overheating issues

JohnC's approach is certainly cleaner - hitting requires lying on the road to reach the starter! Although, I never managed to get the in-gear-rocking approach to work. Whereas a good thwack!...

One last word on the battery - I've had a lot a replacements over the years due to various problems including just leaving it connected for months and not using the car. I used Unipart Samson ones which were guaranteed for the life of your car and managed to get at least one new replacement when the battery died.

Last time I tried to get a replacement (I'd been disconnecting the battery when not in use, so no negligence on my part this time!) the Express Factor wouldn't exchange it for a new Samson without going through a full warranty process. Trouble is, I needed a new one there and then. They did replace (free of charge) my Samson with a cheaper one that was the right size although I was a bit suspicious of the Ah rating. When I queried this, he produced a monster battery of the cheaper brand that wouldn't fit the battery tray, so I went with the 40Ah (or so) battery that did fit directly - and to be fair, he said any problems he'd swap it without any questions.

The point of this is that although this battery was kept topped up with a battery conditioner (which is excellent), a trip to Cheshire and one night away from a conditioning top-up was enough to trip me up at Warwick Services petrol station with all the engine bay fans still blowing after a blast down the M6/M40. When I tried to re-start the car with the fans running, there wasn't enough chuff left in the battery.
The owners handbook specifies 50Ah (at least, as far as I can remember) and I now know why.

After bump starting it by myself (pratically on the slip road when it fired up! ) and getting home, a quick hook up to the conditioner brought the battery back and it tested as strong and at max charge. No fault in the battery - other than it just didn't have enough capacity in Ah and CCA.

I've since replaced this with a Varta (which is apparently what's inside a Bosch) that has excellent Ah and CCA. After lots of research it seems that any battery that's easy to get and has the required capacity/power is physically too large for the GTA spec. Interestingly, my good old Unipart Samson was the right size and charge but these are expensive and trickier to source.
So, I bit the bullet and bought the Varta which has been excellent. The only down side is that I've had to slightly modify the battery tray. The results have been worth it, though, as I now have a battery that can cope with all the electrics that the GTA needs to run when it's hot and (dare I say it?!) wet.

My research (albeit web-based) for a battery the right physical size just isn't up to the job in a GTA - so make sure if you need a new one, that it's up to the job in terms of capacity/cold cranking/Ah etc.

Jon

The only down side is that I've had to slightly modify the battery tray.

I fitted a Varta B18, 44ah 440A(EN) which works well. However when I explained the battery tray problem to the supplier, he said there was no problem, Warranty wise, in removing the two end flanges from the batterys base, either by cutting or as I did, removing them, with a small hand plane, which renders it the correct size for the existing tray. It also has a 3 year warranty.

I can't remember the make and spec of my battery off hand, but I remember the last time I bought a new one a few years back it was too large for the battery tray and I had to flatten the lip to make it fit.

My modifications to the battery tray were similar to yours.
Some careful bending (I'll be able to get that back when I need... Ha!) and then finished off with a slightly embarrassing Jeremy Clarkson approach. A hammer.

Job done - 3 year warranty etc etc. Fantastic battery - I think I might have over-specced!

Jon

[stephendell]

I think JohnC modified the battery rather than the tray which is what I do, by cutting off the two plastic retaining flanges on each end (the unused ones).

I think JohnC modified the battery rather than the tray

Yes...thats right,......In fact, I can remember when I removed the original Renault fit battery seeing scuff marks on the battery ends indicative of them cutting off the flanges themselves .....perhaps that was why they were so expensive.... labour costs

Good thinking. I hadn't considered reshaping the battery itself.
The battery I got in the end would need a bit more than a wee trim, I think!
However, I did manage to fit it such that it is held in place by the battery clamp (which I luckily managed to get from my local Renault dealer when I realised that whoever had the car before me had lost it!)

Unsurprisingly, the battery I've now got is what's listed on all the online and paper-based fitment guides but won't fit GTA without some mods. You do wonder some times how those guides are put together!

After all my trials and tribulations, I was after something really powerful that was going to stand up to GTA electrics! Might have gone a bit far...!

