2008 Renault Sport Megane 175
Discussion
Djw John said:
Er, hate to say it but in that pic of the spring it looks snapped to me, it should be a nice 90 degree cut at the end, not whatever has happened there.
I did notice that, but it seems to look the right length and I don't remember them looking uneven when side by side.Annoyingly the springs are £95, each.
EDIT - Yes, your right. Balls. I'll buy another pair and do the job again... for the third time...!
Edited by Jakg on Sunday 8th January 00:25
I have one on the shopping list at the moment (currently selling my RS 250)....
I know its not the most exciting question in the world - but what kind of mileage are you getting? I have a fairly long commute and want something fun/interesting - but can also hack a stack of motorway work!
I know its not the most exciting question in the world - but what kind of mileage are you getting? I have a fairly long commute and want something fun/interesting - but can also hack a stack of motorway work!
Rensko said:
I know its not the most exciting question in the world - but what kind of mileage are you getting? I have a fairly long commute and want something fun/interesting - but can also hack a stack of motorway work!
Over the last 3k miles, 46MPG (brim to brim). My commute is half motorway, half b-roads which is why my car is so dirty - this obviously affects economy. The same commute in my last car (MG ZT diesel) was 44.5MPG.I took it from Suffolk to Manchester and back and got 51MPG.
I've decided to replace both springs - it wont take that long now I've done it so many times, but it's a bit frustrating - when I was looking for a car the two options I was interested in was the cup pack (suspension) and panaromic sunroof. Unfortunately the options were exclusive. The cup pack was suspension (springs & dampers), rear axle and ESP configuration (steering and stability control settings), and grey wheels and mirrors. If I've replaced all the front suspension, will soon do the rear axle, repainted the wheels and replaced one mirror, I've basically done all the work to convert from a non-cup to a cup so might as well of got one with the sunroof as you can't retrofit that!
DanielSan said:
Go for a set of Cooksport lowering springs at £220, the car sits a lot nicer with them, handles better and rides pretty much identical to standard. I've got them on my R26 and can't fault them, they're even better than Eibach and H&R springs I've had on previous cars.
Jakg said:
One of the things that sold me on the cup version were press reviews when new - better handling than the non-cup version, and yet paradoxically better ride comfort - so I'm keen not to significantly alter the suspension (lowering, coilovers etc) and lose this.
The 175 is quite a bit heavier than the petrol ones - I think in the order of about 60-80KG - and this is one of the reasons it has different suspension. I've seen lots of people talk about how much lower the car sits when fitted to a diesel, but the handling and ride is said to be much worse. I also don't want the car to be any lower for fear of grounding out everywhere.It's a shame as I can get the Cooksports for the same price as just two fronts... and I know my rears probably need replacing too!
Time for another update.
"CHECK INJECTION" message turned out to be a blocked up EGR valve. Diagnosed via my new purchase - a Renault Clip tool allowing me to plug the car into my laptop. Very handy.
Access was... difficult. It's the circled thing in the picture.
Officially you need to remove the bumper to get to it but I managed to do it all from above, but destroyed my fingers in the process - on reassembly everything got covered in blood!
Doesn't look that bad in pictures, but was caked in reality.
Changed the auxiliary belt (and associated rollers) so I'm now fully up to date on the servicing requirements. I managed to pick up a genuine Renault kit on eBay from Germany for less than £50 which was a bargain - the Renault part number was wrong, but via the Gates reference it appeared to be cross-compatible so I took the chance and it all worked out ok.
According to info online, only the R26 model has a rear anti-roll bar, the rest don't. It's not removable so I made arrangements to purchase a new rear beam with anti-roll bar included, and bought a set of Powerflex bushes for the rear axle to go on at the same time. I was looking at the EPC one night and noticed that it's actually listed as being present on my car too - a quick check underneath revealed this to be the case.
On the one hand, I'd saved myself the hassle of collecting and fitting a new rear beam, on the other hand I'd bought the bushes already - so I decided to fit them anyway.
