Mk1 C5 Screen issues

[admiral51]

Mick the previous owner maybe the best person to ask, details should be on the log book IIRC

[Paul-R]

Excellent result.

[mickthemaverick]

Mick the previous owner maybe the best person to ask, details should be on the log book IIRC

That would be true but I won't have the chance as such because I've already agreed the deal to get the delivery so in my book it just ain't done to go back on my word whatever I may discover. I had a long chat with the seller who took the car in P Ex from a long term customer of his and he has declared its only issues are the "PAT" light on and a small grazed patch on the drivers seat. The car has been to Mars which is the reason for the price but the aircon works as well as all the accessories and I am happy with the list of spares I will end up with even if the ecu does fail!!

[admiral51]

[Paul-R]

I'm trying to think back to when I had a "spare" car in the drive to keep my Mk1 on the road. The spare was petrol and mine was diesel so the engine and gearbox were no good to me but the parts I can remember taking off were as follows.

rear height rheostat and dog-leg
wheels and tyres (snap!)
radiator fan motors
resistors and relays for the fan motors (all inside a handy plastic container)
all the fuses from the fusebox
door mirrors (motorised type on both cars)
passenger seat airbag
airbag ECU
driver's sunvisor
front wheelarch liners

other things I suggest you take off if you have enough time:

front height rheostat and dog-leg
hydraulic suspension struts
drive shafts (if they're the same)
Front & rear wiper arms and blades
headlamps (if they're the same and especially HID)
rear lamps
bonnet struts

[mickthemaverick]

Thanks for that list Paul, my situation is that I have agreed the price with the scrappy for a driving car without the satnav and radio equipment. So I can swap wheels and parts which will not stop the car being driveable but driveshafts and suspension parts are no nos. Likewise if the electrics I have to leave alone so the car can be driven. It is MOT'd until May and he has another broken gearbox car which I think he is planning to amalgamate to get a proper runner with the exclusive trim. Not to mention that it is too cold for too much spannering when there will be beer to be drunk in the man cave!!

[mickthemaverick]

Well I have just got back from the man cave and the swap over timings worked out pretty well. My car is now equipped with 4 decent wheels with no chipping or corrosion and 4 tyres all in 5.5-7mm tread bracket whereas 3 of mine were marginal 4mm and one 3mm so a result. I now have a spare radio head unit, spare CD multichanger, spare satnav DVD drive, spare multiscreen and various trim clips and screws in a box!! I was also able to liberate the spring ball which sits in the gear selector mechanism to keep the gear lever where you put it, as mine has been wandering between the Drive and Manual positions although the box stayed in drive. However the downside is that the screen ecu proved iffy much the same as the three I have already tried. As it worked perfectly for a while my mate suggested the actual cause could be the breakdown of the thermal insulator on which the processor is mounted. He knows far more about that level of electronics than me, having worked in the PCB manufacturing industry for his first 10 years of work, so he has taken the unit home to strip and rebuild and we shall see if that works. If it does I will have three units in all so a possible recoup of funds there.
Overall I have laid out £230 for all the parts above so I am reasonably happy. If the rebuild works I will probably sell at least one other working board to recoup most of that, as the going rate is £150 for an unknown unit, I think £180 for a guaranteed unit will see it sell. That will mean a final outlay of just £50 for new wheels and tyres, oh and the gearbox repair and Unit spares of course!! Thanks again Colin for raising the idea

[admiral51]

Mick i am just glad you may have got what you wanted, a working ( fingers crossed) screen and kept the car you didn't want to part with

[mickthemaverick]

I did say I would take my camera with me but I forgot to use it so the only thing I have is from the ad where I saw the car. Here it is below mine, showing the difference in the wheels. You can see the beige interior which prevented me from a lot more bits!! I think the beige would have been alright had they done it all but retaining the grey dash top and radio surround makes it look too bitty for my liking!