Jon

Not even touched my car since taking the battery off and giving it a partial charge before xmas (had to put it back on partially charged so I could lock the doors overnight.) Gave the car a bit of a rock in gear and tried turning it over and to my surprise it started instantly on the button! Gave it a quick run round the block and it ran fine, although I didn't leave it running long enough to test the rad fan again. There's obviously still some underlying cooling problem I'll have to get to the bottom of as soon as the weather improves slightly.

The battery btw seems to be a decent Bosch one rated at 60Ah.

(had to put it back on partially charged so I could lock the doors overnight.)

.....could you not have locked the doors manually?.....however as it happened, at least by putting the battery back in, the engine is starting and running, which is good news .
Justin,have you obtained a renault style thermostat yet.....if so, have you fitted it

The doors defintely wouldn't lock when the battery was flat or disconndected but would when I re-connected the charged battery, so I'm guessing the external key lock is only connected to the electric plunger thingy & not the mechanical cable & rod linkage like the internal floor lever, so needs power to operate the lock. Isn't this why you have to do the apply external power to the alternator (I think it's the alternator or is it the starter?) cable to get the doors unlocked if you're unlucky enough to get a flat battery with the doors locked & find you can't open the doors?

Got the correct Renault GTA thermostat to fit John but need to order a gasket & new bleed nipple too first before I can fit it. The Renault stealers parts department was closed yesterday...

The doors defintely wouldn't lock when the battery was flat or disconndected

Justin, I have not heard of this before so I have just been out to check mine......the battery has been disconnected for some time now, and I can lock and unlock my doors just with the key......either your key barrels are siezed, or the older Alps are different to the later ones
With regard to the stat gasket, the one fitted to the old stat can be removed and fitted to the new one if necessary. I always lightly smear some silicone grease (not sealant) on all hoses and gaskets in the cooling system when refitting them....if you have to release them in future they come away with no problem at all

You might be right John, possibly the barrels were just frozen - it was during the freezing cold weather when I tried it. Mine is an early GTA but I can't see the lock mechanism being drastically different to later ones.

Thanks for the tips.

The door locks do not need the battery connected to unlock or lock. I used to disconnect the -ve lead of my battery before I got my conditioner and used to lock/unlock either door just fine. It sounds and feels a bit different with no power but still works

Jon

The door latches need to be REMOVED and ALL linkages freed up and oiled. Only way with door locks that do not work with flat or disconnected battery.

Finally got round to fitting the new stat today.

I undid the two main top and bottom hoses from the water pump and also the hoses from either side of the radiator and gave them a good blast through with a hose pipe until all the dirty brown water ran clear. I also put the hose in both sides of the rad in turn and flushed that through too. I then fitted the new stat with a 2.5mm hole drilled in the opening element, as recommended by JohnC, refilled with new type D coolant from Renault and bled the system through the two bleed screws at the rad and stat housing, with the expansion tank elevated, as per the manual. However, after running the engine at a fast idle to get the system hot and check that the rad cooling fan came on, the same overheating problem still persists.

The temp gauge went way past the 90 mark before the top hose from the stat housing went from cold to hot (the bottom hose got hot first) so I imagine that was the stat opening. However the temp gauge continued to climb and the rad fan didn't come on because the front hoses either side of the rad and the rad itself were still stone cold. Also, the cabin heater was only blowing cold air.

Now this is the potentially, ahem, embarrassing bit... the water pump is making a right old racket. It's been noisy since last year and was noisy before I went to the Le Mans Classic, so I thought it was just a little noisy but still working okay... It seems to be more noisy than ever now though, so going off that and the symptoms I've just described I'm now guessing the water pump is fecked and not pumping water round the system - hence the front of the car remaining stone cold while the engine overheats even though the stat is apparently opening. The horrible rattling noise from the pump is possibly the impeller blades shot to bits or something I'm guessing.

If you look at this thread here I last replaced my water pump in 2004 but reported it being noisy March 2009! Oopsy! Maybe I should have got round to replacing it sooner.

So I'm now going to try fitting a new water pump next...

Problem is, reading my old thread on this I couldn't get one off Renault last time so sourced one from www.buypartsby.co.uk but searching their site again the GTA water pump is no longer listed, nor is it on gsfcarparts so I'll have to try ringing both on Monday and see if I can source a pump from somewhere.