Part 1
So the First post I wanted to make here, was one that I have spent most of my time onduring the COVID-19 quarantine of 2020.
The Renault Twingo GT (TCE Turbo) Could have been one of the most overlooked cars back when it released in 2007. With it costing a fiver less than £10k from new for this 100bhp (brake horse power) 1.2lr turbocharged engine, it was quick to be judged on its harsh suspension, slow 0-60mph time, and more than bland interior.
HOWEVER...
When my brother bought this car, he foolishly went to inspect the car at night, despite me telling him he shouldn't. But hey, we've all been young and naïve, wanting to splash some cash on a new car, for him, his second. All looked good, so we finalised the changer over deeds, payed the man for this 14yr old car and off he went.. Over the next few days my brother ran the car to keep it alive while it was SORN and not being used, he ran it up the road (private) once a day, but eventually came back with a problem. It was Smoking from the back of the engine.
FIRE?
No, thankfully, Just smoke. We originally just thought this was some old oil or overflow of oil that was dripping onto the exhaust cat, so we gave it a clean, and ran it again, to our surprise it was not the case. After joining some Renault Forums on Facebook, my brother had feedback from several people in that community, about the problem being the Rocker Cover Seal.
So, with this knowledge we searched the internet for a Seal replacement which we were able to obtain from here: ‘AutoDoc’ . After 5 days the seal turned up, but it wasn’t for another 4 weeks that we would start this replacement, until the World was hit with the COVID-19 Pandemic.
One month into the Coronavirus Lockdown in the UK, progress on my own car was at a standstill whilst I waited for parts, as shipping times had dramatically increased since shopping restrictions were bought in, so I thought, I’d utilize my time working on the Twingo, instead of wasting my days away.
So Under the Hood, We have the Rocker cover, which is held in by 12x Hex Bolts, each removeable by that infamous 10mm Socket, as shown below. After this we also removed the Oil insert pipe, also using the 10mm socket, which was bolted into the fuel rail, which then allowed for the rocker cover to be lifted off.
THE FIX
Once taken apart, we pulled out the Seal from the rocker cover and cleaned the seal with degreaser, Hobbs Brake Cleaner to be exact, however any other degreaser can work, and we let dry overnight. The following day we opened the packet for the new seal, and lined the seal housing with GeoCell Black sealant.
Typically used for plumbing this sealant is black and is resistant for temperatures of upto 300⁰C, flexible once set and is typically considered a good gasket sealant for most automotive uses. This was left to set for 30 minutes, before fitting the seal, as it good to solidify the sealant a little prior to fitting.
Once fitted into the recess, we took the cover back to the car, cleaned the top edge of the engine block to remove any old sealant and oil that was sitting on top,then applied a thin layer of sealant on the engine block, so that seal will cling to the engine block. Fitting the cover to the engine block was simple and the reverse of taking it off, pressing it to fit, then refitting the bolts and securing them.
Note: There is a recommended torque setting that these bolts should be tightened to,however not having a manual to the car, I have tightened these slightly tighter than I am able to loosen them from, to ensure that the seal, seals the gap, thus creating the air tight seal, keeping the oil in the block when the engine is running and preventing leaks.
THEVERDICT…
So, I ran the car around the block, throttling the car quite heavily through first,second and third gear, allowing the car to reach 2.5k revs and over, allowing the turbo to kick in and give the car some push. Upon doing this, there was smoke coming up over the windscreen from the engine bay again, and upon looking, we were still unsure of exactly where this was coming from.
Taking the car apart again, we removed the air filter, turbo outlet pipe, and then the heat shield behind the air filter, and once again, we ran the car around the block. Upon coming back home, we still could not find the smoke source, so jacking up the car, and looking from underneath seamed like the next viable option. Me and my brother got underneath the car, whilst it was still smoking and dripping oil, which is a bid idea so don’t try that at home, and we searched for a leak. A torch enlightened us to what we believe to be the actual source of our problem.
A problem which will be explained in the 2nd part of this post.