Again, officially you need to remove the rear beam for this - but it's possible to drop it down one side at a time. The passenger side was relatively easy, so I took a few pictures.
Removed the shock and beam bolt and it hangs down just enough
Easy enough to remove with nothing more than a drill and chisel - it's got a plastic outer
Put the bushes in the freezer first and they slid in snugly by hand
After all that, it turns out the rear anti-roll bar bush is destroyed - so I'll be fitting another soon.
I then tried to fit the drivers side, which was a LOT more complicated. The bracket where it bolts through also routes the handbrake and brake lines (both rear brake lines connect on the drivers side), and the bolt is so long that you have to disconnect all three to move them out of the way to get the bolt out (if the bolt & nut were the opposite way round - wouldn't need to do that at all!). So a lot of messing around later, including bleeding all the brakes, and all done.
The rear beam bushes have made a surprising difference to the ride - I can't say it feels any better in the handling department but it's certainly harsher over bumps, which is a little unpleasant sometimes.
I originally wanted the lux model, which came with a leather interior - but I just couldn't find one, so I settled for the cloth interior. The plan was always to junk this, so I ignored the interior when I viewed.
Note the ingrained dirt at the top, massive tear in the bolster, and unexplained white stain on the seat. Yuck.
I found someone selling the seats from a 225 being turned into a track car about 40 mins away for only £110 - absolute bargain - I would've spent £250+!. Only snag was that they are keeping the door cards (mine are fabric, and I want leather) so I'll have to keep an eye out for them. They are fitting fixed bucket seats so have an airbag fault coming up which I managed to disable with my Clip tool as a way of thanks. Unfortunately their seats hadn't arrived yet, as I was looking forward to seeing how they felt to sit in, so we had to sit on the floor.
Over the moon with how they look, and even got to upgrade to a leather armrest. A little bolster wear on the drivers seat but again for the price, and considering what I had before, it's fantastic. Now I've just got to get rid of the old seats.
While the seats were out I thought I'd try to clean it up a little
Worryingly I found a SIM card underneath the seat. Who has so many SIM cards they don't even notice they've lost one? On seconds thoughts I don't want to know.
Still not found the time to clean it since late last year
But at least the boys like it
"CHECK INJECTION" message turned out to be a blocked up EGR valve. Diagnosed via my new purchase - a Renault Clip tool allowing me to plug the car into my laptop. Very handy.
Access was... difficult. It's the circled thing in the picture.
Officially you need to remove the bumper to get to it but I managed to do it all from above, but destroyed my fingers in the process - on reassembly everything got covered in blood!
Doesn't look that bad in pictures, but was caked in reality.
Changed the auxiliary belt (and associated rollers) so I'm now fully up to date on the servicing requirements. I managed to pick up a genuine Renault kit on eBay from Germany for less than £50 which was a bargain - the Renault part number was wrong, but via the Gates reference it appeared to be cross-compatible so I took the chance and it all worked out ok.
According to info online, only the R26 model has a rear anti-roll bar, the rest don't. It's not removable so I made arrangements to purchase a new rear beam with anti-roll bar included, and bought a set of Powerflex bushes for the rear axle to go on at the same time. I was looking at the EPC one night and noticed that it's actually listed as being present on my car too - a quick check underneath revealed this to be the case.
On the one hand, I'd saved myself the hassle of collecting and fitting a new rear beam, on the other hand I'd bought the bushes already - so I decided to fit them anyway.
Again, officially you need to remove the rear beam for this - but it's possible to drop it down one side at a time. The passenger side was relatively easy, so I took a few pictures.
Removed the shock and beam bolt and it hangs down just enough
Easy enough to remove with nothing more than a drill and chisel - it's got a plastic outer
Put the bushes in the freezer first and they slid in snugly by hand
After all that, it turns out the rear anti-roll bar bush is destroyed - so I'll be fitting another soon.
I then tried to fit the drivers side, which was a LOT more complicated. The bracket where it bolts through also routes the handbrake and brake lines (both rear brake lines connect on the drivers side), and the bolt is so long that you have to disconnect all three to move them out of the way to get the bolt out (if the bolt & nut were the opposite way round - wouldn't need to do that at all!). So a lot of messing around later, including bleeding all the brakes, and all done.