Own work

Own work

Own work

Own work

Own work

[admiral51]

If your mate can sort out the screen issues, then would it be fair to say that you and him will soon to be the major stock holders of reconditioned screens

[mickthemaverick]

I think we might be making a bulk purchase from Lithuania if only to keep our FCF Mk1's going!!

[cachaciero]

Sorry I came to this late, had a problem with the screen controller on my Mk1 whereby it lost one colour. After finding out where it was and taking it out examination revealed nothing and the problem of troubleshooting the unit are almost insurmountable, even if you have some knowledge and test gear, scopes logic analysers etc which I have you need it on the bench and be able connect power and various inputs/ outputs to test it. With no proper schematics available and by now it being just one of a series of problems beginning to annoy me, I just put it all back together again and carried on using it without one colour.
I did actually find a repair outfit that repaired these and as I remember it was on an exchange basis, however this far down the track I can't remember the name of the company. my recollection is it was in Germany and it was not a cheap fix. With other expensive problems rearing their head I had already made up my mind that much as I loved the car its days in my ownership was numbered and went no further.
As as general observation on fixing car ECU's much of the silicon chips inside these items are custom designed so even if you can identify a failed component getting a new replacement will rarely be possible. So should you have an older car much beloved and you intend to keep it then laying in spares while still available might be a good plan or just a complete donor car if you have room to store it.
Cachaciero

[mickthemaverick]

Thanks for that interesting confirmation of the conclusion I have reached Cachaciero!! In fact having refitted the ECU from the car I bought a couple of weeks ago so that everything works for 15 minutes or so, I have taken the plunge and the car will no longer live here as of 08.00 tomorrow!! I am exceedingly sad to let it go but I am now looking to my next adventure in the hope that I will get half as much pleasure from it as I did from this C5 and I'll be a happy man!! Having said that I will also have joined Steve and Neil in the ranks of non french car owning FCF members but that will be corrected at some point in the future. I will leave the FCF sticker in the back of the car as a prompt for its new keeper and we'll have to see if it reappears on here!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Nothing in the Ownership fleet, but still clinging on with a 6-bottles of wine Bargain Basement Clio in the maintenance fleet and occasionally put some stuff up in the FCF desert that is the Renault section of the forum

It wasn't through the lack of trying with the screen business Mick, but disappointing to see a thread end in a less than satisfactory resolution. I think you left it with a pal of yours about to take the ecu to bits last time I had a look.

Good luck with the replacement motor

Regards Neil

PS its probably in the pages of the thread but what did the screen actually do?

If its just a thermometer reading, the time, and a sat nav easily get round-able with a Smart Phone Obviously water under the bridge now, but is the new owner going to try to fix it or perhaps doesn't mind just getting round it.

[mickthemaverick]

The issue is that the screen is used to display:1) The standard view which includes outside temperature, actual position, day and date and time, direction of travel, range available and current radio tuning status. then 2)Set up screen for adjustment giving options to set up display colours, brightness, language, etc 3) it provides the complete trip computer information showing two trips, range, current mpg and ave mpg, etc 4) aux video input for external camera etc 5) Sat nav map and aux nav information and directions, 6) navigation input and setup screen.
So without the screen you do not have trip computer info or Radio tuning info which are the main pains without which I could live no longer!! The sat nav and reversing camera you can get round but you can't do anything regarding the setup. The other function that interrupts any of those 6 screens is the display of warning and fault messages like "door open graphic showing which door or diesel additive low etc so without it you do risk things going awry!! The fault we believe to lie with degradation of the heat conducting paste on which the processing chips are mounted but when Dave stripped it down it was going to be far too difficult to safely remove and remount the chips concerned so I have put it back in as it does at least work for 15 - 20 mins each time at the moment so will be ok for local journeys. Over a period that time slot will reduce as it has in the previous 4 ECU's until it fails completely!!

PS I still have the C4 Picasso and a Clio in my maintenance fleet as well so not entirely divorced!!