Tips and tricks

Back Up Next

Some History
My R18 GTL
R18 WebLog
Strong points
Tips and tricks
Diagram stuff
R18 forum
Links
Guest Gallery
Guests 2
Other cars...

Under the bridge...Less stronger points of the Renault 18 (and how to overcome them)

On this page you'll find some of the less stronger points of the R18 I came across through the years, along with some useful tips on how to overcome them.

If you have any points to add to this list, please drop me a line. You can reach me at richard@renault18.com. Any useful addition, suggestion and tricks to keep an 18 running I will put on this page. 
You might also want to visit  Less Renault 14 et 18 - Accueil on technical subjects. As the French part of this site is best developed, the link is especially useful if your French is not as rusty as mine! 

Use these links to quickly navigate to a subject:

bulletCorrosion
bulletBreaking clutch cable
bulletCabin heating
bulletDoor locks
bulletDisassembling the dashboard
bulletSpeedometer
bulletFuse box and printed circuit board
bulletWiring diagrams
bulletCold start
bullet.............
bullet........

 

topR18.jpg (7006 bytes)

bullet Where to look for rust in the R18 (besides everywhere else that is... :-) )Corrosion: The Renault 18 has a reliable, almost unbreakable powerplant, and uses solid, proven technology. So technically speaking it's a solid and reliable car. But...... it was also build of rather poor quality sheet metal. So (as a typical French car) the most important enemy of the Renault 18 is rust. Often it consumes the metal stealthy from within and when it shows it has already eaten through the sheet metal. What doesn't help either is the rubber/plastic/glue like substance they spayed on the bottom of the car and in edges and joints. I figure this stuff was meant as rust protection and sound proofing of the car. However on some places it doesn't stick to the metal and moist starts to build up behind it. The result of this becomes apparent when it's already too late. From the moment we owned this R18 I gave the body work considerable attention. Never the less my 18 also wasn't spared from some rust holes, most of which I patched with glassfiber and polyester (Most of this is damage control, until time, space and money allow for a thorough restoration....one day.....).

 

In the picture I marked some of the most important trouble spots. The most important areas to look for corrosion (based on my experience) are:

bullet

The front mud guards. They tend to corrode at the upper edges under the bonnet where they are bolted to the chassis and at the edges of the direction lights

bullet

The underside and corners of the doors (especially the front doors)

bullet

The hollow door thresholds

bullet This is a troubling sight: the left jacking point of my R18 with some serious rust.The box sections at the front jacking points and especially the jacking points themselves (On the picture you see the left jacking point of my R18. If you look careful you can see the rubberish layer I pealed away from the box section before attending to the rust)
bullet

The arches of the back wheels

bullet

The onderside of the metal 'ridge' that goes over the taillights inside at the back of the trunk

bullet

The downfolded tail edge of the trunk lid

bullet

The battery hold, especialy the metal left of it between the right headlight and the radiator

bullet

Every other matal part I didn't mention in this list :-)

Doing some serious maintanance on the bodywork on a sunny afternoon.When you have a R18 that is still in good shape be sure to protect it well against rust. Spray the inside of all hollow parts (see list above) of the chassis (don't forget the botom) with a corrosion preventive compound like Tectyl Bodysave and ML (I emptied many a spray can of these in and on my R18 through the years). And when you spot even the smallest spots of corrosion my advise is to tackle it straight away, as the small spot often turns out to be part of larger section that is rotten, but just hasn't surfaced completely yet.....

 

topR18.jpg (7006 bytes)
bulletBreaking clutch cable: For some odd reason the clutch cable of my 18 broke three times in the car's life. All three times this was at the pedal's end and all times clean off at the hook that connects it to the clutch pedal. I'm not sure if this is due to faulty production of the cables, because they are too thin, or because my clutch is going too heavy. Anyway I have become an experienced 'clutch cable replacer'. I now check the state of the cable every now and than, so I can replace it in time.