The rear beam bushes have made a surprising difference to the ride - I can't say it feels any better in the handling department but it's certainly harsher over bumps, which is a little unpleasant sometimes.
I originally wanted the lux model, which came with a leather interior - but I just couldn't find one, so I settled for the cloth interior. The plan was always to junk this, so I ignored the interior when I viewed.
Note the ingrained dirt at the top, massive tear in the bolster, and unexplained white stain on the seat. Yuck.
I found someone selling the seats from a 225 being turned into a track car about 40 mins away for only £110 - absolute bargain - I would've spent £250+!. Only snag was that they are keeping the door cards (mine are fabric, and I want leather) so I'll have to keep an eye out for them. They are fitting fixed bucket seats so have an airbag fault coming up which I managed to disable with my Clip tool as a way of thanks. Unfortunately their seats hadn't arrived yet, as I was looking forward to seeing how they felt to sit in, so we had to sit on the floor.
Over the moon with how they look, and even got to upgrade to a leather armrest. A little bolster wear on the drivers seat but again for the price, and considering what I had before, it's fantastic. Now I've just got to get rid of the old seats.
While the seats were out I thought I'd try to clean it up a little
Worryingly I found a SIM card underneath the seat. Who has so many SIM cards they don't even notice they've lost one? On seconds thoughts I don't want to know.
Still not found the time to clean it since late last year
But at least the boys like it
Edited by Jakg on Monday 13th February 00:06
Edited by Jakg on Sunday 12th November 20:49
Jakg said:
On a car related note - top mount has completely failed and actually come off (!). Not happy. Will have to change it this weekend. As I touched on above - on most cars it would be pretty easy, but not on this.
Wheel off, caliper off, disc off, track rod end off, anti rotation link off, drop link off, split bottom ball joint, remove driveshaft from hub, disconnect ABS plug, unbolt top mount from shock turret, remove shock assembly, compress spring, remove top mount... and repeat.
The top mounts were one of the few components I didn't replace. Typical.
Wheel off, caliper off, disc off, track rod end off, anti rotation link off, drop link off, split bottom ball joint, remove driveshaft from hub, disconnect ABS plug, unbolt top mount from shock turret, remove shock assembly, compress spring, remove top mount... and repeat.
The top mounts were one of the few components I didn't replace. Typical.
Djw John said:
Er, hate to say it but in that pic of the spring it looks snapped to me, it should be a nice 90 degree cut at the end, not whatever has happened there.
Hold my hands up to this one - the top mount was fine, the spring was broken. The spring coils narrow at the top to make sure that it seats properly - as the top bit has broken off it didn't seat properly which is why it came off.
A new top mount was £65. This was not only unnecessary, but funnily enough the one I fitted last month has already broken - part of the upper mount has been detached. I kept the old one so I've gone back to the old top mounting but the new bearing.
Both sides swapped, again... this time down to three hours a side. Annoyingly a driveshaft popped while putting it back together so I'll have to top the gearbox oil up soon.
Bowen86 said:
Good updates and nice review of the bushes.
What's next?
The plan was to fit my DPF delete pipe this weekend, while I work up the courage to attempt fitting a decat and new turbo myself... I took one look underneath and put that in the "do that later" pile! Very little access. I think I'll end up having to take the subframe off and do it all at once alongside some other jobs.What's next?
One of the plans was to fit a larger front anti-roll bar (22mm vs 20mm standard) from a Renault Espace but having bought one I've changed my mind - I've tried to keep the fundamental suspension design original (because Renault know more than I do) and altering the stiffness of the front end goes against this. So I've settled for polybushing the one I've got. This is quite a bit of work though - http://www.meganesport.net/community/showthread.ph...
Some of the more ambitious projects I've got on the go at the moment are to paint the front calipers - this isn't hard, but I've decided to buy a complete set of calipers to refurbish with new seals, bleed nipples and pistons (if required), to make some custom projector headlights (xenon or LED, undecided) and my cat is currently on it's way to Portugal to hopefully get a decat pipe made up.
