Mine is a 1.6 16v phase 2 / mk1 Mégane hatchback, Sport Alize option.A coupl'a three questions:
My clutch is occasionally making an odd metal-rubbing / wet finger on glass kind of noise - is this anything too common or troublesome? Is it maybe just a badly lubricated release bearing etc or should I be looking to get it replaced pronto? Having trouble finding anyone who knows what it is so far and as I'm slightly short at the moment I'd rather not be spending on unneccessary work. (If it *is* needed then I'll shove it on the credit card of course). It only seems to happen when pulling away under a bit of power, or moving off from a slow rolling start in a higher gear, and not every time. But it has been getting worse.
The gearbox is also a bit noisy, like it's partway to being a rally or motorsports one. Is it also on the way out, or is this fairly normal for a ~8-9 year old one (74k miles)? I'm going to be changing/refilling the box oil later on so I'll see if that quietens it down.
Also does anyone know much about the different boxes available for the car, how I can identify them and my own (and exactly what engine I have & whether there's any particular incompatibilities with certain combinations)? The Haynes manual isn't particularly clear on this front, and it's information is vague to the point of being un-useful - and of course it doesn't cover anything that wasn't fitted as OEM kit to the particular model and phase.
Also is doing the work on these likely to be overly difficult for a low-mid talent/experience home DIYer operating out of a typical 1920s suburban detached house with a somewhat random set of tools? I have my torque wrench and axle stands at least
and have done a box swap before, but it would appear on a much simpler and easier-to-work-on car (early 90s Polo).Thanks for any help/advice you can offer.
BG: If I'm having to replace the box - or even just the clutch, as it seems the box has to come completely off anyway - I'd like to go for something a bit longer legged in 4th and 5th. The 13.5-17.5-21.5mph/1000 ratios in 3rd-5th are all nice and sporty like, but I do far more motorway commuting with the car than I do any competitive driving. I'd like to back the revs off a bit from the 3500-4000 zone they often occupy as it's noisy and I don't think it does much for the overall economy. 1st thru 2nd is fine, though 2nd could do with being slightly lower (which the one I looked at provides).
I know it's got oodles of power in reserve so it's not going to be labouring if I drag 5th up to 23....25/1000 (I had a 70hp Astra before that was geared like that, and a 45hp Polo with pretty much the same ratios as the Megane, so I doubt a 110hp, 16v, MPFi engine is going to make heavy work of anything those 8v SPi dinosaurs could handle). There appear to be possibly suitable ones available in just the range covered by Haynes - or certainly if I get a certain pair and do a diff swap, I can get at least 22.6 in 5th without compromising the low gears - and I wouldn't bet against there being a perfect one or even a suitable sixer somewhere in the Renault range.
Maybe a bit of a longwinded one that but I've already had someone trying to tell me to "forget it and just drop a short ratio 1.4 box on" in another forum, which is totally counter to what I'm after - and not answering the "is the clutch about to pack in?" question - so I thought I'd get the explanation out of the way first.