According to Bob Blossom from Spain a solution to this problem might be in the the cylindrical plastic bearing that goes between the arm of the actual shifter on the gearbox. This bearing might be a source of extra friction that the cable has to deal with. Bob's 18diesel also suffered three broken clutch cables. But his friend he sold the 18 to has not had this discomfort in the last three years. (Thanks for the tip!)

Bali Paez Ascanio from Mexico City owns a Mexican produced R18 with a 2 litre engine. He also experienced clutch problems his remedy is to cover the cable with some heat resisting tape. 

 

topR18.jpg (7006 bytes)
bullet The ventilation/heating systemCabin Heating:The cabin heating tends to give some problems. One of the problems is that the blower from the heating/ventilation system starts to make all kinds of squeaking and other funny noises as the car comes of age.

There is a remedy for the squeaking. Danielle Forster (You can find the two R18s she owned in the guest gallery)  wrote "To overcome this problem my dad drilled a very small hole in the plastic of the ventilator just where the axle is. Add a few drops of oil and the noise is gone ..."

Although the bearings are a bit hard to find from the outside, this trick is definitely worth a try! The picture of the heating system will give you a clue......

 

bulletAn other problem is the heating itself. The squeaking blower sucks the outside air in and blows it over a small radiator that is warmed by the coolant from the engine. However in the winter time the temperature of the coolant stays very low. Too low to warm cold the outside air. So to prevent your fingers from freezing in the winter you can put a piece of cardboard behind the grill. Don't block the entire radiator because the engine still needs cooling, but a piece about the size of the grille does the trick. Just keep an eye on your temperature gauge and don't forget to remove the cardboard when the outside temperature goes up in the spring time. Otherwise you might overheat your engine. If the cardboard doesn't help the small radiator might have become congested through the years. If so try to flush this radiator.

 

topR18.jpg (7006 bytes)
bulletDoor locks: The cylinders of the door locks operate the lock mechanism with a small plastic rod that's attached to the back of the cylinder. It beats me why the engineer responsible for designing this part didn't use metal for it. On the drivers side the rod has broken twice (last time on the day I ordered my new Renault Clio. I guess it took revenge on my by denying me access :-) ). One of the mechanics at my garage told that this happened with a lot of 18s especially when autumn was coming and the plastic becomes brittle due to the cold. There is nothing to prevent it. Just buy a new part and replace it. And when you do, lubricate the mechanism so it operates as smooth as possible.

 

topR18.jpg (7006 bytes)
bullet One overhauled gauge unit Disassembling the dashboard: The dashboard of the car is reliable, well organised and works fine. But even light bulbs don't have eternal life and they are quite difficult to replace. I took out the complete dashboard to get this job done. Through an e-mail I got from Tangi Quéméner from France (Thanks Tangi! You can find his R18 site here) I learned that there is a less rigorous way to go about this job :-). I will give you both ways. They start off the same:

 

Part 1: disconnecting the gauge unit...

  1. Disconnect the battery.The dismanteled steer colomn. If you look careful you can also see me taking the picture.
  2. Disassemble the casing around the steering column. To do this, first get out all screws. The casing has two parts. The small top part is attached to the bottom part with a 'click' system. When you turn the wheel you can see two small notches on either side. Turn the wheel to 90 degrees. Put a large screwdriver in the small notch and turn it. Do the same on the other side and than you must be able to hatch the top part. This goes best when the wheel is turned 180 degrees. Pull the switch for the fog light out, disconnect it and carefully pull the casing from the column.
  3. Take the panel where the fuse box is in off.
  4. There are two connectors attached to the gauge set on the left side. Take these off and disconnect the drive cable of the speedometer.

Part 2a: getting the whole dashboard out...

If you just want the gauge unit out and not the complete dashboard skip to here. If you first want to take the whole dashboard out read on.