In advance - not much PH material here.
When replacing the rear beam bushes, I noticed the rear antiroll bar bush has come cracks on it. The rest was also looking very crusty!
Replaced the bush, clamp and bolt, and cleaned up the bracket. Was expecting the nut to put up a fight but luckily after lots of Plusgas it came off easily!
Bushes are a bit unusual so could only get them from Renault for £20 which was a bit annoying.
While swapping the springs over, I couldn't get the upright to sit on the wishone - it just wouldn't go in far enough. I then noticed that there was some fluid pooling under the engine... that'll be the driveshaft pulled out then! Only lost a little but had to top up the gearbox oil. Annoying as only changed the fluid a couple of months ago.
Next annoyance was the heater panel backlight - one side never worked, I changed them out for LEDs but since then the same thing has happened and now the other side has started flashing which is annoying. Removal requires pulling the centre console to bits
Rather than just replacing the bulbs I took the unit apart to have a proper look, and I could see the housing had a small crack in it such that when putting the bulbs in blind they wouldn't make contact properly. Re-assembled with this knowledge, and success.
I fitted a double DIN stereo when I got the car, but I did a rubbish job at it - cage never sat right, surround fell off after day one, stereo has been hanging half out the dash since then. Tried a better quality Kenwood cage and now it's all gone together perfectly. Don't have a before picture - but it really has transformed the interior.
Next job was upgrading the speakers. Doors are a bit of a weird design - no weather seal, mid speakers mount on the door cards, and theres a plastic water deflector to stop them getting wet. This is designed around the standard slim speakers, so nothing else really fits except for one aftermarket co-axial speaker - but I want to stick with components, and something better, so I had to get inventive.
You can see the water deflector in the middle on the left
Cut the deflector out and fitted a weatherproof speaker enclosure - jobs a little rough as the plan is swap for leather door cards when I find some and tidy it up then.
I went for a set of Rainbow component speakers
Added some sound deadening to the door as well
And back together
Then the crossovers - key card to show scale - these are massive! My last car had plenty of dead behind the dash etc to hide bits like this but very little here. One went behind the centre console, and the other in some free space below the drivers side air vent.
Tweeters took some modification to fit in the dash cutouts also
The suspension may be stiff - but Ollie still loves it
Finally got around to washing it, so obligatory snow foam shot
Front tyres swapped from budgets to Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta's. Ride is better, although funnily enough handling seems the same - I just don't think I've got close to the limit yet.
Fitted a module to make the mirrors fold / unfold when the car is locked / unlocked.
I specifically chose an (expensive) reversing camera with "night vision LEDs" - my last one had IR leds and an IR filter on the camera so that you couldn't see them, but at night the picture was much brighter than it would otherwise be. The new one had... 4 LEDs. It was quite chunky, and then two of the LEDs died, and the picture seemed to have a wierd circle on it - so I've swapped it out for an identical mode, but smaller as it doesn't have the LEDs.
All the PH mods are on hold as I'm still waiting for them to arrive...
When replacing the rear beam bushes, I noticed the rear antiroll bar bush has come cracks on it. The rest was also looking very crusty!
Replaced the bush, clamp and bolt, and cleaned up the bracket. Was expecting the nut to put up a fight but luckily after lots of Plusgas it came off easily!
Bushes are a bit unusual so could only get them from Renault for £20 which was a bit annoying.
While swapping the springs over, I couldn't get the upright to sit on the wishone - it just wouldn't go in far enough. I then noticed that there was some fluid pooling under the engine... that'll be the driveshaft pulled out then! Only lost a little but had to top up the gearbox oil. Annoying as only changed the fluid a couple of months ago.
Next annoyance was the heater panel backlight - one side never worked, I changed them out for LEDs but since then the same thing has happened and now the other side has started flashing which is annoying. Removal requires pulling the centre console to bits
Rather than just replacing the bulbs I took the unit apart to have a proper look, and I could see the housing had a small crack in it such that when putting the bulbs in blind they wouldn't make contact properly. Re-assembled with this knowledge, and success.
