> James
>

Thanks for advice.

So the lower balljoints coupling the lower suspension strut to the
swivel hub? What about the track-rod balljoints, might they be the
trouble?

Is there anyway of getting grease or oil into balljoints so replacement
isn't necessary?

I do hope the clutch isn't going :( as for adjustment, it seems to be
automatic on this car and I wouldn't know what to change it to. The
pedal is stopped from going higher than a set level, so any adjustment
I might do would not affect pedal height but would start pulling the
pressure plate from the clutch disc, so I'd be afraid of overdoing it
and having the clutch partly disengaged the whole time...

Hi (again!) James,

You need to look towards components which have a load imparted on them
when the wheels are on the ground. The lower arm ball joints fit this
bill very nicely. The track rod ends don't fit it quite so well, but
they will have a greater load on them with the wheels on the ground so
are a possibility.

Perhaps remove the track rod balljoints and try turning the wheels by
hand (in the air and on the ground) to see if any ware especially
stiff.

Quite honestly, get yourself a manual as it will help with all sorts of
basic information - especially clutch adjustment. It will probably have
the cable length of the clutch cable to compare against as if the cable
has stretched too much it will need replacing.

Cheers,
Mark

The message 
from "marpate1@yahoo.co.uk"  contains these words:


> Perhaps remove the track rod balljoints and try turning the wheels by
> hand (in the air and on the ground) to see if any ware especially
> stiff.


Also, try holding the lower arm up with a jack while doing the same
thing, to put some load on it.

-- 
Skipweasel.
Ivor Cutler - "Never knowingly understood."

Nice idea :)

PS. I sincerely apologise for my atrocious spelling previously. I
obviously meant anywhere's, not ANY WARE!

Great ideas there, thank you. I will put them into action when I have
the time and energy.

Incidentally, if the joints do seem stiff, is there any way of making
them better, injecting oil or grease or anything? It's just difficult
and expensive to gets parts like that over here. The local Renault
garage spares department bloke looked at me like I was a looney when I
asked for the throttle housing gaskets and said he'd have to order them
from Madrid for me (after he'd eventually found that said gaskets do
exist on his computer blow-apart diagrams...). If I ask for balljoints,
I think he'll slap me.

Hi James,

Replace them any attempted remedial action would be short lived at
best.

Have you any friends coming over for the summer? If so, can't they
bring them with them?

Take a look at http://www.eurocarparts.com for your car, the ball joint
will be under the suspension menu. If it is anything like the Xantia,
the ball joint screws up into the suspension strut and can be hard work
to remove!

Cheers,
Mark