  1. The cabin without the dashboard. A strange sightTake off the glove compartment. This is attached with several screws. One of them is in the corner at the right side of the dashboard behind the door. You need a short screwdriver to get it out. The top side of the glove compartment it's attached to the dashboard with three small nuts.
  2. Take out the six screws with which the outer part of the mid console (with radio and ash tray) is attached to the car. And pull it away from the dashboard. The inner part of the console is attached to the dashboard with two screws. Take these out as well.
  3. The dashboard is kept in place by two screw bolts on the bottom and three plastic clips just under the wind screen (you can see two of them on the picture above). After you get the bolts out you must be able to push the dashboard upwards and out of the clips.
  4. Lift the dashboard a bit and pull the third connector on the right side of the gauge set from it's socket.
  5. The two ventilation shafts in the dashboard are connected with the heating system in the centre under the dashboard. (If you look you can see them on both pictures). Pull these off.

Tatataaaa!!!Tataaaa: You must now be able to pull the dashboard from the car towards the passenger side. Once you know how it works it's rather easy. First time this operation took me almost a complete morning. The last time I got the dashboard out it took me about 15 minutes.

Getting the gauge unit out is described below. Follow the description from step two.

Part 2b: Getting the gauge unit out...

If you (just) want the gauge unit out this is what you have to do:

  1. On the right hand side of the gauge unit there is also one connector. You can reach it with some difficulty if the dashboard is still firmly in place. Disconnect it. (If you took the whole dashboard out you have already done this of course)
  2. Take out the two screws under the gauge unit.
  3. On each side of the unit there is a groove that points about 45 degrees down when the unit is in place. On the dashboard itself there are two pins sliding through these grooves. So the gauge unit first has to turn to get it passed the pins. Pull the top of the unit down and turn it towards you. With some effort you must now be able to negotiate the unit out of it's place. Mind that the wheel is in such position that you can get the unit passed it. Even with the complete dashboard out It took me a little while to figure out the way to turn the unit, so with the whole dashboard in place it is   certainly not easy.

It's wise to replace all the most common used bulbs like the dashboard lighting, direction indicator, headlight indicator, etc. at the same time. This way you don't have to repeat this operation every time a bulb gives up.

The bulbs have a pretty long life. In my 18 the first bulb (the headlights indicator) gave up after 15 years.

 

topR18.jpg (7006 bytes)
bullet The speedo and the parts it consists of.Slow speedometer: After I replaced some light bulbs and put the dashboard back my speedometer got haywire. It reacted very slow and didn't indicate correctly. After trying several remedies I found that the only thing the matter was some dust. The 18 years of dust the mechanism had collected caused too much friction. I didn't like the idea of dissembling this 'precision instrument', but the R18's speedo turned out to be easier than an egg timer. Some cleaning and lubricating and a small drop of oil on the axle did the trick.

 

topR18.jpg (7006 bytes)
bulletPrinted circuit board and fuse holders: The printed circuit board under the dashboard (on which amongst others the fuses are situated) is not of the best quality. In my 18 the board burned through at one of the connectors, due to a bad connection combined with the high current that is running through it to the blower of the heating system. I cut this wire from the connector and welded a new single connector directly on the circuit board. Also the fuses themselves might give some problems. If for instance all your direction lights stop working, the holder of the fuse is a likely source for this trouble. A piece of sandpaper and/or some contact spray might solve it. Mind that if your direction light fail, your brake lights might also be out of order, because (at least in the 1982 18 GTL) they run through the same fuse!

 

topR18.jpg (7006 bytes)
bullet If only the battery lasted as long as the car it self...Cold start: Her engine is very very reliable. The only bad habit I experienced is that if the car has not run for more than a week, the engine needs some encouragement to get in motion. She always starts, but if you have not used the car for some days you need some patience. This apparently has has nothing to do with her age, because this problem has been around for at least as long as we own her, which is since 1987 when the car was five years old... I have never been able to trace the source of this slight inconvenience, nor have the 'experts' at my garage. And as I said she always starts..... That is until Christmas day 1999, when her ageing battery could not cope with a third attempt at getting the frozen engine in motion. However with the help of the youthful energy of my Clio, a jump lead and my youngest brother and his girlfriend, who helped push the 18 out of her parking space and in front of my Clio, I performed a successful reanimation :-). 

 

topR18.jpg (7006 bytes) If you have any tips or tricks to add please drop me a line at richard@renault18.com
 

Renault 18 unplugged

 

topR18.jpg (7006 bytes)