I fitted a double DIN stereo when I got the car, but I did a rubbish job at it - cage never sat right, surround fell off after day one, stereo has been hanging half out the dash since then. Tried a better quality Kenwood cage and now it's all gone together perfectly. Don't have a before picture - but it really has transformed the interior.
Next job was upgrading the speakers. Doors are a bit of a weird design - no weather seal, mid speakers mount on the door cards, and theres a plastic water deflector to stop them getting wet. This is designed around the standard slim speakers, so nothing else really fits except for one aftermarket co-axial speaker - but I want to stick with components, and something better, so I had to get inventive.
You can see the water deflector in the middle on the left
Cut the deflector out and fitted a weatherproof speaker enclosure - jobs a little rough as the plan is swap for leather door cards when I find some and tidy it up then.
I went for a set of Rainbow component speakers
Added some sound deadening to the door as well
And back together
Then the crossovers - key card to show scale - these are massive! My last car had plenty of dead behind the dash etc to hide bits like this but very little here. One went behind the centre console, and the other in some free space below the drivers side air vent.
Tweeters took some modification to fit in the dash cutouts also
The suspension may be stiff - but Ollie still loves it
Finally got around to washing it, so obligatory snow foam shot
Front tyres swapped from budgets to Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta's. Ride is better, although funnily enough handling seems the same - I just don't think I've got close to the limit yet.
Fitted a module to make the mirrors fold / unfold when the car is locked / unlocked.
I specifically chose an (expensive) reversing camera with "night vision LEDs" - my last one had IR leds and an IR filter on the camera so that you couldn't see them, but at night the picture was much brighter than it would otherwise be. The new one had... 4 LEDs. It was quite chunky, and then two of the LEDs died, and the picture seemed to have a wierd circle on it - so I've swapped it out for an identical mode, but smaller as it doesn't have the LEDs.
All the PH mods are on hold as I'm still waiting for them to arrive...
Jakg said:
I specifically chose an (expensive) reversing camera with "night vision LEDs" - my last one had IR leds and an IR filter on the camera so that you couldn't see them, but at night the picture was much brighter than it would otherwise be. The new one had... 4 LEDs. It was quite chunky, and then two of the LEDs died, and the picture seemed to have a wierd circle on it - so I've swapped it out for an identical mode, but smaller as it doesn't have the LEDs.
Quick pick of the camera - tiny, barely noticable, but quality is very good. Impressed.
All important mod
One day I must get a proper picture
Cruise control clutch override switch packed up, so the cruise control kept cutting out - a liberal spray of contact cleaner fixed it, but as a new switch was less than £7 I replaced it anyway.
The car came with a full size spare, but the valve was duff so it was flat. Replaced the valve (had no idea you could do that) and it then became apparent the rest of the tyre didn't hold air, either!
I've never used a spare, but my breakdown cover won't cover me if the car came with a spare but it's missing (no idea how they'd know) so I knew it had to be addressed. I decided on a space saver as it was cheap, and gives me enough space under the boot floor the rest of the tools etc that I carry.
Wheel was £10 and unused (from a Scenic). But was in a bit of a state
Quick repaint
And it looked semi-presentable
I have some more PH parts to fit (more on that next time) so I decided to try fitting it myself - bit of a stretch on what I've done before but I thought I'd try.
First step was to remove the complete subframe, inc wishbones and steering rack. This was not fun on axle stands on my own!
Took the opportunity to fit Powerflex anti-roll bar bushes, and to replace the clips on the inner tie rod gaiters - they come with clips that simply cannot be tightened unless the subframe is off, which would be ridiculous to do for an otherwise 10 minute swap, so I used cable ties at the time.
Unfortunately with the subframe off it was clear the rest of it was beyond my abilities without a workshop so I then put it all back together... 14 hours later and all I'd done was change a pair of anti-roll bar bushes! Booked in with a specialist (Mark Black) to try next month.
