The Safrane.Info Forum!

I would advise you to take both air ducts out and repair them. you have repaired just the split that you saw, and there is probably the same towards the firewall. same on the passanger side. also in my case the foam that it is covered with inside and out disintegrated, so it was slowly blown into cabin and inside the dashboard. ventilation system loses pressure on that ducts so it doesn't function properly. it is worth checking. you have some pictures in my thread how they look when you take them out and what I did with them.

ac self diagnostic checks about 15-20 sensors, motors etc. the instrument cluster also checks its sensors and it can even tell you if it has been replaced in the past. cool features.

one more thing, standlicht funktioniert nicht I guess means that brake lights are not working. I have the same message in mine. I believe it has something to do with handbrake warning light blinking on the dash. that feature was for german market only (my car is also german and I hope I would be able to change the voice synth). when you start the car it should blink, first time you press the brake pedal (more precisely when you turn the brake lights on) it should turn off, and voice message should be gone, at least it is in my case. if the hand brake is activated it should be lit up permanently (i'm not 100% on that, I rarely use the hand brake).

You should! IT helps the rear brake calipers to pump out the pistons as the brake pads wear down!

I know I should, but few years ago hand brake mechanism of my R4 decided to fall apart just as I was reversing from (paid) parking space, which blocked the back wheel and the car was left stuck blocking the road Since then I have unreasonable fear of handbrakes

I agree you should use the handbrake to keep the cables and levers/pistons moving and lubricate the moving parts as much as you can,especially with the weather you have.

The only thing i would not do is leave the handbrake on for long periods - it could then seize and you would need ti dismantle the calipers.

Our safrane has been off the road for five (long) years... i left the handbrake off for that whole time... and on the few occassions i shuffled the car around, i never had any trouble using it. I ended up dismantling the calipers anyway just to remove the rust etc but this was a voluntary decision as i wanted the rust gone.

I managed to find a used ABS sensor and indicator here in Finland. The guy also has more sensors and the ABS unit too, but i'll try with the sensor first.

The trying-phase would me much shorter with a CLIP but i don't want to put over 100€ for one just for one ABS fault. Maybe I'll ask my local Renault dealer what it would cost to change the language of the onboard computer and then re-think about buying the CLIP :)

You may also be wasting your money on CLIP as the documents frequently refer to XR25... which is an older system than CLIP... but CLIP is also mentioned... and as i said a friend of mine also got OBD2 working - so make of that what you will lol.

I really doubt that OBD2 can connect anything else than engine ECU. Even on newer OBD2 cars i've never been able to read/erase faults on other ECUs like ABS and airbag.
And I'm sure OBD2 cannot reprogram anything nor adjust any settings as i believe CLIP could. I tried OBD2 ELM327 and i can read engine data but can't find any faults.

I've gotten a few offers of getting to use a CLIP but they're too far away.

Maybe i've been misunderstanding the function of CLIP? I believe it to be something like Lexia on Citroëns which can communicate with all ECUs and do stuff like testing electric windows, reading any sensor data, modifying various settings, testing single components like injectors, lambdas, cooling fans and reading much more detailed fault data than with OBD you can even dream of...
And it works even with the early 90's models :) You could even update ECU software if you'd have the files.

I asked my friend how did he erase the airbag fault (after my heater matrix leaked it appeared on the dash). he said they tried all the original renault tools they had and could do nothing, then they plugged in some cheap chinese OBD diagnostic tool, it recognized the car as Megane, and they erased the fault. my cheap chinese diagnostic tool arrived yesterday, so I will try to install it and connect it up during the weekend.

OBD2 does the ECU yes... but my friend was able to read codes and erase them.

As for CLIP, in theory yes you are right - it can communicate with all the cars other systems however the renault documents do clearly state that the car uses XR25 which is an older uglier system.

That said, a car that uses OBD2 (which was an early 2000 system) may well fully support CLIP. It could be that CLIP incorporates the programming for XR25 cars - but i have no idea.