While I was under the car I noticed that the centre exhaust hangar had given up
Literally held together by a thread
As one was so bad I thought I'd check out the rest... broken too so that'll be a job for next week.
Lastly, an example of terrible packaging. On a regular car, a fuse is easy to change - open the bonnet, lift a flap, sorted.
On the Megane? not so. Remove battery, (engine) ECU, battery tray and extract UPC (body ECU) from housing, and then you'll find the fuses... upside down. Worse still, fuse wasn't even a problem!
So far, ownership costs have been stratospheric due to the money I've poured into replacing bits, but hopefully this will stand me in good stead as ownership continues, but I'm slowly bonding. Practicality of a hatch is a real win compared to the bootspace I used to have...
Jakg said:
"CHECK INJECTION" message turned out to be a blocked up EGR valve. Diagnosed via my new purchase - a Renault Clip tool allowing me to plug the car into my laptop. Very handy.
Unfortunately, this diagnosis was not correct.When the fault was reset, it would go away for a couple of days - which meant that it was quite difficult to pinpoint.
I'd cleaned the EGR and throttle body multiple times, and replaced each with a second hand replacement - but still had the same problem.
The fault description was "INLET AIR FLAP POSITION CONTROL" so I guessed that it was some kind of sensor issue.
Using Clip, I was able to test the actuator on the car.
This allowed me to see that the actuator was working
I was a bit stumped at this point so I had a look inside
Basic motor setup with a contract / track setup to record the position of the flap.
You can see the contacts highlighted in red
I noticed that one actuator had a lot more carbon on the ends of the contacts. I cleaned all the connections with contact cleaner, and bent the contacts up slightly to make better contact with the tracks. Seems to have fixed it for the last couple of months!
One of the areas I wasn't happy with was the colour of the calipers - I like red calipers, especially when it matches the body colour.
Some Megane's came with them from the factory - others got silver ones. Can't really find any reason as to why the difference (the calipers are the same).
My car came with silver ones, which were in quite poor condition with the "Brembo" branding damaged.
On my last car, I rushed this job and I was never happy with the results, so this time I took my time.
I picked up a set of front and rear second hand calipers.
First step was to break them down and inspect
The pistons were all good on the fronts (which is good as a new set would've been £100!), but I replaced all dust boots, seals, mounting pins, nipples and retaining springs.
The rears were in much worse condition - they are known for being a bit of a weak spot so was expecting some difficulties. The piston was very very difficult to remove, and when the piston came out it was clear to see that there was a problem. As such I replaced the rear piston also. Old vs new.
The next step was to clean the calipers to prepare for paint
Annoyingly I ran out of brake cleaner so tried WD40... this ate the rubber dust boots so I had replace them again. Annoying!
I used VHT's caliper paints consisting of primer, colour and lacquer followed by baking.
My dusty shed is not the best paint booth.
While the process of preparing the calipers was done at leisure, the swap itself wasn't. The weather was awful so no pictures, and I managed to drop a caliper which damaged the paint. Another has damage from being touched by tools. The paint is nowhere near as hardwearing as I'd hoped - next time I'd go powdercoated. They look good from afar, though.
The rear pads were getting low, so I swapped them for some Mintex M1144's.
The front pads where fine, but the calipers I bought came with a set of discs and pads. I hadn't realised my car had Apec (cheap) pads fitted, which explains the squeal under braking, and the used calipers came with mid-spec Ferodo pads so I fitted those instead.
I've bled the system twice and the pedal feel (bite specifically) is still not quite what I'm after so I will have to work on improving this next - hopefully I'll be able to bring the pads back with some abuse and perhaps some decontamination.
Some Megane's came with them from the factory - others got silver ones. Can't really find any reason as to why the difference (the calipers are the same).
My car came with silver ones, which were in quite poor condition with the "Brembo" branding damaged.
On my last car, I rushed this job and I was never happy with the results, so this time I took my time.
I picked up a set of front and rear second hand calipers.
First step was to break them down and inspect
The pistons were all good on the fronts (which is good as a new set would've been £100!), but I replaced all dust boots, seals, mounting pins, nipples and retaining springs.
The rears were in much worse condition - they are known for being a bit of a weak spot so was expecting some difficulties. The piston was very very difficult to remove, and when the piston came out it was clear to see that there was a problem. As such I replaced the rear piston also. Old vs new.
The next step was to clean the calipers to prepare for paint
Annoyingly I ran out of brake cleaner so tried WD40... this ate the rubber dust boots so I had replace them again. Annoying!
I used VHT's caliper paints consisting of primer, colour and lacquer followed by baking.
My dusty shed is not the best paint booth.
While the process of preparing the calipers was done at leisure, the swap itself wasn't. The weather was awful so no pictures, and I managed to drop a caliper which damaged the paint. Another has damage from being touched by tools. The paint is nowhere near as hardwearing as I'd hoped - next time I'd go powdercoated. They look good from afar, though.
The rear pads were getting low, so I swapped them for some Mintex M1144's.
The front pads where fine, but the calipers I bought came with a set of discs and pads. I hadn't realised my car had Apec (cheap) pads fitted, which explains the squeal under braking, and the used calipers came with mid-spec Ferodo pads so I fitted those instead.
I've bled the system twice and the pedal feel (bite specifically) is still not quite what I'm after so I will have to work on improving this next - hopefully I'll be able to bring the pads back with some abuse and perhaps some decontamination.
More boring updates:
Original battery (yes, original as in 9 years old!) was always a worry. I had picked out a replacement for when it died, and one day it was flat so I called it quits.
Replacement is a Varta E44 battery - which is a Bosch S5 (top of the range) battery with a different name (and a more palatable price!).
I also moved up to 096 size from the standard 075 - although an 096 was never fitted to a Megane (as far as I know!) the battery tray is a perfect fit for one.
Straight away I noticed the car turns over and starts much faster.
I also managed to swap my headunit+Bluetooth kit for the next model up of headunit with built in Bluetooth and end up with some cash in my pocket, which was nice. This allows me to use an external microphone which should improve call quality.
After having had the subframe on and off twice recently, I had a four wheel alignment carried out. After the first removal, it was clear I'd knocked something as the car was pulling to the side. But by complete fluke, when measured after the second removal it was bang on - so didn't even have to pay.
Original battery (yes, original as in 9 years old!) was always a worry. I had picked out a replacement for when it died, and one day it was flat so I called it quits.
Replacement is a Varta E44 battery - which is a Bosch S5 (top of the range) battery with a different name (and a more palatable price!).
I also moved up to 096 size from the standard 075 - although an 096 was never fitted to a Megane (as far as I know!) the battery tray is a perfect fit for one.
Straight away I noticed the car turns over and starts much faster.
I also managed to swap my headunit+Bluetooth kit for the next model up of headunit with built in Bluetooth and end up with some cash in my pocket, which was nice. This allows me to use an external microphone which should improve call quality.
After having had the subframe on and off twice recently, I had a four wheel alignment carried out. After the first removal, it was clear I'd knocked something as the car was pulling to the side. But by complete fluke, when measured after the second removal it was bang on - so didn't even have to pay.
Final update
I'd planed up getting a remap at some point, so I figured it'd be worth doing it all at once to get it out of the way.
A (slightly) larger turbo (GTA1749LV vs GTA1549LV). This is a 0 mileage unit from a new engine (from a Scenic) which was an absolute bargain.
I couldn't find an off-the-shelf decat (I have since though!) so I had to have one made up. I bought a standard cat and had it posted to a company in Portugal to have it copied. It took a while, and I was starting to think I'd made a big mistake and I'd either get left empty handed, or with some incorrect piece of junk coming back but amazingly it all came back perfect at a great price.
Having tried to fit this on my own, I gave up and got Mark Black (Midlands Renault Specialist) to do it. The speed at which he removed all the bits was incredible.
This shot is with the whole front subframe removed (which in itself is quite a big job). You can now see the cat attached to the flexi, but hopefully you can see why it is so difficult
Out with the old turbo
In with the new
Shot from below with decat fitted
I also had a Ktec DPF delete fitted at the same time. Considering how expensive it is for a straight pipe with one bend in it, it's quite poor it is missing the brackets the standard DPF has. I was worried the weight of it would damage the flexi over time (especially as my decat is missing a support also) so made an adjustable bracket with an exhaust clamp and some metal
All gaskets and bolts were replaced also - Binx locking nuts were used on the turbo to cat studs as they have a tendency of coming loose if not careful, elsewhere stainless bolts and washers with copper nuts.
After some gentle running and an oil change, it was down to RS Tuning for a remap.
Unfortunately, things didn't go to plan... I fitted an EGR blank to blank off the EGR valve, but while on the dyno it was bending and causing issues. The standard pipe was at home so nothing I could do but go home - on the journey home it got much worse and was smoking all over the place. Having swapped the part back over, the car was still too smokey which suggested the map needed tweaking.
Back at RS Tuning again and...
199 HP & 350 ft lb torque (vs a claimed 171 HP / 265 ft lb standard).
Not sensational figures, and certainly much less than I expected based on claims from various forums, but from talking to Paul at RS Tuning it seems right on the money.
I think my wallet needs a break now. On that note, average over the last 10k ish miles has been 47.6 MPG brim-to-brim which I think is very reasonable.
I'd planed up getting a remap at some point, so I figured it'd be worth doing it all at once to get it out of the way.
A (slightly) larger turbo (GTA1749LV vs GTA1549LV). This is a 0 mileage unit from a new engine (from a Scenic) which was an absolute bargain.
I couldn't find an off-the-shelf decat (I have since though!) so I had to have one made up. I bought a standard cat and had it posted to a company in Portugal to have it copied. It took a while, and I was starting to think I'd made a big mistake and I'd either get left empty handed, or with some incorrect piece of junk coming back but amazingly it all came back perfect at a great price.
Having tried to fit this on my own, I gave up and got Mark Black (Midlands Renault Specialist) to do it. The speed at which he removed all the bits was incredible.
This shot is with the whole front subframe removed (which in itself is quite a big job). You can now see the cat attached to the flexi, but hopefully you can see why it is so difficult
Out with the old turbo
In with the new
Shot from below with decat fitted
I also had a Ktec DPF delete fitted at the same time. Considering how expensive it is for a straight pipe with one bend in it, it's quite poor it is missing the brackets the standard DPF has. I was worried the weight of it would damage the flexi over time (especially as my decat is missing a support also) so made an adjustable bracket with an exhaust clamp and some metal
All gaskets and bolts were replaced also - Binx locking nuts were used on the turbo to cat studs as they have a tendency of coming loose if not careful, elsewhere stainless bolts and washers with copper nuts.
After some gentle running and an oil change, it was down to RS Tuning for a remap.
Unfortunately, things didn't go to plan... I fitted an EGR blank to blank off the EGR valve, but while on the dyno it was bending and causing issues. The standard pipe was at home so nothing I could do but go home - on the journey home it got much worse and was smoking all over the place. Having swapped the part back over, the car was still too smokey which suggested the map needed tweaking.
Back at RS Tuning again and...
199 HP & 350 ft lb torque (vs a claimed 171 HP / 265 ft lb standard).
Not sensational figures, and certainly much less than I expected based on claims from various forums, but from talking to Paul at RS Tuning it seems right on the money.
I think my wallet needs a break now. On that note, average over the last 10k ish miles has been 47.6 MPG brim-to-brim which I think is very reasonable.
Good thread and stealing some ideas, particularly the speakers as they really are complete crap as standard. Do your windows open fully still and where did you get the waterproof enclosure things?
Reading your posts reminds me what a massive pain in the arse mine is to work on. New engine mount this week for mine so I'll probably snap the turbo off or something. Will have to see if mine has a rear ARB when I get home too.
Reading your posts reminds me what a massive pain in the arse mine is to work on. New engine mount this week for mine so I'll probably snap the turbo off or something. Will have to see if mine has a rear ARB when I get home too.
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